A few months ago, I shared updates on my own property business on Linkedin...
On the surface, it looked straightforward.
In reality, it wasn't.
And it’s that experience — being directly involved in the decisions, not just the numbers — that has shaped how I now advise clients.
It looks clearer on paper than it feels in practice:
When you’re reviewing a set of accounts, things often appear relatively ordered.
Profit can be measured.
Performance can be assessed.
Equity can be estimated — even if not fully reflected on the balance sheet.
But when it’s your own project:
Cash doesn’t arrive evenly.
Decisions don’t wait for year-end accounts.
And the “right” answer is rarely obvious at the time.
You’re making calls based on incomplete information — and often under some degree of pressure.
That’s something you don’t fully appreciate until you’re in it yourself.
Cash feels very different when it’s your own
One of the biggest shifts for me has been how I think about cash.
During one of our projects, cash built up over time. From a bank balance perspective, things looked comfortable.
But that comfort was misleading.
The real question was wasn't how much cash was there - it was what that cash needed to be used for next.
Do we reinvest into the next project?
Do we extract funds?
Do we reduce debt?
Or do we hold back as a buffer?
None of those decisions felt purely financial at the time.
They depended on risk appetite, future plans, and how confident we felt about what was coming next.
That’s where simple visibility becomes more useful than headline numbers.
Financing shapes more than most people realise
Another thing that becomes clear very quickly is this: financing doesn’t just support a project — it shapes what’s possible
On paper, there are often multiple options.
In practice, they’re often constrained by:
Lender requirements.
Timing of valuations.
And the stage the project has reached.
Which means that decisions are rarely made in isolation. They are made within a structure — and that structure matters more than most would expect.
There isn’t always a “right” answer
On one project, we chose to retain a portion of the cash and leave two of the flats mortgage-free.
For us, that was about managing risk and creating a level of stability within the portfolio.
Another investor might have taken a different approach — refinancing further and pushing on to the next project more quickly.
Both approaches can work.
The difference is whether the decision is made deliberately — or by default.
How this changed the way I advise
Going through this process has shifted my focus.
Less emphasis on explaining what has already happened
More emphasis on helping clients understand where they are now, what’s coming next, and what their options realistically look like - often before those decisions become urgent.
Because in property, the challenge is rarely just getting the numbers right.
It’s using those numbers to make better decisions at the right time.
A final thought
Owning a property business doesn’t give you all the answers.
But it does change how you see the questions.
And in most cases, better decisions start with clear numbers — and a clear understanding of what sits behind them.
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