Skidding along the bottom!
There are so many comprehensive USA property listing sites available in the USA that can aid the property investment process they can show you the “tone” of the neighbourhoods and compare one with another. They also show what’s for sale, what’s to rent, what’s been sold and what you can buy if you want to offer. So why can’t we call “the bottom of the market”?
Take a look at the 2007-2010 reduction in the value of 3 bed single family homes in tourist areas in Florida the loss in value is scary from $250,000 to $75,000 and in many parts the fall in value slope is still downwards or flat.
Rental value for these units hover around the $800 – $900 per month and demand is good and at this level the gross returns are over 13%, that will still net to 10%+ and where can you get that in the UK?
Some reassurance can come from the American mindset “a property owning democracy” land of the free, home of the brave, incentives have been made available to encourage families back into ownership. BUT more forclosure releases are on the horizon and this could keep the slope downwards again.
One interesting point to note is the price of new homes, compared with that of the existing stock and where there are new homes being constructed. There is a bit of a shortfall of new builds and prices for new builds are well above existing empty stock. When the time does come for a mass buy of US property it will be the “existing stock” that people are buying.
Property wire report Fannie Mae and Freddie Mack the largest mortgage providers in the USA has the view that although sales are subdued this is the bottom and they are predicting a small rise in 2011. Interestingly the amount of property sales to foreign nationals accounted for 7% of sales a massive 66 billion dollars worth………Time to Invest? Take a look at our USA Property Investments.
Florida: paradise lost… or found?
Anybody else see this show? On ITV last night a TV program about British families that have moved to the USA in search of a better quality of life and standard of living, with beautiful weather and what they thought were endless opportunities all looked rosy! The program highlighted a couple of contrasting scenarios one, a family that had moved there and taken on a home cinema business and another, a property developer (with the most annoying wife in the world I might add) who had gone there to take advantage of how far his money could stretch.
The home cinema business did not work in the slightest and profits were on a consistent downward spiral and the property developer had actually done really well… which may contradict what I’m going to say later on in this article.
All of the increased demand from overseas and the ease of credit in the US had increased house prices substantially, which wasn’t a problem as long as inflation was present, banks were still lending and credit was still flowing. However once the flow of credit stopped the US began to see some problems. House prices dropped and businesses began to struggle. One of the problems with this in the eyes of the UK family living in the US is to do with the visa they need to live there. A couple of the stipulations are that they need to own a business in the US which is employing US citizens and that business needs to be profitable. Now that second one can be a bit of a problem in a recession and if they cannot reach it, then the family will be told they have to go back to the UK.
So now you have UK citizens being forced back home leaving their houses and businesses, businesses failing, credit drying up and house prices falling, of course this lead to many defaults on home loans and not only from the UK citizens also the US citizens and inevitably the bailout from the taxpayer to save the banks and get them lending again.
After all of this, US citizens were obviously struggling to get a mortgage and those that did have a mortgage may well have lost their jobs anyway. Property prices tumbled and many have seen it as a better bet to rent as opposed to try and fail to get another mortgage.
Now we come to our US properties. You can now purchase properties in Florida that are priced far below the building cost, which have a steady professional tenant in place and are yielding around 15%. The majority of these properties were built by developers and then given to the bank when the developer went into liquidation. The properties we are offering have been purchased from the bank and modernised (they were built recently but never lived in so needed a little tlc) then tenants have been heavily vetted and placed in the properties.
Click here for details of our properties for sale in Florida
Spring market bounce defies political fears
The traditional slowdown in the property market coming up to the election, was not enough to eradicate the increase in housing sales, enquiries and prices that come with the spring season every year.
As the election comes around people traditionally slow their searches for new properties, in a hope to not overexposing themselves to possible new policies, which could leave them struggling once the new government has been decided. One such new policy could be an agreement to hold the interest rates at a current low level, this will of course be beneficial to anyone looking to trade up in the housing market and possibly leverage themselves further against the value of their property, if interest rates were due to increase this could be a problem for would be house buyers as they may struggle to match the repayments.
