How to make 2026 your best property year EVER

0:00Have you ever wondered what successful property investors actually do? Well, after more than a decade of helping thousands upon thousands of people invest, we found that actually it's really simple. The investors who do the best are just following some basic principles and sticking by them. So we put together an entire guide that sums up these principles, an investment philosophy, if you like. And you can find that for free at propertyhub.net forward slash strategy. Hey everyone, Robby here with Rob D. You are listening to The Property Podcast and happy new year to you. Let's make 2026 your best year ever.

0:44We're going to give you all the tools, the blueprint to achieve that. This episode is gold.

0:57Welcome to the Property Podcast. In case you don't know, we run a company that buys more than£100 million worth of property every year for our clients. You can find out about that at propertyhub.net slash invest. And it's a new year and we are determined to make this an amazing year. So this week we are starting strong. Coming up in this first week of January, as well as our normal episodes, we're putting out a special four-part mini-series specifically designed to get you taking action this year. So there's nothing else you need to do to get that. It'll appear like magic on your feed and we are sure that will get you off to a great start.

1:27But that is not all because right now in this episode we're going to talk you through how to make 2026 your best property year ever. So before we power on, conquer 2026, achieve everything you've ever dreamed of, and property at least, let's do a very very quick reflection and look back to 25 and ask yourself the question and be honest and really do ask yourself this question. Did you achieve everything you wanted to in 2025? When you started the year and you thought about all those things that were going to happen, did it? What did you miss? Did you miss some? Did you miss most of them? What about property?

2:05Did you have goals for property? Did you smash it out the park? If so, well done. Or did you fall a bit short? Or were you miles away? What we want to do in this episode, and that's why we're starting with this episode at the beginning of the year To make sure you are going into it in the strongest way possible Is that you do achieve what you want to this year So please take notes Action what is discussed in this podcast because if you do You will really outperform last year massively so and yes, we're going to be talking about property But as you know, Rob and I stray into different areas of lives because we are humans, not just property machines.

2:43We're not there yet. Maybe the machines will take over. But for now, you're still dealing with these two humans. And this can be applied in all areas of your life. It will make sense how we're going to focus on property. Make sure you smash those goals first. But then if you want, you can take what we're going to discuss today and implement it in different areas. So what I'm saying to you is let's buckle up. Let's take this serious. this isn't an episode to entertain you and make you giggle although you never know we might but the point is it's an episode that can really transform your year if you take it seriously so rob we've set it up we've made the big claims we've got everyone locked and loaded and serious about what we're going to discuss where we started okay let's go so the first thought to take into this year is that conditions will not be perfect but they're plenty good enough and that applies when it comes to you and when it comes to circumstances, the market, whatever.

3:35So first, let's talk about you. We've answered over a thousand questions on our Ask Rob and Rob podcast. And when you really boil it down, most of those questions are from people who already know what they need to do. They're just waiting to get permission to do it. They're wondering if they know enough. They're wondering if they're even the kind of person to do this. So let's set that straight. Do you know everything? Is this the perfect time in your life for you to be investing in property? Do you have absolutely nothing else going on in your life? No, but that's never going to be the case. If you want to make it happen, you can make it happen.

4:09And either you do already know enough or you don't, in which case, okay, set yourself the first few months of the year to go and get yourself ready. If you wait for your knowledge and your situation to be absolutely perfect, then 2026 will be another year that just passes you by. And so will 27 and so will 28 because that situation never happens. The people who've already built successful portfolios started when they didn't feel ready and when times weren't perfect. So stop waiting for perfect when it comes to your situation. And also, Rob, stop waiting for perfect when it comes to the market.

4:40Will 2026 be the absolute perfect market conditions? Will there be absolutely nothing to worry about? No, certainly not. But I think, Rob, that 2025 taught us a really valuable lesson in that regard. 2025 was such an easy year not to invest because you had all the reasons not to invest. All the news reports, the sentiment, how everyone felt about the economy, how everyone felt about the world economy, how everyone felt about world stability. Because of that sentiment, the deals were incredible. And you know what? You might still be able to do that in early 26. But 2025 was a standout year for property deals.

