landlord

THE ONLY CAPITALISING THAT I DO IS WEALTH - I LEAVE THE GRAMMAR TO THE POOR

IT NEVER CEASES TO AMAZE ME JUST HOW MANY INTELLIGENT PEOPLE ARE ON THIS FORUM, YET THEY RENT INSTEAD OF BUYING??????????WHY??????????? DONT THEY REALISE THAT THEY ARE NOT PARTICIPATING IN THE GREATEST WEALTH CREATOR THIS COUNTRY HAS EVER SEEN? SO ALL YOU RENTERS -STOP - GO OUT AND BUY. MAKE SOME MONEY FOR YOURSELVES YOU WILL THANK ME ONE DAY

WELL SAID FT - SPOT ON! ANOTHER 12 MONTHS AND WE WILL BE ROCKING & ROLLING ONCE AGAIN. ALL THOSE WHO BAILLED OUT WILL BE SORRY. PROPERTY IS KING.

Well OK, if it makes you feel better.

Yes, new build flats are currently a lousy investment because there is too much supply which is keeping both prices and rents down. But the market will find its feet as the weaker investors sell up and move out of the market, hence reducing supply. Owner occupiers will move in, and stability and prosperity will once again return. Its just a matter of time. Time is a landlords best friend!

Liverpool is currently using 1/3 of all the cranes in the England! So much money cannot be wrong!

The more the merrier! As good christians we must help the needy, by providing them with housing and employment. They in turn will ensure that our economy continous to grow and prosper and we will all benefit. Now we must welcome all the millions of Bulgarians and Rumanians.

Great response guys! Please dont shoot me down just because I dont agree with you - if I did I would have sold up by now. I havent because all the signs that I see look encouraging about future price rises. But I am not talking about new 2 bed city centre flats! They do not figure much in my portfolio, although they will come good in the distant future when every city has a conjestion charge and parking becomes impossible. Land is a scares commodity - its running out, whilst our need for homes increases due to immigration, divorces, single living. Yes first time buyers are prices out, but banks will find new ways and schemes to make it affordable (50% ownership, interest only, lifetime mortgages). Why? because it is in their interest! The whole market is evolving, time changes peoples perception of the worth of a property. Let me give you an example: In 2000 I bought a Victorian house which had been converted into 4 flats for £75,000, due to its rental yiled of £15,000 (ie. 5 times rent). There was no way back then that the building was say worth 10 times rent, and the thought of being able to sell the flats individually was hilarious. But 6 years on, you can guess the rest...... House inflation is inevitable. Jump on before its too late, because the longer you leave it, the harder it gets.

I have been reading this site for a while now, and although i find it very informative, i dissagree with the overriding message/prediction which is ofcourse that we are in for a housing crash. Let me explain: I have been a professional landlord now for around 8 years, and I can think of no better investment. It has made me a very rich man. My properties are in the Liverpool area, and what i have found in this time period is that property as an investment is now very mainstream and very highly percievied. The market is thus underpinned now by far greater number of professional landlords who have deep enough pockets to see through any mild interest rate hikes (ie up to say 6-7%). Anyone expecting a repeat of the 1990 fiasco will be left waiting as the world no longer operates in such a naive manner. Interest rates are not a goverment tool but that of an independed body. My prediction is that the market will stay steady for a few more years, that interest rates will either peak at the current level 4.75 or 5.0. After say 2 years, there will be a slight interest rate fall, and the market will make up the years of slow growth (2004-2008) by sudden double figure price rises. All my fellow landlords are just sitting tight now waiting for the next cycle of price rises. Crashes only happen when people panic, and this current housing market is controlled too much by bigger players who will not allow that to happen. I agree that those left off the housing ladder times are hard, but there are always emerging areas where prices are low and set to rise. I am now finding that some areas which used to be no-go areas are now becoming hot spots, with great profit prospects.