Welcome to this week’s YPC Property News Update. Find out why the time is right to invest in a Residential Property Fund. With its high return on investment and only £10k initial outlay, we’ll be foolish not to consider this type of investment.

Is the cold weather to blame for falling house prices? What about stamp duty relief and consumer confidence – do they not factor into the equation? We’ll also take a look at how demand can drop like a stone but can also come back quickly.

CML urges for more new builds – lack of new homes and difficult access to mortgages have caused a decline in home ownership. So why are investors doing so well in this market? Perhaps first timers need to learn the disciplines of the investors.

Finally, this week’s big headline: ‘Is disaster looming for UK’s credit rating?’ UK borrows to survive and because we’ve brought on so much debt our credit rating maybe affected. How will this affect us on a day-to-day basis?  What needs to be done to keep its AAA rating?

As always, if you have any questions or want to know more then give the team a call on 0207 812 1255.

Live with Passion
Brett Alegre-Wood

Have you thought about using YPC Lettings but think that you are better using a local agent? Do you think YPC Lettings is too far from your investment propertiy and not able or equipped to manage your property?

First and foremost, YPC Lettings has your best interests at heart and we work for you, not the tenant. You know who we are and you trust us, that’s why you come back again and again to invest and build your property portfolio. YPC has been around for years now (5 years in fact) and most of you have met our Chairman, Brett Alegre-Wood and you know he and the team he has surrounded himself with are ethical and work to a code of professional ethics.

YPC Lettings manage your properties, we manage our third party relationships and we manage the letting agents and tenants in keeping your property in good order. We are good at this because we have built up strong relationships with the best people in your area and we use people who we trust to do the groundwork for us. Nowadays, it is not enough that your letting agent is in the local area because despite this, many of them do not know what to do when your tenant isn’t paying rent nor do they follow up on your tenant issues and assure that your tenant is happy in the property. They don’t constantly shop around for the best service and prices and they deal with shoddy trades people. You, your property and tenant is just a number to them as you haven’t built that relationship as we have done through repeat business over many years. YPC on the other hand, we know that if we don’t blow your socks off with our service you are unlikely to come back and buy from us and this goes totally against our ethos.

The key to good property management is not just about managing your property but managing the people who do the work for you. You may think that because your letting agent is in the local area they are better at managing your property. But you should think again. In the past couple of months I’ve had numerous phone calls from clients who are fed up with their local letting agent because they are not doing the work they are paid to do. They’ve called me for advice on how they can sack their letting agent and move the management of their property over to YPC Lettings because their letting agent isn’t managing their property nor their tenant effectively and as a result caused them big headaches – both financially and emotionally. Our role here at YPC Lettings is to allow you the freedom and time to enjoy your life without the hassle of managing the people who manage your property, so you can set and forget!

Don’t waste your time managing your letting agent and put your property in good hands and let us do the work for you!

Regards,

Josie Chi
Head of YPC Lettings

Since I started at YPC I have been helping look after the lettings and as this is my last week at YPC I thought I would leave with a few words of wisdom on this topic. Now YPC guarantees to get your property let within six weeks*. So how are we so confident that we can achieve this?

We employ a multitude of proactive strategies. Firstly we aim to use local agents that we can build a strong, symbiotic relationship with: ‘you scratch my back and I can scratch yours!’ On initially speaking to the agent we send them all the details of the development and let them know what our expectations of the Realistic Market rent (RMR) are. Often this is in line with their thinking and what can and will be achieved. Other times they may suggest marketing even higher. We aim to launch advertising 2 weeks before completion at a higher price (£25-50 more than the RMR) to gauge some initial interest.

We also negotiate the letting agents’ fees down (making things cheaper for you) due to the prospect of bulk properties and continual business with them. Indeed a lot of agents are keen to please and work very hard for us. However the key here is our management of the process along the way.

We speak to the agent a minimum of every 2 days and then follow up on the viewings that they have had. YPC puts pressure on the agent “squeeky wheel” so that they prioritise your property. We get constant feedback and any offers that come through we will negotiate a price and a move in date.