5:16Yet most people would have held back. Now, you are listening to this podcast, so you may have got ahead of those people, and you may have been brave enough to put yourself beyond the noise, but it was not a bad year. In fact, as I've said, it was a great year. And even if you look at one of the worst times in recent history to invest in property, which was January 2008, so right before the financial crisis kicked in, one of the worst times in history ever to invest in property, how long did it take you to get back ahead? Six years. in only six years you were back ahead and what happened during those six years you collected rent so it wasn't like you were punished during those six years you were paid and then after six years you were back again in the worst time in the worst month not the worst year the worst month of the worst year you were back ahead after just six years now what are the chances that you are going to invest in the worst month of the worst year in a once-in-a-lifetime type event.

6:17Very, very unlikely. There are lots of months and lots of years. And last year showed that there'll always be good reasons out there to not to invest, whether external, the market, or internal, you. But if you push on, you can do very well. And that's what a lot of people did last year. Don't be making that same mistake in 12 months' time. Life is full of stories, the stories we tell each of them and the stories we tell ourselves and stories are great because they can make us feel comfortable with who we are what we're doing and what we've achieved or haven't achieved and you will tell yourself stories this year oh i can't because of doesn't matter what the rest of the sentence is that's your story and you might be thinking you're convincing others but really you're just trying to convince yourself those stories are a comfort blanket you need to rip that comfort blanket off this year you need to push on you need to stop telling yourself those stories.

7:09You need to catch yourself when you're telling those stories. And when you do, you will become an elite performer, not just in property, in all areas of life. So get rid of the stories. It's not because of that person, that market, this situation. Get rid of all of that. It may make it harder, but it doesn't stop you achieving your goals. So be careful of the external and the internal stories you're telling yourself in 2026. But once you've done that, Rob, there's still plenty more to do. Yeah, I feel like running through a wall already, but there is still so much more. So let's keep going. So the next thing to do is to get your strategy straight.

7:44And that applies if you're just getting started. But it also applies if you've been investing for a while. The start of a new year is always a good time to review your strategy and make sure that it still makes sense for you because things might have changed. Your circumstances might have changed. You might have made a load of progress. Your assumptions may not have been correct. So it's a great time for everyone to review their strategy and a great time to pull yourself up to the big picture. Get out of the tactics and into strategy for a minute because something I've noticed over the years is that property attracts a lot of detail people.

8:15And I'm a reformed detail person, so I know what it's like. But there are a lot of people with very elaborate spreadsheets that have accounted for everything or people who've got a 200-point checklist when they go and look at the property, but they haven't thought about the bigger picture. They haven't got that strategy in place. So before you do anything else, think strategy. And this really doesn't have to be too complicated. So it all starts, of course, with why? Why are you doing this? What is the specific outcome that you want from investing in property? Maybe you do enjoy property, but you're not doing it for the fun of it.

8:43You're doing it for a reason. So what do you want it to have done for you? And by when? And what's the bigger picture motivation for that? Like maybe it's having £5 ,000 a month in 10 years, but cool. But why? It's not really about the amount of money. It's about the thing that that will do for you. So that's the thing that you need to anchor your strategy around. Then you need to think about your constraints. What's going to stop you from getting there? And there are three big constraints, money, time, and skills. Under skills, you could put knowledge and all that kind of thing. Most people have a constraint in one of those areas over others, so you need to know what it is.

9:16So you can find a strategy that means that constraint doesn't hold you back. For example, if time is your main constraint, then you probably don't want a strategy that involves operating a load of HMOs at the other end of the country. And when you've considered those two things, where is it that you want to go and what is it that's holding you back, then you can start mapping out the big picture route between where you are now and where you want to go. And in that process, 90 % of tactical questions will answer themselves because different approaches will count themselves out. Different areas, different property types will naturally become more or less attractive.

