Introducing the Wilsons

Judith Wilson was a maths teacher. (You can tell she's a maths teacher by the tartan trouser suit she's wearing).

Husband Fergus could have had a thriving sideline as a professional Les Dawson impersonator.

Instead, in 1991, maths teachers Fergus and Judith Wilson began buying new-build properties in Ashford, Kent.

The rents covered their outgoings and the capital values rose in the mid-Nineties, so they have remortgaged and reinvested regularly.

After two decades spent building up a property portfolio, and now aged 59, the time has come for Fergus and Judith to sell.

They own 700 buy-to-let properties, worth £180 million.

Their website, at http://www.jwipb.co.uk/default.asp, is certainly worth a look.

Judith's number one rule is: Never use your own money.

Rule number two: Judith believes that because there are not enough properties in the UK to meet housing demand, that there is never a wrong time to buy property.

Here is more Buy-to-Let common-sense, the Wilson way…

1 You are in the business to make money, not to help people

Property is an investment and a commodity. Don't get emotionally involved with your tenants.

2 Buy two or three-bedroom houses – and never flats

Except if you're in London, where flats will be in greater demand than in suburban areas.

3 Buy new or nearly new

Avoid the cost and time spent doing DIY. New-build properties have the added benefit of a NHBC warranty, boiler guarantees, double glazing and tend to attract more professional tenants.

4 Choose your tenants carefully

Do checks to ensure they are creditworthy and have a guarantor who is a home-owner. And the best tenants? "Middle age couples who have recently got together from previous relationships," Fergus says. "They won't be moving and are likely to stay a long time."

5 Leverage your money

If you have £200,000 to invest, don't buy one £200,000 property, buy ten and put £10,000 down on each house, says Fergus.

6 Magnolia wins every time

"Don't impose your tastes on others by painting your house lots of colours. Stick to bread and butter houses. A two-bedroom mid-terrace house painted in magnolia and white is what most people want to rent," Fergus says.

7 Avoid ex-council houses or bungalows

8 Buy close to home

All of the Wilsons' properties are within 30 miles of their home. Don't buy in an area with a big retirement community. "You don't want economically inactive tenants."

9 No smokers or mechanics – but dog and cat owners welcome

10 Enjoy the experience of being a landlord