On the other hand it is normal in Britain for the property market to have somewhat of an upsurge in interest during spring, this can be attributed, partly to the sun making house hunting a more pleasant experience and also, to the budget which is often announced late in March and provides more certainty to market conditions.
It is good to see this news, as now the new government has been decided and are getting to work, we would expect the current trend in new house buyers and a slow increase in house prices to continue, as people are given more certainty in the position they will be in, come the next few months. There are a few interesting policies being taken into government, it will be interesting to see what the Lib-Dems have in store with the new “safe start” mortgage, designed to stop new buyers slipping into negative equity.
News of the increase in prices and sales came from RICS this month, as they published their latest monthly survey of some 245 members of the RICS who work as estate agents.
Fresh Invest is a property investment company with the aim of maximising our investor’s funds whilst minimising their risk. For more information see www.freshinvest.co.uk or phone 0800 043 69 56.
SIPP’s, The leaders debate and the £59 pension
After watching the leader’s debate last night, one thing stuck in my mind, it wasn’t any particular party policy (at the moment it seems they all have flaws somewhere) it was… the poor old lady that is currently having to live on £59 per week as her state pension!
The thing that I find the worst about this is that, we all know that by putting our pension in the hands of the government, we are never truly in control. I, like many others, like to be in control of my finances and this is where I would like to make the case for the Self Invested Personal Pension (SIPP) known.
Not only do I like to know how much of a pension I will have to live on come retirement age, but I would also like to be able to increase this amount which will either mean me retiring earlier than originally planned or living a more prosperous retirement period. The only way you can truly take control is by utilising the money in the form of a SIPP. There are fantastic benefits available for people putting money into a SIPP such as attracting tax relief at your tax rate; this means that if someone is taxed at 40% the government will add 40% to any contributions they make towards their SIPP!
Another advantage to a SIPP is the ability to borrow up to the value of 50% of your SIPP to increase your buying power this means; if an investor has a pension value of £100,000 they can then borrow a further £50,000 against this, giving a purchasing power of £150,000.
I believe that the only real way to have a secure and happy retirement is to use a SIPP to invest in property, be it in the UK or Overseas. The returns available in our Cape Verde Investment for example, show that if an investor had a pension value of around £84,000 they could increase this figure to around the £300,000 mark in 10 years, and still have an apartment providing a net profit per year of £12,000! This is based on pessimistic figures, assuming that growth isn’t as good as it has proven to be over the past few years.
We think now is a fantastic time to invest in any property with your SIPP, especially those in Cape Verde; which is a real emerging country currently receiving 15% growth per annum and tourism increases of around 27.5% pa expected to top 1,000,000 per year by 2015.
For more information on investing in property with the use of your pension including unlocking frozen pensions contact info@freshinvest.co.uk
Conclusions of 2009 – Opportunities for 2010
2009 – A year when then the smart investor used their time to set them up for 2010.
I think you will be in the minority if you haven’t suffered some kind of hardship this year, many investors have seen thier dreams of retirement severely set back.
This has not been confined to property, if you had shares or your money in some banks you could be in a worse situation!
So what should this year have taught the average investor?
1. The only way to build a profitable portfolio for the long term is by investing smart.
For me that means keeping at least 20% worth of equity in any property so you build yourself a buffer to combat any drop in values.
Investors have been stung by dropping loan to value rates, an unwillingness by lenders to remortgage on to rates previously offered has seen investors have to increase the equity in their properties, leaving them severely stretched.
Over the last 2 years i have seen investors with portfolio’s worth in excess of £100m go bankrupt, how can this be i hear you say.
What some property investors seem to misunderstand is that if you have a portfolio worth £100m, with lending on it of £90m. You actually have a portfolio worth £10m. If property prices drop 10%, what is the worth of your portfolio…Nothing!
If this happens you are entirely reliant on the income that your portfolio brings in, investors too highly geared normally cannot withstand more than a couple of months of empty properties.
2. Property Investment is not a get rich quick scheme – investors that use it as such usually find they have leveraged too high.
