A leading buy to let mortgage lender has warned landlords to watch out for an email scam. A bogus email seemingly sent by Platform Home Loans asks property investors for a processing fee and identification details that lets the lender release mortgage funds.

Commercial investors are celebrating average property values increasing by 8.9% and returns of 16.1% for 2010.

The two new topics will be: Cautionary Tales – this will include Case Studies from a panel of landlords and professional advisors explaining how they or their clients lost money and what they now do differently.

Buy to let lenders keen to attract new landlords have released several broker-only products with some keen incentives. Although most industry experts have predicted availability of funds will remain tight for several months, some lenders want to broaden their market share by extending borrowing to buy to let investors.

Property price rises and falls added up to the average home losing £110 in value every week last year, according to mortgage lender the Halifax. The average house price at the end of December was £162,435 – down £5,741 across the year and representing a drop of just 1.6% for the 12 months.

Two of the UK’s largest buy to let mortgage providers have introduced a criteria not to accept mortgage applications for properties purchased through property sourcers.  This has angered many people who don’t have the time to source properties for themselves or the necessary negotition skills.

This week I’ve been involved in a group debate with three people who hide their identity on a popular property investors forum.  The people on the opposite side of the debate consider me to be a property Bull and themselves to be Bears.  They do not invest into property.  One went under the handle “Wisebear”.

Property developers, investors, and letting agents running limited companies face a shake-up in the way they file financial reports with the taxman from April.

Despite uncertain house prices, a staggering 35 new property millionaires woke up every day last year to find their homes had hit the seven-digit landmark.

Two out of three law firms dealing with conveyancing and property are expected to leave the market during the next 12 months. Some fear the lack of competition in the market may lead to rising costs that will hamper an already fragile housing recovery. Lawyers are feeling the squeeze from three sides –

Property investors find the complicated rules that govern licensing and planning for shared housing – legally termed a ‘house in multiple occupation’ or an ‘HMO’ – a nightmare to navigate.

Property investors refurbishing and furnishing homes to let can cut costs by searching online for bargains. Savvy property people are already buying big ticket items like kitchens and bathrooms from online stores. E-Bay is the traditional home of the penny-pincher and still attracts millions of buyers and sellers.

Inheritance Tax is unfair and unpopular and should be scrapped in favour of a new ‘gift tax’, argues an influential think-tank. The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) claims inheritance tax (IHT) is too easy to sidestep for the wealthy and estates are rarely charged at the IHT rate of 40%.

I recently picked up on an interesting debate on this subject between two investors, to protect their identities I will refer to them as The Bull and The Bear. The Bear was arguing “Younger peoples desire to spend money on consumption, travel and lifestyle and rent rather than home purchase should theoretically lead to lower […]

Lenders and commentators – including the influential Paul Fisher, the Bank of England’s director of markets – are warning that the natural interest rate in a well-functioning economy is around the 5% mark. With the Bank of England base rate stuck firmly at 0.5% since March 2009, many are worried that buy to let landlords […]

Grant Shapps recently revealed the government is looking at ways to take the heat out of the property market by stabilising the boom-or-bust trends that have crippled the sector since the 1970s. Speaking on BBC Radio’s Today program, he said ministers wanted to see the removal of the ‘imbalance’ between wages and house prices and […]

For married couples and civil partnerships. EXAMPLE You sell shares in your family company to your spouse for an amount equivalent to your personal mortgage, or more if additional capital raising is required.

PERSONAL MESSAGE FROM MARK ALEXANDER If you have a good property story to tell we may want to share it.

From the heart, not a chart. I’m not really into fancy graphs, I don’t have a private school or university education and I don’t have a posh accent so if that’s what you were hoping for this post might dissapoint you.

It’s coming up to that time of year when I have to pay my taxes again. That means I have made a profit so I should be happy right? WRONG!

This question was recently asked on a property forum and inspired me to write this post. A spreadsheet could be written to crunch the numbers and I will explain how I do this further into this post.