BEST OF THE BTL BLOGS

Since we launched our Landlord and Buy-To-Let Blog a couple of weeks ago, there has been a raft of blogs generating a whole range of views and advice on landlording and property investment. I just wanted to draw landlord’s attention to some of the most interesting that have appeared over the last few weeks.

Energy Performance Certificates (EPC)
The ‘Bee in the bonnet’ buzzed into the blog with a stinging attack on the EPC . Landlords who are unaware of them should know that they will need one for every single one of their buy-to-let properties by October 1st 08. Time is running out & at £75 a pop, landlords should get saving!

The ‘Bee’ discusses the very practical problems of complying with the legislation as a student landlord. What do landlords think about this additional piece of legislation? Should Property Hawk be setting up a campaign against this additional piece of poorly thought through legislation. Could this be the ‘straw that breaks the camels back’ in the buy-to-let market? We want to know what you think. Surely this is too important to let the bureaucrats in Brussels have the last word…Post your comments to the blog

‘Credit crunch’ still increasing landlord’s pain.
We are now months into the ‘credit crunch’, which has now turned into a full fledged credit squeeze! I look at how this ‘squeeze’ is impacting on the buy-to-let credit markets. One thing that is happening is that buy-to-let lenders are increasingly withdrawing fixed rate buy-to-let mortgages and either not replacing them or replacing them with higher rates. I look at how inflation could be the key to understanding what is happening with the ‘credit crunch’ together with what the future may hold for landlords looking at refinancing their buy-to-let mortgage.

Spring has sprung – but not in the housing market
Margo Leadbetter leaves her housework just long enough to draw landlords attention to the fact that; the lambs in the Goods small holding may be jumping, but the same bounce hasn’t happened in the property market this year. She also speculates that the one upside of the weakening house price market is that the ballooning maintenance bills that landlords face might start coming down to earth.

City centre bargains
Rigsby has shied away from the city centre market because he thought it was too expensive and didn’t understand why he had too pay so much for Philippe Starke taps. With prices now reportedly at 2001 prices in some city centres he looks at whether it could be time to step into the market. Landlords who have avoided the marketing spin of the sales agents must be viewing with relief the huge losses reported by Hawkeye incurred by many buy-to-let landlords. Rigsby on the other hand has been faced by constant badgering by Miss Jones to invest in a city centre apartment. She wants centrally based accommodation just in case she decides to go ahead with her idea of doing a social work course. She argues that falling asking prices now make them a bargain and that if he was a real friend he’d put his hands in his pocket. Rigsby runs his slide rule over a range of more reasonably priced options – but will this be enough to satisfy Miss Jones?

Fancy having a go at blogging?
Landlords and investors who fancy a go at blogging – don’t be shy. You don’t have to be a trained writer and it will take you literally a couple of minutes to set yourself up so that you can start posting your views, ideas and advice on the site. For more information e-mail me at editor@propertyhawk.co.uk

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