The Landlord Syndicate, a network of companies providing a complete support centre for landlords, are relieved by the news that squatting is to become a criminal offence as of September.

Homeowners, and particularly landlords whose properties are not always occupied, can breathe a sigh of relief as reports have revealed the act of squatting, which is currently only a civil offence, will be made a criminal offence from 1st September 2012.

One member of The Landlord Syndicate who has fought for some time to enforce this law, even supporting a campaign presented to Parliament in April 2011, is Paul Shamplina, also founder of Landlord Action. He comments “Squatting cases have been on the rise for some time now, many by organised gangs whom have travelled thousands of miles to engage in squatting knowing they will be protected by the law. It was only when some high profile cases hit the headlines that people sat up and took notice of the growing injustice on homeowners.”

Squatters will now face up to a £5000 fine and a six month prison sentence if they take up residence in another person’s property.

In light of this news, The Landlord Syndicate are warning landlords not to be complacent, “Enforcing a law does not mean that the activity of squatting will be eradicated, it just means there are tougher measures to deal with it which should prevent landlords and homeowners having to enter into lengthy and expensive legal battles” adds Paul.  That means landlords still need to avoid void periods and ensure they invest in good preventative security measures.

Actually no it isn’t..

I sent an email to our VIP subscribers recently so you may have seen some information about this already.

But I wanted to share with you the success that we’ve had recently with a short term investing JV with a company called Property Assets.

We joined the JV scheme with Property Assets in February and actioned our first opportunity the same month. Security is provided by way of a UN charge on the property.  Your investment money is paid into a solicitor’s account.

Refurbishment commenced on our property but they had a problem with the gas supply into the property. This would therefore delay the resale of the property. So we were given the opportunity to exit at week 7 with a 25% return . Rather than leaving our money tied in we decided to exit. Within 3 working days our initial investment plus our 25% profit was sent to us by the solicitors.

This has proved to be an absolutely hands off investment for us. With protective guarantees.

This guaranteed return is the thing I like, as it’s removing the risk from the investor. We have subsequently started our 2nd JV, so I’ll let you know how that goes. If all goes to plan it should return a £10K profit within 12 weeks. Watch this space…..

They only work on a referall basis, so if you’d like an introduction just let me know. I’m also happy to chat if you’d like to know more (0161 442 5977). Or email me at julie@justdoproperty.co.uk

Here’s more information about the JV.

This is a full armchair joint venture service. Minimum 25% profit returns every 10 weeks. We source lucrative residential property through receivers and auctions that has maximum uplift in value via refurbishment. We purchase the property. We will produce a detailed survey for each property including key financial data, purchase price, sale price, forecasted profit and investment required.

We carry out any development work in line with the agreed budget and program of works. We will exit on the property via either an exclusive first time buyer purchase model, or via a buy to let investor. The profits from the sale are split between us on a 50 50 basis.Each full proposal in advance of any commitment is sent to you.  All financial transactions are made to solicitors.  The worst case net profit from each transaction will be £5000.

You will be able to action circa 5 of these opportunities per year as a minimum therefore generating additional income of £25,000 pounds minimum without having to do anything what so ever.

Thanks to upad for providing this great article.  For 50% off your first listing click here.

Finding a long-term responsible tenant who respects your property and pays promptly isn’t all about luck. There’s a science to it too.

Key tips

• Ensure you meet tenants personally before letting to them.
• Professional comprehensive tenant referencing is essential.
• If you have any doubt about tenants, secure a guarantor.

• Showing tenants around your rental property is your chance to get a glimpse of the people who may be living in your property. It’s a good opportunity to engage your landlord instincts and if you meet the tenants up-front, it’s easier to build a robust long-term relationship.
• Reference your tenants: comprehensive referencing shows you that the tenant can afford the rent, and that they don’t have a dubious renting history. Remember, Upad referencing is free for landlords, regardless of whether you have enlisted us to find tenants for you.
• If you are still not certain that the tenants will always be able to pay the rent every month, acquire a UK-based guarantor, who will then be liable to pay the rent if they default. Guarantors are especially common for student tenants.
• Ensure your tenant sets up their payments through a standing order. It means your tenants won’t forget to pay and you won’t have to chase. If you have found tenants and would like us to take care of this, just give us a call. We’ll also draw up the tenancy agreement and collect the first month’s rent.
• Keeping in contact with your tenants will make them less likely to default on a rental payment. If they are having trouble receiving payments due to a short-term financial situation, then maybe a short-term payment solution can help. After all some cash is better than no cash – but be sure to make the terms of the payment solution clear, and follow it exactly.

Thanks again to upad for providing this great article.  For 50% off your first listing click here.

How to make sure you take that action

The way to be disciplined is to start by making a list of the activities that you need to achieve in the day – using the list you have already prepared.

The best way to describe this is by giving you an example of my day and how I am able to focus completely on getting the right things done in the right order and completing each task by the end of the day – GUARANTEED!  I don’t always follow these rules, but when I do, it has such an incredible impact and I feel great afterwards that I would recommend trying it too.

I can work through each of these elements and make sure I’m sticking to the times.

