Property Investment

A majority of British people believe buying property is now a safer place to put their money than saving with a bank or building society. Research for the BBC Two series, The Truth About Property, found 53% of respondents believed owning property was safer than cash. The poll took place in the aftermath of the Northern Rock crisis, the first run on a British bank in nearly 150 years. The findings come despite mounting evidence of a slowing housing market. ‘Extreme measures’ Prices...Read Full Story

First a little story about buying investment property. My wife and I stayed at a motel in Tucson for a week one winter. Our bill was for twice what it should have been, but since I already paid the correct amount in cash, I thought nothing of it. During our stay, we noticed that the lobby and swimming pool were unheated, and passed it off as frugality. A year later, however, when I read a news story about a new owner struggling to make the motel work, I realized what was really going on. To...Read Full Story

The confidence of landlords does not seem to have been completely crushed by the recent global credit crunch, according to a press release by the Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA). The ARLA is the professional body concerned with the self-regulation of letting agents. Members are seen as being at the forefront of the private rental sector   Figures from their findings show 71 per cent of landlords had no intention of selling their property. Ten per cent of members reported that...Read Full Story

The search for vacation homes on the New Jersey shore may seem arduous at first, but with a few common-sense ideas in mind it’s not too hard to find that special place. There are nation-wide websites that cater to home-buyers, like Realtor.com , that allow the prospective vacationer to zoom into specific areas and check out the variety of properties available. This is good for getting an overview but it is often better to work with local agents, such as us here at seawindsofseaisle.com...Read Full Story

The Bank of England recently pumped £5billion into the markets, in an attempt to boost interbank lending. “Along with other central banks, the Bank of England is closely monitoring market conditions,” it said in a statement.   This ‘credit crunch’ is the consequence of problems in the American sub prime mortgages market. Last year many low income mortgage holders, defaulted after years of steady interest rate rises, combined with house prices flattening, meant banks had to write off sub prime...Read Full Story