Honest Property Investment with Natasha Collins

Natasha Collins
  • 5.0 (3)
  • Investing
  • Updated Biweekly

Confident investing without shortcuts. The Honest Property Investment Podcast gives UK commercial and mixed-use property investors the expert insight, strategic guidance, and no-fluff support they need to build high-performing portfolios that generate income and hold long-term value. Led by Chartered Surveyor Natasha Collins MRICS, each episode dives into smart commercial property strategies, risk mitigation, leasing, valuations, and the realities of property management — all with honesty, integrity, and innovation at its core. 🎙️ New episodes drop every Tuesday at 7am UK time.

  1. 4d ago

    The Commercial Tenants Thriving Right Now… and Those I Wouldn’t Let To

    Are small businesses really being squeezed out of commercial property? And are only the biggest occupiers going to survive? That was the argument somebody made to me on Substack this week — but it simply isn't what we're seeing across the commercial properties we manage. In this episode, I'm sharing what's actually happening on the ground: the types of commercial tenants we're seeing thrive right now, the businesses I'm becoming increasingly cautious about, and what I look for before agreeing to a new tenant. We're seeing particularly strong demand from service-led businesses — including beauty, healthcare, counselling, care services, food-to-go and professional services — alongside continued demand for small workshops, storage and flexible business space. But there are other sectors where I'm asking considerably more questions before handing over the keys. I cover: The commercial tenants we're seeing perform well right now Why service-led businesses are proving resilient Why I love a boring 500 sq ft workshop or storage unit The tenant types I'm currently more wary of Why a successful business isn't necessarily a good tenant for your property What recent tenant failures across our own portfolio have looked like The due diligence we carry out on prospective tenants Why I want to see tenants thinking about business rates, utilities, grants and operating costs before they move in Why I'm increasingly interested in the person behind the business, not just the sector they're operating in The big takeaway? Commercial property isn't dying. Occupational demand is changing. As investors and landlords, our job isn't simply to find somebody willing to sign a lease. It's to understand who needs our space, why they need it and whether they've built a business capable of paying the rent for years to come.

  2. Sep 29

    I’m not an off-market deal girlie

    I’m not an off-market deal girlie. There, I said it. There’s a mythology in property investment that off-market means exclusive, less competition, cheaper and therefore a better deal. But in commercial property, I don’t think those things automatically follow at all. In this episode, I’m talking about why I actively like dealing with agents, why having a property properly exposed to the market can actually help with price discovery, and why some of the hardest deals I’ve tried to negotiate have been directly with sellers who have simply decided what they think their property is worth. I also explain how we actually search for commercial property for our acquisition clients — starting with a clear strategy, understanding what’s on the market, analysing the right opportunities, making evidence-based offers and, importantly, building genuine relationships with the agents operating in that market. Because those relationships are often what eventually lead to opportunities coming to you before they reach the wider market. My point isn’t that you should never buy off-market. It’s that being off-market isn't what makes something a good investment. The numbers, the risk, the lease, the covenant, the location, the capex and the opportunity still have to stack up. If you’d like NCRE to help you find and acquire your next commercial property, you can book a call with the team HERE

  3. Sep 22

    Can I Sell You the Commercial Property Dream?

    What does success in commercial property actually look like? We hear a lot about achieving the highest ROCE, buying at double-digit yields, recycling every penny of capital and building bigger and bigger portfolios. But I’m not convinced that’s the dream. In this episode, I want to sell you a slightly different version of commercial property success. For me, the dream is owning an estate that pays you consistently, has enough financial resilience to deal with the problems that inevitably arise, and doesn’t require you to run it day-to-day. You have good professionals around you who do the legwork. They keep up with changes in their areas of expertise, put those changes into practice, manage the day-to-day and introduce you to the people you need to know. Your role changes. You become the Estate Owner. You make the overarching decisions about capital, acquisitions, disposals, debt, risk and strategy — while your professional team executes. And importantly, you can still get involved in the parts of commercial property you genuinely enjoy. The difference is that your involvement becomes a choice rather than an obligation. I also talk about why we don't tend to hear much from investors who have already achieved this. Perhaps the people quietly receiving their income while somebody else manages the day-to-day simply aren't spending their evenings at property networking events telling everyone about their latest ROCE. Because ultimately, I think there's a much more interesting measure of commercial property success: Is your estate serving you, or are you serving the estate? That’s the commercial property dream I want to sell you.

  4. Sep 15

    You Want a 10% Yield… But Do You Want What Comes With It?

    Everyone wants a higher yield from their commercial property investment... but are you prepared for what comes with it? In this episode, I’m talking about what different yield levels can actually mean in practice. I cover the risks you’re likely to encounter with 10%+ yielding properties, why 8–10% can offer an interesting balance between cash flow and asset management opportunities, and what you’re really buying when you move below 8%. I also talk about competition, realistic timescales for finding these deals and why a higher yield isn’t simply a higher return — there’s usually a reason the market is pricing the property that way. If you have a target yield in mind for your next commercial property investment, this episode will help you understand what you may need to accept to achieve it.

