photo credit: Gilgongo

Brian and Wendy Wilshaw are the proud owners of an 11-acre Devonshire estate in the UK. They are not alone in that they are sick of the ‘hassle’ of the sliding property market. But Brian and Wendy are not your average property sellers.

The couple have decided to raffle their “Oldborough Retreat” home and its grounds after getting fed up with low interest. They got on to a solicitor, who has helped them fix up the Richard and Judy-style competition (involving token silly question). “You’ve got to be in it to win it”, the pair say on their website.

2000 sq ft of living space

The house itself includes 2000 sq ft of living space, including five double bedrooms and a bathroom with a whirlpool bath. Four timber lodges help to make up the estate and the grounds feature woodland and a lake which is apparently great for fishing.

According to the BBC, each ticket costs £25, with 46,000 needing to be sold to cover the asking price, stamp duty and running costs of the competition.

PM’s private bog up for grabs

While we’re at it, why not run a similar contest for government ministers? Whoever comes up with the best scheme to get banks lending again wins the keys to Gordon Brown’s private bog. Alternatively Alistair Darling could enter and win a pair of b*ll*cks big enough to encourage him to scrap stamp duty. He can enter that competition for nothing, although there’s always a chance he won’t know the answer the entry question.

Technorati Tags: real estate, real estate investing, property, property investment

photo credit: Menlo School

As previously reported on this blog, students can no longer be looked upon as the penniless, scruffy little nerds they were back in the 1980s. These days the hordes of university goers which swamp chain bars across the UK are an altogether fancier bunch.

A collection of haircuts and Topshop t-shirts, ’studeys’ are often not actually that poor any more. This is largely down to the arrival of tuition fees combined with a decade of New Labour-inspired growth which put plenty of cash in the pockets of parents keen to send their kids off to study with a bit more than just a cardboard box full of tinned beans and a four pack of Skol.

Yuppies out, Slicas in

The result is that investing in student property is highly profitable, with rents in university towns across countries like the UK higher than in other areas. The latest twist is the naming of the more select members of the student population. You’ve met ‘Yachties’ and ‘Yuppies’, now prepare to target ‘Slicas’.

The Slica or Student Living In Comfort And Style, has emerged following research carried out by the University of East London for UNITE Group, which specialises in providing posh student digs. The study found a growing disparity in expectations of student lifestyles, with a growing number of students looking for ‘exceptional’ accommodation.

Rents at £195 per week

The result? Unite has responded by launching ‘premium city studio apartments’, entitled the London Studio Collection. Highlights include flat screen plasma TVs, 24-hour security, a concierge service and designer interiors featuring furniture from the James Bond film, Casino Royale. The rent? It STARTS at £195 per week, proving there’s cash out there in those previously troublesome and broke student tenants. A ready-made market for property investors who have turned into landlords.

Technorati Tags: real estate, real estate investing, property, property investment, students

photo credit: jadakatt

Few people count their bank manager among their closest friends, but the money men are doing a particularly bad job at endearing themselves to the British public at the moment.

It turns out that besides a long-term overpricing trend, a current refusal by banks to lend people mortgages is also driving the current slide in the UK property market.

412,000 rejected for a homeloan

According to GE Money, some would-be UK buyers are now being rejected four or more times before getting a homeloan. A survey from the firm says more than 412,000 people could not get a mortgage at all in the last year and a half – nearly enough to fill Wembley stadium five times over.

‘No mortgages, no market’

That’s potentially 412,000 sales which have been blown from the sky by the banks before they’ve even begun. Even when you take out the proportion of folks who no-one would lend a fiver to, let alone a mortgage, there’s still a lot of sales there. At this point, I don’t really care any more why banks are getting stingy, I just want them to start lending again. Without mortgages, the market can’t get on its feet again and until then anyone with a surplus of stock is left sitting on their hands.

After those stark GE statistics I can’t help but compare mortgage lenders with the big red plasticine blob from the BBC childrens’ show Trap Door. In case you never had kids at around that time, it hobbled
about moodily and only ever had one booming line- “I said NOOO.”

Technorati Tags: real estate, real estate investing, property, property investment

photo credit: bdjsb7

Although those jaw-tighteningly high ticking numbers at your local petrol pumps have many consequences, it’s been hard to imagine soaring gasoline prices would ever bring anything positive.

But wait! There is a silver lining to this acid rain-infused cloud. And it’s a potential sweetener for real estate investors.

According to urban designers in the US, property in downtown areas is getting hotter as Americans finally get sick of splashing out around $4 per gallon when filling their cars.

There are already rumblings this month that US real estate prices might be about to start a slow comeback, and sky-high fuel costs could add to this trend if Denver-based architect Chris Shears is to be believed.

Rising gas prices as a ’sales tool’

He says gas prices are now acting as a ’sales tool’ for the likes of his San Diego condo project The Mark, as workers look to abandon the suburbs in favour of commute-free living.