I am one of the biggest exponents of flipping property, i think that if you have the time and the know how it is possible to make decent profit this way but it is entirely dependent on a couple of factors.
Firstly, you need a massive amount of knowledge of the local market, this is not something that can be learnt quickly, so for this reason either keep to one area or find yourself a property specialist that you trust completely.
Secondly, always have another exit strategy, so if you are buying to re-sell, make sure that if worst case you can’t do this immediately, you can let the property out and pay your mortgage that way.
I have refurbed properties for over 6 years and we are also in the middle of developing apartments, i value every property investment opportunity by the number of exit strategies it provides.
3. The good times will come again, use times like these to research the market and decide where the best profits will be made next year and in the future.
If i could focus on the single most important factor i have taken from 2009 it’s that within the next month or so the vast majority of new build developers will completely run out of stock.
At Fresh Invest we are in contact with all major new build developers and 9 months ago all of them decided to stop all build that wasn’t already past footings. This decision was made because the last thing the market needed at that point was more new build stock. They are all building again now but this has created a back log where all finished sites have been sold and the next tranche of stock is still around 6 months away.
We have seen average discounts reduced from 40% 9 months ago, to 15%-20% now, and thats if you can find any stock. We have 2 developments left on our books which are selling at around 2 a day.
The first 6 months of 2010 will see property prices increase due to a lack of supply and increased demand as more confidence seeps back into the market.
I would take the first few months of 2010 to pick up the last pieces of good quality discount property around, there is only 1 way values are going to go in 2010.
New Opportunities through Fresh Invest:
1. We are launching a scheme that should give clients access to lender stock, for property investors looking to pick up great quality buy to let property in a particular area this is the one!
2. We are working hard on some student schemes, these should yield over 8%, have really low interest rates and start at around £80,000. With massive demand and industry professionals flocking to this market this is definitely one for the future!
Close to a deal for forestry at Copenhagen
It looks like alternative investments are going to recieve a well deserved boost after some firm negotiations have been getting under way in Copenhagen.
Unless you have had your head buried in the sand for the past few months you will know that climate change is the “Hot Topic.” The reason climate change is a hot topic, is that world leaders have finally opened their eyes to reveal a world that is years away from possible catastrophe.
Leaders of the world are gathering in Copenhagen from the 7th of December to the 18th to “thrash out” a deal whereby rich westernized countries will have to pay the less economically developed countries for what we have done to the planet while we were growing.
You’re a property investment company why are you interested in climate change?
Well apart from the obvious - This affects all of us!
The reason we have taken such a serious interest in these climate change debates is that, we know that when all the world powers are getting together to discuss climate change business opportunities are going to arise… and they have, but luckily we have a readily packaged investment for you to:
- Profit by up to 100% pa
- Make a real difference to the environment by saving the rainforests.
Have a look at our Carbon Credit Investment or read our Carbon Buyers Guide.
“Climate talks near deal to save forests” New York Times
Brazil property… positioned for growth?
When you are looking for an overseas property investment, what are the key points that need addressing before you commit to a viewing, reservation or a purchase?
Capital growth, secure economy, stunning scenery, fantastic prices, rising tourism figures, beautiful climate… How about oil reserves and major sporting events? …Ok those last two may not be as appealing, but trust me they are going to drastically effect the value of your investment property.
An example of a major sporting event’s implications on local property values would be South Africa which is due to host the 2010 World Cup. In 2005 property values in South Africa rose by a staggering 35%, with news of the country’s successful bid from 2004. It isn’t only South Africa seeing their property prices increasing either. Cape Verde just off the coast is seeing similar price increases; this would probably be pinned down to it being a great stop off for anyone travelling to world cup games from western countries. Click for our Cape Verde property.
Belo Horizonte, Brasília, Cuiabá, Curitiba, Fortaleza, Manaus, Natal, Porto Alegre, Recife, Rio de Janeiro, Salvador, São Paulo. These are all “host cities” therefore these are going to be the cities that see the most direct benefit that this prestigious event will bring with it. But it will definitely not stop there, I am sure that all of Brazil is going to see the benefits of the 9.8 billion reias the government has set aside for tourism development of which 63.3% is allocated to infrastructure upgrades.
