Property Investment / Development

Buy low, sell high - it's the basic principle for any business.

Said like a true pro Blackheart! How much do you charge for your pearls of wisdom? :-) JayTee, I am not in the field myself (would love to be!) but there is a series on BBC2 at 6pm weekdays about buying property at auction, developing and selling on the open market - may be of interest to you. Richard
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Regards,
Richard
Retail World - Supporting Retailers Across the UK
www.retailforum.co.uk

Sadly it has become a bandwagon as caused numerous problems for everyone. ----- The ultimate bus1ness forum for beginners, improvers and serial entrepreneurs is coming soon. With up to the minute relevant posts on all aspects of your bus1ness from resident experts. Intelligent programming ensures the board is relevant for you and up to date with spam and bad posts minimised. URL to be publicised soon.
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www.youcangetit.co.uk - Business services and community. Do you get it?

From my client base - I have some serious property people and a fair few dabblers - people are starting to get seriously burned as there is more people in the market (especially in the area of light refurbs) than is really profitable. Rental yields are poor in many areas, although some of my older landlords/developers are still making serious money, but this is largely based on getting in when asset values where half the value they are today. Regards,
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James Smith
Chartered Accountant
www.jamesesmith.co.uk
01235 536 773

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Your indispensable guide to Small Business Bookkeeping, Self-Assessment & VAT

In other words - don't go into it now - the market is saturated and the prices too high. Pray for a crash, then splash your cash!

BH, it's not as simple as that though, is it?? You're business and my business depends (mainly) on people having cash to spend (or borrowed cash to spend!) If the "crash" does come - and lets face it the more the "know it all's" predict it, the more likely it is to happen, as people will start to get cold feet and worry - the impact will be that the "spare" cash that people had won't be spare anymore and EVERY business will suffer in some way. I worked at a financial org in the late 80's during the last "crash" and to see the financial org offering silly mortgages to people and then take their key's off them 2-3 years later as if it was nothing to do with them was horrible. So in my opinion, and for all our sakes, DO NOT pray for a crash :-(
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Kind Regards,

Martin @ LTA Leisure Ltd

enquiries@lta-leisure.co.uk

Martin, I'm not praying for a crash - I'm advising someone who wants to get into property to do that!!! Or are you advising him to buy when the price is high?!?! Sometimes I wonder if people actually read the entire thread, or simply decide to write as much as they know about a topic and hope that the original poster can find something of use in the reply!! The guy is looking at the possibility of buying property and letting it out - now is not the time - he's missed the bandwagon this time around. He'll be better off either looking for the 'next big thing' or waiting a few years, saving his money, then investing in a flat or two.

LTA makes a good point but no in direct reply to BH. The sad fact is that an investor can profit from anothers misery and so a crash is bad for everyone, the person that buys low and sells high at least has a silver lining. ----- The ultimate bus1ness forum for beginners, improvers and serial entrepreneurs is coming soon. With up to the minute relevant posts on all aspects of your bus1ness from resident experts. Intelligent programming ensures the board is relevant for you and up to date with spam and bad posts minimised. URL to be publicised soon.
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www.youcangetit.co.uk - Business services and community. Do you get it?

BH, I agree and wasn't having a "pop" and did read the entire thread. I was just pointing out that praying (even for someone else!) for a crash in the current market would be a bad thing. Also, even if they make a killing now/recently/on a property, that money will not be worth what is seems as others are forced to raise their prices, lay off staff, go under, due to the fragile nature of the property market. There are enough "know it all's" in the property trade/business "praying" for a crash (if only to vindicate what they are saying). Leaving all that aside, my mate is a landlord (very experienced at that) and he hasn't bought a property (at auction or anywhere) for 18 months due to the prices, and the risk associated. If he's avoiding "investing" I'd certainly suggest that JayTee kept his money in his pocket for the foreseeable future!!
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Martin @ JIGSAWSRUS.COM (webmaster@jigsawsrus.co.uk)
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Thanks for your views. Personally I think the market as a whole will only stagnate with a few hot spots seeing genuine falls. The current governments stance on planning has limited the amount of greenfield developments and there is a genuine shortage of supply out there. There is also alot of press about the buy-to-let market being restricted but the reality that this segment is a tiny % of the overall (despite the publicity) and even if it was completely stopped it would only dampen the current growth. Foe example see - http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,3604,1171151,00.html The only thing likely to cause a crash is a sudden interest rate hike causing difficulties mortgage repayments and the damage to industry thus causing job losses. But while the Euro-zone and the US have pledged a low interest rate environment and in the event of increases they will be gradual (they say). Maybe I am wrong but as i say a prolonged stagnation of the market is the more likely outcome. On the whole I agree that it is a missed opportunity as most of these things are when they are in the press so often as in the dot.com land of milk and honey a few years ago.