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Mortgage lending is on the rise again. It has infact gone up 26% in the last month and looks like it will continue to do so. The Council of Mortgage Lenders has announced an advance from £12.7billion to £16billion between the months of June and July.

I would recommend that if you are lucky enough to be able to get a mortgage that another good tip could be to invest in a property to rent out as many people who cannot get on the property ladder are continuing to rent in the current climate. If you can pay off a mortgage by the income you are getting from someone renting your property then it really is happy days, and you may even then have enough spare to buy another property. You may think this is a risky time to look at such a strategy but in a way its a perfect time because if you buy now, before the next boom in house prices, then you’ll be in the money as now is probably the best time to get a good deal.

I’m in one of those jobs where you don’t really get a decent pension. You work and get a good salary and in my position is commission based so you can do pretty well if you sell regularly. I’ve been saving for a good few years so have some money to invest in property but have not yet seriously looked at pensions. I’m nearer 30 than 20 now so I think the time has come to start seriously taking things a bit more seriously.

My brother works for the MOD so he’s pretty sorted as far as a pension goes – he pays into it month by month and by the time he retires he should be pretty comfortable. He probably earns half as much as me per annum but long term, he’ll probably have a better pension.

That’s why I’ve decided that property is going to be my pension. I’m currently living in a house with a mortgage but in a few years I’d ideally like to look at something bigger, more bedrooms, bigger garden, driveway, loft conversion et al, ensuites…you get the picture. When I eventually look at buying a new property I’m going to look at the current property as a pension. Rather thatn sell to buy, I’m planning to buy with my savings and keep the existing property and rent it out so that the mortgage can be paid off while I’m paying off the new mortgage. Then hopefully, buy the time I retire I will have 2 properties and I can sell one (the smaller one probably) as a pension.

It’ll be hard work but I should really get the plan in place straight away, otherwise I’ll be struggling in later life as many people in the UK who don’t work in the public sector are finding out. I feel really sorry for people saving for pensions, particularly those who have invested a lot in shares and seen the market slump over the last year during the credit crunch. I really think everyone deserves  a good pension and state pensions are really poor and the government are not really doing enough to help look after people long term, especially as we all may have to work until the age of 70 soon.

Good luck to all those people on the verge of retirement.

Canadian John Porritt has swapped the English village lifestyle he moved to back in the seventies for the wilderness of the Canadian forest. Since selling his Internet banking systems company in 2000 which he set up in the 1990s he invested in holiday homes, namely log cabins. He researched the property market in Canada, and noted the relative success of the Humber Valley holiday cabin development in Newfoundland. He also noted the appetite for British buyers hunting something a bit different and rustic, and the appeal of large properties in open spaces close to nature.

John said:

‘There was clearly an appetite for large homes in big spaces next to nature,’

‘I thought if they can do it there (namely the Humer Valley Development), we can surely do it better here.’

He now employs his son as Managing Director of the company and daughter as Marketing and Events Director at the development which comprises 60 log homes of luxury and a clubhouse. The development is at Blueberry Lake, near Mont Tremblant in Quebec.

One of the 60 luxury log cabins near Mont Tremblant in Quebec

Caravans are officially in! Caravan Chic is the new craze and are not old fashioned and dire as many presume. In fact, the Daily Mail reports that “they are in danger of becoming trendy”.

The Caravan Club has recently reported sales up by 40 percent from last summer, and there is a celebrity look to caravanning with Mark Owen, Nell McAndrew and Helen Mirren amongst fans of the caravan which is re-inventing itself and revitalising the industry.

The new trend in caravans can comes as many 50-65 year olds are looking to downsize for retirement and the traditional caravans are not any more on the radar. People want luxury chic, at a price which is affordable. Many of the new ‘designer’ caravans are designed as permanent homes. While living in a caravan may not be everyone’s idea of the perfect abode, looking at some pictures I can see why it may appeal to some people.

I went travelling around Australia back in 2003 and we met a couple in their mid fifties who were travelling in a designer chic caravan. We on the other hand did 26,000 km round Oz in a Ford Falcon. Next time I might be tempted to do the trip in style…check out the pics below:

Go Designer Chic with a Luxury Caravan

Yes - it's not a lie - this is a caravan!!!

When buying a house there are many things to consider. Size, cost, location, garden, age of house, previous occupants etc. There are pros and cons to buying property and I just want to highlight a few for buying older properties.

You may automatically think that when you look at buying an old property that you are getting a really good deal. The house may be thousands cheaper than a similar size house that is a new build or is more modern in terms of the decor or interior. But problems may arise, and you may have to spend the thousands you have saved by actually doing the house up.

What I’m talking about essentially is damp proofing, insulating, re-wiring the whole house. These type of problems are very common and are not often cheap to fix. So bear in mind that while you might be making a saving on the initial investment, you may actually end up spending more by re-developing the whole of the interior than if you bought a slightly newer house which already fits the standards that your house must now comply with.

So weight up the advantages and disadvantages of each property before making your decision.