Brazil’s huge newly discovered oil reserves are sure to act as a magnet for Foreign Direct Investments. With oil reserves around the world dwindling and demand not letting up we are seeing another rise in prices at present. Brazil has positioned itself in a position where it is not overly reliable on oil; therefore it is now in a fantastic position to exploit its reserves.
So you can see where the growth of your investment property is going to come from. Other points I think you have to take into consideration though are: The fact that Brazil is only a 7 hour flight from Europe, it has increasing employment and a massive shortage of first-time homes somewhere between 8-10 million!
Oh Wait! Don’t forget that Brazil is also due to host the Olympic Games in 2016!
Check out our Brazil property
Act on CO2… with a high yielding investment
The Carbon Credit Investment market is a hot topic at the moment owing lots of thanks to the words “Act on CO2” and the Copenhagen climate change summit or “COP15”
“Act on CO2” is the slogan of the governments advertising campaign to try and cut the emissions of UK households. It is big news from the TV Commercial to the News.
For this reason Fresh Invest are offering a fantastic opportunity to participate in this phenomenal growth market, for an entry price of just £25,000
The Carbon Emissions market is expanding rapidly year on year; in 2008 it doubled to an estimated value of more than $126 billion.
Research conducted by New Energy Finance claims the carbon market will reach $360 billion by 2012 and if the US introduces its own cap and trade scheme, as expected, it could rise to circa $1.9 trillion by 2020.
How would this effect investors in Carbon Credits?
The increase in market size is being driven by one thing….demand.
Reasons for an increase in demand include:
- Carbon Reduction Commitment – introduced next April. This will rank 5000 UK businesses according to their net carbon emissions.
- US Cap and Trade – companies will be encouraged to cut emissions, whatever they can’t cut they must trade.
- Less economically developed countries becoming more westernised in their day to day lives, carbon emissions per head will dramatically increase. These will need to be offset.
- Public Relations – Companies are beginning to lose business as they are seen as “dirty”. The only way to change this will be to cap and trade.
- Advertising – From much publicised conferences, to television commercials and news, “ACT on CO2” are the “buzz words” for the 21st century.
- COP-15 – 192 nations will be represented at this climate change conference in December that will put in place guidelines for countries to reduce their CO2 emissions.
So what is a carbon credit?
Each carbon credit is equivalent to 1 tonne of carbon dioxide. It is a commodity tradable on markets similar to the stock market. *You will not have to trade your credits yourself.
How do you make a carbon credit/where do they come from?
A carbon credit is issued by either the Voluntary Carbon Standard or the CDM (Clean Development Mechanism) Executive board.
Credits are issued to projects which are, in effect, carbon negative so they actively reduce the amount of CO2 in our atmosphere
What do they do and what are they used for?
At the moment it seems carbon credits are becoming more and more important everyday.
Put simply – Everybody has a carbon footprint which is measured in tonnes. So say I do 7,000 miles in my car per year – by doing these 7,000 miles my car will have emitted 2.4 tonnes of carbon dioxide, now if I wanted to offset this I would have to buy 3 carbon credits. (Probably at a price of around £11 each)
How do big companies use Carbon Credits?
A big company will use their carbon credits in much the same way as an individual would. However they have more emissions to offset than you or I.
Where you or I would be offsetting 1 car and 1 house a major supermarket chain would need to be offsetting the emissions of: All of their stores, All of their lorry delivery fleet, all of their production lines etc… you get the idea?
How can I, as an investor profit from Carbon Credits?
Fresh Invest are offering its investors the opportunity to purchase Carbon Credits at 50 pence per credit!
The minimum investment is £25,000 and for this you will receive 50,000 credits at 1,000 credits per year for 50 years.
For the first 3 years our partner will guarantee you a return of 12%.