One of our strategies is to also foster competition within the agents- we only ever put 4 properties with any one agent at a time so if we find the agent isn’t performing we will move the properties over to another one. This is a slight euphemism for ‘You’ve been fired!’ – Alan Sugar style!

We also advise that if an agent has 4 properties to let that they only actively advertise one or two. Simple supply and demand here…if you go on to Rightmove and see 10 properties from the same development advertised one would be less likely to book in viewings. Its human nature.

One thing I have learnt here is that agents will often Sell up and Manage down. When you call up first of all they sell you the world and then once they have your business they manage your expectations down – saying things like lettings are slow or the lounge isn’t big enough etc. Our experience in dealing with a multitude of letting agents means we are attuned to this.

In fact there are really only two reasons why a property won’t let:

1) The agent is not doing the job properly e.g. advertising on line, in the window or in the local paper – which ever reflects the most proficient marketing tool for their area. Key to a good agent is also to have lettings managers who are proactive, communicative and persuadable.

2) The property is at the wrong price. The price needs to reflect the property itself as well as the current state of the market. Simple supply and demand will see fluctuations of rental price in the lettings market.

So once you have a good agent and a good price you are good to go!

If it’s been 3-4 weeks and we are confident that the agent is working hard then we will consider dropping the rent by say £25pcm and then by perhaps another £25, 2 weeks after this. This will ensure that your property gets chosen over others that are similar but at a higher price.

We aim for a quick let as from an investor’s point of view it is a lot more favourable to get a tenant in sooner rather than later thus reducing the risk of a larger void period. If you held out any longer you may never achieve that slightly higher rental anyway –“what fools do in the end the wise do in the beginning”. Please note we would never drop the rent too substantially as we do not want to attract the wrong calibre of tenants. We guarantee to get the property let within £50 of the RMR and use this lee-way to bag you a tenant. Often (after 4-6 weeks on the market or over Christmas) we will even consider an incentive such as the first month’s rent half price (everyone likes a bargain). Indeed if you waited around and did not consider an incentive it may cost you another 2 weeks anyway, working out financially the same.

With YPC as your main point of call we take the every day hassle of being a land lord. It’s about putting trust in professionals; this is a strong theme in the book the Richest Man in Babylon, which should be compulsory for every investor to read. And as an investor one should release control and let YPC do what they’re good at and what they are paid for!

For me I find that all these principles and strategies work and indeed YPC rarely pays out on the guarantees and has even recently expanded on them to cover the first 2 years of your ownership. Brett’s a smart guy and I know that because of the principles in this blog and the training we have that he will rarely have to pay out on these extended guarantees either!

Anyway questions please do not hesitate to contact the team on 0207 812 1255.

Kind regards

Sophia Philippou
Senior Property Manager

Brett’s Note – Sophia has finished up now and moved to Australia to follow the sun and her boyfriend. Despite me calling her a ‘traitor’ for the last month of her work she will be missed.

*8 weeks if flooring is required or if over holiday periods.

Welcome to this week’s property news. Hear it here first our new product – UK Residential Property Fund. I’ll explain how this fund is accessible to all investors and how it will benefit you.

Property prices continues to rise as supply and demand play catch up. What happens when supply finally reach demand? Should inflation rise to 4% as suggested by Prof Blanflower? What are the benefits for investors? Find out why I agree with him but only because I’m an investor myself.

Other good news… interest rates have dropped for higher loan to value mortgages. We’re starting to see the market easing, all at a slow pace but a way forward and we’ll hopefully see the buy to let market follow.

The government’s proposal to regulate buy to let mortgages has been deemed nonsense by the Building Societies Association (BSA). Even the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) have questioned whether there’s such need. Perhaps the government should concentrate on best practices and prevention. Should buy to let be regulated? Which side are you on?

As always, if you have any questions or want to know more then give the team a call on 0207 812 1255.

