Learn How To Invest In Property

Learn The Art Property Investment

Property Mentor can teach you the art of property investment. Trying to make money from the property market is both easy and difficult. It is easy if you understand the principles and have the contacts - but also extremely difficult is you try to beat experienced professionals with little of no expertise.

The current market conditions are perfect for any potential property investors - the interest rates are low and a majority of UK properties are under valued and can be aquired very cheaply - it is a buyers market and the number potential tenants far exceeds the number of available properties.

Put all of the above into a melting pot and add in some tuition to produce a great formula for success.

Who Are Property Mentor

Property Mentor are a property investment training company that specialise in the art of making money from the housing market, whatever the conditions.

Property Mentor was founded in 2003 under the umbrella of Reality Expansions Events Ltd. The directive of Property Mentor is help teach potential investors how to successfully make money and become a professional landlord in just one month.

The History Of Property Mentor

Property Mentor are also an educational body. There unique step-by-step system is nationally recognised as an NVQ qualification. Meaning? Your enthusiasm for property investment can now be turned into a credible qualification, for life.

Since 2003, they have helped over 1,800 delegates build impressive property portfolios of all descriptions. From the traditional avenues of residential and commercial, our unique strategies have enabled delegates to invest in anything their desire: single let, double let and even hotels.

Property Mentor were recently featured on BBC’s The Money Programme.

What You Will Learn

• You will be shown how to get finance that enables you to buy many properties with little or no money down and in a number of cases, where you can even borrow enough to cover the deposit, all closing costs and all costs associated with refurbishment, renovation or conversion.
• You will learn how to easily get to know the average price of a property on any street in the country and then easily work out how much the work will cost and how much profit can be made from every property, before you ever need to invest any money.
• You will gain knowledge in project management and learn how to cost and project manage all kinds of renovation, refurbishment and conversion work and not taken advantage of by people in the building trade.
• You will find out where to buy almost everything you could ever need at massive discounts – in many cases, way below what most people in the trade are paying. This information alone is worth thousands, simply based on the work you might do in your own home over the next ten years, let alone the tens of thousands you can save from multipleinvestment properties.
• You will be taught how to generate large sums of capital that can used for any repairs or renovations that may be needed.
• You will be introduced to other Property Mentor students and swap information, ideas and possibly work in tandem.

If you do have ambitions to become involved in the property investment business - Property Mentor is a prerequisite.

Currently, Property mentor are holding FREE seminars and training courses across the UK at multiple locations.

Free Property Investment Training Seminar

Is It A Good Time For Property Investment

Is Now A Good Time To Invest In Property

In todays economic conditions the word investment is not used as freely as it was a year ago. Combine this with the word property or house and its even fewer.

So why does property investment seem such as scary proportion at this point in time.

All investment opportunities in all industries have ideal conditions. When prices are low - this is the time buy.

The problem with the property and housing market is that the residential home buyer is obviously connected to this market.

Property sales involving ordinary home buyers in the UK has fallen by 53% in the past year, according to the latest government figures.

Are You A Property Investor

In September nearly 60,000 homes were sold, over twice as many were sold the same month last year.

That was also a 62% fall from the recent peak in sales, of 154,000, seen in December 2006.

Currently the credit crunch has plunged the housing market into its sharpest slowdown for many years.

Housing Market Decline

Despite a recent cut in interest rates, attempts by the government to assist the banking system, and a reduction in the burden of stamp duty, there is no sign yet of the property market coming out of its worrying decline.

Providers of mortgage products such as the Halifax and Nationwide have reported that prices are still in decline around a tenth of what they were this time last last year.

A recent survey by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) found that estate agents were having problems trying to sell a property a week.

In addition, the best leading indicator of future activity - the number of new mortgages approved for house purchase but not yet lent - is down by 70% on a year ago. This indicates that prices still have not reached a low point.

Lack Of Money

The key factor in the sales slump has been the lack of funds in the past year available to banks and building societies to lend to borrowers, especially first-time buyers.

With house prices falling, lenders have been demanding that borrowers put down deposits that are much larger than normal, to protect themselves if someone becomes unemployed and the home is subsequently repossessed and sold at auction.

At the start of the year, mortgages worth 100% or even more of a property’s value disappeared. Now even the traditional 95% mortgage is in danger of disappearing.

Many lenders now ask borrowers to put down at least 10% of the purchase price of a new home. The most favourable deals, at the lowest interest rates, are generally available only to those who can put down 25%, or sometimes even 40%, of their purchase price.

