In the last week, Moneyfacts has reported on average rises of 0.16% on 2 year fixed rate deals, with 5 year deals quickly following suit at 0.21%.

So what happened?

According to Moneyfacts this rise has been triggered as a consequence of inter-bank borrowing, and their rising costs. More expensive to borrow from, banks are now practically stumbling over one another as they try to pump up the cost of their fixed rate deals.

Is it that bad?

Now on the one hand you could argue that a 0.16% rise is nothing, but on a mortgage of £100,000 this could prove to be a substantial increase in the long term.

Take a look at the following scenario.

If for example you chose to invest in a £100,000 property (with a 25 year mortgage) on a fixed rate of 4.74%, that would equate to monthly repayments of £570. However, take this same property at an increased rate of 0.16% (bringing it to 4.9%) and you could face an additional monthly repayment of £9 (£579 in total).

On the outset, £9 extra a month is nothing, but spread that figure over a year and that is £108 more than you would have had to pay on a fixed rate deal of 4.74%.

When you examine the figures like this, it is easy to see why property courses encourage you to invest as soon as you can. If rates can change this much in a week, imagine what we could be facing in a year.

Wendy xx

I have learnt a great philosophy this week, one that I just had to share with you: ‘It is all about the cashflow’.

Now I know for the last few weeks, I have been harping on about going on a property course – well I have done it, and it was incredible!

I am actually shocked by how little I knew about the property market, which made the course all the more insightful.

Take negative equity for example. We have all got it at the moment. It is practically unavoidable. But what I discovered this weekend is that it doesn’t have to spell the end of the world. Yes it is a pain, and we would all rather not have to watch our properties fall in price, but it doesn’t have to spell the end of an investment. If anything it can lead to a more profitable future.

You see what it all comes down to is cash flow and whether or not your rental property is still generating a positive cash flow.

If it is, so what if your property is going into negative equity. As long as you have got the patience to wait, once the recession is over you can sit back and watch as your property once again experiences captial growth.

I think what many of us forgets is that we have been in a recession before. 1989, 1973, 1923… supposedly we even had a recession during the Roman Empire (wow!). So it is really nothing new to see this. It’s to be expected.

Any ways, I just wanted to pass this onto you, as it has personally given me a new view on my property investments.

Good Luck everyone.

Wendy xx

I am officially on countdown to my Property Mentor course and I cannot wait! Hopefully they will be able to answer all the grey areas I have got in my investment experience

For example – where are the best places to invest? Now I know that by researching and stacking my properties effectively, I can ensure that the properties I invest in can each provide me with a positive cash flow of £500 per property, but surely I must be missing out on some hidden property gems?

Take this point for example. The UK is split up into hundreds of regions. Regions that without looking into every nock and crannie – which would take a very long time to do – could go unmissed.

So I am throwing the question out to you guys in the hope that one of you will be able to tell me of a system that can enable me to do this? To look into each of these locations and offer my property portfolio more.

I personally live in the Midlands, so when I stack I typcially look at properties in Manchester, Birmingham, Nottingham and Leicester. Basicially I only invest in properties that are within easy driving distance for me.

But surely – aside from the obvious ones of London, Edinburgh and Cardiff – there must also be other equally profitable regions/cities that no one has ever written about? Locations that have been overlooked but can offer you competitive rental yields?

I know deep down there must be, but I haven’t got a clue how to narrow the search down fast. Anyone got any suggestions?

Wendy xx

Still waiting to go on the Property Mentor course, but I just couldn’t wait to tell you this.

One of my tracker deals has gone down to 0.99% a month!

You see, when the Bank of England first made their interest rate cut the other month, I knew it wouldn’t be long before they did it again. So like the sensible investor that I am, I grabbed one of these tracker deals, and waited.

And I am glad I did. I am now paying just 140.25 a month, for a property I invested in for 170,000. It’s fantastic!

Now I am not writing this to you to brag (well I am a little, sorry can’t resist), but I wanted to pass on this good fortune to you.

Particularly as there are rumours a foot that they plan to cut them again in January 2009 – it’s not too late for you to get a hold of one of these deals too!

Now I have to admit I wouldn’t normally use tracker deals, but at a time like this they are too great an investment opportunity to miss.

*To those of you that are new to property investment, and are not aware of all the deals, here is a quick summation:

Tracker deals are influenced by the Bank of England, so any changes – either up or down – can impact upon your mortgage repayments. Meaning, if the Bank of England chooses to raise interest rates, your lender has every right to follow suite and raise your tracker deals too.

Now like a said before I wouldn’t normally opt for this kind of deal, but with lending options shrinking, I thoughHey, why not. For the next 2 years at least, they’ll boost my repayments!

Take these figures for example:

0% deposits: loans types down from 257 to 10
5% deposits: loan types down from 1,126 to 15
10% deposits: loan types down from 1,152 to 151

The market shrinking, forcing investors like you and me to find deposits of up to 40%.

And I don’t know about you but that is a large about of money which I’d rather keep a hold of. So as I said, I gave one of these tracker deals a go, and well… the results speak for themselves.

So if you’re looking to buy property, I recommend trying one of these before the next interest rate cut. They are great!

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