Live with Passion

Brett Alegre-Wood

It was November 2008 while sitting with Mick Rawlinson (who runs our Lincoln office) when we decided to look into the different complementary products that we could offer to our clients.

We’re very proud to be able to announce that many months of research and hundreds of hours of planning later, we’re about to launch a new unregulated UK Residential Property Fund with a difference. The difference is that it’s for the retail market.

Why launch our own property fund? Why now?

Simply put, we felt it was time to set up our own fund because there was a massive gap in the market.

You see, in the UK, unregulated funds are generally restricted to commercial-type investors such as Pension funds, large financial institutions, High Net Worth or Sophisticated Investors that have a minimum investment of between £25,000 and £50,000.

We believed strongly that this minimum investment investment amount restricted the opportunity too greatly to people who already have money, excluding those who wish to invest less.

So six months later, with all the necessary research and due diligence completed, we’re bringing a fund to the market which will be of huge interest to those who wish to invest lesser sums, those who are concerned about the performance of their pensions and would enjoy the benefits of a fully managed property fund, and those who are attracted to a fund managed by a company with a long and proven track record in residential buy to let property in the UK.

How does this property fund differ from the competition?

The massive difference between our fund and our closest competitor is our fee structure.

Many funds have huge performance fees once the investment ends. In fact, our competitor charges 25% of your profit as their performance fee once you earn over 50% growth in 5 years. Our performance fee is a flat 2%. This can make a huge difference to your overall return.

The other big difference in the structure we’ve chosen for our fund means that we are able to accept money directly from any individual rather than from just high net worth individuals or sophisticated investors.

Naturally, there are other types of funds, but typically they’re more tightly controlled regarding who can invest. They all have their advantages and disadvantages but we have decided on a fund that can ultimately benefit the greatest number of our clients whilst still keeping the set up and management costs as low as possible.

The big picture for this property fund

Our goal is to grow the fund big enough to potentially create a regulated fund, which will ultimately be listed on one of the stock exchanges. We are aiming to create a number of funds and once we achieve about £25 million of funds under management we’ll potentially look to launch a listed fund such as a Real Estate Investment Trust or ‘REIT’.

So it really is a fund for everyone.

We’ll be launching the fund exclusively to you guys in the next couple of weeks and I’ll be writing a series of blogs prior to launch as we’d love to get everyone involved. If you’d like more information on any of this, give the team a call on 0207 812 1255

Live with passion,

Brett Alegre-Wood

Welcome to this week’s property news. George Osborne from the conservative party spoke up the necessity of recovery in a speech at the British Museum. He said the Tories would “rebuild” the economy on a “more solid foundations”. Find out what he said in his speech and why the important details have been missed out.

NIESR warns of squeeze on disposable income, increase in unemployment and falling house prices… pretty much all negative. But what are the reasons behind these?

Lenders tells us the mortgage market has self corrected, they’ve cleaned up their act and there’s no going back to “liar loans”.

Finally, I’m really excited about the changes to our property guarantees. We’re so confident with our letting team that we’ve extended our rental guarantee to 2 years. More details in the video and on Brett’s latest blog.

As always, if you have any questions or want to know more then give the team a call on 0207 812 1255.

Live with Passion

Brett Alegre-Wood

Well its been a whole 3 years since we launched our guarantees and since then they have been the foundation of our property. Recently we’ve been asking our clients what things they would really like us to include in our service to them. One of the comments from a number of you is that we provide expanded guarantees on all our property.

Obviously this is always a hard one but I think after running the numbers we have finally worked out a way to expand the guarantee offering. So to replace the 6 Week to Let Guarantee we now have the following:

Two Year Rent Guarantee. If your property is void for more than 6 weeks at a time at any stage during the first two years from completion we will pay the realistic market rent until it is.

I will updating the actual guarantees on the site to reflect this in the next few days but I think you’ll agree that it’s a huge bonus and demonstrates just how committed we are to sourcing the best property and then managing it for you into the future.