From years 3 to 50 you will sell directly to the end user through our partner who is also a carbon broker.
free phone on 0800 043 69 56 or go to www.freshinvest.co.uk
Somebody else will do it
Sound familiar?
As a race we have become too dependent on “the next person” This is why we are now in the mess we are, in terms of climate change. Everybody thinks that it is not their problem and I personally think that many people are relying on necessity being the mother of invention.
People think that somehow we are going to invent some carbon sequestering machine which will suck up all the carbon in the atmosphere and save the world. But I, like many others am beginning to become worried I think that we are starting to come to the point of no return.
If deforestation continues at the same rate as it currently is (13 MILLION HECTARES PER YEAR!) we are going to have no trees left. Let’s not forget that trees give us the most basic element for survival in Oxygen. They release moisture into the air which provides us with the cool climate in which we live and grow crops.
As Carbon levels in the atmosphere increase as does the temperature of the world. Now when I say that a 1 degree increase in world temperatures is imminent you may think “great I hate the British summer anyway!” Well what if I then said that a further 1 degree increase in temperature would start a dominoes effect in terms of climate change, and could lead to the end of life as we know it?
Now the first degree is unavoidable, because of the way we have lived our post industrialization lives we have to live with that. We became too dependent on life’s luxuries. We, in the West imported as much as we could, without thinking about the implications of how much carbon the transport was producing. When we aren’t importing, our large scale mechanization leads to further carbon emissions, even for the simplest of jobs.
Now there is a way we can avoid the 2nd degree in temperature rise and this is to decrease our carbon emissions by over 60% in the next 10 years, yes it’s a lot but it is vital! Reforestation/Afforestation is a start, invest in a reforestation/afforestation project which will make sure that the trees in a monitored patch of land are not illegally cut down and are, therefore sequestering carbon. The companies that run these schemes concentrate on educating the local people and showing them that the forest is actually worth more alive than dead. This is because the company is able to trade their excess carbon credits earned, from the profit they can pay the local people that are looking after the forest.
Because of this, here at Fresh Invest we have been working hard on expanding our alternative investments section we are now offering investments in 2 different types of carbon reducing project.
One is our Carbon Credit Investment. This is an opportunity for our investor to purchase carbon credits at a massively reduced price, from a company whose aim is to protect rainforests and then trade the excess carbon credits from it.
The second is an opportunity for our investor to invest in British farmland planted with a renewable biomass. This crop is then sold to a renewable power plant to be co-burnt with coal giving you a small but consistent yield. The main advantage of investing in UK farmland, apart from the obvious reduction in UK carbon emissions is, Security! It has shown consistent growth and is in ever increasing demand.
At the end of the day if people don’t start investing in projects like this it really could mean the end of the world!
For more info on any of our opportunities email or freephone 0800 043 69 56
Invest In UK farmland for financial security!
Farmland as an alternative investment is a relatively “untapped” market at present.
Why is this? Well investing in farmland often means that you will have to be of a high net worth so unless you can scrape together a few million pounds it is… I’m afraid to say out of most individuals reach.
This is because farmland is currently selling at around £5,000 per acre. This doesn’t sound too bad but farms are normally sold in massive lot sizes.
Why would you want to invest in farmland?
Firstly let’s look at what the prices of agricultural farmland are governed by:
- Increasing demand from house builders as the population of the world increases.
- Increasing demand from farmers that need to provide food for this growing population.
- Increasing demand from power stations that need to decrease their non renewable resource consumption to help the UK stay in Line with the Kyoto Protocol.
- Decreasing resources as more and more planning permission is granted for new homes, renewable power stations and renewable energy projects such as wind farms. The supply of bare agricultural land is running out and one thing is for sure we cannot create more!
The cumulative result of this has been values increasing by 15% year upon year.
Farmland is something which every human being needs to live. In its purest form it provides us with a means to grow food and rear cattle therefore providing the means to eat for the whole population.
