Landlords and the City Centre Apartment Investment Disaster

by

Propertyhawk

Many landlords were lured over the past 5 years by the marketing campaigns of the house builders and property developers into parting with their hard earned cash and investing in new residential apartments within our city centres.

But how much of these landlords decision making was based on investment principles and how much related to more primeval urges? My view is that much of the property investment phenomenon was all about sex in the city . What do I mean by this?

Sex sells even to landlords.

Developers and marketing men & women know that sex sells, even to landlords.

House builders marketing campaigns have been historically pretty bland. It s very difficult to differentiate one 4 bedroom house from another. One famous campaign by Barratts in the 80 s featured a helicopter; WOW, that was about as exciting as it got.

The arrival of the: warehouse conversion & loft apartment, the city centre pad, the penthouse, the crash pad, presented the marketeers with a whole range of new options. Marketing campaigns weren t restricted to selling bricks and mortar; they could sell these apartments as part of a whole new urban lifestyle. No longer was it about buying a flat with a couple of bedrooms, kitchen and lounge. It was about buying into a lifestyle with instant accessibility: to shops, work, partying and dare I say it the promise of sex.

Stylish property

Developers crammed their apartments with gadgets and stylish appliances for the design conscious metrosexual occupiers: Philip Stark taps, Hansgrohe bathroom fittings, Neff ovens. All were meant to showcase the taste and sophistication of their occupiers. In our increasingly style conscience world this served to enhance the attractiveness of the occupier to a potential mate.

Party people

These apartments located within the heart of our cities; near bars and restaurants promised a perpetual party for the lucky occupiers. The heady cocktail of bars and good times and their proximity at the end of the evening promised even more good times. This image was pushed mercilessly by property developers and their marketing people.

Landlords were not immune to the sex in the city marketing . The youthful occupants and recruits to this dream would provide a never-ending source of tenants to these new designer palaces.

For landlords, sex in the city was a slightly different animal to that of their youthful tenants. They were sold the concept that they were no-longer just a landlord; they could be a property investor .

Overnight a landlords persona would be transformed from a regular work a day Joe; to a sharp suited property investor. In a matter of a few short years they would be propelled from living a life of waged drudgery to that of international millionaire playboy or playgirl. Companies such as Inside Track traded and preyed mercilessly on potential landlords and investors who were drawn to this enticing dream. The property portfolio; the fast car, the yacht and of course the scores of women or the perfect man that would surely follow.

The party train crunches to a halt for landlords

Suddenly the credit crunch , the subsequent credit squeeze and the mirage of instant investment riches melted away in the light of the commercial reality for many property investors.

Landlords, property investors and tenants are left with the fact that these designer palaces are just places to invest in, rent out and live. The realities of cash-flow, service charges, voids periods suddenly dawned on many landlords who had ignored the basic principles of property investing.

The death nail of the property investment dream

The death nail of the sex in the city dream was probably signalled last week with the announcement that Britain s social housing industry represented by the National Housing Federation (NHF), the umbrella body for the UK s housing associations is attempting to get Government support to buy thousand of city centre apartments from struggling house-builders. These apartments which are even now being marketed by developers as palaces of fun, could very soon become social housing for the masses; not the exclusive, luxury citadels that they were intended to be.

Like all good parties this one has come to an end and; developers, tenants and landlords are now just left with an almighty hangover.

Is it the right time for landlords to start investing?

Now the sex in the city mirage is clearing, prices of new apartments are selling at auction at a fraction of their original sale price.

PropertyHawk is aimed directly at UK Landlords. The site incorporates free property management software letting a

landlord

track their financial data relating to their property portfolio. A mass of information on

BTL mortgages

and

landlord insurance

.

