New Blogs and Blog Posts - Look Out for LettingFocus's New Posts

Dear Readers,

We are moving our blog postings over to a new platform on Wordpress and away from Blogger, whose owners, Google, no longer seem to like the idea of people using Blogger to post and then uploading them via FTP up to their own websites (as I do).

Google say they are still happy for us writers to publish our musings, but from tomorrow it will have to be on their own site, blogger.com/XXXXX

As an author, I'm well aware of how Google operates a free and easy attitude to copyright - and routinely ignores the rights of authors like me, so I'm sorry, but I won't be playing their game.

Instead, I plan to post our new Blogs onto the Wordpress platform, which we will then upload onto our site (much as we do now) and my techie expert Tim is working on this as we speak.

All being well, you won't see any change at all and the new posts I write in the future will continue to appear together, hopefully along with all the old posts you see here in the sidebar. Well, that's the long term plan, just as long as some technical issues like pesky SEO things don't get in the way.

Unlike property investing (which I do profess to understand), I have learnt that nothing technical is ever all that simple and I'm sure there could be some challenges along the way.

Please bear with us. And if you don't find our new posts (next one is due on 5th May) right on here soon, then please go to our main site home page LettingFocus Home Page (www.LettingFocus.com), where we should have some info on where our new blogs will be.

Whether you are a property portal, bank, insurer, local authority or a private landlord, we look forward to keeping you informed of the latest developments in the private rented sector and for landlords soon.

MORE ABOUT LETTINGFOCUS AND WHAT WE DO

LettingFocus.com is the home of landlord information.

I’m David Lawrenson, a landlord and property investor myself for over 25 years and author of “Successful Property Letting” – the UK’s top selling commercially published property book for the last 3 years.

Services to Businesses and the Public Sector

Primarily I am a consultant to banks, local authorities, social housing providers and other organisations – helping them with their landlord facing or buy to let product strategies and services.

For example, I help banks improve their buy to let mortgage lending practices and I help housing association / local authorities find private landlords (private rented access schemes, local letting agency models etc.)
I also write for property websites and am regularly quoted by the broadcast media.

Services for Private Landlords

We also find some spare time to help landlords and property investors by coaching them in how to make money in the private rented sector using ways that work, which are ethical, fair to tenants and which involve minimal risk to the investor.
We pride ourselves on giving independent unbiased buy to let advice on either a one-to-one mentoring / coaching basis or through our occasional group seminars. With no links to property firms, developers or bridging loan providers we can advise on where and what type of property to buy for investment and when to buy it. We also show you how to manage tenants properly.

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Copyright of Blog: David Lawrenson 2009. This blog is updated roughly once a week usually on a Monday or Tuesday.

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House Prices and Rental Yields by David Lawrenson of LettingFocus.com

Come to Our Next Evening Property Event in London Evening
Good information on what rents are doing - whether they are down or up – can be quite hard to find.
For quite a while I quoted data on rents and rental yields from Paragon Mortgages but they stopped reporting on this some time last year, possibly because the statistical significance of their data became somewhat lacking.
At the top end of the London property market several upmarket estate agencies regularly report on rent levels.
These reports have revealed heavy falls in rents as the corporate tenant market (a key driver of upmarket rentals) has suffered along with London’s financial services dominated economy.
All too often the press have picked up on reports from these upmarket agencies and misquoted these rent reductions as being the situation in all London or even all the UK.
This is clearly not the case as I know from direct experience.
So I am pleased to see that my old pal Michael O Flynn and his pals at FindAProperty.com have just launched a new rental index that really tells you what is happening down at your local level.
It is called the FindaProperty.com Rental Index and I urge you to check it out, especially if you are about to do a rent review.

HOUSE PRICES
Another man with his finger on the pulse of “what’s really going on” is Richard O Donnell, the Director of Research at Hometrack.
Writing in the Sunday Times on 22nd February he points out that the portion of income needed to service the average mortgage is now back at the lows last seen in 1993 - the bottom of the last house price crash in most areas. And this was before the last BOE rate reduction.
He goes on to say that it took 3 more years from 1993 for house prices to start their strong move upwards and adds that this was probably because it took that long for consumer confidence to improve and for the flow of credit to start again.
But he warns that this time is slightly different because unlike in the 1990s new house building has been decimated, so supply issues (few new houses) could possibly squeeze prices up faster than happened in the late 1990s - just as long as the flow of credit resumes again, of course.
I agree with Mr. O’Donnell though it’s worth stressing that this recession will be far worse than the one from 1989-1993 and that could exert a really big drag on house prices, even if property is in short supply.
Come to Our Next Evening Property Event in London Evening of 18th March

PENSION FUND MANAGERS - WHERE WERE THEY?
Why did the big pension fund managers – the only shareholders that really count - not spot what Sir Fred Goodwin and his Merry Men were up to?
Well, back when I was a young MBA graduate in 1988 I worked for a big pension and unit trust manager in the city for 4 months.
The impression I had was that the main pre-requisite for being a fund manager and controlling millions in assets was whether you had been to one of a few top public schools and then either Oxford or (in the case of this particular fund manager) St Andrews University.
Oh, and if you were a girl, your name had to to be posh enough to start and end in the letter “A”
Even my basic knowledge of stock price assessment from my first year of my MBA was more than these guys had.
Come to Our Next Evening Property Event in London Evening of 18th March

HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE A BANK TO CHANGE A LIGHT BULB?
Someone I have consulted with is buying an investment property right now.
Now you’d think that with exceptionally low mortgage volumes, the mortgage lender. Lloyds Bank Group (or whatever they call themselves since they mucked up on HBOS) would be able to turn around a mortgage application pretty fast, right?
Well, it is 2 weeks now since the valuer went in and still no sign of a mortgage offer.
As I say on page 74 of my book, it doesn’t matter how slow the housing market is, most conveyancers and all mortgage lenders will be as slow and inefficient as ever.
Why the delay?
Well, apparently the valuer forgot to do a rental assessment. Der!
I suggested to my client that he asks the bank that is lending the cash for some of the £549 valuation fee back. I’ll let you know how this goes.