“There are some signals that housing market activity could be close to hitting a floor but there is a danger that a sharp rise in unemployment could precipitate a further round of fear on the part of buyers,” said Simon Rubinsohn, chief economist at the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics).

Is Now A good Time To Invest In the Housing Market

Despite the unhealthy conditions if property were any other commodity - the time for investing is fast approaching.

Once the market is on the floor the only way is inevitably up.

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Are House Prices Still Falling

UK Housing Market Still In Decline

The UK housing market and house prices suffered further decline with 1.3% fall in September, according to the Halifax.

Halifax said the decline meant the annual fall was now around  12.5%, with the average cost of residential property the UK now at £172,108.

Halifax, together with Nationwide claims that the rate of decline was starting to bottom out when looking at quarterly comparison figures.

But continued to say that the state of the property market would remain “challenging” as mortgage availability was still far from the heights of a few years ago.

The yearly rate is calculated using a comparison of the past quarter in comparison with the same three months back in 2007, aiming to cut out any short-term volatility.

When comparing prices in just September with the same month the previous year, the drop in prices reaches 13.3%, the biggest recorded by the Halifax.

House prices have fallen every month since the beginning of 2007.

The average price of a UK home is close to that seen in January 2006.

“The ongoing pressures on householders’ income, combined with the reduction in the availability of mortgage finance mean that market conditions will remain challenging,” said Martin Ellis, chief economist at the Halifax.

But he welcomed the move by the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee to cut interest rates by half a percentage point to 4.5% on Wednesday.

“Lower interest rates will help mortgage borrowers faced with increasing pressures on their finances and provide a valuable support to the housing market,” Mr Ellis said.

Could House Prices Stabalise Soon

Property Prices declined by 5.2% in the third quarter of this year, close to the 5.1% fall of the previous three months. This was evidence that the pace of decline was stabilising, Mr Ellis said.

But with food and fuel prices having risen over the last year, and wages failing to keep up with the increase, households had less discretionary income.

“The resulting pinch on incomes, combined with the high level of average house prices ratio to earnings, has made it hard for potential house buyers to gain a foothold on the first rung of the property ladder.” he continued.

Other analysts were in agreement that the rate of decline could stabilise soon and start to bottom out.

The anual falls in house prices should hit a maximum of 15% next month and fall no further, according to Ray Boulger, of mortgage brokers John Charcol.

Prices were increasing up until October 2007, before the effect of the credit crunch hit. As a result the year-on-year comparisons have been striking in recent months, he said. He said the Halifax figures were “not surprising”.

But Howard Archer, chief UK and European economist at Global Insight, said he expected house prices to decline still further.

“Faster rising unemployment, heightened concerns over the economic outlook and widespread expectations that house prices will continue to fall markedly seem set to depress housing market activity and prices for some considerable time to come,” he said.

Despite hopes that Wednesday’s rate cut will spur lending and boost the housing market, banks have been slow to pass on previous rate cuts to new and existing borrowers, as they continue to scale back lending.

The latest Bank of England figures show the average mortgage rate paid by new borrowers rose from 5.88% in August 2007 to 6.1% in August 2008 despite a three-quarters of a percentage drop in the Bank rate over the same period.

The average mortgage rate for those with existing mortgages has dropped from 5.91% in August 2007 to 5.83% to August 2008, although it has fluctuated during the year.

These cuts made by the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee have benefited existing borrowers, mainly those on tracker mortgages and tracker rates.

Earlier this month, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors reported that completed property sales in August were 47% lower than in the same month a year ago.

Source bbc.co.uk

Have you an interest in property investment - in the current conditions the property market is ideal for potential investors - if you would like to train to become a property investor please click here

Unemployed - Become A Property Investor

Property Investment On A Shoestring

The unemployment figures published in the press at time of writing do not make good reading. Record high unemployment figures of 5.5% are set to increase even further.

Estimations for recovery look bleak with experts predicting 2 million people will be unemployed by 2009.

The Office of National Statistics (ONS) say the number of people claiming job seeker allowance has risen from 32,000 to 900,00 since July. Nearly 30,000 people are applying for job seekers allowance a day.

What Has This Got To Do With Property Investment

In times of economic troubles all forms of investment seem at first glance a very risky proposition. The stock market certainly is a gamble in the present climate. But what of property.

The UK has one big advantage where property and a potential investor is concerned - the UK is an island and so demand will always outstrip supply. There are not enough houses built or being built to meet the demand.

