Dubbed ‘The Property Authorised Investment Fund’ this scheme is expected to split ‘…between 80% on brick and mortar and 20% on listed securities once the Financial Services Authority and HM Revenue and Customs have given it the go ahead.

Now I am no expert in commercial property – although over the years I have dabbled in it a bit – but I am quite impressed by this move by Clavis Walden.

As they themselves describe it, it is the most tax efficient structure available for investors looking for a credible income, and the fact that they will have the backing of the FSA and HM Revenue and Customs, makes it is impossible to doubt the sincerity of their project. Not when commercial property is slowly making a comeback.

Remember that I posted about commercial property dropping to below 50% their 2007 peak property prices a while back? Well nothing has really changed there aside from the fact that these prices falls are beginning to stabilise. And if that is happening, what you are looking at now is a potentially invaluable asset that has got the likes of Clavis Warden wanting to back it up.

Anyways I couldn’t resist commenting on this story as it is about time something positive was written about the property market.

Come take a look: http://www.bridgingandcommercial.co.uk/newsstory?id=19349878&type=newsfeed&title=clavis_walden_to_set_up_new_property_initiative

Wendy xx

Has anyone else heard about the governments new landlord qualification scheme? Talk about adding extra pressure.

As always, I was doing my daily browse on some property investment sites – looking for tips on how to deal with my tenants – when I came across this article, and it really made me think.

I’ve been investing in property for over four years, and a part from a brief course I did at the beginning I’ve actually got no qualifications. I know, I know, I could easily argue that my experience in this field is enough in itself, but I had to admit after reading it I began to wonder – am I missing anything? Could a qualification give me a better edge?

Now, if you haven’t already spotted this article yet, here is a quick summation: the government wants all landlords to hold accredited qualifications, to help improve ‘landlord and tenant relationships’. And this is not for those of us who are still new to the business. They mean everyone.

(For more info, check out this site: outhttp://www.communities.gov.uk/news/corporate/670940.)

And I couldn’t get this information out of my head. It kept bugging me and bugging me. So a week ago I figured ‘what the hell now is better than never’ and began looking around for property investment courses that could offer this kind of training. And I was shocked.

Yeah there are a lot of courses that can offer you the ‘training’ to successfully invest. But an actual qualification… one that you can put on your CV… nothing.

Well I’m lying there. There were a few, but let’s just say that for one piece of paper, they are involved a lot of work.

Take the UKOPENCOLLEGE – no qualifications or experience necessary (great); no expected exams (fantastic) – all they wanted in return was 100 hours of my time, spaced out over a year (ouch!)

Now I don’t know about you, but I work another job, so finding an extra 100 hours to complete this course fast, was just not possible.

Saying that, there was one course that did catch my eye. One offered by a property investment company called Property Mentor.

To earn their Level 3 qualifications (yeah they are offering two), all you need to do is complete their 2 day property investment course and attend their additional training seminars over the coming months.

And this is a real qualification too. Backed by the National standards for education, the ILM, everything.

And compared to the others it wasn’t all about ‘tenant relationships’ either. The reason they are offering 2 NVQ’s is because one of them is a Business Start-up (aimed at offering you help with building up business plans) and the other is more focused on training you to become a successful landlord.

Admittedly after reading all this, I was impressed. So I’ve signed up and will keep you posted on how the first part of the course goes.

Hopefully it will be as good as it sounds.

www.propertymentor.co.uk