The Pain in Spain

Investors in the UK might be spooked by problems in Spain and the USA where the housing markets look rocky.
However, I think Spain’s problems are different to the UK. In Spain, the problems have been caused by a huge oversupply of new build in some areas. In most of the UK, this is not an issue as house building is much lower (though some areas in the north are clearly oversupplied with apartments)
Spain has also been hit by a new more rigorous regime in which investors have been stopped from hiding capital gains.
In the USA, there is also an oversupply of new build in some areas, plus a recent history of irresponsible lending to sub-prime borrowers on heavily discounted loans has been a problem. By contrast, the mortgage lending industry in the UK has been more responsible, at least until now. Main site: www.lettingfocus.com
Copyright: David Lawresnon 2007

Don't Miss My Evening Seminar Event in London on Monday 14th May

Don’t forget about my popular networking meeting in the City in London on Monday the 14th May
If you have already booked, that’s great.
If you haven’t, please note this meeting will now only be open to those who can confirm their attendance in advance before May 11th at latest.
Due to the venue’s size constraints we have only 20 places left.
The topics I will be covering include:
6pm: Strategies for Getting a Good Buy to Let Mortgage Deal
7pm: Managing Tenants - Do's and Don’ts 8pm: Can you really make Money in Overseas Buy to let
At around 830pm, time allowing, there will be a discussion about how you can make buying below market value work for you.
The meeting starts at 5pm and goes on till 9pm and space is limited.
As well as the subjects we are covering, it will be a great opportunity to meet other property investors too. Stay for as long or as short as you want.
Last time we had some excellent discussions involving people who really know their property investment game. So, whether you are an experienced property investor or a novice, come on down and join in.
As usual, I’ll also be selling and signing copies of my book “Successful Property Letting” - Amazon.co.uk’s top selling property book.
The venue is the Engine Room at the Railway Tavern, 15 Liverpool Street, London EC2 on Monday 14th May. (Tube: Liverpool Street).
It would be really great to meet you – and the first drink is on me!
If you wish to come, just email me at david@lettingfocus.com - all you need to do is include your full name – and that’s it - the entry fee payment of £20 is made on the door on the day.
For further details on this event - including how to find it - please click here: http://www.lettingfocus.co.uk/enews/enews.html
Don’t forget, from now on, entry is only available to those who register an interest in advance with david@lettingfocus.com
Best regards
David Lawrenson
We hope to be able to run similar seminars elsewhere in the UK shortly.

Mortgage Valuation Rip Off - Part 2

If you read one of my previous posts you'll know that I rather cheekily went direct to a surveyor who is on my lender's panel and asked them how much they would charge for a valuation report for the property I'm buying.
Their fee was £175.
The lender was going to charge me £315 for the same thing.
So, now you can see just one of the ways that the banks and building societies get so rich.
Also, the lender wants to charge me £40 for retyping.
In the days of people challenging unfair charges, whether that "re typing" fee is fair or not is another story.
But, I'm still saving a cool £100 by going direct.
Unfortunately, by doing so, this has added at least two weeks to the time it's taken the lender to process my application form -and I'm still waiting.
So, if you want to save money on a survey then go direct to the surveyor.
If the lender says "No"- then challenge them on why not and say they are limiting competition and that they are imposing unfair charges.
And if you go direct, just don't expect the lenders to process your application at superfast speed. Back to main site: www.lettingfocus.com
Copyright: David Lawrenson 2007.