It’s true things are bad…who could have predicted at the beginning of 2008 that three UK
banks would get into trouble and have to be supported by the Goverment?

The rapid decline in house prices has also had a massive impact on the economy not only estate agents, mortgage brokers and conveyancers, but also house builders and everyone involved in supplying goods and services to new homes and to people moving house such as removal firms, central heating installers etc

So, how safe do you feel with your money in the bank?

This week I  received an email from Andy Shaw, who is a property investor in the Worthing area and author of the excellent book Money For Nothing and Your Property For Free

Now, Andy has a lot of expertise in property investing and he follows the economy closely.  He has a lot of strong opinions on these matters which make for really interesting and quite controversial reading.

I highly recommend that you get his free report where he discusses how safe your money is in the bank (and he debunks the Government’s £50,000 guarantee). You can get a free copy of the report here

But here’s a warning, if you like fluffy,bunny language don’t get it but if you can stand or even prefer straight talking (as I do) then go ahead.

Let me know what you think.

No matter, from the bloke in the pub to the newspapers everyone is talking about it. So who’s right?

I find it interesting on who we will listen to…let’s consider this for a
moment:

The bloke in the pub – does he own any property apart from maybe the one he’s living in?

The newspapers – are they experienced property investors or do they want to sell newspapers?

So, who else could we listen to? 

What about actual property investors now there’s a radical thought!

Some property investors of my acquaintance interestingly don’t seem
to be of the same opinion as the bloke in the pub or the
newspapers…funny that.

If you happened to see the Channel 4 series ‘The Secret Millionaire’
you would have seen Gill Fielding. As well as being a wealth coach she
is a property investor and mentors others on how to be successful
property investors as well.  You can join her mailing list here

Here’s an excerpt from Gill’s newsletter:

"PHEW!!! The International Monetary Fund (the "IMF") tells us that the credit
crunch is over, and that the global economy has turned positive. Its prediction
for global growth is 4.1% for this year, and it expects the UK to grow by 1.8%
this year, which is far higher than expected"

Peter Stanley has been investing in property for a
few years (prior to that he was a bank manager) and he has a newsletter the Diary
of a Property Investor, he says in his newsletter:

"Along with a few others in the industry, I’ve started to see the promise of spring,
with lenders reducing their interest rates, tradesmen having forward order books for
more than a fortnight and the double edged sword of being outbid by first time buyers.

As I’ve said before, as soon as confidence returns and lenders relax their lending
ratios (although hopefully still remaining prudent) I strongly beleive that the market
will not only rebound, but the pent up demand will push prices higher than they were before"

In addition it was widely reported this week that the National Housing Federation
are predicting that house prices in the UK will rise by 25% by 2013.

They say that the reasons for the growth bounce-back is the great demand for housing and this demand
has not diminished but in fact will grow. The demand will be partly prompted
by the cutback of new houses on the market as house builders mothball and delay projects during the
current housing uncertainty. People are also living longer and the high rate of divorce continues
to prompt demand for even more housing as couples split up and need two homes instead of one.

Hmmm….Interesting stuff