Fear of Failure Part 2

Another word for over cautious is fearful, and fear can often show itself by us making excuses not to take action, even if we know that those actions are the right actions to take. The result of fear can be a lack of action, or it can manifest itself as internal sabotage when you do…

Details

Fear of Failure Part 1

For those who are relatively inexperienced the prospect of buying an investment property can seem daunting. In fact many new investors may feel overwhelmed at first. I guess one of the reasons for this is that property is an all or nothing thing. Unless you buy shares in a property company, or join a part…

Details

Bicurious? Part 3

The FTSE came into being in 1983 and was based at 1000 on 31st December 1983 meaning the index has grown by 400% to the present day. In the meantime the Nationwide Index (SRQI) has increased from 59.5 to 300.2, an increase of 504%, and the Halifax Seasonally Adjusted Index has risen from 102.3 to…

Details

Bicurious? Part 2

Now, in terms of curiosity, all investors will be wondering which investment will give the better return, and our buycurious investor will be wondering about the relative merits of property against any other type of investment. So let’s instantly dismiss deposit accounts and savings accounts from our list. Many banks are not even bothering to…

Details

Bicurious? Part 1

Bicurious or buycurious? If bipartisan can be defined as being where two, often opposed, parties are in agreement, and bilingual as describing an individual who can speak two languages, then bicurious can surely be defined as meaning a person who can be simultaneously interested in two distinctly different things. Well, no, not exactly, unless one…

Details

Keeping a Lid on Your Repair Costs

Even in the world of buy to let familiarity really can lead to ‘contempt’, especially when it comes to property management and arranging property repairs. Because the bulk of my buy to let properties are around 150 miles from home I have a number of different managing agents who look after them. Delegating the management…

Details

Property Prices April Fool Part Two

In my last post I talked about how the media can influence market confidence and how media coverage of the property market seems more positive now than it has been for a long time. As example I quoted the Daily Express of 1st April which reported that the Centre for Economics and Business Research is…

Details

Property Prices April Fool Part Three

In this short series of posts we are thinking about whether the property market is poised for recovery and whether there is any evidence that the recovery has started. One thing I have noticed is a much larger number of estate agents ‘Sold’ signs, and far fewer ‘For Sale’ signs, in my local area. The…

Details