Q. Question? I have been reading up about property investment, but I am still a bit unsure as to what exactly off plan property investment is.

A. Best Answer: Off Plan property investment is when you buy a property before is have been finished. This means that you have the opportunity to benefit from capital growth while the property is being finished as well as buy the property at a discounted rate from the developer.

The developer is happy because he gets funding for the development of these properties and more.

When buying off plan it is important to consider several points, especially if you are buying abroad.

1. Does the developer own the land? It may seem like a silly question, but if the developer doesn't own the land you could be dooped into a fraudulant scheme. You can ask for proof.

2. Does the developer have permission to build on the land? Make sure that you get some proof of planning permission.

3. What are the developers credentials? Ask to see some and ask other people in the industry about him - estate agents, surveyors etc.

4. Visit a previous development and analyse the work and the furnishings. Get the opinion of a surveyor.

5. Find out how many of the purchasers are property investors as this could affect the resale of the property, especially if everyone wants to sell at the same time.

6. Location, location, location. If it is all about the views with your property then investigate whether your property will still have the same views in 3 years time or whether planning has been permitted on the surround area.

7. End buyers needs. Make sure that your buyers have the amenties that they need as this will influence their buying i.e.: shopping, market, nightlife, beach, hospitals, schools etc.

I hope that helps you.

Thanks
A

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Q. Question? I'm never going to be able to buy over here, and people keep talking about property investment abroad. Who knows what?

A. Best Answer: Perhaps the states is a little far to go for a property that you are investing in and I am guessing might actually want to use?

I'll put a list of resources below for you to go through, but you are right. There is a lot of talk about first time buyers investing in property abroad because it is cheaper and it is an investment for the furture when prices have come down to an affordable level, mortgages have sorted themselves out and people have saved money from their property investment.

Marrakech is very popular at the moment and it is only 3 hours by plane. Cheap and quite possibly one of the most amazing places ont he planet. Go for a holiday if nothing else.

Or if you are thinking a bit further a field, then what about Brazil for a little over £14K?? If you thought that Brazil was just huts and carnivals, then think again. Brazil is a part of the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) phenomenon, and is forecast to become one of the world’s four biggest economies by 2050. Invest now and you will reap rewards.

Either way, the site http://www.ready2invest.co.uk has all of the information that you could want on property investment.

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Q. Question? I am looking at buying a second home in my area to rent it out. The mortgage brokers have said I can do this by releasing the equity in my home to put down as a deposit. I had plans to buy a second property that needed a bit of work, so I could then release the equity and do it all over again. Only I have looked at some figures and I can buy a house for about 90k, I wouldnt make much of a profit from the monthly rent but am looking for more of a long term investment (approx £50 a month profit) however if I remortgaged this property for approx 110k that would take my monthly payments over what I could make as a rental income. So what I am basically asking is how do other people build up a big portfolio of rental properties with all this information in mind? Any help greatly appreciated.

A. Best Answer: Depends on the area and the rental market for properties in your price range.
However you may be in a good position as rentals may rise as less people will be able to buy as the availabilty of mortgages fall.
Is £90K a reasonable start for your area.???
Can you let out your existing home and buy something else for yourself a let to buy mortgage.
check with your local council about landlord regulation first.

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Q. Question? so im 23 years old, female...have a fantastic job...not really got much credit so at the moment i am financially comfortable...anyway all my family are now telling me to look at buying a house...my friends are buying houses...and apparantly its the next step. Is anyone else fed up of the whole hype of buying a house, getting on the property ladder, having to pay £600 a month to own your own house for the best part of your life! i dont think so!
My mum says its worth it becuase when i have kids then they can have the house when i die and that its an investment!
well she never got a house for me and i dont care, ive worked for everything myself and would like my children to do the same!
Arrrggg rant over...i would prefer younger people to answer this that do not currently own a house...

A. Best Answer: I'm 57, my husband is 50. I have four grown kids. I have NEVER owned a house or condo, and probably never will. My husband is a fine artist and web developer, he CAN do 'fix it' stuff but why should he? We don't have to pay anyone to 'fix' stuff in our apartment, because we don't own it ... we tell the landlord, and the landlord has someone come in to fix it. We can move if and when we want to move ... and we think we are FINE. Neither of us want to own a house ... so if you don't want the hassle, don't buy a house, and tell those who are 'nagging you' that it is YOUR life, and you will lead it the way YOU want to, and to stop nagging you or you won't be around much for them any more.