Article Source:

ArticleRich.com

By John Velazco

I have a fabulous collection of ladies handbags, traveling bags, wallets and many more leather bags in my shop which is situated in one of the biggest mall of the town. All my customers are very happy with the service given to them in my shop and they are my regular customers and well wishers too. Even I am very fond of my customers and many of them are my friends too and if there are problems with the service given to them they immediately inform me about that. Some of the customers are my best friends too and they once suggested me that I should install a spy camera or a hidden camera in my shop so that if there are problems in the shop among the employees themselves or if they not attending the customers properly then I will come to know immediately with the help of the images captured in the camera. I thought about this for a few times but felt that I did not have the need to install the spy cameras or the hidden cameras in my shop. After a few days I felt that some of my bags were replaced by other stock of bags and some of the bags and handbags were missing. How this happened and who did was the main concern for me. Now at this phase I felt the need of the spy camera or the hidden camera and I really believed that my friends were giving me the right advice even though everything was going alright. But anyhow it is in no way too late for anything. I surfed through the internet to the website from where I could get all the information of the cameras along with the price tag. I found many cameras all displayed along with the price tags with affordable rates. There were several cameras all with different sizes, all big to small and with many advantages and features and most of them with white and black colors. Anyhow I selected a Pen video spy color hidden camera. This camera is put up in a pen and it is a wireless easy to use camera. This pen camera has the potential to capture quality videos and images even using the 4GB of memory. I placed an order for this camera as it was within my budget also and it was shipped to my house within one week.

After I got this Pen camera, I very expediently placed it on the table where the pen holder was kept always so that one will even suspect that there is a spy camera any where around. The camera was switched on and it started its work. All the actions of every day’s work were being recorded in the spy camera. Then after a few days finally I got the pictures which were clearly pointing who the culprit was. It was one of my regular customers who would very frequently visit my shop and sometimes he would sit for hours in my shop simply gossiping with everybody. When all the other employees were busy attending the customers, his pictures were captured in the camera while he was replacing some of the cheaper quality bags with the good ones. Now I understood why this man would very often come to the shop and sit for hours simply wasting the time and it true that my friends were constantly advising me that we should never trust anybody and that we should try to take care of our belongings with utter attention. Now this man was handed over to the police along with the proof and I was happy that finally I started using the spy camera so that I can save my surroundings from disturbances even in future.

About the Author: John is an expert in the field. If you need hidden pen camera or any other wireless spy cams Please visit:http://www.my-spycam.com/

Source: isnare.com

Permanent Link: isnare.com/?aid=309506&ca=Computers+and+Technology

By Felicia Glassmyre

When comparing your homeowner’s insurance quotes in Connecticut, be sure to compare policy terms and conditions with like terms and conditions. If you find a major disparity in insurance quotes, it might be a result of different property valuation clauses.

With homeowner’s policies, insurance companies normally use one of two types of valuation when determining the amount they will pay at the time of a loss. Check your policy to see which of the valuations is used because it will make a difference in your insurance premiums and your claim reimbursement check. The valuations are as follows:

–Actual Cash Value (ACV): With this type of valuation, the insurance company will take the current replacement cost of your home and deduct your home’s depreciation value. If you’re living in an older home, the depreciated value of your home may differ greatly from the current market value.

–Replacement Cost: With replacement cost, the insurance company will reimburse the amount it costs to rebuild or replace your home using materials of the same kind and/or quality to that used in the house prior to the loss. Depending on the age of the home, certain materials may no longer be available, so the insurance company will pay for comparable building materials. Because they do not deduct for depreciation, you will fare better than if the actual cash value was used.

Replacement cost valuation will cost more in annual policy premiums, but it is well worth the additional cost to be made whole again in the event of a loss. Your home is a major investment; do not scrimp on its protection.

When shopping around for your homeowner’s insurance, be sure to place the policies side by side and analyze the various terms and clauses. A simple difference in valuation can make a huge difference in the value and cost of your insurance policy.

About the Author: Recommended sites for low rate insurance

Lowest Cost Homeowner’s Insurance in ConnecticutBest Rate Homeowner’s Insurance in Connecticut

Source:

isnare.com

Permanent Link:

isnare.com/?aid=180728&ca=Finances