So what am I going to do when I run out of time, or I get interrupted?  You can take two views on this one.

VIEW 1

If you are in the flow of something and it is going to go over the time, ask yourself if it is going to cause a problem for someone else or to a deadline if you don’t achieve the next element today?

If the answer is YES it would cause a problem, then you need to stop at the time you allocated and start the new task.  You can go back to the other task when the time frame for the other ends, you end the next task early, or you put the remainder of the task into the next day’s items.

If the answer is NO then you can choose to continue with this item as long as you are still focusing on this and your concentration is still good.  You would then put the next task onto a later time – when you have finished the current task, or you would make sure the task you have pushed back will appear FIRST on your list for the next day.

VIEW 2

If you are being strict and you have a tendency to be distracted easily then you should absolutely save this task and move on to the next one.   Make sure that any tasks you have not completed go to the front of the queue the next day.  They should go before any small tasks, before picking up the phone and before you look at any e-mails.  Why?  Because if they don’t, then you have a higher chance of becoming distracted and other people’s urgent tasks taking precedence.  It also indicates that you have given these tasks less importance than tasks such as e-mails and phone calls – it may be that you prefer these, and that would mean in the long run that the more lengthy tasks don’t get done.  The chances are that you have pushed them back or not completed them for a reason and it’s only by overriding your natural instinct and changing your pattern to a successful pattern.

Watch your time scales – if you have overrun today, then how should you put a time frame on this type of activity the next time?  You may need to put a longer period of time aside so that you have a better chance of completing this task.

If you have finished early, then how could you use the extra time?

In many cases I would use extra time to do something I wouldn’t normally have time to fit in, but in other instances I would move straight on to the next task so that I have more time at the end of the day to make phone calls and to prepare and plan for the next day.

WATCH OUT – if you end up doing something that isn’t on the list, make sure you are back on track at the right time, and that the extra task doesn’t make you run into the time set aside for the next task.

What does this tell you?

How long have you been putting off this particular task?  If it is over one week then you have already been procrastinating.  If it is longer than that, how great are you going to feel when you have completed this?  If it is several weeks or even months, then how important is it really?  Is it really worth doing?  Don’t be afraid to say NO!  You don’t have to do anything – is there a more fun way of doing the task?

Do you prefer to speak or write?  Talk into a Dictaphone or a computer programme and have it typed up, or write and have someone else check it after.  If you book someone else in to do a check you are more likely to meet your deadline.

What to do now that you’re successful

Administer GROWING POWDER!

Think Big, but make sure that you don’t end up with growing pains or stretch marks!

Sounds painful doesn’t it, and this is often what stops us from making progress.

Have you heard the phrase ‘watch the pennies and the pounds will take care of themselves’?  I bet you’ve used it more than once – but have you ever applied it to your property investments or business?

Do you know what it actually means? It means to take care of the small things in life and success will automatically come of the bigger things – not a hard and fast rule, but in this case we can use this phrase to good effect.

If you can master your concentration, focus and time over small periods then doing this over longer periods will start to come naturally.

One day at a time will give you a great forecast of how your week will go.  If you can manage a whole week and be fairly accurate with the amount of time you set aside for your tasks then you won’t get frustrated with not having achieved what you set out to do.

If you are used to cooking – particularly a family meal with lots of different elements – then you will know how to allocated suitable times for each vegetable or meat to cook.  Did you automatically know this the first time you cooked Sunday lunch?  No!  You learned over time with some trial and error and you worked out how to make all the different parts of the meal ready at the same time.

It’s only the French who each the veg on one dish and the meat on another (Sorry to all French people or Francophones!) If we served dinner like this in England we would certainly get some funny looks from our guests.

The point is that it takes time to form a habit.  It takes dedication to concentrate on what you need to achieve, and it is persistence that creates success.

Tackle one day and one element at a time and your success will happen.  Review often each task that makes up the plan and allocate time to each part.

Delegate where you can and you will get to focus on the parts that you enjoy and that you can create a greater income from doing.

Most important of all, enjoy what you do and each day will put a smile on your face.

Yvonne has written some excellent eBooks and eCourses to help you with your Property Investing.  Take a look here.

This has been maintain at this historic low right from the early days of the recession and with the recent news of the UK in a double dip recession, it is likely to remain low for some time for come.

The Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee also voted to maintain the current level of asset purchases, known as quantative easing, which is financed by the issuance of central bank reservers to the value of £325 billion.

The Bank’s lowered its Base Rate to 0.5% back in March 2009 and started the programme of quantative easing also back in March 2009. However an increase in the amount pumped into the economy via this mechanism was increase back in February 2012 by £50 billion to its current level.

Imagine the fire alarm goes off inside a large building. You leave the room and enter the hallway, where hundreds of other people are all running in the same direction. Which way would you most likely go? Chances are you’ll follow the crowd, even if you KNOW that the quickest way out is in the opposite direction.

Social proof comes originally from Cialdini’s Influence principles, and is simply the comfort or acceptance that comes from seeing others do the same things we’re doing.