Chat with the team if you want further clarity on how these will work, just call us on 0207 812 1255.

Live with passion,

Brett Alegre-Wood

The question on everyone’s lips is: Should small prints be made bigger? Customers from Skipton Building Society are fuming after news broke that their SVR ceiling will be scrapped. The building society previously promised its borrowers that the SVR would never be more than 3% above the BoE base rate. But on this occasion, due to “exceptional circumstances”, they break their promise and refer their customers to the small prints.

More house price predictions – this time Rightmove talks about your thoughts. Find out how your feedback compares to expert’s? We’ll take a look at whether it’s time to fix your mortgage as we’re warned of the effect of rising inflation on mortgage.

There’s great news for landlord – find out how supply and demand will affect your rental income. And more good news as LTV increase to an average 70%, so what’s predicted for the coming months.

Lastly, Happy Australia Day! And as always if you have any questions or want to have a chat about current opportunities call the team on 0207 812 1255.

Live with Passion

Brett Alegre-Wood

New Build Off Plan Property is now a strategy whose time has come. For the past 3 years it has carried too much risk in most circumstances and therefore it was to be avoided. The main reason that this off plan property strategy was to be avoided was that since 2006 through the middle of 2009 it was to be avoided due to overpricing and the risk of a downturn.

YPC Group pulled out of selling New Build Off Plan Property in 2006 for this very reason, even though many companies continued to sell off plan property which simply meant that many clients were at risk if the market dropped. Which it did throughout 2008 and early 2009 leaving many clients with properties significantly below the value they had exchanged on. This obviously placed many clients at risk of being sued and as a result of this (and many other questionable practises) meant that many of these businesses failed.

YPC prospered because of its understanding of the property cycle and through knowing which type of properties to buy in each part of the cycle. This understanding is why we are also saying that now is the time to jump back into new build off plan property.

Why now is the time to take advantage of New Build Off Plan Property…
Builders who have stopped building has seen the recovery begin in late 2009 and therefore they have started, albeit slowly, to build again. We are all aware how hard it is to find finance and therefore these builders are looking to presell some of the new build property as off plan sales. This has created the supply of off plan property.

The property cycle will begin recovery in earnest in 2010 and this will bring back the demand side and slowly raise prices. Initially these off plan property prices will rise for New Build Off Plan Property in London. From there it will ripple out along those places with the greatest fundamentals until the entire market is back on fire.

The greatest opportunity for you is to secure a property at today’s property, it a limited exchanged deposit of between £1000 up to around 10% and then waiting as your New Build Off Plan Property grows in value before completion.

It may be too early even now…
I am not saying that you should buy every off plan property right now, in fact far from that. I am however saying that at the least you should get educated about the process, the strategy and the risks associated.

New Build Off Plan Property is perfect right now under the following conditions:- (I write this as at January 2010, which means that the time lines and strategy may change as time goes on and the recovery takes hold, so if you are reading this and aren’t sure what you should be doing just give the team a call on 0207 812 1255.)

Conditions
1) You have the money to complete assuming a 65% mortgage, that’s not to say you won’t get up to an 80% mortgage and that’s not to say that this won’t change.
2) If you are buying in London that completion takes place no sooner than September 2010. There is no long stop date except that if you place the completion out too far you may miss opportunities while your money is tied up.
3) If you are buying outside of London and in a major city then you can consider it no earlier than March 2011.
4) if you are anywhere else then leave it until at least June 2011 or after.

All of the above can be negated if you have solid fundamentals in the area. Also if you are getting a large discount 25%-30% off the current market value. So whilst it might seem like I am saying don’t do these things, if you find the right property for the right price in the right area and you have the money required to complete (as in not relying on the market to grow in order to complete) then we will be fine.

Give the team a call on 0207 812 1255 if you want to discuss or more importantly, take advantage of the market right now.

