The Man with 900 Houses

[lgarvey1979]

Hahaha, his predictions were wrong re's house price value increases. Also, if his income was coming only from capital appreciation, then he'd be fucked badly now. He must be going after cash-flow deals, e.g. looking for a small amount of income per let per month, above mortgage and letting fees.

I'd rather live in a city centre flat to an out of town house. The latter seeming like the poor man's choice!

Property going up in value? No more safe haven here Mr Wilson, not for a few years.

[devourerofbabies]

What a scumbag.

[trumpsahead]

Didn't he recently jump out of a 2nd story window trying to kill himself?

[brit1664]

Example how to go from multi millionaire to bankrupt in one easy step.

[subhashsapna]

Tubby talks about supply and demand ... hmmm.. unemployment rising.... base rates rising.... government cutting back on spending.... GDP flat .. market confidence at all time low .. Only way is up..... are sure tubby??????????

[Timei]

I like the expression of the interviewer at 1:02 and a little after that. I think he's like 'that's a bit of a generalization'.

[tech4156]

this guy is dumb.

1) why aint he a multi millionaire?

2) rich people buy flats too coz they live by themselves

3) no-need to have 900 properties he just greedy and crazy

[oldproji]

Hmmm! What this guy has done is take 900 properties out of the market thus preventing 900 young families getting a foot on the housing market. I call this racketeering on a grand scale. Now the young families paying rent could have actually paid the mortgage for themselves. This guy should have his hands cut off for stealing the rights of ownership that small families might otherwise have had. Shame on you sir. I hope you lose the lot.

[nylonTS]

@oldproji your totaly wrong in your comments

Its just envey

[ALNEAL]

@nylonTS

I think that he has made a legitimate point. Thinking about and looking at a situation is not automatically based on envy (not spelt ENVEY).

[adatherton]

@oldproji There are >1M empty properties in the UK, another 1M properties for sale currently occupied. So those comments are nonsense. What landlords actually do is renovate property without public funds, and increase the rental housing stock.

[TheNiteBus]

A house has more maintenance to do,yards etc.

[7110A33]

It's Oct. 2010....perhaps a follow-up interview?

[wilfredbramble22]

Ross talks a lot of sense. Fergus is not really to be taken too seriously and I suspect that his 900 properties are now rather fewer. Im back off to my flat to get drunk and take drugs lol.... please dont listen to people like Fergus, he is the unacceptable face of the industry

[inkey2]

Whys is everyone so pissed of at the old guy.....sound like he did everything honestly, took the risk and it paid off

[Annafin62]

What a coffee table chemistry! Sort of enjoyable, but the second ladder still stays unclear. Is it just getting the next property by ridiculously low price? And then let the tenant pay for the 3rd and so on and so on?

[MrBullhounds]

their is not a person in this country that wouldnt have done what this bloke did ,,and this interviewer ,,is a very immature boy ,,the old dude saw an opportunity and went for it ,,,,,,

[duck24x]

To the asshole who thinks that people should not demand & fight for life to be fair - let's see what happens if a burglar breaks into your home, or a so-called "terrorist" bombing happens in your area. Then you'll be demanding that the government come bail you out and punish those who did it. I'll certainly be there to shove your words back down your throats by saying that I don't want my tax dollars towards imprisoning anyone for your benefit.

[axionication]

It's a Casino.

He is merely a high stakes roller. Honest enough fellow though.

Lovely Jubely.

[toranamunter]

Just watch all these whinging bitches change their tune if they own property one day. Lets see how hard you complain about your net worth rising with the market when real estate booms. What a curious lot some of these commenters are. Good on ya mate, we need more ballsy risk takers.

[AdmiralBoom76]

Butt Plug

[nylonTS]

There is a great deal of sour grapes by the comments below

I say best of luck Mr Wilson

The queen is a Landlord is she scum ???

This country is built on Landlords its just the way of life

Its gone on for 100s of years its called the british upper crust

[TWISTbeats]

at the level he's playing he's likely paying more taxes than a street full of "low income 1st time buyers". the problem is taxes not investors. the reason we're "running on the treadmill" is because we have inherited a massive and costly corrupt state that favors special interest. the private sector is eternal, the state is just an extortion racket.

