Private consultancy is the backbone of our business and you will be surprised how much we achieve with our clients in just a few well constructed hours.

Solicitors and Property Manageing Agencies are taking our morning networking seminars very seriously. Light and interactive they keep clients updated with the work of the host, the latest eyebrow raising business expansion ideas from me and some updates on the finance front.

Please call me on 07874 160944 to find out more.

I was reading an article the other day which stated that 60 per cent of landlords are looking to increase their portfolios in the next 6 months. Both the Manchester Building Society and the Post Office announced that they are increasing their lending in this sector during the last couple of days.

The astute landlord will expand but should develop a clear strategic plan and that is one of the services that we offer. Should they stay in standard houses and flats or should they be looking into HMO’s which give a higher return, but at what cost.

Landlords are also turning towards professional property management service’s as there are growing advantages in using the services of a company which understands the ever changing and complex legislation.

I am chatting to solicitors and manageing agents about hosting seminars from September and it really is encouraging how my seminar days have caught on as they raise the profiles and make a fun and informative networking day which is inexpensive to host.

Please contact me for more information.

August is historically a sleepy month for property sales as most of us have holidays and new school terms and university on our minds but a colleague of mine in the east Midlands located a shop with living accommodation for sale in a tertiary location last week.

If the sun was shining and business booming we could have got A3 change of use and the unit could have yielded about 11% however this one required some updating and when all was done it would have yielded about 7%.

Not too exciting in the location that it was in so my friend had another word with the vendors who were hard on their selling price.

Sadly this is a recurring theme and seller’s expectations don’t match the market.

In September I am a guest speaker at the Manchester based Muslim Jewish Business Forum and I am really looking forward to a great night. My co speaker is the litigation lawyer Emma Nawaz from Blackstones Solicitors in Hale, Cheshire and we met up for coffee last week. Please contact me if you would like to attend.

In this month’s newsletter:

• Watford networking ‘How to locate 5 new Landlords every month and keep them’
• New property auction website
• Short report on property rental market

Watfords Park Inn Hotel is the venue for Mike Samuels’ Residential Property Networking Event on Monday 9^th July from 7pm.

Last month’s meeting was informative and friendly and we all made new contacts.

This month’s topic will be:

‘How to locate 5 new landlords a month and keep them’

At 7pm there will be registration and networking followed by a seminar some Q and A, food and more networking.

The cost is £25 per person and please complete the form to book. www.greatoakcapital.co.uk/bookings

Over the past 30 years I have been a regular at property auctions nationally and I cannot understand why vendors don’t use this medium for selling as they do in other countries especially Australia.

I love the internet, and have several websites, so I jumped at the opportunity of being involved with a new exciting venture which gives the following benefits:

• Introducing agents keep ALL their commissions
• The auctioneers charge a modest buyers premium
• The auctions can start immediately the paperwork submitted is approved
• Last second bidders are thwarted as the finish time extends by 10 minutes
• No entry fees

The site is under test and should be launched during August.

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It was recently reported that residential rental values in the UK have grown consistently since 2009 as the problem of unaffordable mortgage finance and large deposits required by lenders remain a barrier to home ownership leaving many potential buyers turning to the rental market.

Significantly, supply of property to the market continues to grow, albeit at a slower pace, with 7 per cent more surveyors reporting increases rather than decreases in landlords looking to let their properties.

Unsurprisingly, with rental values steadily increasing, landlords’ gross yields also continued to grow during the early part of the year, although the pace of growth has begun to slow.

This was the case in every part of the UK with the exception of London where tenant demand also saw a slight downturn.

Looking ahead, surveyors remain positive that the market will remain buoyant over the next three months. Across the UK, all areas expect rents to continue to increase.

MAY  2012 NEWSLETTER

In this month’s newsletter:

• Investing in the USA
• Watford networking and seminar
• Agency MOT’s

During a sleepless night a couple of weeks ago I was looking for topics for my seminars which I always keep fresh and interesting and discovered a chap in the USA doing ‘day trading real estate’ which intrigued me.Continue reading→

March 2012 ended with a well supported property exhibition at the Watford Football Ground which Julie and I attended and I presented a 30 minute mini seminar on the ’17 ways to negotiate the best property price’.

I nearly over ran on the time as there is just so much information to impart but glad that we went and many people signed up for the newsletter and some want to attend my full day seminar in London at the end of April.

Thanks to Aash and Vanish and their families to organising the event and allowing me to speak.

As I move around the country and visit lots of cities I am always surprised at the lack of inventiveness of agents who believe that by putting an ‘A’ board on the pavement outside their offices they will attract any landlords, let alone quality landlords.

What a landlord wants is an agent who adds value to his investment and looks after his properties as if they were his own.

So social media such as Linkedin or Facebook cannot be overlooked as they can put their entire profile of their services online and use the groups to raise their profile at no cost.

Also they could hold a free seminar for landlords and feed them some great information about themselves and the services that they offer.