9:46By the way, a really great resource to get some help with your strategy is Rob and Rob AI. So this is an AI version of us that's been trained on everything that we've ever done, everything we've ever talked about. And I've heard from lots of people who use it as a sounding board when they're thinking about their strategy, because it's very good at asking you questions and challenging your thinking. And of course, it's got all the property context that you need. So you can use any AI for this. If you're more comfortable with ChatGPT, that's completely fine. But for the extra property context, Rob and Rob AI is particularly good.

10:13So we'll link that in the show notes and you can find it on our website too. I can't stress how important this is, what Rob's just taking you through, because we get it all the time. People asking tactical questions when they should be asking questions about strategy. And it all comes back to, as Rob said, goals. We've done many episodes on goals and we will link to some in the show notes so you can go back and listen to them. But a quick tip for you now, don't just set some annual goals that I'm going to invest in two properties this year, five properties, wherever it may be, wherever your goal, that's great.

10:44But break it down now. What can you be doing in January? Because that feels distant. but what will happen is you'll get to November and you'll go, crap, I haven't done anything. So start now. What can you action in January? Now, it doesn't mean you have to go, right, I'm going to invest in January, but if you can, amazing. But at least start the progression. What actions can you be taking in all your goals, but again, this is a property podcast, in January to move forward? And do that every single month. That will help propel you towards the success that you want but something that will change your life sounds dramatic but this is true it is true this is life-changing when it comes to property is if you take advantage of the magic formula that we discuss at length because it is so important let's remind everyone what the magic formula is yes the magic formula really is magic and so you've got to make sure you've set yourself up to take advantage of it.

11:39So the magic formula is leverage plus inflation plus time plus a discount. It's barely a formula really. It's a pretty simple one. There's not a lot of maths in this. But the core of it is it's based around inflation. Inflation sounds like a bad thing. For most people, it is a really bad thing. But for property investors, it can be your secret weapon because inflation is inevitable. It has to exist. It has to continue. Otherwise, basically, the entire world's financial system collapses. So you could be pretty confident that there's going to be inflation. That inflation is going to lift the value of your rent.

12:09That's great. But that inflation is also going to lift the value of your property. So even if you don't add any value or buy an incredible area or anything else, even though you probably will do those things, the value will still be lifted by inflation. Now, that in itself is not that useful if it's just gone up at the same rate as everything else until you add the second ingredient of the formula, which is leverage. And leverage for us is the true reason to invest in property over investing in anything else. Because you can put in just a small amount of the money to buy the property, say 25%, but then you make 100 % of that inflationary gain.

12:43So I won't get bogged down in the maths of this now. We've actually got a webinar about this, which you can watch on demand whenever you want, so you don't have to wait for it to go out at a particular time. But we'll link to that in the show notes. It'll take you through this idea. The effect this has on your wealth is phenomenal. But it's only phenomenal if you apply the third ingredient, which is time. Nothing in property happens quickly. Property has lots of wonderful things in its favour but making you rich quickly is not one of them. You need time to allow these inevitable forces to play out and to work in your favour and the amazing thing about giving yourself that time is it means you don't have to do anything that clever.

13:17You just wait for the magic formula to compound your wealth while you sit there collecting rent and doing very little. That's the amazing thing about it. So by setting yourself up in the right way this will do incredible things for you over time. Even if you don't apply the fourth component of the formula. But the fourth component of the formula, Rob, is something that you can't get when you're buying stocks or gold or Bitcoin or whatever else, but you can with property. So you might as well. You can, and that's a discount. And discounts are achievable. They really are. It doesn't mean if you get money off an asking price that you've automatically achieved a discount.

13:49You need to assess the price of that particular property. And it's easy to do because there's so much data out there. You can look at properties for sale. You can look at what the average price is sold to that asking price in that area to get an idea of what true value is. You can then take it further and look at land registry. You can speak to local experts. There are loads that you can do to get a real sense of what a fair price is for a property. And then you work your very best to get a discount. Now, just because you want one doesn't mean you'll get one. You have to work hard. Why would people just give you a discount for the sake of it?

