One of the UK’s largest buy-to-let lenders, Paragon Mortgages, has updated its product range of loans for large-scale and professional landlords. A new range of fixed rate products include a new two year fix at 4.45% with a 2% product fee and is available for HMOs, multi-unit blocks and single, self-contained . There are also…
According to some we’ve just entered into the buy to let boom age and things are just about to take off. For the first time in a long time all the major house-price indices are showing positive growth month on month. First time buyers are returning to the market, transaction levels are up, mortgage lending…
In my experience, one of the most common mistakes made by property investors is that they do not have a clear idea of what they are trying to achieve, and as a consequence, they do not really have any sort of a plan or strategy. As the old saying goes “if you don’t have a…
Let me give you an example of what I mean by this. I’ve met investors who own property but they’re not entirely sure why they own them. They’re not sure whether they are going to give them much in the way of cash flow, and quite often the figures suggest that the returns are actually…
We live in the BMV (below market value) age. No self-respecting investor would attend his or her local property networking meeting, or post on any property forum, if they weren’t negotiating furiously for 20%, 25% or 30% discounts from <em>Market Value</em>. Didn’t buy it BMV? Then hang your head in shame. That’s just not how…
Hand in hand with buying BMV, the investing community has embraced ‘going back to basics’ and concentrating on ‘the fundamentals’. In particular, most, if not all, investors are intensely interested in cash-flow. As a minimum investors want to buy property which at least breaks even, although many will not be satisfied unless they find a…
In it’s most basic form this mistake manifests as not shopping around for the best LTV (loan to value ratio) or the best interest rate (½% over 20 years makes a lot of difference) or finding the loan with the least penalties if you want to swop or pay it off early. A more sophisticated…
There were two major changes on the “road” to buy-to-let: A change to the landlord and tenant law A desire by ARLA to promote its member’s business The first step towards buy-to-let as we now know it was that the law on landlord and tenant was changed to make letting easier and more financially attractive…
The buy-to-let scheme was designed to address the problems we looked at earlier. The original lenders were now prepared to: Consider lending on residential investment property as a mainstream activity – the risks involved in a loan going bad were now reduced because vacant possession could be guaranteed under the provisions of the Housing Act.…
The original buy-to-let scheme was promoted by eight lenders. Current lenders associated with the original ARLA scheme include Birmingham Midshires, GMAC, Natwest Mortgage Services, Paragon Mortgages and Standard Life Bank. Since 1996 many mainstream lenders have seen the immense potential of buy-to-let. Although not officially part of the original ARLA promoted scheme, they offer a…