Property Blog [ Page 8 ]

Taking In Lodgers- “Rent-A-Room” Scheme

40 Comments Comments / Article written on 11 Oct 2007, and filed in the Marketing & Finding Tenants section

Ever considered taking in a lodger? A lodger can be a great way of generating income; many thousands of people earn extra income in this way.
To start with, I’m going to list a few of the perks and pitfalls for accommodating lodgers:
The positives of taking in a lodger

most obviously, it’s a great way of earning [...]

I Hate It When My Tenant Calls

5 Comments Comments / Article written on 10 Oct 2007, and filed in the Ranting Landlord section

Whenever I see my tenant’s name flashing on my mobile phone screen, I know it’s not good news. Granted, it rarely happens, but when it happens, I panic. When does a tenant ever call baring good news? “Oh, Hey Landlordy, just calling to thank you for providing this wonderful roof over my head at a [...]

One Year To Pay Off Your Mortgage

2 Comments Comments / Article written on 07 Oct 2007, and filed in the Sarah Beeny section

It’s a new property show presented by the one and only Sarah Beeny. It’s broadcasted by Channel 4, Saturday evenings.
The show is a documentary series following British people attempting to make substantial profit from investing and developing property outside of the UK so they can pay off their mortgages.
It’s a 6 part series, and apparently [...]

Glengarry Glen Ross

0 Comments Comments / Article written on 07 Oct 2007, and filed in the I Dislike Estate Agents section

Have you guys seen this movie, “Glengarry Glen Ross”? It’s a classic. Anyone intesteresed in property sales, especially estate agents, should check it out. Actually, it’s generally a solid watch for absolutely anyone. Well, anyone that doesn’t take offense to swearing. Fuck you.

The film is about four estate agents (Al Pacino, Jack Lemmon, Ed Harris [...]

Increasing Your Tenants Rent

0 Comments Comments / Article written on 04 Oct 2007, and filed in the Landlord Legal Obligations/Issues section

Trying to increase the rent with an existing tenant is always a tough issue to tackle.
Here are the common problems that a landlord faces when considering the subject of an increase in rent:

Fear of confrontation
The suggestion may force the tenant to vacate
May cause future tension in the tenant/landlord relationship

Is the increase needed?
Before making any quick [...]

Pictures Tell A Thousand Words

0 Comments Comments / Article written on 03 Oct 2007, and filed in the Selling Property Tips section

Here’s how Foxtons recently marketed one of their properties…

Just a friendly reminder, when you’re marketing a property, be thorough.

Benefits Of Paying Your Mortgage Off Early

0 Comments Comments / Article written on 01 Oct 2007, and filed in the Mortgage Stuff section

A mortgage is probably the biggest financial expenditure for the average person. A mortgage can be a lifetime commitment. That’s a real bitter pill to swallow- knowing you’ll be paying off a single debt for the majority of your life.
Have you ever thought what life would be like without having to make that monthly mortgage [...]

Mortgage Calculator

3 Comments Comments / Article written on 30 Sep 2007, and filed in the Mortgage Stuff section

Here’s a useful tool that calculates how much a monthly mortgage would cost if you enter real or hypothetical scenerios- useful for planning if you’re thinking of getting a mortgage or remortgaging. It takes into considering the amount you’re borrowing, and the life-span of your loan.
This calculator is also particularly useful for those on variable [...]

How To Sue Your Landlord

18 Comments Comments / Article written on 28 Sep 2007, and filed in the Tenant Advice section

It occurred to me that I haven’t really given much support to tenants, but I’ve written a lot of articles for landlords. I guess that’s because I’m a landlord and have never experienced life as a tenant. However, I’m about to broaden my horizons. Here’s how to sue your mean little landlord…
Most ‘tenant Vs landlord’ [...]

Gazundering / Bid And Chip

0 Comments Comments / Article written on 26 Sep 2007, and filed in the Selling Property Tips section

Gazundering, or what the media is calling “bid and chip” is a method of purchasing property used by a breed of parasites that are polluting the already ignominious property industry.
What is Gazundering/ Bid and chip?
Gazundering is a practise whereby the purchaser of a property threatens to pull out just before exchange of contracts if the [...]