This may seem total nonsense after what you are no doubting reading and listen via the media. Any kind of investment opportunity in the housing market may appear foolhardy. This is a wrong perception.

Currently, property can be purchased at well below market value - this is an ideal scenario for a potential investor. The problem lies with borrowing from a lender - it has been much discussed that UK mortgage companies and lenders are tightening the criteria and cutting back on mortgage products.

The buy to let market is fairly unaffected - with a majority of mortgage lenders approving buy to let mortgages over and above the typical mortgage for the individual or family to buy to live in. The reason for this is the the buy to let mortgage is considered less of a risk. In times such as the one we are currently experiencing will always fuel the need for tenants.

How To Buy Property For Practically Nothing

If you are currently unemployed what better way to join the workforce again than by employing yourself - as a property investor.

Property investment is not complicated and does not require huge some of money to start. Property investment is not property development

The chances are you probably did not realise that it is possible to acquire a property with a No Money Down Deal - you could recieve a 100% loan from a bank or lender that requires no deposit. All that is needed is a tenant or proof that a potential tenant can cover the cost of the monthly repayments.

Property Investment is not just for the cash rich but does require training and knowledge - if you would like to find out more about property investment on a shoestring - click here

Make Money From Property Investment

Invest In Property To Make Money

As the credit crunch is starting to bite more people are looking into other means to help aid their financial situation and boost their incomes.

Unfortunately in times of economic doom and gloom the most explored avenues are the most hazardous and prone to failure, disaster or both.

Gambling on a national basis usually increases as people uncharacteristically try to luck themselves out of their predicament only to fall into greater debt.

Get Rich Quickly

The get rich quick schemes appear more and more attractive - desperation fuels the fire that burns within the question “maybe this one is for real.” The reality is though that most if not all of the get rich quick schemes that are in abundance on the internet at best will not make you rich and at worse may alleviate you of any money you had to start with.

Its a tired old cliche but very true - if something is too good to be true it usually is.

Get Rich Slowly

An under utilised method of earning additional income is to invest either your time or any surplus savings (or a combination of both) into something that has the potential of returning a high yield.

The stock market is an obvious candidate - but without constant attention, expertise and money (lots of it) higher and a safer returns are more likely from a savings account at a high street bank.

Get rich slowly is a generic term and doesn’t sound as appealing as get rich quick.

Make Money From The Property Market

The property market appears at first glance to be out of reach to the vast majority. Most rule themselves out of the opportunity straight away but considering the obvious components; and average house cost £200K (at time of writing) therefore I would need a mortgage, I already have a mortgage that I am struggling to pay, therefore this is not for me.

A sensible approach in one respect but an uninformed one.

Property Investment is not a gamble nor is it out of reach to the majority once the principles are fully understood. Investment is scary word is not associated soley with the word money. Your time is the biggest investment.

Investing in property, using the example of an average house priced at £200K, is not a £200K risk.

Mortgage lenders have drastically reduced the amount of products available to potential customers but there are still plenty of products available to the property investor.

A Buy To Let mortgage is not considered as risky as there are more potential tenants than properties in the UK. Buy To Let mortgage options range from a standard deposit to the other of the scale, a No Money Down mortgage - where a property can be acquired without any initial spend.

The possibilities for earning additional and passive income from the property market are very real and not out of reach

If you would like to learn more about making money from property investment - FREE training courses and seminars are being held across the UK.

Free Property Investment Training

Property Investment In London

London Property Investment

There are certain areas in and around the London region that are hot spots for property investment and property investors. At time of writing the property market is unstable with even the most courageous investors holding back on new investment projects and opportunities.

Investing in property across the UK has always paid dividend provided the investor understands the market conditions and focuses on either profiting from monthly rental earnings or the more longer term equity increase.

The London property market, traditionally has always been the premier or prime target for a majority of investors as London is the business capital of the UK and even in times of economic downturn tends to suffer less in terms of wide scale profit.

Attend A FREE Property Investment Training Course - Click here

The obvious area of interest at the moment is Stratford - with plans to regenerate the area into the third most important part of London in time for the Olympic Games in 2012. Read more about Property in Stratford

What Areas Of London Are Best For Property Investment

Non specifically, the best areas in and around London are those that currently have good road, rail and tube links. These areas will more likely sprawl in time.

The current market value of properties in London with good transport links are usually highly priced - but in today’s market bargains are there to be had if you know where to look.

