In this article, property website reallymoving.com noticed a significant difference of up to 174 cubic feet between property owners in the North and the South of the UK, and it got me thinking that perhaps the amount of valuables we own actually affects the types of properties we invest in.

For instance, Londoners are reputed to own 737 cubic feet of possessions, whilst property owners in the North East generally own as much as 911 cubic feet.

Now this may look like nothing, but when you factor in to the equation the fact that 1) Londoners tend to move a lot (due to their jobs) and 2) they can only afford smaller property spaces the closer they move into the city centre, then it is no wonder than Londoners own so little. Property prices and where you live can affect how much you own!

Is this true of the whole UK?

After reading this, I began digging round looking into other regions across the UK to see if the results were similar, and to be truthful they were pretty spot on.

Taking into consideration that 1 large sofa equates to 45 cubic feet, a bed 40 cubic feet and a TV just 3 cubic feet, the results speaks for themselves:

• East of England – 911 cubic feet
• Midlands – 891 cubic feet
• South England – 877 cubic feet
• Wales – 868 cubic feet
• South West England – 856 cubic feet
• North West England – 844 cubic feet
• North East England – 828 cubic feet
• Northern Ireland – 783 cubic feet
• Scotland – 788 cubic feet
• London – 737 cubic feet

As a rule, the more expensive the location (apart from Scotland and Northern Ireland), the fewer possessions these property owners tended to own!

But what really fascinated me was how this knowledge could easily be used to influence which property investments you invest in. For example have the info to recognise that property owners in the Midlands own more possessions than those in Scotland and you can invest proportionately towards your tenants needs and ensure a greater tenancy demand.

It is definitely a crazy idea but definitely worth bearing in mind, the next time you invest.

Wendy xx

According to research by mortgage advisors John Charcol, more than 28% of the UK property market does not know the size or cost of their mortgage rates, whilst a further 50% doesn’t know when their existing mortgage deal is going to end.

And I have to confess that this figure worried me. How can you genuinely not know this information about your mortgage? It is the biggest debt you will ever have. No other will compare… Yet it would appear that many homeowners become clueless to this information once the deal is signed.

What is more alarming for me though is the number of property investors who are probably caught up in these statistics and who are losing out on the best mortgage deals in the industry because they don’t know any better.

The size of your repayments plays a fundamental part in influencing your positive cash flow. The smaller your interest rate, the smaller your monthly repayments will be. And the smaller your monthly repayments are, the bigger your positive cash flow will be after your payments have been deducted.

And it is not like this property information is not available. I regularly receive updates from my lender, roughly once a year, detailing how much I have paid off and what my mortgage deal will default to when my existing deal ends.

But it would seem that many homeowners and even property investors too are dismissing this information…

Now if you are reading this and cannot honestly answer the following, then I thoroughly recommend that you get your property documentation out and refresh yourself. You never know… you might be at a stage in your mortgage where you can switch to a better deal:

• What is the size/cost of your mortgage rate?
• How much do you pay in repayments every month?
• When does your existing mortgage deal end?
• What will your default mortgage rate be?
• What is the term of your mortgage?

Wendy xx

I personally would love to retire even earlier than that, and with my extensive range of property lets I am fairly confident that I will be able to achieve this before I am 35. However property investment isn’t for everyone, so the real question is: what other routes are available to you?

Looking at the Co-operative Bank Mortgages figures they revealed that:

• 31% planned to achieve this goal by overpaying on their mortgage every month and reducing the term of their mortgage. And this is a great idea considering the current economic climate and how low mortgage rates are. There is plenty of opportunity to overpay
• 21% planned to achieve this goal by taking advantage of low interest rate deals. Now this one is only good if your current mortgage term is coming to an end. To swap part way through can result in penalties and a lot of paperwork which can get messy if you don’t know what you are doing
• 13% planned to achieve this goal by utilising more of their disposable income. Similar to the one above, this technique is only useful if you are on a tracker deal or are coming to the end of your current mortgage deal, as you need to be on a lower mortgage rate in order to increase your disposable income.