[Cuber1974]

There are a log of Fergus Wilson's in the world. They are little more than thieves when it comes down to it, con artists who use legal means to acquire wealth they honestly have no right to. They steal from every person in society and disguise their activity as 'providing for the community' when the reality is, if there were no Fergus Wilson's in the world most likely everyone could afford their own home anyway.

This issue isn't isolated to England either, Australia has a plethora of them...

[midnightcatfight]

how dare this man provide a service/good that people want/need!

[Cuber1974]

It's a service people wouldn't need from him if there was a fair land form bill in place in western democratic society mate.

If I took your land and allowed you to live on it for a fee, would you consider that fair?

Would you consider it fair that in the process of doing so, I'd generate free income for life (other than maintenance) and if it costs me to maintain it, I can claim those costs back on your tax dollars?

What about when I sell it for a massive capital windfall and keep the money?

[toranamunter]

it seems you think life should be fair. Makes it all so much easier for those who won't take risks doesn't it. Well its not fair, and never has been. Get used to it, decide if your financial circumstance in retirement will prove you a winner in the game, or otherwise.

[1984noway]

this guy believes his own bullshit,he's not clever he's just a debt junky.His greed and hubris will be his downfall.He represents the jokers/investers, who have no real business brain and have been sucked in by bankers.Good interview,

[ClubXrock]

These investors achieved what they did by buying up at the right time. I would like him to start off now from scratch, with home prices where they are and interest rates at all time lows. Let's see how wealthy he will become then. We're just at the end of a super cycle in housing, but most refuse to concede that housing is over priced. Our economy has grown on credit, pushing up wages, enabling more credit to be serviced. But we have too many services jobs and not enough goods jobs - bingo

[ChelseaPrivateEquity]

Well said komunicator2.

No one investor, certainly not Mr Wilson, is influencing the market & stopping a person from being a home owner. Take a hard look in the mirror when you think the problem is caused by someone else.. Playing the role of a victim solves little.

Providing rental housing to people who want to rent is a service and the service is completely legal. While it might not be everyone's cup of tea, that does not mean there is anything wrong.

Do the maths.

[PersianPaladin]

RENT IS THEFT.

[stupidjunk978]

LOL, look at the interviewer wincing at 1:01 when Fergus says "poor people live in flats"

[BubbFromGEI]

The banks were so, so reckless - lending 85%. It might have been just barely justifiable if they had been normal, 15-20 year amortizing loans, so the loans of 5 years ago, for instance,

might have had another 20% paid off. But with interest only, that isnt happening

When you have a distress seller, a 15% margin is very easily wiped out

When you have a distressed seller of 700 homes in the same are, Forgeddabotit !

[ben110574]

They are virtually bankrupt I reckon. No way do their figures add up to the £180million they claimed to be worth. Now he's late paying his mortgage cos the cheques lost in the post. Horeshit.

[godbotherer1909]

OK, so buy to let landlord's are scum. But there was a lot of allusion to the idea that supply and demand doesn't drive property prices (which it does, that's why buy to leters are bastards, they buy up the supply) without any alternative theory. So what is the maker of this film's theory about what drives the property market?

[Monetaryreforumadmin]

The banks have no right to create the people's money supply at interest and secured against the people's land.

This guy contributes nothing of value to the economy. His practice is utterly negative.

[komunicator2]

Clueless, he has more houses then you.

If losers want to rent let them, all you have to do is save up a deposit & have a job & you can get a mortgage. I did it on a low income just after North Rock collapsed ! If you go out & waste your income you will never get a deposit together and therefore never get a mortgage & then never own a house. Work hard save up buy what you want . No amount of moaning about capitalism is going to help you. I you want to get ahead play the game !

[Juangui123]

Dear Ross, reality is hilarious. This episode could well be in "Comedy Central". Keep the good work!

[midianholic]

Fergus is SIbley.

[brit1664]

Great Comedy. Either Fergus is deluded about effects he has on the local area or he is denying them.

Its a shame interest rates have been slashed to save the likes of him at the expense of ftb lossing there interest on their deposit savings.

He is a parasite of society.

[ThePaulfullTruth]

Need better lighting! Ross' shadow on his guest's face was distracting.