Looking forward, if an area is just out of your budget follow the tube stops in directions heading out of Central London until you find and area that is within realistic budget.

As an example if Stratford is an area for potential investment but not affordable follow the tube stations north - this brings Leyton and Leytonstone into the equation.

Which Areas of London Are Most Popular For Property Investment

Currently the most desirable and popular London property investment targets are:

Hampstead	Limehouse	East Dulwich
Walthamstow	Shoreditch	Chingford
Maida Vale	Finchley	Brockley
Finsbury Park	Palmers Green	Norwood
Battersea	Leyton	Balham
Ealing	Peckham	Rotherhithe
Cricklewood	Lewisham	Willesden Green

These areas are in no particular order and some of the obvious candidates have been omitted such as Mayfair and Cheslea.

Property Investment Vs Property Development

Property Development Or Property Investment

Property development and property investment could be classed as one and the same in some quarters - but in reality they are a quite far removed.

Property development is best hightlighted by the televison programs that frequent our screens such as Property Ladder and How To Be A  Property Developer. A residential property is acquired below the market value due its state of disrepair and then developed into something that can be offered for resale or to the Buy to Let or rental market.

Profit is made (or lost) by the developer but time has to be factored into the equation as development is very much hands on and linear. Many individuals that are property developers can only concentrate on one project at a time.

Interested In A FREE Property Investment Course

Property Investment on the other hand is all about the rental market and is completely scalable.

Why Property Investment Is More Profitable That Development

The ideal starting point for a would be or potential property investor would be to research properties in your area - visit local estate agents and ask to be put on their mailing list. Ideally pick a dozen or so properties that will not take up too much of time firstly, to initially view - and secondly to visit should the need arise.

The type of properties to avoid are flats or apartments where you may need to factor in the cost of ground rent or communal maintenance - this monthly cost will come out of your profit.

It is important  to remember that your profit is not based on the potential of your equity rising in years to come but a solid monthly profit from the rental.

Once you have found the formula for success it can repeated over and over again.

Property Investment is by a better option and by far a better use of you time and capital.

Is The Property Market Going To Crash

Property Market - Is It Going To Crash

According to the media the UK property market is free fall - not a day passes without a mention of the current property crisis in the UK. But is the property market in as bad condition as we are lead to believe?

If you are worried about the situation and have been convinced the UK housing market is going to crash like the USA and Spain you are worrying unnecessarily -  There may be some similarities between us, but our (the UK) prices will drop less significantly than those of the USA and Spain.

The reason for this confidence is simple economics and the fact that the demand for housing far exceeds the supply.

This year alone (2008) the UK government has predicted we will only build 100,000 new homes - a quarter of the required amount- before 2009. So until the UK can match this demand, the market is safe.

Why The UK Property Market Will Not Crash

1.    One of the reasons why Spain is struggling is that they are still building more than they require. The number or available properties far exceeds the population. We have got the opposite problem in the UK.

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In 2005, 193,000 new houses were built. This may sound impressive but to make a real impact on the growth of housing prices and reduce their costs, 245,000 new homes need to be built. And we are far from reaching that goal.

2.    In 2000-2006, the uk population increased by approximately 1.7 million this resulted in the need for 800,000 new residential houses. Although 1.1 million were built in this period, these extra 300,000 new houses were insufficient. They could not account for the growth rate of the churn or 2nd home ownership.

3.   When UK inhabitants are looking to move home they do not compare their salary to the price of the house. The big mistake they usually make is to actually compare their income to their annual mortgage payments.

Although, it could be argued that mortgage payments - as a share of a household income - has increased from 15% (2001) to 19.6% in 2005, these figures are still well below the 34% recorded in the last property crisis in 1989.

4.    It is natural to see fluctuations and property activity in certain areas of the country as the economy grows, but some areas struggle to match these demands. Through a combination of a lack of housing and transport, certain locations have become property hot spots to accommodate this need, but cannot expand fast enough.

Stratford in London springs to mind. Read about Property Investment In Stratford

Is Property A Safe Investment

Throughout the last two decades the UK has survived two property crashes and bounced back stronger than before. Experts predict that by 2010 the housing market will be buoyant once again.

If you have any ambition in the property investment marke - no is the time realise your ambitions. Click here for FREE Property Training Seminar

Best Mortgage For Buy To Let

Buy To Let Mortgages

If you just starting out in the property investment market and completely bemused as to which type of mortgage to choose for your buy to let property, there are specific mortgages for Property Investment - i.e. to rent out rather than live in - you will need a buy-to-let (BTL) mortgage.