A quote from H.R.H Prince Charles recently in the Richard Dimbleby lecture read “That which sustains us must itself, also be sustained” This means that the whole ecosystem of this world needs to be restored at the same or at a faster rate than it is diminished. The Amazonian rainforest alone releases 50 billion tonnes of water vapour into the atmosphere every day! This makes our climate cool and makes this planet inhabitable. Deforestation is currently operating at a rate of; the size of a football pitch every 4 seconds! One of the great problems with deforestation is the rate at which it impacts on our environment. Not only does all of the CO2 sunk by the trees get released into the atmosphere when they are burnt. But there are now less natural CO2 sinkers in the environment and when trees are not sinking CO2, they are not producing oxygen, the very air we breathe.
Our reliance upon nature’s non-renewable resources is 25% greater than nature can self sustain. Fossil fuels such as coal, petroleum and natural gas are being used at too fast a rate. The sustainability of these fossil fuels is something which is being tackled by the Kyoto Protocol.
The Kyoto Protocol is an obligation made by all countries to cut their use of non renewable resources by 80% by 2050. Here is where we can come back to farmland and the growing market that is renewable crops and the land underpinning it. As Power stations throughout the UK start to follow the trend and invest heavily in harnessing the power of renewable resources, this may well drive up the prices of green energy crops such as Miscanthus grass which is a co-burner to be used with coal in the production of electricity. Now this may well increase your annual yield through higher revenues, but with this, the land itself should increase in value as it is now worth more to the investor.
So let’s recap
- The price of farmland is steadily increasing as demand increases and supply decreases.
- Farmland value has increased on average by 15% year on year.
- It is a diminishing resource that needs to be sustained.
- It will help the UK contribute to their Kyoto protocol obligations.
- More and more people are starting to see the benefits of being “Armchair Farmers”.
- There is around £11 billion of borrowing secured on assets worth over £170 billion, excluding stocks and growing crops.
- It is the foundation of the built environment!
Remember the secret to success is to balance your portfolio. Where better than UK farmland?
Balance your portfolio with alternative investments!
Here at Fresh Invest we have been working hard, attempting to provide our investors with the means to build and prosper from a balanced portfolio.
Why is it so important to build a balanced portfolio?
A balanced portfolio will perform well in every market. You need to prepare yourself for every eventuality, for example. If there is another fall in house prices, people are likely to look elsewhere for places to hedge their savings or pensions and hopefully provide them with an income. This will therefore push prices up in the relative sectors, as demand increases people will look to charge more of a premium.
As markets become more volatile than ever, you should be looking to put your hard earned savings and pensions into a range of products where the value is governed by an increasing demand and a decreasing supply, during varying economic climates.
How about UK farmland? Well let’s get one thing straight we cannot create more land, neither can we build upwards, agriculturally. UK Farmland has been growing in value by 15% pa over the past 3 years where other investments have been decreasing in value.
We always need land
Another point is that if the UK housing market was to recover there will be uplift in demand for farmland yet again as housing developers start to look for land to build on. Putting further pressure on price rises as resources are diminished. Now if this happened and you were lucky enough to purchase in an area where planning gain is possible for further housing, this could greatly increase the value of your land!
Not only can alternative investments provide safe returns in uncertain economic times, many of them can provide great taxation benefits such as capital gains and inheritance tax relief.
There is a vast array of alternative investments on the market at the moment and without specialist advice you may not end up with a balanced portfolio at all.
So speak to the experts www.freshinvest.co.uk
Economies of scale
One thing you will notice a lot in terms of property investment is the economies of scale that are involved.
What I mean is the bigger the purchase the bigger the discount. So essentially the best discounts are only available to those investors of a high net worth.
However here at Fresh Invest we like to try and please everyone. So we will aim to use the larger purchasing power of our Bulk Investors and filter the discounts obtained through to our investors that are only looking for individual buy to let properties.
So any of our investors can register an interest in our bulk deals, then once a Fund has secured the properties we can start to sell to the single investor on behalf of the fund, this will be at a greatly reduced from list price.
This is good for the bulk buyers, as often they can get an almost instant return on their investment with the added choice of a great profit or an income stream from whichever properties they chose to hold and let privately.