Now out of these 3, I would have to say that the first one is definitely the most viable route. For instance, most banks will allow you to pay an additional 10% on your mortgage over the year without incurring a penalty. However that being said many leading lenders are now considering launching a range of mortgages which will enable you to make additional repayment of up to 50% of your entire mortgage.

Is there another route?

Like I mentioned above, property investment isn’t for everyone, but working solely on my own personal experience, buy to let property investment has enabled me to pay off huge chunks of my own mortgage – fast – whilst leaving my other salary free to offer me the luxuries of reduced working hours.

Take my scenario for example:

Each of my 11 property investments currently produces positive cash flows of between £350 and £980 a month, giving me an additional income of £6,018 (aside from my existing job).

Now aside from the fact that my tenants are essentially paying the entire costs of my property investments – bills, mortgage payments, council tax etc – they are also supplying me with the cash flow to pay off an extra 10% off my mortgage every single month.

See what I mean?! There truly is a diversity of ways to enable yourself to retire when you want to and at an age that fits your lifestyle. So give it a try and see if you too can retire when you want to…

Wendy xx

Like homeowners the last thing they want to do is live next to someone who harasses them – they want to live in peace. But the thing is… unlike homeowners who have to sell in order to get away from such neighbours; all your tenant actually has to do is end their tenancy agreement with you.

And let me tell you, this is the last thing you want to happen…

Can Nuisance Neighbours Affect My Profitability?

Surprisingly so… It is easy as a property investor to forget to check out the quality of your neighbours because you are not living in the property yourself.

Yet thinking on this subject I can see how this could quickly impact on your profitability. All you need is one tenant to say to another: ‘I wouldn’t live there the neighbours are horrible’ and it won’t matter how strong the tenancy demand is or how good the rental yields are, if you cannot get tenants to stay, it will be you who is footing the bills.

So what do you do?

You make sure you know exactly who are investing next to before you put down a bid:

1. Visit the property more than once – the average buyer views a property once maybe twice before putting down a bid and usually at the same time of day. To gain an accurate perception of whether your potential property let is actually a local hot spot for vandals and drunks, or if your neighbours are noisy, I suggest trying to view the property at least 5 times and at various times of the day. This will allow you to see exactly what conditions your tenants will be living under.
2. Introduce yourself to your neighbours – meeting someone face to face can tell you a lot about a person. Before you put down a bid, make sure to introduce yourself to your new neighbours. You’ll soon discover if you are going to have difficulties with them over noise or a shared driveway.
3. Know your covenants – if you have already invested in the property and have got tenants living there, make sure to check the covenants of the property to see if your neighbours for example are prohibited from being a nuisance i.e. playing music at certain times of the day, lighting all day bonfires etc…
4. Talk to a solicitor – this should always be a last resort, but should you find that your tenant makes a complaint; you speak/write to the neighbour and they still persist in their actions, then you may wish to speak to a solicitor. They will be able to issue a letter to your neighbour highlighting the properties covenants and the possibility of legal action.

So try to take these on board the next time you invest in property. £500 positive cas flows and a high tenancy demand are all well and good, but get a bad neighbour for your tenants and they may affect your long term profitability.

Wendy xx

I was reading an article recently about a property investor who had to pay cleaning costs of up to £1,900 after their tenant left their carpets, walls and gardens in poor repair.

And the worst thing for her was, instead of having her tenants deposit to rely on to help cover the costs of these bills, her rental agent had already given the deposit back to the tenant – all without inspecting the property first – meaning she couldn’t prove they had damaged her rental property in the first place!

It is stories like these that make you really appreciate landlord resource websites which enable you to manage and control your own properties without the assistance of a third party i.e. a rental agent.

From structuring your assured short hold tenancy agreement to utilising an inventory form – which allows you to monitor the condition of your buy-to-let property and its contents during their entire tenancy – to arranging for a tenant guarantor to protect your rental income if your tenant can pay.

With the right forms, you can prevent such mishaps as the one mentioned above from ever occurring, and more importantly save yourself from ever having to foot the bill for your property manager’s mistakes.

Now this isn’t to say that all property management companies are bad. Over the years I have come across a lot of good quality providers who have done a decent job for my friends, but myself – I still prefer to manage my property portfolio myself.