Flipping Property For A Flipping Fortune

1 Comment Comments / Article written on 25 Sep 2007, and filed in the Buying Property Tips section

Flipping properties is a highly lucrative, but risky way of making a quick fortune. It’s becoming increasingly popular amongst the public because a) it’s a relatively simple concept b) it’s the “in” thing right now c) as mentioned, it can be extremely lucrative.
So, what is property flipping?
It’s the name given to the act of [...]

Rent Guarantee And Legal Expenses Insurance

0 Comments Comments / Article written on 21 Sep 2007, and filed in the Good & Bad Landlord Practices section

If you’re a landlord that’s letting complete strangers rent your property, I highly recommend getting rent guarantee and legal expenses insurance. They’re relatively inexpensive, and could potentially save you a heap of money.
I’ve recently had to evict a tenant because she wasn’t coughing up her rent. She ended up missing out on 2 months worth [...]

Tax On Selling Property

2 Comments Comments / Article written on 19 Sep 2007, and filed in the Tax And Property section

Before I begin, let me make the primary message quick and painful- YES, you may have to make tax payments when selling your own property.
Avoiding costs and expenditures when dealing with property is like trying to avoid bloodshed when going into battle with a hungry lion. Unfortunately, I imagine the pain of feeling an adult [...]

Make Sure Your Tenant Registers With Their Local Authority

0 Comments Comments / Article written on 18 Sep 2007, and filed in the Good & Bad Landlord Practices section

If your tenant is responsible for paying council tax on your property, it’s important that they register their new residential details with the local authority for taxation purposes.
Ultimately, it is the tenants responsibility to do so. However, “tenants fresh out of the box” may not be aware of this process. It’s always best to remind [...]

Shit, I Have A Mortgage With Northern Rock!!!!

11 Comments Comments / Article written on 17 Sep 2007, and filed in the Mortgage Stuff section

A million fucking mortgage lenders out there, and I end up with the one that lands into financial difficulties; what are the chances?
For those who have been living under a rock for the past few days, please allow me to give you a quick update. Northern Rock declared that they have been going through severe [...]

Forget Using Letting Agents

6 Comments Comments / Article written on 13 Sep 2007, and filed in the Marketing & Finding Tenants section

When the rental market is booming, why use a letting agent? It makes no sense. They charge extortionate rates for doing very little work. So why not CUT OUT THE MIDDLE MAN?
Currently, there’s been a lot of articles in the news about the serious drought of properties to rent. Supply simply isn’t meeting demand at [...]

Time To Buy Property In America For Brits

3 Comments Comments / Article written on 12 Sep 2007, and filed in the Buying Property Tips section

If you’re looking to buy Property in America for either business or pleasure, ’round about now wouldn’t be a bad time to start making a move.
Since 2000, America has seen a significantly sharp increase in property value; so big that it became “a mother of all bubbles” Sadly, the bubble has started to burst in [...]

I Raised My 15k (Plus More)

6 Comments Comments / Article written on 10 Sep 2007, and filed in the Project 2- Reducing My Mortgage section

I know it’s been a while since I’ve touched on this subject, but to be honest, there hasn’t been much to report. For those who have been out of the loop, you can catch up and read about what my current property investment project is all about.
My previous total was £8,478.23, and I managed to [...]

What Are The Signs Of An Approaching Property Crash?

0 Comments Comments / Article written on 09 Sep 2007, and filed in the Property Investment Tips & Info section

Recently, there’s been a lot of talk about a property crash approaching. Granted, there’s always been a huge group of cynics waiting for a bust for the past 5 years or so, but over the previous months I’ve noticed a slow growth in numbers for “team cynic”. Please note, I’m not implying a property crash [...]

Reasons Why I Hate My Tenant

52 Comments Comments / Article written on 03 Sep 2007, and filed in the Ranting Landlord section

My tenant is finally out of my life after I evicted her incompetent arse. I’m definitely ready to close this chapter in my life right after I’ve documented a list of reasons why I want to skull fuck her with a blunt, rusty axe. I’ve wrote a few blog entries on this issue, and [...]