Call me shallow, but whenever I think of San Diego I immediately think of the film Anchorman. This was a comedy starring Will Ferrell as Ron Burgundy, a fictional San Diego-based newsreader charming the airwaves and viewing public in the 1970s.

A worldwide trend ahead?

This just happens to be the era when the leafy suburb was king and the car was the only way to travel. What Ron Burgundy would make of Shears’ contemporary spread is anyone’s guess, but the theory throws up an interesting question. With oil prices apparently set to go on rising, could inner city living gradually prove more popular worldwide? Maybe now is the time to invest in nations where petrol prices are yet to make eyes water.

Technorati Tags: real estate, real estate investing, property, property investment

photo credit: TheTruthAboutMortgage.com

While browsing listings for some off plan Indian apartments the other day, a sudden thought occurred to me. You could call it a seismic revelation.

Having not yet invested in an Indian development, I was unaware of the country’s regulations surrounding the earthquake-proofing of buildings. Over in the US, the durability of a new project when it comes to a tremor is virtually a given. Developments in many West Coast states are typically subject to regulations which ensure structural protection is built in – an insurance policy will usually reflect this accordingly. American laws to this effect have been around for decades.

‘Satisfactorily quake resistant’

A quick bit of research revealed similar disaster management legislation only arrived formally in India last year. According to Taylor Devices India, all buildings completed after Jun 30 2007 must adhere to satisfactorily quake-resistant designs. After June 30 2007. This is a little over a year ago, and in my mind puts a big bright red ‘careful’ flag on anything completed before then.

Shaky property subject

Tayor Devices specialises in gadgets which protect against the walls of your investment empire coming crashing down (literally). It says Indian guidelines on regulation of the whole issue contain ‘grey areas’.

Not only would clarity on this shaky subject possibly save lives, it would also provide some assurance to the thousands of investors who have turned their attention to Indian real estate in the last five years or so. Of course, it’s easy to fold your arms and grin when all your property is in the UK, where even the slightest wobble is rare enough to send the nation potty with excitement. Perhaps an international law is needed on the topic before one or two metaphoric and literal cracks start appearing in some markets.

photo credit: ConspiracyofHappiness

Leafting through Money magazine’s ‘Best Places to Live’ report, it’s easy to forget the US is currently going through some of the most frenetic and unpredictable real estate industry changes in its history.

The annual guide is like an Argos catalogue for property investors big and small – a veritable road map to where values increase the fastest and where every middle-American family wants to rest their laurels.

It also throws up some surprising facts and useful pointers to anyone thinking of splashing out in the US market. It can also be a killer to anyone who’s taken a gamble, as it sometimes blows the lid off one or two perceptions of what are genuinely desirable areas.

No banjo jokes allowed

Nicholasville, Kentucky, for example, a place where pretending to twang an imaginary banjo is just not funny, apparently has the most affordable and best value homes in America – according to the report a spread here will set you back just $70,000 (£37,466) on average.

Elsewhere the report shows Hoboken in New Jersey has the most singletons – apparently 58 per cent of the population here are ‘dinner for one’ specialists. The report also shows Marin County, California, is the ’skinniest’ area, where people have an average body mass index of 24.48.

So where is the most desirable place in the US? Plymouth. That’s right, Plymouth, in Minnesota. Not San Diego, downtown New York or the beaches of Miami. Plymouth is the place to be.

Ice cool investors only here

According to Money, its combination of top schools, decent jobs, lack of crime and general niceness make it the best spot to settle. Isn’t this also the state where winter temperatures plummet to around minus 16 degrees centigrade? “Here’s the keys to your new home, and here’s a shovel to dig it out. Good luck.”

http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/bplive/2008/index.html

Technorati Tags: real estate, real estate investing, property, property investment

photo credit: rick

It’s official – taking the plunge into foreign property investment can be bad for your health.

And not just stress level-wise either, as, according to Gulf News, expatriates who set up camp in places such as Dubai are prone to piling on extra pounds.

The publication says some people who move to the Emirate to do business are getting as much as 18kg heavier in the space of a few years, with more car use and the heat blamed as catalysts for a reduction in exercise.

Real estate professionals are not the most settled types at the best of times. As a full-time job it can involve lots of snacking in between meetings, long hours and a tendency to buy lunches rather than make your own. Those who are self-employed are even more at risk – the temptation is to completely fill your waking hours with your occupation, particularly if it’s a success, and suddenly your way of earning money becomes your life.

No brown rice for you

At this point your are probably half expecting me to go all celebrity chef on you and start barking assertions about how quickly and easily you can cook a thai vegetable curry with brown rice. Instead, let’s look at some innovative ways of investing in both property and health in one go.

For example BusinessSalesDirect has a ladies fitness company on a leasehold for sale in the West Midlands of the UK. At £25,000 for the business, it seems a steal, and why not grab a few free minutes on the machines if you get the time on a site visit?