Not only can I make sure – before they move in – that my tenants have got a good reputation, a strong credit rating and will treat my properties with respect. But I can more effectively enforce mine and my tenant’s rights when it comes to maintenance.

After all, the last thing you want is to be paying cleaning costs of over £1,900 on top of your other responsibilities.

If you are genuinely interested in getting a property manager, I recommend searching around and thoroughly researching them first. A general estate agent is simply not enough…

Wendy xx

Fortunately I have never had to go through this process myself, but I have had many close friends who through lack of tenants have lost their properties because they have not been able to afford their mortgages. Yet even they have never been subjected to the process where their property was repossessed without the interjection of the courts.

It is startling to think that lenders would go to such extremes to protect their finances when simple negotiations could easily help homeowners to begin making payments again. But according to an article I was recently reading this malpractice by lenders is more common than you imagine…

Currently is it within a lenders legal right to repossess and sell your property – without seeking either your agreement or the courts – should you fall into arrears of over 2 months.

Now you could arguably say ‘fair enough, you didn’t pay so you deserve to lose your property’, but under current rulings lenders are meant to seek all other routes possible before turning to repossession. MEANING repossession is only meant to be used as a last resort.

Yet, rogue lenders such as GMAX-RFC have supposedly repossessed borrower’s properties using this legal loophole time and time again.

In one legal case against them, a judge ruled in favour of GMAX-RFC after they sold the property of a borrower who had fallen into arrears – without telling them – before letting them get evicted by the new owner on the grounds of trespassing. Now I don’t know about you, but that is not only harsh, it is also extremely underhanded.

Thankfully, the government is now seeking to abolish this legal loophole to help protect homeowners. However what concerns me is how this loophole was ever allowed to happen in the first place?

Surely when creating the law, someone should have been able to spot the dangerous potential of this loophole when harnessed by the wrong lenders and write in clauses to prevent it happening. It scary to think how many poor homeowners may have lost their homes due to this loophole, when it could have easily been prevented by a court intervention.

Only time will tell whether or not more homeowners will come forward against these rogue lenders, but it definitely puts into perspective the need for greater awareness by homeowners of the laws which can work against them.

Wendy xx

You may remember the other week that I discussed Economists predictions which suggested that because of static property prices, the buy to let investment sector will grow in popularity.

However, I have also been hearing rumours which suggest that property prices are about to go into a double dip.

Now I don’t know about you, but these mixed reports are driving me crazy. For example should I keep investing in property under the pretext that property prices are not going to fall any further? Or should I believe these double dip rumours and wait for these property price falls to hit?

If you haven’t heard either of these stories I’ll quickly sum them up for you:

-          In the Bank of England’s Financial Stability Report they revealed that property prices are at risk of going into a double dip should banks choose to sell off £200bn worth of distressed properties. Not only will these sales reduce banks ability to give loans, but this sudden increase in properties for sale could disrupt the supply/demand balance.

What’s worse, should they do that, banks may be forced to sell off further properties, causing further price falls.

Now as a property investor, increased properties for sale (which are discounted) is great news as this means more opportunities to invest at a more affordable price. However the indecisiveness of these rumours is completely and utterly frustrating.

What is right? What is simple speculation? When is the right time to move and harness these property opportunities…?

The answer is: who knows? I for one have got no idea, but one thing I am certain of is that I will be paying closer attention to what is happening in the property market over the next couple of months.

Wendy xx

I was reading an article by holidaylettings.co.uk the other day and in it they revealed that year on year UK holiday home enquiries have risen by 73%!

Even by recession standards that is a dramatic increase and one definitely worth taking note of if you are interested in breaking into the sector.

Yet according to their research, these enquiries have been global. South Africa, Turkey, Croatia… all have been witnessing similar increases in holiday letting queries too:

• South Africa – holiday enquiries have increased 13 times above their 2008 figures
• Croatia – enquiries for 2010 are up 113%
• Malta – enquiries for 2010 are up 94%
• Greece – enquiries for 2010 are up 74%

There is no disputing that 2010 is proving to be a profitable year for property investors and professional landlords alike.