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Q. Question? Hi

I've been offered 25 rental properties in the midlands. All with tenants and producing an income higher than I would get from a bank account. They are being offered at an average of 20% below open market value. Given the present limited availability of buy to let mortgages it seems like a good medium term cash investment? I know it's about £1.5 m but it could return over £4m in 5 years.

I mean who wouldn't buy below value if the market was sure to rise again in the next 5 years?
I take the point about tenants but think about it. I buy them cash and put up with tenants and say i only get 6 months rent per house per year. In 5 years....so where 2 comes from I've no idea, in 5 years they'll be worth at least 3 times what i paid for them. I put in £1.5m I get out £4.5m and I've had more income from 50% rent than a high interest bank account would have paid.

I've been offered a couple of these and they look good opportunities to me.

I can sell the houses at auction in 5 years and still more than double my money.

A. Best Answer: Your expectations are VERY high if you think that you can sell these in 5 years for 2 or 3 times what you paid for them. Rental properties produce income first and foremost and "can" appreciate over time.

I don't know the area you are talking about but where I am real-estate appreciates between 5-7% per year on average, and I doubt you are buying at the bottom, from what i hear UK in general is just starting to see prices slip. Using the last several years to determine how much they will appreciate is probably not a good idea.

How much actual experience so you have with real-estate? Unless you have a lot of experience that is a lot of cash to put into something you are not an expert at.

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Q. Question? I work for a small property investment company. I just do the accounts and admin but my boss has said that because of a new and exclusive (buy to let/not much cash down/only risk is valuation fees) mortgage product that he has access to, if any member of the team brings in new business to the company then we'll earn a comission. And I'm just about to move house and could do with some help with the removal fees. lol.
Could FluffyPink Thing email me. I didn't really want to list location on the question. :) Thanks

A. Best Answer: A note of caution .. whilst you (& Fluffy) may be perfectly honest and up front (I checked your answers to other questions :-) ), just remember, on the web, anyone can be anyone they want to be....
.... this forum has a lot of fake loan spammers and other con-merchants waiting to pounce .. so I would be very careful about of dealing with anyone over anything financial ..

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Q. Question? I have been offered an opportunity and I'm interested in your thoughts.

I invest £75,000, For this the company sources 4 buy to let properties, they carry our any refurbishment work, they install a tenant and they collect the rent.They also manage all the maintenance and liaise with the service providers to change the accounts. All I have to do is buy each of the 4 properties using a mortgage and the difference between what I can borrow on mortgage and what the property values for is deducted from the £75k investment. They arrange the mortgage broker, the insurance agent and the solicitors if i want them to. They guarantee the rent to be at least the mortgage payments and insurance costs.

When my property has increased in value they help me refinance to release the equity or sell if i want to take out my profit.

I know the price of property is low and could still go down but over the next 5 years it will rise significantly again.

What do you think?
Lots of people are saying do it myself.The point is that I don't have to do it myself. I can do lots of things for myself but I don't. I don't have time and it makes perfect sense to pay a professional to do it for me. Rent is guaranteed by the company. They guarantee the rent because they provide the management services. the properties have tenants waiting to move in. As for responsibility for the refurbishment work. I don't actually purchase the property until the work is done. My funds are held in a separate client account until it's ready. I can't end the contract and take them out any more than i could with any other term investment but they are protected in exactly the same way.

Why do people ask how much someone else makes. How would they like it if their boss negotiated a salary each month. They make what they make and as long as they provide the service it's none of my business is it? I don't ask McDonald's how much it costs to produce a burger and then haggle the price
olgreybuzzard

What?
Does anyone know how to turn this into a discussion rather than a question?

I've taken some of the advice and started to try to do it myself. I spent 4 days trolling round estate agents and viewing houses. Now i have to do various searches regarding mining reports and environmental inspections. I've been told by 3 solicitors say they don't take an instruction without a cheque for £250 for local authority searches.