[stupidjunk978]

Jebus, dude

[ThePaulfullTruth]

Real housing prices (actual transactions), in the US at least, will continue down steadily as the real economy continues to flounder. There will also be a general slump after the christmas season as part-time workers are laid off. We are far from the bottom, still.

[Luxmans]

What are you guys on about? What is Ross Ashcroft on about?

If he buys properties and rents it out, and uses the rent to pay the mortgage - what in the world is wrong with that?? I can't see any moral issue here...

How else would people rent property??

[kjr63]

"How else would people rent property??"

They should rent land from the society (government). Or "rentier" should pay tax from land rental values. Then the wealth would return to the producer of that wealth.

[Luxmans]

Are you serious? You want Soviet Union communism?

Governments are inefficient, for a number of reasons (eg monopoly, lack of expertise, etc), which means you will pay higher rent for those costs made by inefficiency.

No one produces the wealth from a house that doesn't change - it's increasing in price due to supply and demand.

[kjr63]

We have communism right now in western world. I want to get rid of it.

There is no "efficiency" in renting land. It is not production. Also there is no "supply" in urban land/location. Only demand, supply is fixed. Housing market does not produce wealth. It only extracts wealth from production (labour and capital).

[Luxmans]

lol what? We have communism now in the west? Where?

Of course there is efficiency, everything from advertising, property maintenance, customer relations, accounting, payments, etc, etc. Every process has a level of efficiency.

No supply? What ? Supply increases when you build more housing/flats.

Housing market doesn't produce wealth?

Then why does wealth increase after the production? House is built in the 1990s = £250k, now = £450k. Nothing has been built, where's the wealth come from?

[kjr63]

"No supply? What ? Supply increases when you build more housing/flats."

Houses are not chocolate bars. Houses have a location. If you build year after year worse and worse locations, demand for good locations doesn't go down. Rents don't fall, but go up. Big towns have high rents, small towns low.

"Nothing has been built, where's the wealth come from? "

It comes from rising land/location values.

[Luxmans]

OK, maybe this an unfair debate, me who is well versed in economics, with you, who clearly isn't.

What has location and mobility got to do with whether something has a supply or not?

Rents don't fall? Where were you over these past few years? Funnily enough, rent for prices fell over the past 5 years or so because of the massive oversupply of flats - Wilson talks about the overbuilding of flats in this video.

You pay for the land (therefore location) when you buy a house. It's the same thing.

[bodrinker]

He missed the boat. Should have sold the lot 2 years ago. Tough.

[pmagrin]

He's been trying to sell for quite a while now. Those foreign buyers he always talks about in the interviews he has given over the past couple of years or so never seem to materialise.

[ChrisJBrunger]

What planet is this guy from?

[neil9327]

I can afford a house, but choose to live in a flat because a flat is lower maintenance.

Not all flat dwellers are poor.

[magrathean0]

"somebody else funds that infrastructure, but ultimately the windfall gains for that infrastructure goes into private pockets"

Politely letting the man know he is a parasite, consuming value he is not creating

[gordong156]

Entertaining video revealing a classic investment win. I daresay the only thing that might phase Mr Wilson could be a sudden rise in interest rates (and thus mortgage repayments) or a hike in unemployment (leading to rent arrears) or ... he's probably safe for as long as the pound remains weak... but not too weak.

[sheshotsmoking]

...This idea is a sickness that we've caught from the US, and taken to it's ugly extreme, as in Iraq - it places the acquisition of money over & above human life. Fergus and his ilk do not create a better world for all. Only for a few.

[toranamunter]

you're in denial of the fundamental laws of economics in a free marketplace. And might be happier living somewhere like Cuba, or China. You want your employer to profit, cause you don't want to be laid off. But you don't want Fergus to profit, cause it doesn't suit you. You like living comfortably, so you want housing built by private enterprise, cause government housing sucks. But you don't want that private enterprise to make a profit. I think you need to think things through a bit more.

[sheshotsmoking]

You know so much about me, and yet we've never met?

Me: Gay Communist Chinese male living in cuba.

You: Butch alpha male living in parents basement.

Could love find a way?

