The key to property success? Research, says James Caan. The Dragons’ Den star reveals his secrets. James Caan: ‘Observe the masses, then head in the opposite direction’

Zoe Dare Hall, The Telegraph – 20 Nov 2008

Any property investor who has been stung by the crunch and has been left wondering where it all went wrong might be wise to follow James Caan’s advice. Caan, the only one of the moguls on BBC’s Dragons’ Den more likely to deliver avuncular words than a bile-laden brush-off, has seven golden rules for property acquisition.

1. Research, research – then research again

Despite his estimated wealth of £73million, Caan insists on pounding the pavements himself. He calls it the sniff test.

“I need to walk the streets, know who owns here, who the tenants are, what the traffic’s like,” says Caan, 48, as he strides along Mayfair’s Grosvenor Street, home to one of his latest acquisitions: a period building “bought for considerably less than what it was worth earlier this year” that will be the new office of his private equity firm, Hamilton Bradshaw.

“There’s no point sending someone else out for you, then asking what they think of it. You have to see it for yourself. I love this street,” he says, marvelling at his Mayfair address. “It’s wide and one-way, so it’s much quieter than all the others around here. I wouldn’t have realised that if I hadn’t come here myself.”

2. The devil is in the detail

Caan’s thoroughness also applies to buying a holiday home. He bought his apartment in Cannes eight years ago for £600,000. “It’s now worth £2.4million, and that’s in a market where everyone says prices don’t go up much,” he says.

“First, I narrowed down the choice to southern France, as it’s so quick to fly there for weekends, then I spent six months researching the market. There are so many fabulous spots on the Côte d’Azur, but you have to understand the location, down to knowing how values differ from one part of the street to the other. If you don’t, there is a high risk of getting it wrong.”

Judging Cap Ferrat and Antibes too quiet for his daughters, Jemma and Hannah, St Tropez too far from the airport, Monte Carlo lacking a beach and Nice too pebbly, he chose Cannes. Villas in the hills were discarded in favour of seafront apartments. He scoured the entire length of the Croisette to find the only block of flats set back from the traffic. He worked out the optimum height for an apartment – above the trees, below air-con units – which left him with the fifth floor.

“There was nothing for sale on the fifth floor of that block, but the wonderful thing about buying a holiday home is that there’s no rush,” says Caan. “Six weeks later, an owner wrote to say he would sell. I flew back there, walked straight to the balcony, looked at the view and bought it.”

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