When Tenants are Stupid, Take a Deep Breath

Very occasionally tenants are ungrateful and down right silly even when you are trying to make their accommodation better and help them.
When this happens -if they send a daft text or email or leave a message which is downright stupid and ungrateful - here's what you need to do.
Take a deep breath and above all resist the temptation to send back a snipey response.
Leave it for another day and when you do respond, deal only with facts, be reasonable and avoid the temptation to make them look stupid (even if they are!)

Where Have the First Time Buyers Gone (and Whose Fault Is It)?

It is easy for commentators to blame the rising cost of property (and landlord activity) for the decline in the first time buyer. However, the trend to people getting married later, starting families later and buying property later preceded the current boom in house prices.
Indeed Council of Mortgage Lenders surveys showed this trend was already happening right back in the mid 1980s.
People are often choosing to rent because it suits their lifestyle - its more flexible for work too - and is easier to get into and out of than being a home owner and committed to mortgage repayments. See the main site www.lettingfocus.com

Factors Driving Buy to Let - The Pied a Terre Phenomenon

Back to my drivers of buy to let -for other drivers, see previous blog postings.
One biggish factor is the pied a terre phenomenon.
As people increasingly have to move for work, they will increasingly may have a home in town (where they work during the week) and one in the country.
They may own both - and after all, why not, when the costs of buying and selling property are so high, many people prefer to stick with two properties, if they can afford it...... Or they may rent one of them from a landlord, especially if they are doing contract work for a limited period.
Whichever it is, this factor points to more second home owners and renters.
Back to main site: www.lettingfocus.com

Interest Rate Rise - But Will it Cool the Housing Market?

Will rates rise tomorrow. I think so.
Will they cool the housing market. No, because the driver for house price growth is caused by social factors like an ageing population leading to more and smaller households, increased divorce - causing the same thing... but most of all the impact shock of net inward migation and the resulting increased population.
This is of course all coupled with a shortage of housing and distrust of the stock market. Mix in the Equitable Life, Maxwell / Pensions and the endowment scandal and there you have it!
It is these factors that are the real factors behind house price growth. So, a quarter per cent on the base rate won't do much to curb house price inflation.
Not just yet, at least.
Go to main site www.lettingfocus.com

More Building Society Mergers Inevitable

One of the biggest "no brainers" right now is the increased likelihood that other building societies will follow the Portman and be gobbled up by other societies. If this happens the society being acquired will likely issue a payout to members.
Note though, if they go public, members will probably get no money as when they open an account they will have to waive any windfall payouts.
The likely mergers are generating a new wave of carpetbaggers who are opening accounts with the sole aim of getting windfalls.
However, I think some are more likely to be merged / taken over than others.
Back to main site www.lettingfocus.com
David Lawrenson and lettingfocus.com - the home of independent buy to let advice.

Property Market Crash -Where are the Doomsayers?

Is it me or have the doomsayers who have for so long forecast a property crash, all now disappeared.
Even Roger Bootle of Capital Economics is now no longer a bear!
Still, they say, when the last bear becomes a bull, that's when a market crashes.
And yes, there are a few worrying signs - the increase in indebtedness being one.
Will the likely rise in the base rate calm the housing market? Yes, I think so - and no bad thing either.
Will it precipitate a crash. I don't think so.
For advice on buy to let investment and for the main site go to www.lettingfocus.com