[godbotherer1909]

I say three cheers to private enterprise that makes goods and provides services. Bill Gates deserves his money, Richard Branson's the man, Apple makes great computers. What I hate is leeches like this guy that make nothing, do nothing, just swoop in and buy up houses then rent them out to people who can't buy houses themselves because buy to let landlords have soaked up the supply. Speculators are not heroes of free enterprise, they're the useless vampires on trade and industry.

[sheshotsmoking]

To Fergus this is just a business, and housing was his chosen form of investment. There is no question in his mind about fairness or the repercussions for others of what he's doing because that's of no interest. What does interest him is the money, because the more money he has the happier/ more powerful/more important he'll be. If you don't act like Fergus by being 'clueless, or afraid or lacking courage' to do what he has, then you will suffer that dreaded American fate of being a looser.

[soulwam]

Ross, your body language is profound!

[ghostian76]

Gordon Browns Low interest Rates are protecting people like the Wilsons.. Not the real people.

[Luxmans]

What?!

You're crazy.

Low interest rates means the average person, who probably has a reasonably high level of debt through mortgage and credit cards, pay less interest. If interest rates went higher, more people would default, and it certainly wouldn't be the rich.

[tetekofa]

I gather that he owns alot of small houses ? ehh ?

[pmagrin]

In one small town and the surrounding area. He was basically the only buyer of small 2 bedroom houses in that town for the past decade.

[tetekofa]

pmagrin .

and whats your point ?

[BubbFromGEI]

3/

Did I hear him properly? Fergus seems to be thinking there is a cycle of 17 years, and Flats are now in oversupply. So he seems to be aware that the good times are at an end. Maybe that is why he is selling.

Will Houses continue to outperform Flats? Perhaps he has to say that, to convince people who buy house from him. Personally, I think that Flats close to CBD's and/or with transport, will outperform Houses requiring expensive transport. In a peak oil world, city flats may win.

[BubbFromGEI]

2/

The question to ask is this: Why didnt his tenants wake up, and see that they could buy a home at auction, and live there more cheaply than renting?

Answer: They were either clueless, or afraid. Wilson had the courage that others were lacking- or maybe the concept that others did not think of. Either way. my hat off to him.

You should be talking about the short-sightedness, and fearfulness of his tenants. Wilson had the foresight, that they lacked.

[straydoggio]

Bubb. They were teachers (public-sector) in a deep recession. Those renting would have mostly been FTBs and some will have bought. You needed deposit + job/pay.

Anyway even if they got it right at the start, took advantage of conditions back them, we'll have to wait and see whether they made a mistake in continuing to buy houses year on year right in to mid 2008.

[magrathean0]

Bubb, if say 30% of tenants had done this, it would have raised prices even higher for the other 70% and created more capital gains for fergus. The clue here is in the interviewer's description of the tenant's situation as being on treadmill - it doesn't work like this with a car market or shoe market because these markets do not involve a monopoly.

[BubbFromGEI]

1/

I think Fergus Wilson made sense. He spotted an opportunity in the mid-1990's, and went for it in a huge way. he bought property at auction, and then financed 100% of the purchase price because the banks saw he was getting a bargain, and they were willing to give him 100% of his purchase cost as a loan. He then rented out at a level that more than covered the mortgage payments.

[enrieby]

Respect to Mr Wilson for coming on the channel and giving his views, good work Ross for handling the differences in your housing views with humor.

House prices will not rise for a number of years in real terms, the only way they can rise is through currency devaluation.

[SailingCartagena]

A fine example of British comedy, very funny and tragic at the same time.

The British property market has a long way to fall. He knows this, why else would he be selling his property empire?

[straydoggio]

Good work Ross.

[amca014]

Oh yeah lock him up.. he's an investor, what an evil man.

He smashed the crap out of the 'underlying mechanisms of the property market'. 4:40 He bought at auction and sold them on for more.. its called arbitrage sport. Maybe he prefers not to speak in fancy terminology but he obviously made at least a few golden observations that have done him proud.

[sgclacy]

Absolutely amazing. This man would make Darwin question his theory of evolution. Quite simply he (wilson) is a buffoon.

[hivemindanarchist]

Good channel but a poor interview.

[dojochuck]

that guy knows alot about buying houses, but not much else. The housing market has alot more pain coming, at least here in the U.S. Record foreclosures in the last quarter.

[leninstreet]

This guy is clueless. He will have his ass handed to him.