A typical example is one of our current Opportunities in London. The developer is offering these to the single investor at 10% discount. However we have now secured these apartments at a larger discount with the use of a fund and can now offer these to the single investor at a discount of 20% leading to an average saving of around £20,000 to the single investor.
At the moment we have an opportunity in Boscombe. Now if you purchase 3 units in Boscombe and the developer would entertain a 25% discount however for one property the developer would only give a 15% discount. If we can get a bulk buyer to negotiate a very feasible discount of 30% for 10 units then sell back to the individual investor at a rate of 20% or 25% off of list price, the individual investor has saved 5-10%
For more information on this register with fresh invest here
Student Property… Still holding strong!
The student property market has still been relatively unfazed by this recession. The strong returns are still available and it is still a growing market. Student applications rose by 9% for the student year commencing September 2009.
Not only is the student buy to let market growing but did you know about the various grants available to bring your property up to HMO standards accepted by universities and authorities…Yes that’s right the landlord accreditation scheme means that if you buy a property that you intend to let as an HMO it may have to be up to a certain standard e.g. 3 double plug sockets in the living room and even bedrooms of a certain size. Some local authorities will pay half of your refurbishment costs up to the sum of £4,000!!! Not bad hey?
With the traditional buy to let market in dire straits why wouldn’t you look towards this bustling market, and place your property in an area that will always be in demand?
The landlord accreditation scheme:
The landlord accreditation scheme is free to join. It differs from area to area. But here are some advantages of our local Landlord Accreditation Scheme:
- Access to funding to bring your property up to Accredited standard up to £4,000.
- Full property listings on the university’s website and accommodation list.
- Eligibility to join the “Head Leasing Scheme” (Full management service).
- The status of being publicly identified as a good landlord, including formal certification.
- Discounts on goods and services such as property insurance, Mortgages and Loans.
For more details on the landlord accreditation scheme in your chosen area or to use the Fresh Invest Property Sourcing service email us here
Invest before the next Step Up!
Sky news has reported that buyers are flooding back to the UK property market. Is it now time for everyone to jump on the band-wagon?
It is no secret that the UK property market has been hit hard by this recession, but with buyers “Flooding” back to the market there is only one way prices can go and that’s UP! Prices have been slowly rising over the past couple of months; as banks lessen the restrictions on their lending patterns and start to let the government’s efforts of quantitative easing, filter through to the consumer.
Sky news reported that last month there was on average 4 house hunters to every house on the market.
Now don’t get me wrong I know, as does everyone else, that the underlying reason for this recession has still not been rectified. The banks still have a lot of bad debt on their balance sheets and unemployment is still rising. But let’s paint one possible picture – The re-emergence of the buyer will see the seller take the opportunity to test the market. Now if these sellers can offload their property quickly enough, they will be able to take advantage of the current low interest rates to make the move that they have been waiting the last 18 months to achieve, for many this will be a movement up the ladder. We need to remember that there is 18 months worth of first time buyers waiting to make that first jump and this could be the fuel to fire the recovery.
If first time buyers do start flooding back to the market and property prices start to stabilise, maybe banks will be able to start lessening their restrictions on the credit driven companies , these may therefore be able to start employing again. If employment starts to rise then mortgage approvals will follow suit. Interest rates will have to rise but if people are in employment they will hopefully still be able to afford their repayments and if this happens in large quantities the banks will be in a much better position to survive this recession.
Cape Verde Looks Set For an Exciting Future – Property Investors Take Note!
So where does Cape Verde fit? With a sunnier climate than the Canary Islands and Half the flight time of the Caribbean, Cape Verde looks set to be injected with massive investment from developers looking for the next “sure thing”. When developing or investing anywhere, the most important factor to consider is “LOCATION”.
If you can find a location that has all the benefits of its competitors but still remains relatively unspoilt, you could be on to a winner. Cape Verde offers exactly that! It’s not rocket science to realise that with increased flight costs and many people being able to take even less holiday the British public is looking for a location to holiday that they can get to quickly, won’t cost them the earth to stay and perhaps most importantly has “Guaranteed sunshine”!