14:22You need to be placed yourself to take advantage of situations that occur, whether it's a developer that needs sales or somebody needs to move on from their house quickly, wherever it might be, whatever the situation is, you need to find those situations and then take advantage of them. Because if you do, it accelerates this magic formula even further. And let's give you an example. Let's take the numbers now. Let's put all this together. So let's say you buy a property in Manchester and the property goes up by three and a half percent. Well, that would be your return plus your yield if you bought a cash.

14:57But with leverage, that's a 9.6 return because you've leveraged. You're not putting all your money down. But then when you add a discount of, say, 8%, that then takes the annual return to 12.4%. And then when you're picking a better area, so your average return goes up as well, it can then be a 15 % return. And remember, none of this includes rent. Now, you may be going, well, give me exact numbers here, Rob. We have. We've talked about the magic formula in the last 12 months and we'll link to it in the show notes so you can really get into the numbers. So trust me for now and go and validate it by listening to that podcast.

15:32But that is life-changing. The difference between a 3.5 % return to a 15 % return before rent, remember this is not including rent, they are life-changing numbers. If you compound that for just a few years, your world financially is going to change dramatically. and that's why we are such strong advocates of this because it is possible this isn't a secret although people probably would charge for this information because people like to do things like that but it's not a secret the info is there we'll point to the resource so you can deep dive into this even further but it's there so if it's there and it's possible why would you not do it in 2026 okay so we've set the table we've got rid of the excuses we've talked about strategy we've laid out the magic formula.

16:18But now let's get down to action. What should you actually be doing in 2026? Let's talk about whether you're just starting out or whether you've already started and you're just building on what you've got. We'll talk about both of those situations. If you're starting out, then I think it's really, really simple. You just start. If it's something you've been thinking about for a while, you just commit, as we talked about, make this the year that you make it happen and make it happen. But importantly, with the context of everything that we've just been talking about, don't approach this with a view to, right, I'm going to buy a property and that's it.

16:47See that bigger picture so you know that property one is just the start. You appreciate that property one in itself is not going to change your life, especially within just a few years. And so make sure you don't hit that point and then stop. Hit that point, yep, celebrate, but then keep going and make sure you've got a plan to keep that momentum going. So even if you don't have the cash to buy again straight away, which most people don't, make sure you stay active, stay engaged, and have a sense of where you're going. So that's if you're just getting started. But what if you've been in property for a while?

17:18What if you've got a portfolio already? Well, then it's partly up to you. It depends what else you've got going on in your life. It depends what's got your focus. But you're here at the start of your new year listening to this episode. So I imagine that property is somewhat on your mind. If that's the case, then 2026 could be your year to make property more of a priority, to put your foot down a little bit. Because when you're building a portfolio over the long term, most people are not super active all of the time. Most people drift in and out. They have periods when they're really active in property and periods when other things take priority.

17:50I know this from speaking to lots of listeners. People have a property phase and they drift away for a bit. Then they go, oh, this did really well for me. Then they come back and they do a bit more. That's completely normal. So if you've been in property for a while, if you've been listening to the podcast for a while and you haven't been super on it all the time, you're not doing anything wrong. That's completely normal. But Rob, if you're not where you want to be yet, if you've got more to do and you're wondering if now is the time, then based on what we know and based on what we've seen for last year, 2026 could be a very good year to get more active and get more serious.

18:20Well, let's look at what's at play here. We have a lot of noise as we go into 2026 around the property market and the economy and the world economy, actually. But then we look at what happened. Most markets around the world did okay. the UK property market grew slightly. Nothing to write home about but if you apply the magic formula that it is something to write it home about. But what was incredible because of that sentiment there were great deals to be done. So what does 2026 hold? Well at the moment great deals still can be done in the early part of this year but even if the sentiment improves what are we dealing with?

18:56Well we're dealing with a market that is seeing interest rates fall, so our borrowing costs will go down. But yields are continuing to improve, and they've been improving year on year. So even if you don't believe in the magic formula, and you just want to focus on yield, well this year will be the best it's been for many, many years if you buy well, in the right area, at the right price. And that alone, just a yield might be enough for you. But when you put it all together, it becomes super powerful, and 2026 could be a stellar year for property. But hey, even if it's not, what if we have another January 2008?