Tracker Mortgages

0 Comments Comments / Article written on 31 Aug 2007, and filed in the Mortgage Stuff section

Trackers mortgages are also known as rate tracker mortgages, because essentially, they track the movement of a rate, usually the bank of England base rate.
For example, you could get a tracker mortgage that will always be 0.25% above the UK base rate. So, if the base rate is 5.75%, you will pay 6% interest on [...]

Offset Mortgages

0 Comments Comments / Article written on 29 Aug 2007, and filed in the Mortgage Stuff section

Offset mortgages are fairly new in the UK; the idea was launched in 1994 after they gained popularity in Australia. They’ve been becoming increasingly popular to homeowners in the UK. The key feature of an offset mortgage is the ability to reduce the interest charged by offsetting a credit balance (such as savings account and [...]

Old Tenant Out, New Tenant In

2 Comments Comments / Article written on 22 Aug 2007, and filed in the Ranting Landlord section

I met up with my letting agent last night and signed the contracts for my new tenant. My new tenant has paid 1 year’s rent up front, which should be deposited into my account early next week. I can’t emphasise enough how lucky I feel to have a tenant which was willing to pay a [...]

Declaring A Buy-To-Let Property As Residential

0 Comments Comments / Article written on 15 Aug 2007, and filed in the Mortgage Stuff section

It’s common practice for landlords to let their property out without informing their mortgage lender. Basically, landlords declare their buy-to-let property as residential. Why do they do it? Generally because residential mortgages have a lower interest rate than buy-to-let mortgages, consequently there’s an opportunity to save thousands over the period of the mortgage. It’s a [...]

I Found A New Tenant

2 Comments Comments / Article written on 13 Aug 2007, and filed in the Ranting Landlord section

Right, so my scum-bag tenant is moving out on the 20th of august (can’t wait). And my new one is moving in on the 21st. Here’s the best part, though. My new tenant is a full-time career woman, and she wants to pay the 1 year rent up front (12 x £775 = £9300 + [...]

My Tenant Has Agreed To Get The Fuck Out Of My Property

4 Comments Comments / Article written on 02 Aug 2007, and filed in the Ranting Landlord section

HA! The scummy little benefit fraudster has buckled under the pressure and has agreed to move out and pay everything she owes me. I feel lucky. Why? No idea. Someone lucky wouldn’t have even had a shitty little tenant like that. But whatever, considering the circumstances, I am lucky. This could have gone to court, [...]

Landlord’s Right Of Entry

27 Comments Comments / Article written on 28 Jul 2007, and filed in the Landlord Legal Obligations/Issues section

It is in fact illegal for a landlord to enter his or her property without agreement from the tenant. The office of fair trading document oft356 reads as follows:

3.32 We would object to a provision giving the landlord an excessive right to enter the rented property. Under any kind of lease or tenancy, a landlord [...]

Tenants Without A Written Contract

14 Comments Comments / Article written on 24 Jul 2007, and filed in the Landlord Legal Obligations/Issues section

I got a call earlier from a friend of mine; she explained to me that her landlord has requested for her to vacate his property by Saturday (4 days away). They had a dispute over the payment of rent.
She was in a panic because finding a reasonably priced place to rent in London with in [...]

The Bitch (My Tenant) Received Her Eviction Notice- She’s Not Happy

10 Comments Comments / Article written on 19 Jul 2007, and filed in the Ranting Landlord section

In my last blog entry (I’m evicting my tenant) I was talking about sticking my tenant’s head in the meat grinder because she was a few days away from falling 2 months in arrears. I was actually hoping she would fall into 2 months arrears so i had legal grounds to evict her dumb arse [...]

Be Careful Of Property Associations

44 Comments Comments / Article written on 11 Jul 2007, and filed in the Buying Property Tips section

Someone posted this in my forum and I found it rather interesting, so I thought I would write about it since there’s a lesson to be learned.