We can use this in lead generation by implementing testimonials. When someone is happy with your services, ask them for a few seconds of their time to give a short video testimonial. Ask them for it, film it, then place a few of the clips together. Then, when someone visits your website and fills in your email contact form, you can set things up so they receive an automated response.

This email response could then basically tell them you’ve received their message, you’ll be in touch, but for now they can watch a short video which shows how other people have benefitted from your services.

You can use a FLIP cam for this. You’ll get one for less than £100 on eBay or Amazon.

Social proof can be used in a number of ways. This is just one of them.

For more like this, head over to Property Sourcing Fast Track, and for a free 35-minute lead generation training video, head to Property Lead Generation 2.0.

The Halifax House Price Index (HPI) for April indicates a considerable fall in the average house price in April, by -2.4%. However the more stable quarterly figure is static at +0.3%.

Key points of the release are:

• On a monthly basis, house prices fell by 2.4% in April. This more than offset the previous month’s 2.2% increase as prices continue to fluctuate month-to-month.
• House prices in the three months to April were 0.3% higher than in the preceding three months (November 2011-January 2012). This was the first increase in prices on this measure of the underlying trend since September 2011 (0.1%), following six successive falls.
• Prices in the three months to April were 0.5% lower than in the same period a year earlier. This measure of the annual rate improved slightly from -0.6% in March and showed the smallest fall in prices since October 2010 (+1.2%).
• No change in the average UK house price so far this year. The UK average price in April 2012, at £159,883, was virtually the same as in December 2011 (£159,888).

Commenting, Martin Ellis, housing economist, said:
“Prices in the three months to April were 0.3% higher than in the previous quarter, marking the first rise in this measure for seven months. Despite the slight improvement in the underlying trend in recent months, house prices continue to lack real direction with the current UK average price little different to where it was at the end of 2011. The monthly figures continue to fluctuate quite widely with a 2.4% decline in April, wiping out March’s 2.2% rise.

“The ending of the stamp duty holiday for first-time buyers in late March appears to have boosted home sales early this year as buyers strove to beat the deadline, and has probably contributed to the volatility in house prices in the last few months.

“We continue to expect little overall movement in prices as the UK economic situation remains challenging.”

The Nationwide House Price Index (HPI) for April shows a slight fall in House Prices.

Key figures are:

• The average house in the UK fell by 0.2%
• Prices remain 0.9% lower than one year ago
• Price of a typical home is now £164,134

Commenting on the figures, Robert Gardner, Nationwide’s Chief Economist, said:

The price of a typical UK home fell by 0.2% in April, following a 1.0% decline in March.  This is the fourth time in five months that prices have declined. House prices were 0.9% lower than April 2011.

“Much of the recent softness in measures of housing market activity and house prices is likely to relate to the expiry of the stamp duty holiday in late March. This provided a temporary boost to house prices in early 2012 as buyers brought forward purchases that would otherwise have taken place later in the year.

“This effect should fade in the months ahead, and measures such as the Government’s NewBuy scheme should provide some support to buyer demand. However, the challenging economic backdrop suggests that a significant acceleration in prices or activity is unlikely in the near term.”

This is in comparison to the previous six-month verage increase of £1.3 billion. However the 12 month growth rate remained unchanged at 1.0%

Loands secured on ‘Dwellings’

Within this lending figure, the loads to individuals for property, or ‘Secured on dwellings’ as it is put, was also up by £1.0 billion and this was in line with the previous six-month average increase.

The annulaised figures, both 3 month and 12 month, were unchanged and 1.1% and 0.8% respectively.

This puts the growss total lent for property at £12.7 billion in March. Repayments on the other hand were static at £11.6 billion. Both figures were in line with the previous six-month average.

Approval Numbers

The statistics produced by the Bank of Engand also reports the actual number of loan approvals and for house purchases this was 49,860 – an increase just by 731 against February, though lower than the six-month average of 53,103.

The approvals for loans on remortgaging also increased by 1427 to 29,511, though lower than the previous 6 month average.

The headline announcements are:

• march house prices down 0.6 per cent since February
• average house price in England and Wales now £160,372
• South East tops the table of regional applications with 271,010 in March
• Over 55,000 residential property sale prices in England and Wales lodged for registration in March

Although announced later than most of the other House Price Indices, the Land Registry is touted as being the most accurate independent release. This is partly due to it covered figures as recorded with the land registry and it’s coverage across the nation.

Regional Divide Continues
Yet again the region in England and Wales which experienced the highest increase in its average property value over the last 12 months was London with a movement of 0.7 per cent.

However London did report a negative change over the month of March, down -1.8%, one of the largest falls in the regional charts.

The North East experienced the greatest monthly rise with a massive movement of 5.6 per cent, leaving the average price at £101,676.

Wales experienced the greatest annual price fall with a decrease of 5.5 per cent and the most significant monthly price fall with a decrease of 4.1 per cent.

Sales Volumes

The most up-to-date figures available show that, during January 2012, the number of completed house sales in England and Wales increased by 13 per cent to 42,511 compared to 37,584 in January 2011.

The number of properties sold in England and Wales for over £1 million in January 2012 decreased by 6 per cent to 467 from 497 in January 2011.