Live with Passion,

Brett Alegre-Wood

On Valentine’s Sunday, 14th February, the team will be heading to Heartwood Forest (nr St Albans) to plant some trees with the Woodland Trust in an acre of forest that has been dedicated to YPC Group, their clients and families. I bought the acre of woodland, where some 700 trees can be planted, at a recent auction with Bill Clinton. The day is being run by the Woodland Trust and the aim is to plant as many trees as we can on the site so we’d love your help!

The Woodland Trust was set up to protect and restore ancient woodland and to create new generations of ancient trees for the future. This special invitation to you and your family will help the Trust turn Heartwood into England’s largest new native forest. This is a great charity and by taking part you’ll help protect our woodland for many generations to come.

More details below…

DATE: Sunday 14th February 2010

TIME: 10:30 to 14:30

PLACE: Meet at Sandridge Village Hall, 39 High Street, Sandridge, St Albans AL4 9DD (map)

WHAT TO WEAR: Warm clothes (that you don’t mind getting muddy!), waterproof coat, and wellies or walking boots

WHAT TO BRING: You and your family with a spade or shovel each

GETTING THERE: Limited parking is available at the Sandridge Village Hall, 39 High Street, Sandridge, St Albans AL4 9DD. Parking is on a first come first serve basis, street parking is also available.

RSVP: Please RSVP below by Friday, 5th February 2010. Please add +1 for each guest over 10 years of age. Simply Click Here to Register

PS. If you cannot attend the day, we’d love you to sponsor a tree by making a donation of £15. Please give us a call on 0207 812 1255 for details.

Happy New Year and welcome to the first Weekly Property News of 2010.

December was a quiet month but we can now start to see the market moving again. We’ll take a look at what’s been predicted for 2010 and the range of information on the market today.

Mixed messages on house prices – some say prices are already rising and others predict the market to stay much the same. Who do you believe? Let’s take a look at what the experts have to say and decide for yourself.

Taylor Wimpey entered January with 28 per cent increase in sales. Demand is back as prices stay at its all time low. If you’re thinking of buying then this is the time to do so.

According to the CML affordability is at its best level since the early 90’s but LTV will be the holding factor for most investors as substantial deposits are still required.

And you’ll soon be able to shop for mortgages at your local Tesco. As they prepare for their big launch to owner occupiers, I wonder if there’ll be products for the investors market? As always if you have any questions or want to have a chat about current opportunities call the team on 0207 812 1255.

Live with Passion

Brett Alegre-Wood

I was speaking with a client the other day and we were discussing his next property and got on the subject of lower end areas with massive regeneration programmes in place. He was hesitate about the area which was in the East side of London and commented that it was a bit run down and mentioned there was a few council estates within a half a mile radius. You see when you consider regenerated areas, you allow yourself the opportunity to buy really cheap property due to the fact its a bit run down in today’s market, however if you consider the amount of money to be pumped into the area and how this will improve it in the future, your investment becomes much more appealing.

This happens because:-

* Money is being pumped into the area now and will radically improve the overall general perception of the area in the future
* transport links and new bus routes are put in place
* road networks are improved to reduce congestion
* new build developments are planned to take place
* new schools and improvement of existing schools
* improvement of local government buildings such as police stations, fire stations and hospitals
* creating more social clubs for the youth
* Providing local businesses with grants to promote and create more of their business in the local community
* more shops and local businesses
* more offices

The above is just the start of what goes on in a typical regeneration programme. I was chatting with Simon about this point and he shared his experience with regards to regenerated areas.

“One development in particular came to mind,  back a few years ago Brett and I were selling a development in Elephant and Castle.  The development had massively strong fundamentals. The street behind the building was planned for pedestrianisation and there was 7 new buildings being built within walking distance over the next 5-10 years.  There was millions of pounds worth of re-generation planned over the next 5-10 years!!! The development really had very good solid fundamentals.