I'm already 4 days work and £500 out of pocket and i haven't made an offer yet.

This is beginning to sound like a better opportunity by the day.
I don't understand what you're saying James. I'm sure the directors of the company do have their own investment property. Have you ever heard of a guy called Donald Trump? He's a world famous extremely rich property developer but he makes most of his money from trading.You know the same way that Mr Cadbury doesn't keep all the chocolate he makes and eats it himself or Ronald McDonald doesn't just eat his burgers instead of selling them to the rest of us?

If trading is bad then we wouldn't buy anything, no one would manufacture anything and all the used car dealers in the world would go out of business tomorrow.
Mr Trump is in Scotland this week buying a huge plot of land for a golf course and leisure complex, Mr Cadbury owns 3/4 of Birmingham and Ronald McDonald sells burger franchises from £30k a pop on plots of land that aren't worth a light for any other purpose. I'll be round later to collect a cheque.

As for a scam well I'll make a note to post my returns in 18 months when maybe you've had chance to reflect on the mistake you made selling your own investment property

A. Best Answer: This might sound like a good idea, but keep in mind that with all the issues that have come up in real estate, scammers are coming out of the wood work.

So let me get this straight.

You are putting up your credit rating, and an initial investment. For a company to follow through with the build out, rent collection and everything else.

If anything goes wrong on the build out, you are listed on the note and title for each property. So if the build out doesn't goto plan, and there are issues with permits and violations, you are RESPONSIBLE.

There is no risk assumed by the said company that is going to be handling everyting else.

Not only that, but they would receive compensation from the mortgage broker, insurance agent and other companies involved. In addition, there are no guarantees for the rent. If you don't get it rented out, your dead in the water. Also, if the construction falls behind, you again are dead in the water.

In addition, there are no guarantees that the property will appreciate. Look at all the other markets. Especially California here in the United States. People owe mortgages of $500,000 for properties that are now only worth $250,000.

Sounds like you have no leverage, which means that they hold all the cards.

My brother in law entered into the same type of investment opportunity about 6 years ago. Long story short. The companies owner is in prison now, and my brother in law can't even finance a piece of bubble gum.

Rule of thumb, be greedy when others are being fearful, and be fearful when others are being greedy. It sounds like this company is being greedy, so in turn what should you do?

I wouldn't do it even if I had a million in the bank.

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Q. Question? Are Commercial properties a good investment? Or are prices on the long term slide?

A. Best Answer: Hi Trish

Financial property is usually a good bet but things are so unusual right now that its hard to say. Some are predicting a rise in prices while others say theres still a lot further to fall. If you don't have money to lose - don't bet!

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Q. Question? Take the "Islamic Bond" as an example. They kid themselves that no interest is paid ; however in the case of an "Islamic" bond a bank buys a property and pays rent rather than Interest. The "rent" paid is interest. That is all interest is yield on investment.( Because the bank buys the property back at the original price and you have saved the "rent"). Calling it "interest" or "rent" is a bit like the difference between the metric and imperial measuring systems, both are used to measure something the only difference is the name of the units.When an "Islamic"bond matures it may be worth double the investment, when an "Ordinary" bond matures it may also be worth double.Maltz , schmaltz, what does it matter what the name of the interest is as long as the investment doubles?

So Islamic logic says interest is "usury",but collecting rent is "Islamic banking"?

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article740158.ece
From the link: "Sharia-compliant alternatives to conventional financial arrangements include ijara products, in which rent rather than interest is paid on a mortgaged house, and musharaka, in which a share of ownership is transferred rather than interest paid"
From the link: "Sharia-compliant alternatives to conventional financial arrangements include ijara products, in which rent rather than interest is paid on a mortgaged house, and musharaka, in which a share of ownership is transferred rather than interest paid"
Mark, If it walks like interest, talks like interest, then it is interest , All I am doing is pointing out yet another example of the way this pathetic ideology thinks. I do this in the hope that we make some move to stopping the 2,000,000 UK Muslim "community" from getting any bigger

A. Best Answer: Sounds just like most financial packages - it's just wording.

So islamic banking is usury but they think it's not as they term interest as rent in your example.

Standard double standards of religion.

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