TWITTER….. I DON’T GET IT
OK, I admit it. I heard the buzz and signed up to this new networking site that is supposed to be the best thing since sliced bread…but am struggling to see the point of it all.
And I fail to see how it can catch on or be of interest to anyone other than celebrity stalkers. If you think otherwise please enlighten me.
Come to Our Next Evening Property Event in London Evening of 18th March
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ABOUT LETTINGFOCUS.COM and DAVID LAWRENSON
I’m David Lawrenson of LettingFocus.com - the landlord and property letting advice experts. Read More Articles on Property by David Lawrenson.
I’m the author of “Successful Property Letting” which for the last 3 years has been the UK’s top selling property book - Buy Successful Property Letting - How to Make Money in Buy to Let.
The new edition is fully up to date with all the recent changes to tenancy deposit schemes, HMOs, licensing, capital gains taxes and it has new sections on sale and rent back.
I’m an expert freelance property writer and property speaker - and I run the well known property investment blog that you are reading now.
Come to Our Next Evening Property Event in London Evening of 18th March
I contribute to newspapers and a host of property websites, write a number of columns in the press and I provide general property letting advice for a fee to anyone looking to buy property for themselves or to let out. I can help private individuals with any aspect of buying property or buy to let.
What’s unique about lettingfocus.com is that we are independent property investment advisors because unlike most people in the buy to let and property “advice” business we are not linked to a property company, developer, agent or bridging loan financier and do not receive commissions from these sources.
We simply give one to one unbiased advice and are often asked to evaluate other property investments.
In my corporate consulting role I also advise banks, building societies, housing associations and web portals with their buy to let and property products and services.
Find out about some great deals we have arranged at our Landlords Resources page.
Copyright: David Lawrenson 2009. This blog is updated roughly once a week.
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You then just copy the link that comes up into your News Reader or News Aggregator. Even a non techie like me managed to do all this.
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UK’s senior bankers are responsible for the credit crunch & should walk says Lawrenson of Letting Focus

Two blogs today - both of them bashing the banks!
As an Alliance & Leicester shareholder nursing a loss on my tiny investment there, what got me really riled last week was to see that all the most senior executives at that bank will get to keep their jobs following the Santander takeover and get enhanced pay to boot – which must be very nice for them!
This is "situation normal", because in the cosy world at the top of the banking business not one senior UK banker has been fired for their disastrous decisions to buy the toxic debt that has crippled their banks and increased the cost of credit for anyone taking out a loan or mortgage.
Meanwhile, everyone else has to suffer and many people outside the banks cosy top management tier are losing their jobs as a direct result of the financial industry’s failures.
Back in the bad old days of the 70s when the unions supposedly ran the country, the likes of Red Robbo, Degsy Hatton et al became figures of public hate in some of the newspapers.
And today?
Well, the silence from the press is positively deafening. I have seen no articles in the nationals calling for the bosses at the top of banking to do the walk of shame to spend the rest of their days at the golf course. It is truly amazing.
Come to my next London property investment seminar and networking meeting - details here… Property Seminar and Networking
ABOUT LETTINGFOCUS.COM and DAVID LAWRENSON
I’m David Lawrenson of property investment expert lettingfocus.com.
I’m the author of “Successful Property Letting - How to Make Money in Buy to Let” which for the last 2 years has been the UK’s top selling property title - buy the UK's top selling landlord book.
It is fully up to date with all the recent changes to tenancy deposit schemes, HMOs, licensing, capital gains taxes and it has new sections on buying property below market value.
I’m an expert property journalist, property speaker and a well known landlord blogger
I contribute to newspapers and a host of property websites, write a number of columns in the press and I can provide landlords coaching
I also work as a consultant helping banks, building societies, housing associations and web portals with their buy to let and property products and services and am a regular speaker at property shows.
You can read more of my blog & find details of my networking, advice, property mentor programme at my website.What’s unique about lettingfocus.com is that we offer you help as an independent property investors coach because unlike most people in the buy to let and property “advice” business we are not linked to a property company, a developer, an agent or bridging loan financier and do not receive commissions from any of these sources.If a property investment is lousy – We’ll tell you straight and we will tell you all about buy to let and property investment - the good and the bad and we won’t make silly promises that you’ll become a millionaire overnight.
Copyright: David Lawrenson 2008. This blog is updated once a week.
WANT TO BE KEPT UPDATED WITH OUR LATEST BLOGS?
It’s easy.
Look to the right of this blog and you should see my smiling profile. Then page down a bit and you come to where it says “Site feed” - click there and away you go.
You then just copy the link that comes up into your News Reader or News Aggregator. Even a non techie like me managed to do all this.
Please note if you are thinking of reproducing material here - that’s fine but we DO require the full links shown in each blog to be included including also the links in the section “ABOUT LETTINGFOCUS.COM and DAVID LAWRENSON” Please contact us via the Contact US button at our main site http://www.lettingfocus.com/ if you have any queries about this.