I will never forget what two of the clients told me about their separate site visits. The first client, Jenny was coming out of the underground and there was a massive yellow and blue police sign wanting information about a recent serious assault! Needless to say she didn’t feel safe in the area. The other clients drove down from up north.  He said the area looked so ‘dodgey’ that he wouldn’t let his wife get out of the car. He left her there with the doors locked!  He wouldn’t even park the car on the street. He parked it in a well lit 24hr petrol station!  While looking for the development he saw a man peeing against a building, you guessed it! It was the development we were selling!

Would you have brought one based on those stories?

Well you may be surprised but both clients did buy in the development. When they worked through the due-diligence they realised that good solid fundamentals were so much more important than their personal opinions and current beliefs (and the odd bit of urine).

That was in 2006 and since then the properties have performed unbelievably well and have grown in value despite the serious assaults and urine. The area well, it looks totally different and still has a long way to go in its regeneration plans.

So to sum up if you consider that regenerating areas across the country stimulates growth by revitalising and creating an environment which is attractive, vibrant and economically active where people can feel secure, accepted, confident and positive; thus promotes social, community and economic development which does wonders for capital growth.

If you want to know more about regeneration areas, potential growth areas and what’s happening in the property market give the team a call on 0207 812 1255.

Regards,

Roy Yacoub

Roy is Sales Director at YPC and has his own property portfolio.

This past year has been a testing time for the airline industry, according to the media one million Christmases were at risk if the British Airways strike had gone ahead. This was only avoided by a last minute court injunction and just when it all looked well Scotland’s largest airline Flyglobspan went bust leaving thousands of people stranded.

So obviously this is bad news for tourists but how does this relate to property? Well thousands of us now own overseas investment property and it’s important to remember how critical the airlines role can play to these investments.

The fall of Flyglobspan has affected property investors in Spain, Portugal, Cyprus and Egypt although this is not the only way airlines affect investors.

Airlines profit margins remain tight and many airlines have reduced flights or pulled unprofitable routes all together in the last 18 months.

Ryanair has had disputes with a number of airports over their charges in recent years and in some cases this has resulted in them in reducing flights to that airport or withdrawing all together. Shannon, Basel, Blackpool and Fuerte ventura airports have all been affected in recent years.

When looking for a holiday rental property an airport within a two hour commute is fundamental to your success. If your prospective holiday tenants are suddenly restricted in how they can visit you property this could have dramatic consequences on your cash flow. This could turn a profitable investment to a nightmare liability. Remember this is one of the extra considerations you need to make before investing abroad.

Cheers

Rob Bence

Robert is one of our newest Portfolio Managers and has been in the industry since 2004.

Once again I am going to look to a range of property experts across the UK and the world and see what the general consensus is on 2010 UK House Price Predictions.

Congratulations to the winning expert of the 2009 UK House Price Predictions – Ray Boulger from Charcoal.  If you remember last year, Our winner was Ray Boulger who ended up being the closest to what actually happen with his 5% down then 5% up model, ending the year even.

This year my 2010 UK House Price Predictions are similar to Ray’s last year. I think that prices will slide (although my gut feels like that may possibly even hold) through the first 3 to 6 months followed by a definite recovery through the end of 2010.

Let’s take a look at what other experts are saying:

Average 2010 UK House Price prediction – Down 3%
Highest 2010 House Price Rise for 2010 – Up 10%
Biggest 2010 House Price Drop for 2010 – Down 20%

1.Yolande Barnes – Savills – down 6%
2.Hetal Mehta – Ernest and Young – down 5%
3. Martin Gahbauer – Nationwide – 0%
4. Nicholas Leeming – Zoopla – Up 2-3%
5. Michael Saunders – Citi Group – Up 5-10%
6. Cluttons – down 2% (Up 3% london)
7. Market Oracle – Down 3.5%
8. Knight Frank – Grow 3%
9. Capital Economics – Down 10%
10. Savills Estate Agents – Down 3%
11. Fitch – Down 17%
12. Global Insight – Down 5%
13. National House Builders Federation – Par
14. Hometrack – No prediction
15. David Hollingworth – London and Country – Par
16. Peter Bolton – National Asso. Of Estate Agents –  Par
17. Ray Boulger – Charcoal – Up 4%.
18. Melanie Bien – Savills Private Finance – Down 6.6%
19. MoneyWeek – Drop 20%
20. Brett Alegre-Wood – YPC Group – Up 5%
21. Jones Lange Lasalle – Down 7%
22. Cluttons – Down 1.5%
23. Halifax – Par
24. Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors – Rise 1.5%
25. Building Society Association (BSA) Property Tracker Consumer Survey – Rise 3%

