Your Property Club video feed

Why a shortage of over 1 million homes is opportunties for investors

2009-11-04

So why is the YPC team turning into cavemen this November? Ah... the boys have joined Movember to raise awareness of men's health issues. Come back each week to see who'll finish with whiskers and who'll have a full grown moustache.

To cheer on your favourite Mo, please visit the Movember website and make your donations. Funds donated will go directly to The Prostate Cancer Charity (TPCC). It's all for a good cause!

This week we see house prices rise for the forth month by 1.2 per cent. Don't be deceived into selling your home or remortgaging just yet, wait until the market has fully recovered to make it worth your while.

An interesting report has come out from Savills to suggest a shortage of over 1 million homes between 2008 and 2020. Find out why this is good for investors. And we ask - so what's the government doing about this and are developers able to meet demands?

Big breaking news as 99% of news feeds focus on breaking up the three major UK banks. RBS, Lloyds Banking Group and Northern Rock are forced to sell to appease regulators in Brussels. What's fantastic is that these have to be sold to new banks and not to other major players like Barclays and HSBC. Lots of smaller banks, lots of competition, lots more products for us to choose from.

Don't call me bias but the Aussies are doing much better than the UK. We see another rise in interest rates. Find out what they're doing right and what we're doing wrong.

Thoughts for the week - sweet sound of competition, we're now looking forward to March 2010 and hearing more on competition than just certainty.

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

Branson's no virgin to banking

2009-10-28

Welcome to this week's property news. Today we see Sir Richard Branson jumping back into banking after his defeat with Northern Rock. He has just completed his banking application for Virgin Money and I think he'll get it approved by the FSA this time.

It seems Branson's not the only one creating competition. The government's also planning to break up Northern Rock into good bank and bad bank - I'll explain this in the video. What's important is that the more competition being created, the more opportunities there will be for us.

Is being realistic holding us back? If you're not ready to buy right now, make sure you educate yourself by reading lots of articles and start to set your plans in place. Be sure to look ahead and prepare yourself for the future. As the market improves, you'll be presented with lots of opportunities and you'll want to be ready to make some money.

And if you want to try my book "The 3+1 Plan", it is available from Amazon.co.uk or why not download the first 5 chapters free on the 3+1 Plan website.

Lastly, The 3+1 Plan has been nominated in the People's Book Prize. If you've read the book, I'd encourage you to add your vote as I'd really love to get into the finals. Go to People's Book Prize website! (Note you'll need to register).

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

Is it a V? Is it a W? Which road of recovery are we heading?

2009-10-07

I'm blown away by the number of articles on house prices this week and ask 'Are prices really rising or just lack of supply?' There's definitely a rise and it's helping to boost confidence, but be warned the economy maybe subdued due to mortgage availability.

Should the FSA quit before they're forced to leave? It seems they are doing everything they can to slow down the economy. Banks are told to keep large reserves to satisfy the new FSA policy. What this means to you is a lack of funds for lending. Not great when you should be making money from low house prices.

And recovery, is it a V or a W? Find out what's confusing the economists and why they would rather sit on the fence.

And finally, YPC Wealth is now fully regulated to offer you a complete range of financial services. To celebrate this great news, we're offering you free remortgages on your property for Life. For more information call Nick on 01522 507 897.

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

Let's talk real issues at the G20

2009-09-23

As the top UK financial leaders prepare for the next G20 summit, Lord Turner, head of the FSA, urges them to consider capping bankers' bonuses. Funny the FSA didn't mention that they should have tightened lending before the credit crunch. See if you agree with me that this is just another distraction from the real issues?

We take a look at the LIBOR and how it's now on par with the BoE base rate at 0.57. This is good news for those who are on a LIBOR tracker. It's also a sign that stability and trust are beginning to build between banks. Although they are not yet on top of their balance sheets this will definitely help.

And if you are looking for a new mortgage, don't just look at the interest rate as you may be paying more than your neighbour (even though he is on higher rate). We'll work out the real price of mortgages and learn how to look at the overall rate to get the best out of the market.

For the third week running we'll close on a good note. The CBI says 'Britain has probably come out of recession'. Things are looking up much quicker than predicted!

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

Wanted - £130bn to save UK banks

2009-09-15

We've just wrapped up a very busy week, culminating in a fantastic book launch at Borders, Charing Cross. If you didn't make it down then check out the video on our blog. A big thank you for those who've purchased the 3+1 Plan book. We are still on the Top 100 List on Amazon and if you're interested in picking up a copy then pop over to their website.

Anyway let's get back to the Weekly Property News and we find out why banks are still holding back lending. With debts of £130bn, it's going to take more than a few years for them to move their balance sheets out of the red. Find out why I think foreign banks might eventually take over some of the UK banks.

But this is not all doom and gloom for lenders - as the market improves and confidence starts to grow, we'll see lending criteria relax to allow more lending.

I'll take you back to my 2009 predictions from January and see how they match the figures over the year. It'll be interesting to see how the last three months compare with the projection.

We'll also talk about supply and demand. In August the house prices actually raised due to lack of supply, but don't think this is the only factor that affects prices. We discuss some other factors in the video.

And finally, do you think you can stay away from the news for 6 months? I'll tell you why a break from the news room may leave you enlightened!!!

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