Restaurant and gym for sale

Perhaps even better is the Turkish gym and restaurant premises for sale on the imaginatively-named BusinessesforSale.com. At $420,000, you can get an eatery to run and stoke yourself up in and a fitness centre to waddle over to and burn the resulting calories.

So if wraps and coffees are bulging your waistline why not try making cash and burning fat at the same time? Just be careful not pull any physical or financial muscles in the process.

Technorati Tags: real estate, real estate investing, property, property investment

photo credit: twm1340

A question pretty much everyone has asked themselves is, if I won the lottery or suddenly inherited millions, what would I spend it on?

Investing in property is a sensible start. Maybe a villa in the Bahamas, a city pad, and a cottage in the country takes your fancy. You would be unlikely to be able to tie all this up in a single day and, unless you land three palaces, you’d probably still have change for an ice cream and bottle of bubbly left over.

Nearly £30m on land in a day

However, via a combined effort, developers and property investors managed to blow a staggering £29.61 million on land alone in the UAE on Wednesday this week. According to the news agency WAM (no known relation to George Michael) this is a record for how much has been splashed on real estate there in a single day.

When we say land, remember we are just talking about land, albeit beside a picturesque beach in some cases. That is a staggering amount of cash in a day by anyone’s standards.

So in the tradition of true, careful, professional analysis, lets see what you else you could easily spend that much on in 24 hours.

‘290 new Aston Martins’

A total of this magnitude will get you about 600,000 cases of Virgin Wines’ ‘Discovery Club’ wine mixes, or about 290 new Aston Martin DB8s. The difference? Not all wine gets better with age and do you have any idea what the depreciation is on an Aston? While it may seem mental, splashing that cash on land alone is a sound investment. Let’s not shake our heads too hard.

Technorati Tags: real estate, real estate investment, property, property investment

photo credit: Scott Kuperus

Lesson number 367 in how to create a media row. Drum up a report saying people who live in northern England should be persuaded to move to the South East because where they live is not worth saving.

Despite some squirmy denials, that is essentially what the bright sparks at the Policy Exchange think tank have dreamt up for this week’s rent-a-debate. The reaction has been, predictably, about as warm as a February boat ride on the Mersey.

BBC radio ran quotes of a Bradford resident threatening to smack the reporter that even dared ask him the question. The phone lines were jammed by people saying just because they still kept coal in the bath shouldn’t mean they have to move to the smoke.

‘Encourage’ people to buy property in London

I’m inclined to agree with them. And I live in the Midlands. So that makes me an adequate referee. So, just to clarify, here’s a wee bit of the actual wording of the report: “There is no realistic prospect that our regeneration towns and cities can converge with London and the South East. There is, however, a very real prospect of encouraging significant numbers of people to move from those towns to London and the South East.”

Tyneside prices on the up

The last time I checked, parts of the north were actually quite attractive places to be. The Tyneside area has some of the few pockets of house price growth while values in London have declined recently. And while we’re talking about being ‘realistic’, let’s be realistic about London and South East.

London might command high house prices, but is the most traffic-choked overgrown sprawl in the whole of western Europe, and an overpriced, overrated hole wrapped up in its own self-importance. This report, from an SW1-based organisation, does nothing but prove this sentiment. As a fervent north-lover I’ll continue to live and invest in property up where if you lose your ferret, the neighbours will help you look, not stare straight ahead and turn up their ipods.

Technorati Tags: real estate, real estate investing, property, property investment

photo credit: minds-eye

Even at the best of times, flogging property is not an easy business. Unless you are selling it in Dubai, but that’s a freak of nature. However, not convinced that setting up a plush golfing resort in the hotspot Emirate was going to be enough, developers Tatweer made a phone call to Tiger Woods’ people and teed up a lucrative deal.

The world’s most talented egg-whacker so has his name all over Tiger Woods Dubai, which will be complete next year and feature a championship course, massive club house, boutique hotel and luxury bungalow units. A sales event is taking place this week, just in case signing up a legendary sportsman and building in the most property-obsessed region in the world doesn’t manage to sell a few houses. Not that I’m jealous of Tatweer’s impending success of course.

Pitt and Nicklaus also in the mix

Famous types do seem rather keen to tie up their names with property these days. Tiger has his golfing haven, Brad Pitt is helping US architect GRAFT on a Dubai hotel project for Zabeel Properties, and Jack Niklaus is helping out with his own golfing spread in St Lucia.

Promotional property food chain applies

Of course all of this lot are pretty A-list, so what do you do if you can’t afford them to promote your property investment wonderland? Maybe we’ll start seeing less glamours developments paired with less glamorous celebrities. Big Brother contestants linked to semis in Slough perhaps? If a house doesn’t sell, their punishment could involve being locked up in it together again while no-one watches them.

Technorati Tags: real estate, real estate investing, property, property investment, tiger woods