More than 30 million people in the UK do not have a will – even though nine out of 10 have a good idea who should inherit their wealth when they die.

The 30 million people in the UK who do not have a will are letting the government grab a large chunk of their wealth when they die, when some effective financial and tax planning could mean financial security for their family and loved ones.

Inheriting a property means making some important decisions that have lifestyle, tax and other financial consequences.

The mortgage squeeze is a double-edged sword for buy to let landlords as rentals surge but borrowing restrictions mean they cannot buy more homes to rent out.

By Neil Patterson, Partner of The Money Centre. Most mortgage lenders use credit scoring to determine whether an applicant is “good for credit”. However, unlike personal mortgage lending, which is based upon an applicant’s ability to service mortgage payment and repay the loan from earned income, buy to let lending is often based upon the […]

So few lenders are actually handing over cash to borrowers that the Council of Mortgage Lenders has had trouble finding enough firms to fill the slots in a top 30 lender’s table.

By Mark Alexander. On Thursday this week I am meeting the Vice President of Lake Buena Vista Resort to learn more about their EB5 visa scheme. This is a $500,000 investment into property which comes with a USA Green Card within 6 months, an exit opportunity after just two years and fully managed property producing […]

Most property investors think they have never had it so bad as spending cuts, lack of finance, and the prospect of tumbling house prices loom. Brits have an insular grin-and-bear-it tendency that tends to make their lives seem worse, but the truth is we are inching through a global recession and this country is by […]

Buy to let rents are surging to record highs as a shortage of properties and mortgage restrictions puts a brake on home sales. Average rents are now £698 per month, after straight months of rises that have pushed them up 3.1% in a year, according to the LSL Property Services Rent Index.

Wealthy families with complicated inheritance tax (IHT) avoidance schemes are the likely targets of tax ‘hit squads’. Property investors with portfolios with values exceeding the IHT single/married thresholds of £325,000 and £625,000 are expected to face higher levels of investigation from HM Revenue and Customs.

Experienced landlords are still expanding their buy to let portfolios and accounted for nearly 10% of all mortgage broker business in the three months ending September 30. Soaring numbers of enquiries from tenants and a lack of properties to rent are driving demand that is giving investors’ confidence to buy more homes.

Buy to let property investors pay too much tax because they do not know how to claim property business expenses. The sad fact is many accountants and tax advisers are little or no help because they do not have a clue what the taxman will allow as they are not property-orientated practitioners.

Many of Britain’s leading university cities are running out of accommodation for students, according to a report by a leading property consultant. Demand far outstrips supply in many cities, says CB Richard Ellis. The report cites students are clamouring to study at popular universities and colleges – like the Russell Group Universities, in London, Edinburgh […]

As the deadlines for filing rental accounts fast approach, here’s a quick guide to how the taxman expects property investors to keep financial records. Keeping records for a rental business means:

By Mike Woodfine, Co-founder of The Money Centre. Interest margins are extortionate – you need an unsecured loan to pay lenders arrangement fees – loan to values are just down right depressing. It really does look like lenders are cashing in on everybody’s misfortune and I bet you are thinking now is not the best […]

By Mark Alexander. I closed my first Sale and Rent Back, “SARB”, deal in 1990. It wasn’t for me personally though and it wasn’t a property deal either. I had just set up a commercial finance brokerage. At that time we worked from my dining room. One of my first clients was a Norfolk based […]

House sellers need to do their sums before accepting an offer on a property investment to make sure the figures add up to pay any tax and settle the mortgage. Property investors must know the break-even figure to set the asking price and to negotiate with a prospective buyer who makes an offer.

House price surveys are nonsense – and do not offer anything other than an indication of the value of a non-existent ‘average’ home. Deciding which survey to trust is easy – none of them. Depending on your loyalty, according to the Halifax and economists Academetrics, the average house price for September floats somewhere between £162,096 […]

Click on the link below to view examples of sales now being completed in the Orlando area for the long term rental market. These are not holiday homes but could be! Values have crashed to 50% below what you would have paid 4 years ago. Florida property examples.

The best laid Tory plans to boost inheritance tax (IHT) thresholds to £1 million after the election were shelved as a result of pressure from the Lib Dems when forming the coalition government. That means IHT limits are stuck at £325,000 for the life of this Parliament – probably until 2014.

The latest house price surveys confirm what everyone already knows – house prices are stuck in a rut and mortgage finance is drying up. The latest house price figures released by the Communities and Local Government Department show prices were still 8.3% up for August 2010 compared with August the year before.