19:31Well, as you've heard, if somehow 2026 goes down to be one of the worst years in the history of property, in six years' time on average, you'll be okay. That's what happened last time, and you'll still get paid. That's the beautiful thing about property investment. Whether it's doing great or it's not, you still get paid. You still get a return. Your asset is still putting money in your pocket, month in, month out. And that's what makes property so beautiful. It may not always be the highest performing asset class out there, but it's consistent. And when you apply that magic formula, it becomes consistently beautiful.

20:10It's an incredible, credible asset if you do the right things in the right way. But there is no expensive course now to buy. We've told you what to do. You know how to do it. We've taught you that. If you haven't go back, we've linked to it in the show notes. You know 26 potentially could be a very, very good year for property investment, but you also have the comfort of knowing that even if it's not, you'll be fine in just a short few years. So stop waiting for perfect. Stop telling yourself the stories. Get your strategy sorted. Get your goals crystal clear. Take action as soon as now in January and take advantage of this market with the magic formula.

20:51But Rob, let's build on this to-do list. What else should everyone be doing? Well, we've made this really simple because our team has put together a 2026 property goals planner, which helps you work through the things you should be thinking about and turn them into a clear practical plan. It guides you through reflecting on where you're starting from, setting proper goals for 2026 and mapping out the actions that will actually move you forward. It's completely free. You can download it straight away and it's designed to keep you focused and on track throughout the year without over complicating things so the show notes are the place to go today there's lots we'll be linking to but the 2026 property goals planner is one you'll definitely want to grab it's time for hub extra now and this hub extra i think is the perfect hub extra to kick off your year it's a poem long-time listeners and regular listeners of the podcast will know i've shared a couple of poems in the past and actually i've had really nice feedback whenever I've done that so I wanted to share another one because I think this poem could really be useful for people during this year because yes you should push forward and yes you've got that new year energy hopefully but at times life will be challenging sometimes really challenging and this poem by Lucas Jones I thought was beautiful really well put together we'll link to his social profiles and you'll be pleased to hear I won't be reading this one out we'll play his audio in a second but remember the highs are there because you've experienced the lows the lows are the tough parts but then it helps you understand how amazing the great parts are because you've been through the challenge talked about stories earlier well we go on our own heroes journeys through life and i thought this poem was beautifully put together to express that i'll pass it over to lucas jones now so we can read it to you i met god at the supermarket he said you're right I said yeah you so what's your mind I said just getting some food but I think you could tell because I look kind of sad he said go on and ask I said why are things bad like why is it hard like sometimes it's sometimes it's like oh my god is this it because I can tell you but you won't like the answer I said don't give me riddles man I'm not saying master he said fair enough I'll give it you straight you know in a film or story or play the bit where you think it's all there's no way the lead can survive and then suddenly yay something good happens and then they're okay and learn something new and true on the way well it's basically that you'd be bored without this you wouldn't know what the good bit is I watch the film past someone who's fine then nothing happens and wow that's alright so trust me I've tried it before you were born but no one was rich and no one was poor and no one was cold just happy and warm and it was so they all went to war just to find reasons to feel something more so now it's like this you hit then you missed and hit and then win you know that kind of thing you could tell by my face I was still kind of so I tried to tell you you weren't like the gift i said when does it end he said oh five minutes i said wait wait what just got so much to give give me more time i'm sorry forgive my dreams are undreamt lost words in my lips i missed all the sunsets and cliches and loving my love and time with my kids and then he goes ah there's someone find reason look forward to something of faith that there's meaning i went oh no you got me so there's your time back now live well how's that for a start to 2026 hopefully we've got you inspired we've told you exactly what you need to be doing to make this your best year ever what more could you want oh a four-part series over the next week yep we've got that for you as well so keep checking the feed because we are determined that 2026 is going to be an amazing year for you so we're throwing everything at helping you to make that happen so all of that coming up have a great start to your january and we'll see you very soon bye-bye bye-bye