In many ways holiday lettings is an incredible way to earn an extra income.

Not only will your ‘Tenants’ cover the entire cost of your mortgage whilst you are not occupying the property, but in many instances your second home will give you monthly bonus. Why? Because rental yields are notoriously higher than mortgage repayments.

Take this scenario for example.

Lets say you own a £120,000 property in Luton (3 bedroom) with a 25 year mortgage of 4.99%. Opt for an interest only mortgage and your repayments will be £499 a month. However choose to rent out this property and you can easily charge rental yields of £741 a month. Do the maths and that is an instant profit of £242.

Now I don’t know about you, but an additional income of £242 a month for simply renting out your second home is just too good to ignore, especially if you only use this property for 2-3 months out of the year. For the other 9 months you can easily earn £2,178.

Taking all these facts into consideration, owning a second home could definitely be a worthwhile venture if you have got the cash to invest.

PLEASE NOTE: rules surrounding ‘Furnished Holiday Lettings’ are changing in the new tax year, so make sure you familiarise yourself with this, before you consider joining the club.

Wendy xx

Ummm probably… but before you discount me as being heartless or ‘callous’ in this judgement let me explain…

You see it is a little known fact that repossessed properties sell for at least 5-10% below market values, meaning you can easily invest in these properties for more than 25% below their original 2007 asking prices, if not more which is fantastic news since property prices have begun rising again…

Now for anyone who doesn’t have a clue what I am going on about, I am discussing Credit Action’s recent report which declared that a new property is repossessed every 11 minutes. That is 131 properties every single day!

Yet this is not the worst of it…

According to Credit Action, the average household has now got a debt of at least £9,161 to their name –excluding their mortgage! Throw that into the mix and household debt rises to an astounding £58,340.

At £58,340, it is no wonder that every 3.97 minutes someone is declared bankrupt or insolvent – the finance market is in a very bad way.

Yet despite all this, it is impossible to ignore the fact that these repossessed properties represent an incredible opportunity to get the property market back on its feet.

With the demand for property growing at an escalating rate and the housing shortage becoming ever more dominant, these properties can easily supplement this demand by being transformed into multiple rental accommodations.

Maybe I am wrong about this. Maybe investing in these properties won’t make a difference. But you have got to admit that at an additional 5-10% off their asking prices it just too good a discount to miss.

Wendy xx

I’ve worked hard to make sure my tenants remain happy in my properties. Good landlords will retain their tenants for the long term and win new tenants through ‘word of mouth’, helping to maximise their property income. There are various good practices and pieces of property advice that I have learned over the years which all good landlords should take heed of.

Firstly, it is essential that a rental property is kept in good order at all times. Saving money by not decorating or maintaining a property is frequently false economy as it results in unhappy tenants (who can’t wait to leave the property) and lower rental values. Good landlords make sure their properties are kept in good order at all times and they also respond quickly to maintenance or repair requests from their tenants.

Secondly, it is vital that, as a property investor, you leave your tenants in peace and let them enjoy the property. Don’t visit more often than you have to, call in unannounced or wander into the property when you wish. You should respect the privacy of your tenants at all times.

It is also crucial that you look after your tenants when you find good ones. Tenants who look after the property and pay their rent on time are worth their weight in gold. I always make a real effort to look after these types of tenant by keeping any rent increases to an absolute minimum and making sure any requests for maintenance are carried out straight away. I know of some landlords who also offer small discounts to good quality tenants to encourage them to remain in the property for the long term.

Of course, there are negative elements to being a landlord and property investor. There are, unfortunately, bad tenants out there who may both fail to pay their rent or damage the property. It can be stressful to try and collect rent arrears from tenants or go through court action to evict them which is why it is vital that all tenants are property vetted initially. It can also be costly to ensure that all your properties are maintained and regularly decorated, although as we have seen this is likely to benefit you financially in the medium to long term.

Being a landlord means you have many responsibilities, although taking these responsibilities seriously can be extremely financially rewarding both in terms of income and long term capital growth. Always remember that ‘a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush’ and so make sure you take extra care to look after your good tenants as it will cost you much more to find new ones.