In the last quarter alone, rents on average have risen by 2.3% to an impressive £839 per month – £19 higher than they were during the first quarter of this year.

But, what about supplies?

Now I have to admit that property sales have fallen considerably since property investors flooded onto the property market trying to sell their properties before the Emergency Budget. But the fact still remains that rents have continued to rise despite these new supplies – proof that property owners prefer to rent.

Across the whole of the UK property market, rents have risen year on year by 1.9% whilst specific regions such as Yorkshire and Humberside, and London have risen by a minimum of 2.6%.

Take London for instance. Average rents now rest at £1,729 a month – £44 more per month than at the beginning of this year, and will probably continue to rise unless mortgage lenders make their deals more accessible and affordable.

So far, lenders only appear to be offering longer loans i.e. 7 years+, but what are really needed are smaller deposits.

But until then, I say lets take advantage of this demand – what do you think?

Wendy xx

On the one side this is great news for homeowners as it means that they won’t have to pay at least £500 to create them, but on the other, this pack actually contained some really valuable information for property investors…

Sure Energy Performance Certificates will still be available – despite their terms of issuing being relaxed – but other important documentation will be lost.

Take these for instance:

• Sale statement – contains all your basic property info such as whether your potential property investment is a freehold, leasehold or commonhold and why it is being sold
• Evidence of Title – these are documents from the Land Registry pertaining to who actually owns the property
• Standard property search – planning decisions and road proposals, your properties drainage capabilities and water services etc

Admittedly, many of the optional HIP documents are also incredibly useful when homeowners decide to use them i.e. Home conditions report, legal summary, environmental hazards searches (flooding) etc, but just looking at these 3 alone, it is easy to see that they are not a complete waste of time.

After all, whilst a homeowner may not want to pay for these searches/surveys on their own properties; this doesn’t mean that when they come to buy they wouldn’t mind knowing if the property has got structural problems or is located on a flood plain. The only difference now is, they will have to pay for these searches themselves on every property they are interested in buying – meaning they could end up paying out thousands of pounds before they even buy!

Part of me is still hoping that a compromise will be found by the time the Emergency Budget arrives on the 22^nd June; however I highly doubt it… For instance, if Scottish Home Reports are still considered valuable, why hasn’t the Housing Minister made a move to adapt their system for property investment? Exactly! They have no intention to…

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

Not only are Google proposing to make their website free – thus helping estate agents to advertise their ‘properties for sale’ for no cost at all – but estate agents will also be able to list their properties in a layer on Google maps.

And with this little gismo on board, it will make it even easier for property investors like you and me to view these properties as we will be able to get a Street View of this property and all its listings.

How will this website impact investors?

Now I am not being callous when I say this, but I am quite excited about the prospect of having access to another property website.

Yes I kind of feel sorry for Rightmove, who currently advertises 90% of the properties which are for sale in the UK – within a day of this rumour being launched their FSTE fell by 10%. But what Google are offering is a property investment route which is free from the costs and complications of extortionate estate agent fees.

Instead you will be able to focus on picking from a huge database of properties that estate agents have willingly supplied because they don’t have to pay for advertising.

At the moment this is still all speculation, and Google are choosing to not comment on whether or not it is true, but considering the success of their Australian property portal and the fact that property experts believe it will be launched in 2010, it is hard not to get excited.

What have Rightmove got to say?

Rightmove supposedly are not concerned about this move by Google as they strongly believe Estate Agents are more interested in raising their brand awareness than getting more properties online. However I’m highly sceptical about this.

Think about it a moment… In the current economic climate, Estate Agents need all the help they can get to sell their properties and a free advertising portal is more than ideal when the majority of buyers/property investors are searching the web.

Either way, should Google go ahead with their plans there will be plenty of property sources to choose from. The question is though: who will win out?

Wendy xx

With bidding wars escalating for property, estate agents are reporting that many homes are now reaching their asking price – if not more – because so many people want to invest.

Take this statistic for example.

During July 2009, there were 292 house hunters to every estate agent who had 59 properties for sale. You only have to take one look at this figure to recognise that the property market is hotting up. It is electric.

Yet I have to admit that I am not sure whether to be impressed or concerned.

On the one hand this recommendation by housing experts for homebuyers to wait – unless they can get family to help them – is great news for investors like you and me. If they can’t buy, then they can easily rent, which means an increased tenancy looking for rental properties.

But with terrace properties selling for more than they fetched 2 years ago this is a dramatic increase considering average property prices have dropped 20% in the last year.

The problem is the growing housing shortage. Even with many first time buyers refraining from making property viewings because they know they have not got the cash to invest, there are still hundreds of homeowners to every property – creating even more competition for investors like you and me to invest.