The new football season usually brings excitement, anticipation, optimisim and fresh hope for many teams. But for Liverpool footballers, it may well bring fear again. The reason being that Liverpool Footballers have been the target of burglars while on the road playing in the Champions League. Over the last couple of seasons a host of Liverpool’s top players have been burgled while playing away in and around Europe.

Robbie Keane was one of the most recent, before his bizarre move back to Tottenham last season, but Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard’s house was burgled while his wife and children were in the house while playing for Liverpool during their 4-0 win over Marseille in the Champions League.

Keane was the seventh victim following Gerrard and other players including Dirk Kuyt, Jerzy Dudek, Pepe Reina, Daniel Agger and Peter Crouch. Police on Merseyside confirmed that there may be links between the incidents involving Liverpool players, with most cases being while players were on European duty with Liverpool FC.

The Merseyside police could have a difficult search on their hands as the criminals could look like this:

Stereotypical Scousers!!!

As I mentioned in my blog the other day, another article has confirmed that house sales are on the rise. The BBC has reported that while a year ago many Estate Agents were cutting costs by laying of staff and leaving positions vacant, there is now a trend of recruiting again.

David Smith of Martyn Gerrard estate agency was quoted on the BBC website as saying:

“Things have got infinitely better, people are buying again.”

“Last year, we had hordes of people wanting to sell and nobody buying; now it’s the exact opposite.”

He went on to say that:

“We have so many buyers it’s frightening”

“Last month, in the three branches I cover we registered just over 300 buyers.”

I have a friend who was made redundant about 6 months ago working for Edward Mellor in Cheshire, and I have never seen him so low. Hopefully he will be able to look at this news with optimism that the market is turning around. We may not all necessarily like Estate Agents but there is a place for them in our economy and good look to all those out of jobs who may now be able to get back to work quicker than expected.

For the 5th successive month in a row (during June) the number of mortgages approved for house purchases has risen This is good news for the property market as many seem to be moving away from renting and climbing up the property ladder.

Economists have warned though, that as the recession continues, and unemployment rises, property prices could be set to keep falling for a while longer yet.

I think that part of the reason more people are now getting mortgages is because they have the potential to put in lower offers on properties and have the offer accepted as sellers are eager to take offers close but potentially just under the asking price to push through a quick sale. The longer they wait for an offer which matches their valuation they could find that their home has in fact decreased further in value. My brothers girlfriends’ sister has seen her house drop from £160,000 to £135,000 over the last couple of years and they are now looking at accepting lower offers as they need to move to accommodate their 2 (and soon to be 3) children.

Lets hope that everything picks up again soon.

A couple of years back, no one had really heard of the term ‘credit crunch’ but the term is now wide spread across a number of industries. The property/real estate market has definitely been hit – estate agents all across the UK have been shutting offices, namely local offices for a more central approach with fewer offices covering a greater number of areas.

Property buyers have felt the pinch – due to rising unemployment rates many are now putting on hold their moves, or waiting for better offers on their houses before moving. Many prospective buyers have also stayed in rented accommodation but essentially I feel this is still dead money.

The main problem is that the initial deposit is often beyond first time buyers reach – unless you have a good £25K to spend upfront on a deposit many estate agents or solicitors will not even consider you for a mortgage.

Credit crunch is defined as a “severe shortage of money or credit”. So if this describes you, try not to worry too much. There are plenty of properties out there and the likelihood is you can still get one on the cheap with people looking for a quick sale. Keep saving and try to be conservative with what you spend. Or look down the route of shared ownership to begin with – getting on the property ladder in some way is better than waiting another couple of years for the economy to try and sort itself out.

To buy or not to buy? – that is the question.

My brother is currently in the process of trying to buy a house with his girlfriend. They have a realistic deposit between them but have been renting for the past year together and have decided to try and get somewhere bigger.

They are however getting the usual sales speel from the estate agents. Now I’m in sales, so I know most tricks in the book, trying to get people to up their offer, saying that someone else is interested in the property, saying that you have a slightly lower offer than someone else but the current owner prefers you etc.

In these current times of recession you have to play as hard as they play.

The house is on the market for £125,000. However it needs a minimum of £25,000 worth of upgrading; kitchen, bathroom, central heating to name a few. Their initial offer was £105,000.

It was refused straight away. They then however put in an immediate offer of £110,000 to which the response was “well, it’s better, but I think the owner is holding out for £115,000. There are a few other parties interested in the house so let us know asap”.

By putting in an immediate improved offer of £110,000, the estate agent obviously knew they were keen immediately used the ‘fear of loss’ card by saying there were other parties interested and that they should try and meet £115,000. The problem is, this would only leave them with £10,000 to do the property up, and could cause arguments when they are living in a house which is clearly old fashioned and needs a hell of a lot of work.

They were claiming that the estate agent would not lie to them and try to get more money if the house clearly wasn’t worth £115,000, but believe me – estate agents will do anything to line their pockets. They are not interested in the buyer’s needs, they are concerned about making the sale at the best possible price.

I persuaded them to not go back with an immediate offer of £115,000 and they agreed it would look a little desperate. They haven’t heard back yet but I get the impression that the house is still on the market and they could be receiving a call saying that their offer has been accepted very soon.

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