Many well known developers have pinpointed Cape Verde as the Place to Be over the next few years, land and property costs still remain relatively inexpensive with apartments starting from £72,000 and villas from £150,000. If you equate this to the classier parts of Tenerife which it is competition with, they are at least 50% below Tenerife values. Perhaps the best apsect is that this country made up of 10 islands, all of which are relatively unspoilt, the government wants to retain the lush greenery of the Caribbean whilst building up select areas giving the necessary infrastructure to support the holiday trade that looks sure to increase over the coming years.
Some forward thinking property investors have already realised the potential capital growth to be gained by purchasing property in Cape Verde. Property prices have started to increase, the last 2 years capital growth has been at around 15% per annum. Prices have been so strong that they seem to have become recession proof, the predicted slow down in buying has just not happened! If you are in the market for a holiday home or have grand aspirations of retiring abroad one day, why not take a look at the Fresh Invest website. In a climate where we have all seen our pensions probably halve in value, investing in a property that you also get to use and also could give you a return in double figures may be the best thing you ever did!
Surf’s up… Invest before prices follow suit!
We love offering UK property here at Fresh Invest and none more so than the areas which are local to us. Now everyone wants a high yielding portfolio with great capital gains. The only problem being that often it is a case of the bigger the risk – the bigger the reward. This therefore means investing off plan and overseas.
However our most recent opportunity on the South Coast of the UK has all the makings of a great investment i.e:
- Massive Gentrification.
- A budding tourism scene.
- Large cash injections.
- Great discounts.
- A good rental market with possible very high yields (discussed later)
- Great Sea Front location… Never a bad thing.
Where in the UK is this so called “Investment Haven?”
Boscombe!
Yes that’s right sunny Boscombe close to Bournemouth has been receiving massive cash injections from the local government and is on the up!
Gentrification:
What does that mean? Well put simply it means “going up market” and with this comes increasing property prices and increasing rental prices. Which to you and me means Capital Growth and Rental yields Harry Redknapp has recently bought a flat in the area.
Tourism:
With the majority of the British public strapped for cash due to the current economic climate they will be looking to holiday in the UK. Not to mention the weakness of the pound this is making holidaying abroad a very expensive luxury.
Coupled with this is the development of the UK’s first artificial surf reef! That is sure to bring in some revenue for the surrounding area.
The newly refurbished “Beach Pods” Designed by Wayne Hemmingway (Red or Dead) have just been released for sale and have really bought a modern and vibrant look to the beachfront.
Yields:
One thing with property in holiday locations is that the rents chargeable can become massively inflated in the summer months meaning that if you could secure a long winter let and then regular summer lets you could be on to a property with a very high rental yield!
For more information on our Boscombe opportunity click here
Or freephone on 0800 043 69 56
No money down…..no thanks
Im amazed at the amount of investors that still look for no money down deals.
Now before anybody comments, im sure there are plenty of investors out there that do look for no money down deals whilst still having the funds to top up or secure a mortgage if need be.
However, i would guess that for every one of these type of investors there are another 5 that are simply trying to get something for nothing.
Why any investor would look to purchase an investment property with what is in essence 100% funding bemuses me.
Have they not seen what has happened over the last year?
By purchasing via a no money down deal you are in essence putting yourself in almost immediate negative equity, all the investor will need is to not be able to rent the property for a few months or a tenant to not pay the rent and the investor is in serious trouble.
For me, property investment will always have a very dominant place in an investment cycle, i wholeheartedly agree with the quote “there is never a bad time to buy property”.
This may seem a stupid quote to a few of you but i take it to mean “there is never a bad time to buy property” (if you are in it for the long term).
This makes much more sense and i believe is true.
If you are purchasing property to hold and rent then putting a certain amount into the mortgage is a must.
It allows you to get onto a competitive rate, does not put added pressure on your earnings and also gives you some equity if you need to utilise it in the future.
If you are looking to invest in the future, put some money in, be part of the solution, not the problem!