Now if you remember last year the average drop expected was 10% yet the reality was a rise of 2%ish. So if you had of listened to the ‘experts’ last year you would have been around 12% on average worse off. On a £200,000 home that’s £24,000 difference which is huge.

Will the experts get it right this year?

Well did doesn’t really matter but for some strange reason we will continue listening to them.

Never forget that house prices are a localised thing, in many cases street by street, so think and research locally, and know your indices.

Now the truth is that I do believe based on my experience that house prices will end somewhere between par and 10% increase, I do not see them ending down, although there are still lots of risks.

The real question you should be asking is – What does any of it mean for my portfolio? You may find like many of our clients that in fact it means little. Then stop worrying and get on with life ;)

The economic recovery is under way and that’s the most important bit, a gradual return to ‘the good old days’ of capital growth and employment will come and the recession of 08/09 will soon be the subject of history books.

So start planning your future now rather than re-reading the history books.

Anyway if you want to know the impact of any of these situations on your personal portfolio or just want to get involved for the coming boom give the team a call on 0207 812 1255.

Live with passion,

Brett Alegre-Wood

Merry Christmas… it’s Christmas morning and I am up early, not to open presents as my family is back in Oz so I don’t have any to open as having a half German wife means she celebrates Chrissy on Chrissy Eve so we did this last night.

Anyway I finally got around to setting up my KIVA account. I have heard about this a year or so ago but when I met Bill Clinton he spoke about it in depth. For those of you that don’t know about them, KIVA are an organisation that arrange loans to low income earners around many of the worlds poorest nations. You simply lend $25 at a time and everything is done for you. Once the loan is paid back you can relend it out. In YPC’s case we’ll be added regularly to the total.

Anyway I have kicked off YPC’s KIVA account with $2000, the system is simple. Check it out YPC Group’s Lender Page

Feel free to get involved, I will be adding to the amount from time to time as I genuinely feel it’s a good cause, much better than just giving handouts.

Live with passion and Merry Christmas,

Brett Alegre-Wood

There are only a few days to go before Christmas…

…and to follow YPC’s tradition of a Chrissy sing song, we rounded up the team on Monday to create plasticine models and produced our first stop motion animation for you. We hope you enjoy our version of an old favourite – Jingle Bells!

We wish everyone a joyous Christmas! Thanks for all your support and we look forward to a great year in 2010.

Live with passion,

Brett Alegre-Wood

Well things are really starting to get back on track now and we are starting to see a relatively unfamiliar sight as we negotiate for property — the “market-driven discount” (particularly in the London marketplace).

Let me explain.

The past two years have seen a massive amount of turmoil in the marketplace. Buyers have been rare and hard to come by for developers. The market was desperate to attract buyers right across the board. In situations like this, the discounts are always the biggest as developers feel driven to drop prices and offer massive discounts. Up to about 35% off a current RICS valuation at its worst in fact!

These are known as market-driven discounts.

The other type of discount is when a developer or vendor has a special need to make sales. It might be an end of year target that needs meeting, the last plot on site or simply a monthly goal. Whatever the reason, this is when we see the developer situation discounts. The great thing about these is that when times are tough in the market, they can add onto the already-generous market driven discounts.

Interestingly though, we’re seeing the developers get more and more aggressive with their pricing. Stock discounts have remained but off plan discounts have dropped to reflect an upturn in the market, especially in London.

We have 20 offers for off plan deals out at this very moment in and around London ranging from 10-18% discount, but guess what? Most developers are coming back with 5% maximum. Such is the current state of market driven discounts.