Buy to Let mortgages are unique and quite different from the mainstream mortgages as, instead of assessing the amount you can borrow from a lender, based on your income, loans are calculated on the rent you could get for the property.

In the past mortgage lenders required a rental coverage that was above that of the mortgage amount, for example 120 % of the monthly repayments. But lately the rules have become more relaxed and you can get a mortgage with rental coverage of 100 per cent in some cases. The credit crunch is seeming to work in favour of the property investor compared to the standard residential mortgage.

New To Property Investment - click here

However, it is still usual practice to have to raise a deposit of 10% or more, but more recently the number of No Money Down deals have populated the market.  Traditionally only a small number of specialist lenders offered BTL mortgages but more recently we have seen high street banks start to lend to landlords.

BTL mortgages can normally be either repayment or interest-only loans. Interest-only mortgages mean cheaper monthly payments but the property will not be yours at the end of the term – you will still need to repay the capital amount or sell the property. Repayment mortgages ensure that you repay a bit of the capital and a bit of the interest each month and at the end of the term the debt is fully paid off.

If you have have ambitions in the Property Investment martet and would like to find out more information about Buy-to-Let mortgage option you can register for a Free property Investment Workshop in your area.

Click here to find a Property Investment Workshop in your area

How To Be A Successful Landlord

Advice For For Landlords

A decade ago anyone with the slightest entrepreneurial spark would have been highly advised to get involved in the property development or property investment market.

The life of landlord was an easy one - the life of a new start up landlord was made easier by mortgage lenders ready to throw money at the mere mention of  Buy to Let.

A decade on and the life of landlord is still relatively easy - despite the doom mongerers, landlords in many UK regions have only suffered a slight drop in the price of their property assets. Many landlords consider their equity to be a long term investment with the monthly rentals their earnings or wages.

In fact, many landlords have enjoyed a higher monthly rental income from their Buy to Let properties as the current housing market has dictated that renting rather buying makes economical sense to the first time buyer or those at the bottom end of the property ladder.

So How Do New Landlords Start And Survive

Recently the NLA - National Landlords Association offered advice to its industry and gave tips on how to survive the credit crunch.

The tips for landlords are based on the assumption that the landlord has a property and is about to offer it into the property rental market.

1. Get Advice - a little knowledge is a dangerous thing especially where money is concerned. A good investment can turn bad if you don’t plan for as many eventualities as possible. Joining associations such as the NLA should be a prerequisite - The NLA has over 13,000 throughout the UK and has the new start landlord and the experienced among its members. Visit The NLA Website

2. Understand Your Legal Obligations - another reason to join and an association such as the NLA. The private rented sector is now governed by over 50 Acts of Parliament. With this increasingly heavy regulatory burden, it is now more important than ever that you, the landlord understand your legal responsibilities.

Free Property Training Courses In Your Area - click here

3. Make The Most Of Your Mortgage - its may appear obvious but some landlords struggle with their current mortgage repayment without investigating other avenues. If you are at the end of a current term and the repayment plan doesn’t look as attractive - try commercial finance opportunities.

4. Choose Your Tenants Carefully - it is essential that as a landlord you don’t rely on gut feeling. Check out prospective tenants thoroughly. Perform a credit check and and search for previous tenancy information.

5. Talk To Your Tenant - all relationships work better with communication. Don’t just contact your tenant about rental matters, he or she is your customer and so treat them like one.

6. Students Make Great Tenants - don’t shy away from letting your property to students. Provided you have employed the services of letting agency it makes economical sense to let to 3 students rather than a family of three.

7. Put Money Aside For Repairs - rental income is not pure profit. just as in any residential property things will need replacing or repair such as a new boiler, carpet or window. If finances allow put aside 10% of rental income for miscellaneous repairs.

8. Get Insurance - get adequate cover for every eventuality. Standard household insurance policies may not cover a buy to let or rental property. Specific industries requite specific insurance cover. Property investment insurance companies such as ForLandLords have been set up with the Landlord in mind. Visit  ForLandLords website.

9. Listen To Advice - television programs such Property Ladder are built for TV granted but they do highlight that even after advice has been given it is often ignored. Remember if you are new to the whole landlord scene - there are others that aren’t.

Property training companies such Property Mentor offer Free property training courses and seminars. Visit  Property Mentor website

10. All Of The Above - the 9 above points are of equal importance. Putting money aside for repairs is of little consequence if you as a landlord are not properly insured.

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