  5. Aug 25

    The Yield YOU Want vs. The Yield the Market Is Giving You

    "I want an 8% yield." I hear a version of this from almost every investor I talk to, and there's nothing wrong with having a target return, but wanting an 8% yield doesn't mean the market owes you one. In this episode I break down the relationship between the return you actually want, the yield the market is currently pricing, and the risk you need to take to bridge the gap between the two, including what prime yield guides are (and aren't) telling you, and the one question you should ask every time someone sends you a deal "yielding 9%." In this episode: Why wanting an 8% yield doesn't mean the market owes you one What return do YOU actually want and why yield and return aren't the same word Working backwards from your required return to the right risk profile What a prime yield guide is actually telling you (and what it isn't) Prime yield as the market's risk benchmark breaking down where the extra 2.5% comes from Why "is 8% a good yield?" is the wrong question — two properties, same yield, opposite investments What prime yield guides ARE useful for Why prime yield isn't your required return Where the 5-Minute Deal Check fits into all of this Links: Run the 5-Minute Deal Check yourself → https://ncrealestate.co.uk/5-minute-deal-check/

  6. Aug 19

    This Is Why You're Struggling to Find Commercial Property Deals (You Don't Have the Right Funnel)

    If you think the reason you can't find a decent commercial property deal is the market, it isn't — it's that you're checking a couple of portals every few days instead of running an actual funnel. In this episode I show you exactly what my funnel looks like end to end, using a real client search that's been running since Thursday: 48 leads in, filtered right down to 2 genuine opportunities. Then I run both of those real, live deals through my 5-Minute Deal Check on air, so you can hear exactly how a fast filter tells you where to spend your actual time — and where not to. In this episode: Why "the market" isn't your actual problem What a real funnel looks like — alerts, one spreadsheet, a hard filter The numbers: 48 leads in since Thursday, only 2 good enough to shortlist Live case study 1 — a mixed-use freehold that looks fine on paper Live case study 2 — the deal that comes down to one question for the agent What both of these actually prove about filtering fast Where to run this same check yourself Links: Run the 5-Minute Deal Check yourself → https://ncrealestate.co.uk/5-minute-deal-check/

  7. Aug 11

    I Built a 5-Minute Deal Check for My 1:1 Clients… And I'm Going to Let YOU Have It

    Get the 5-Minute Deal Check → https://ncrealestate.co.uk/5-minute-deal-check/ (£49 + VAT founding price, rising to £249 + VAT once the first 100 are sold) Every deal that lands on my desk gets the same first test before anything else happens: rough numbers, real risks, a straight verdict. In this episode I walk through exactly how I do that — and introduce the tool I've built so you can run the same check yourself in about five minutes. I also take a property that's live on the market right now and run it through the test in real time, so you can hear exactly what it catches that a quick skim of the brochure wouldn't.

  8. Aug 4

    The NC Real Estate Economic Dashboard | August 2026

    Welcome to the second edition of my monthly NC Real Estate Economic Dashboard, where I take the latest economic data and explain what it means for commercial property investors. Rather than reacting to headlines, I use a simple dashboard to monitor the key indicators that influence commercial property and decide whether I need to change the way I analyse investment opportunities. This month, I discuss: Why 10-year gilt yields have edged back up and what that could mean for commercial property valuesWhy the Bank of England base rate has remained unchanged whilst commercial mortgage pricing has started to softenHow the latest inflation figures are influencing my view of tenant affordabilityWhat the latest RICS UK Commercial Property Monitor tells us about occupier demandWhy vacancy continues to rise even though tenant demand is beginning to improveWhat the latest investment enquiries reveal about buyer confidenceWhy I'm continuing to underwrite deals using a 9-month void period and 6 months' rent freeThe biggest risks and opportunities I'm seeing in today's commercial property marketI also explain the assumptions I'm making in my own deal analysis and why, despite some encouraging signs, I'm not changing my underwriting just yet. The purpose of this dashboard isn't to predict the future. It's to understand the current market, ask better questions and make more informed commercial property investment decisions. NC Real Estate helps commercial property investors build high-performing, income-generating portfolios that have the potential to increase their value — without the overwhelm.

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About

Confident investing without shortcuts. The Honest Property Investment Podcast gives UK commercial and mixed-use property investors the expert insight, strategic guidance, and no-fluff support they need to build high-performing portfolios that generate income and hold long-term value. Led by Chartered Surveyor Natasha Collins MRICS, each episode dives into smart commercial property strategies, risk mitigation, leasing, valuations, and the realities of property management — all with honesty, integrity, and innovation at its core. 🎙️ New episodes drop every Tuesday at 7am UK time.

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