They’re doing this because they know:

• they don’t want to build if they aren’t making a nice profit,
• that the market is returning and they know that by completion prices will have increased.

We even had a developer put his prices up by £15k – £40k per plot on us because he was so optimistic about prices!

At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter what the type of discount you get because as long as you buy it below value. It also doesn’t matter if prices have dropped — it’s always below value: today’s value. This is the only way to lock in a profit at the purchase which is after all what the game is all about.

If you want to take advantage of some of the market driven and developer situation discounts then give the team a call on 0207 812 1255.

Live with passion,

Brett Alegre-Wood

We’ll take a look at today’s pre-budget report and the sensational headlines that follows.

Why Vince Cable called the report ‘a good budget for bingo and boilers’? What has bingo or boilers got to do with the PBR?

Will the PBR win Labour their next election or gamble their future away? We’ll highlight the main points from the report – show you how this will affect our spending and savings, and why most of us will be £190 worse off.

There are some good news however… bingo tax is cut by 2% (don’t ask me how this will make a difference to the economy), bank loans made easier for small businesses due to the extension of EFG, and the government is finally putting money into teaching us about money.

The question I have… is the PBR out to win votes for Labour or is it to solve Britain’s ongoing debt issue? As always if you have any questions or want to have a chat about current opportunities call the team on 0207 812 1255.

Live with Passion

Brett Alegre-Wood

Adam Posen from the MPC suggested capital gains tax and stamp duty should increase in line with inflation. The government wants to put an end to housing boom and bust, is this the way to go?

The average house prices went up for the seventh consecutive month but many economists predicts a drop in 2010. Is this a cause for concern or is this the nature of supple and demand?

We take a look at the annual percentage change in house prices and how this has changed between 2006 and 2009. Remember the overall picture may not be as bad as it seems as we take a closer look at the different regions.

Shocking stats from LV shows that over 1 million Brits at 50+ plans to cash in their properties for extra retirement income. Perhaps if they’d consider building a property portfolio they’d be able to live off their buy to let without having to sell their homes.

Finally, competition is returning in the mortgage market and it’s good news for residential buyers as lenders ease deposit requirements. But what about the buy to let investors?

As always if you have any questions or want a chat about current opportunities call the team on 0207 812 1255.

Live with Passion

Brett Alegre-Wood

The other day, I was speaking with one of our clients, Alan, who had visited a site that we sold. I asked him for him feedback because I thought the conversation would be of value, especially for those looking at buying in a development with more than a few plots in it.

He said:

“Overall, a first class site overlooking small junior school and open park area. The apartments are sufficiently off the main road yet within easy working distance of main Stockton shops centre and river. Overall much better than I had expected. The business risk as I see it is 20 apartments coming on the rental market at the same time.”

I picked up on his last point as I feel that it’s an important one that concerns many people, yet it’s one of the things that YPC clients don’t have to worry too much about.

I wrote back:

Hey mate,

Even though it’s a business risk on my part when we take larger sites – the girls are very good at letting properties. So good that we very rarely pay out on our guarantees now. Since we only ever assign four properties per agent at any one time, this really limits our exposure as well to an area. Additionally, if there aren’t enough agents in an area, we simply don’t take the properties. I am actually very happy to pay out on the rental guarantee after 6 weeks because normally it’s something that we have done wrong in the lettings process rather than anything to do with the actual property itself – Brett

I think the important point to take away is maximum 4 properties per agent.

This ensures that we never take too many properties on in any one development. We simply cannot afford this as we would take too much risk when you consider the second part of my email, the 6 weeks to Let Guarantee. I believe that any property with good solid fundamentals can be let out within 6 weeks anywhere in the UK and we’ve consistently achieved this.

Buying through YPC means that you are protected after that initial 6 weeks. You can check the full details by clicking here – 4 Property Guarantees

If you want to chat with the team on how this will work for your property then give us a call on 0207 812 1255.

Live with passion,

Brett Alegre-Wood