I became a member of the Property Association in June 05 at a cost of £1600 plus VAT. The Property Association make deals with house builders and sell the [...]

I’m Evicting My Tenant

199 Comments Comments / Article written on 09 Jul 2007, and filed in the Ranting Landlord section

On the 15th of July 2009 my tenant will have fallen 2 months in arrears and she will owe me £1.5k. Unfortunately I have no confidence in the parasite to come good with the money. She’s given me every damn excuse in the book so far, and to be honest, I don’t give a [...]

SEXY Property History Lesson

19 Comments Comments / Article written on 03 Jul 2007, and filed in the Ranting Landlord section

Welcome to the Property Investment Project’s very first History lesson. Learning has never been more enjoyable! Class is now in session. SHUT UP, TURN UP YOUR SPEAKERS AND LISTEN UP! (note: sorry, since youtube limits video dimensions, some of the writing is unclear- i’ve writen all the featured facts below)

Seedy, tacky, not very informative, yet [...]

Facts About Interest Rates

0 Comments Comments / Article written on 14 Jun 2007, and filed in the Mortgage Stuff section

Who determines interest rates?
The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) decides the fate of interest rates. They meet up every month and decide what the rates will be in the foreseen future.
Who forms the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC)?
The MPC is made up of the governor of the Bank, two deputy governors, a chief economist, [...]

I Got A Part-Time Job

5 Comments Comments / Article written on 10 Jun 2007, and filed in the Project 2- Reducing My Mortgage section

I was having one of my moments of reflection at work the other day, contemplating on ways I could raise more cash for my property investment project. I started thinking about how all the little costs in my life add up, and how it would be great to either lower or remove those costs. I’m [...]

Wicked Penthouses With Wicked Views

0 Comments Comments / Article written on 07 Jun 2007, and filed in the Architecture/Design section

We’ve all seen expensive houses with all the basic amenities like tennis courts, swimming pools, and panoramic landscape gardens. But even without all of those luxuries, there’s just something a tad more prestigious and classy about having a penthouse apartment. Penthouses are like the Maybachs of cars; they ooze out that extra bit of sophistication [...]

Buying A House With An Extension

0 Comments Comments / Article written on 07 Jun 2007, and filed in the Buying Property Tips section

I was reading through the news yesterday, and I came across an interesting article about a mansion that is facing demolition because the luxury home has been vastly extended without proper planning permission. The previous owner, a builder, had more than doubled the living space without having permission to do so. He then sold it [...]

The $1 billion house

66 Comments Comments / Article written on 05 Jun 2007, and filed in the Architecture/Design section

Yeah, you read correctly, the $1 billion house, that’s not Rupee or Yen. MSN released news today (MSN has taken the article down for some reason) that India’s richest man, Mukesh Ambani, is in the process of building a new home in Mumbai that currently has an estimated value of $1 billion.
Forbes estimated Ambani’s net [...]

I Just Sold The Love Of My Life

2 Comments Comments / Article written on 01 Jun 2007, and filed in the Project 2- Reducing My Mortgage section

I’m feeling quite unsettled right now; I just had to part from the love of my life (Peugeot 206 1.4 GLX). It’s not uncommon for people to get attached to their first car; the sentimental relationship is sometimes unavoidable, unless it’s a complete piece of shit. However, my car was a little beauty, consequently I’m [...]

How To Increase The Value Of Your Property

3 Comments Comments / Article written on 30 May 2007, and filed in the Property Development section

Increasing the value of a property is all about spending wisely and focusing your effort in the right places. For example, there’s no point pumping high amounts of cash into a 3rd bathroom in a 2-bedroom property. It just wouldn’t make sense. In a lot of cases, it’s always a good idea to check with [...]

Prince William’s New Bachelor Pad

0 Comments Comments / Article written on 30 May 2007, and filed in the Celebrity Homes section

Oh yes, Price William has set to move into his very first bachelor pad. Our highness has chosen to move into an upscale (of course) apartment complex in the exclusive Dolphin Square. Dolphin Square is a block of private apartments built near the River Thames at Pimlico in London. I’m sure the prince will have [...]