BUY-TO-LET APOCOLYPSE?
Buy-to-let apocalypse?
Ok things are bad. House prices are falling and at the fastest rate since Nationwide’s monthly records started.
Buy-to-let mortgages are disappearing faster than virgins at a Vikings stag party.
Mortgage rates are rising despite a static base rate so that where as last year it was possible to get a buy-to-let mortgage at less than 5.5% with a margin above base of 0.39%. Now landlords are looking at premiums between 1.5-2%.
The government is determined to think of new ways of tying landlords in knots with useless paper work such as the Energy Performance Certificates (EPC).
Buy –to –let silver lining
In amongst all this bad news are there any positives?
One of the few positives for landlords is that tenant demand still remains strong . Potential purchasers are putting off buying because they either can’t raise finance to buy or they are delaying their purchase.
Therefore where landlords can secure the right finance then they can be sure that they should be able to find a hoard of willing tenants.
Landlords only have to browse websites such as Property Snake ( no relation to us) to find them self a potential property bargain. The other alternative is to search for buy-to-let properties in amongst the increasing numbers of investment property that is finding its way to the property auctions either as a result of repossession or as newbie landlords finally give up the ghost and decide to run for the door. Websites such as Auction Property for Sale allow landlords to find auction properties near them quickly and efficiently.
The other positive is that as a registered user of Property Hawk you will have up to the moment news and views on what is happening in the world of buy-to-let. Our panel of experts ensure that they keep landlords up to date with what is going on and what they can do to ride out the credit crunch & the subsequent property slump.
Introducing the NEW Property Hawk Buy-to-Let blog
One way that Property Hawk is getting closer to what is going on in the buy-to-let market is through our NEW Landlord & BTL Blog.
Not only is there FREE software and information http://www.propertyhawk.co.uk/index.php we have now got a whole range of buy-to-let industry experts & landlords to share their wealth of experience and a little bit of humour to lighten a landlord’s load during these worrying times.
Our motley crew of bloggers:
Hawkeye who aims to remind landlords that what they sometimes need when is perspective in their property investment decisions. Rome wasn’t built in a day. They even had landlords’ in Roman times so landlords’ could make some kind of claim of being members of the ‘world’s oldest profession’. Sometimes in amongst all the media hullabaloo landlords can find it hard to see the wheat from the chaff and that’s when a little bit of perspective helps.
Margo Leadbetter does like her rubber gloves but she doesn’t like getting her fingers dirty. She decided long ago that property management wasn’t her thing. Find out what the ‘good life’ entails when you opt to be an arms length landlord.
Don’t get Bee In The Bonnet started on being a landlord or students for that matter, or you will never shut him up! Landlords that do read his blog will learn a lot about how not to get stung. A must read for landlords who are managing their own investment property.
Bitwix is our resident software ‘supremo’. He will give landlords advice and update them on how to use the Property Management software over the coming months. Look out for the new ‘drag and drop’ inventory software which is being worked on as we speak. It really will make creating an inventory as easy as it sounds. Also appearing during 2008 will be the Property Manager version 2.0, bigger , better, stronger. Let your ideas and thoughts on the new property management software be heard.
Want to join our blogging community?
Do you have things you want to get off your chest, or just ideas that you want to share with our property investing community. To get your own chance to be a Property Hawk blogger just e-mail me with a brief description of your background and what your ideas are for blogging and we can get you set up with your very own blogging persona. It might not make you a property millionaire but it could make you feel a hell of a lot better!
Where do professional landlords go for their buy-to-let insurance?
Property Hawk unlike some landlord websites does not just regurgitate meaningless news feeds. We do not pretend to have all the answers; we know that our users views are just as important as our take on things. Landlords make your views known by adding your comments to the blog or e-mailing me directly. editor@propertyhawk.co.uk
Landlords should remember " Always look on the bright side of life"
Leave a Reply