We recently had the opportunity to interview Greg Stockton, Global Head Of Sales And Distribution at Global Residential. Greg has over two decades of expertise in international wealth management, business development, and real estate and has delivered well-researched investment property to top global partners.
Global Residential is emerging as one of the prominent names in the field of real estate investments alongside offering portfolio design and management. Since joining the organization Greg and his team have played a crucial role in uplifting and shaping Global Residential to its current position. In this interview, Greg shares his insights on real estate investments, challenges, ensuring unique services are delivered, and acing the trends while offering valuable suggestions for investors.
Beginnings First
We started the interview by asking, “Could you start by telling us about your career path?”
Greg shared, “Having spent over two decades in the wealth management industry as an IFA and business leader, I became increasingly excited by the investment property element of our client portfolios. After much consideration I decided to exit the financial advice space and fully focus on UK investment property.”
Spark Behind The Journey
We were intrigued to learn about the factors that influenced Greg Stockton to start his journey in this industry. So, we asked, “What inspired you to work with UK property in the first place?”
He shared, “Client demand and the need to provide consistent returns for client’s investment portfolios was the major driving force behind the decision. Having seen first hand many global clients holding high allocations to stocks/shares, the need for diversification into safer secure long term growth assets was key. WIth UK property returning 43 positive growth years over the last 50 coupled with low volatility and solid income rental return it was, and is, kind of a no brainer.
We further asked, “Dubai property or UK property?”
Greg continued, “Great question, and it depends on your risk appetite. For me personally Dubai has too many unknowns from an economic and real estate perspective that makes it too high on the risk scale for us to consider as a safe, secure investment. With UK property, you know what you get. You will not be making 20% to 30% a year, but you will get consistent, comfortable, and more certain returns on your capital. One of the main reasons for this is the shortfall of over 4,000,000 homes, which results in a massive supply-demand issue. Rentals are also increasing year on year.”
Evolving Priorities
Over the years of operating as a business, the priorities tend to transform. We asked, “How have your priorities in business evolved since you first started?”
He replied, “No changes really, we remain soley investor-led, focusing on getting consistent returns with the least risk by choosing the best developers, in the most opportunistic locations across the UK.”
Adaptability Amidst Challenges
Challenging phases are an inevitable part of businesses and overcoming them efficiently matters the most. We asked Greg Stockton, “What are the most challenging situations your company overcomes?”
“Most recently, the ever-changing mortgage rates which can severely alter a client’s appetite to take on debt, understandably of course” Greg shared.
“What’s the key strength to overcome it?”
He added, “Paying close attention to cash flows and ensuring that projects we take on generate sufficient yields to offset even higher mortgage rates. In reality, there should be an inverse effect for investors moving forward: mortgage rates will go down and rental yields go up.” Educating and sufficiently guiding clients through the project but also having patience to wait till the client is confident and comfortable with purchasing.
Setting Greg’s Expertise Apart
To set the organization apart from the competition and maintain a strong brand presence, it is paramount to offer unique services. So, we asked, “What makes your company stand out from other businesses in your industry?”
“There are some excellent competitors in our space. We are probably lighter on the projects that we get involved with at any one time, so essentially, focus on 1 to 2 projects only to ensure the investors in these projects get looked after the best way possible and we can sell out the development before bringing anything else to market.
In addition, we are one of a few that don’t have a direct sales force, making it very clear that our goal and objective is to support our distribution partners, which is where we invest our energy and time.” Greg shared.
Measuring Success
To learn more about how Greg Stockton estimates the success of the business, we asked, “What KPIs do you use to measure your business growth?”
He responds, “We use numerous indicators including but not limited to; sales volume, rental book growth, completion projections vs. actual, rental projections vs. actual, to name a few.”
Current Services
We were curious to learn about the services and projects of Greg Stockton’s organization. So, we asked, “Tell us something about your projects. What are you working on currently?”
“Currently, we are working on two significant projects. The first is bringing affordable investment property to the masses by selecting unique developments in up-and-coming towns and cities whilst offering favorable payment plans to offshore clients, such as 5% upfront with monthly payments to follow instead of the typical heavy upfront deposits of 20 to 30%. This usually means clients can enter the UK investment property market for below £15,000.
In addition, we are heavily focusing on bringing to market what we see as the best Manchester opportunity to date by working with a leading developer, Far East Consortium UK.
The Victoria North regeneration zone is the largest regeneration project in the North of England bringing 7 brand new suburbs, 15,000 homes in order to house 40,000 new residents over the next 10/15 years. Our investors will benefit from being invested in the project at the early stages of this long term project (think, buying downtown day 1 of launch) ” Greg shared.
Fostering a Healthy Work Environment
Amidst the other prerequisites, having strong cooperation among the team and offering them a positive work environment is essential to ensure sustainable success. We asked, “How do you build trust with your employees and boost productivity without causing burnout?”
He replied, “We allow the employees to work their hours, within reason, from any global location and home, if required.”
Staying On The Competitive Edge
We further asked, “How do you stay on top of the latest technologies and trends in your industry?”
Greg continued, “Mainly trends rather than tech. Our UK sourcing & investment team are based in Manchester and Cheltenham and work with all the large lenders, developers, solicitors, and contractors to make sure we can stay ahead as much as possible.
Suggestions For Investors
Investors considering investing in properties will find hearing from an expert like Greg Stockton inspiring and helpful. So, we asked, “What advice would you give anyone looking to add investment property to their portfolio?”
“Buying an investment property is different from buying a home and therefor It’s less emotional and more “do the numbers make sense.” Seek advice ideally from someone qualified in wealth management who can also offer investment property as part of a portfolio so that you can properly financially plan your purchase. We support many of the global IFAS in providing them with well-researched property and support the sales process.” Greg concluded.
Follow Greg Stockton on LinkedIn.
Find Global Residential on LinkedIn or visit here to learn more.
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