According to the Council of Mortgage Lenders, the average first time buyer is 37 years old, whilst those who receive help from their parents are averaging at 31.

Either way, these ages indicate how hard mortgage lenders are making it for homebuyers to get onto the property ladder. Without outside aid, they simply cannot afford the 25% deposits to invest.

Wendy xx

You see according to some of the UK’s leading Estate agents, over 1 in 10 properties across the UK are selling for more than their asking price.

In their quest to secure the best properties, homeowners are now willingly paying more than the properties original asking price so they can own properties in London, Oxford and Cornwall. And the reason for this sudden uptake? The fact that we are in the midst of one of the biggest housing shortages witnessed for the last 30 years.

In a report by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, they reported a 16% drop in the number of unsold properties. And this figure is closely matched by the fact that there are only 58.4 properties per estate agent across the UK. Now when you look at this statistic like this, that is not a lot.

It is really incredible to think how much of an impact a simple housing shortage – combined with tempting discounted properties – can have on property prices. In many ways it is ironic – the competition for these properties.

Think back only 6 months ago and many homeowners would have refused to pay above price. Then on the other hand this story also casts an interesting slant on an issue that many of us have not comprehended. I.E. The possibility that as more and more homeowners return to the property market that house prices will begin to rise again.

Wendy xx

Handed out by the Financial services Authority, in the last 5 months they have handed out fines totalling £302,445 and have already banned 9 individuals/brokers from the mortgage industry.

How’s it possible?

The most common cause for this kind of fraud is when an applicants income is inflated – with or without their consent.

By exaggerating their income through the invention of bonuses, an extra job or forged payslips, applicants are able to receive a bigger mortgage, and brokers… a bigger commission.

Why is it getting worse?

With the lending market taking a big hit since the onset of the recession, the number of applicants who are actually successful in acquiring (and affording) a mortgage has dramatically reduced, and as a result more and more individuals are resorting to this kind of fraud.

Take the last couple of years: 2007 only 5 bans were handed out; 2008 29 bans with fines of £289,500 and 2009… fines are already exceeding £302,445. It is not a pretty picture.

Another growing phenomenon is false valuations on new build flats.

With developers and builders offering homeowners incentives of instant cash-backs, fitted kitchens and paid-for legal fees… if these are not reported it could result in properties being sold for more than they are worth whilst being paid for with over inflated mortgages.

Wendy xx

In the last few weeks, new and exciting mortgage deals have been re-appearing on the lending market, bringing with them the promise of great interest rates, affordable LTV’s and easy accessibility.

Take a look at the following… such deals as these haven’t existed for months!

HSBC: 90% LTV on a 2 yr fixed loan of 4.99%
Yorkshire Bank: 90% LTV 2 yr fixed loan of 5.99%
Post Office: 90% LTV 5 yr fixed loan of 6.01%

And these are just the average mortgages. Banks have also been re-introducing new buy-to-let mortgages, that I have to admit are much more appetising than they have been in recent months.

Yorkshire Bank for example are breaking the 75% LTV norm by offering mortgage loans of 80% LTV – a 5% increase!

This is great news for investors who are currently using their own money to invest in property. With this extra 5%, investors can now more successfully use their property investment strategies all at an affordable price.

Yet this is not all banks are offering to entice individuals back onto the property market. They are also offering incentives to peak your interest.

Halifax for instance is pledging to pay a borrowers Council Tax for a whole year if they choose to take out a mortgage with them, which is not bad when you consider that the average Council Tax is over £1,000 a year.

With such tempting deals appearing on the property market – for homeowners and investors alike – it is impossible to deny that the property market is on the verge of change. It is just a question of taking action fast enough before the property market decides to change again!

That is why I have found the Telegraph’s recent report about the FSA’s plans to cap mortgages alarming. It is absolutely the step in the wrong direction for improving the property market.

At the moment this report is still all speculation, but if it were to happen then we are set to face even tighter lending restrictions.

Maybe I am over-reacting, but I don’t think I am. Here is what I mean: supposedly the FSA want to restrict how much lenders can lend to homeowners by allowing them to borrow only 3 times their annual salary.

Now on the one hand this information is arguably good news for professional landlords like you and me as it will result in more homeowners choosing to rent instead of buy, but this change can affect us as well.

For the majority of us we use our own money to establish a property investment before using the equity we accumulate to invest in another. So if this action does take place any one looking to make a credible living through property investment could have a harder time doing so if they are restricted in cash-flow.

Hopefully the FSA will see sense before they implement even more restrictions onto the property market. But if anyone else has got an opinion of this please let me know.

speak soon

Wendy xx

PS. Here’s the story I was on about – http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/5002083/Proposed-cap-on-mortgage-lending-by-FSA-is-suicidal-say-property-experts.html