Tesco Town

House-building... a good thing.

House-building, by Tesco, conveniently around its stores, the home purchases funded by Tesco mortgages (it's easy to imagine favourable mortgage terms on Tesco properties)... sinister.

It reminds me of the perspective you get of some medium-sized American towns as you fly above them, really just large consumer machines in which people live, work and mall-spend to feed the corporations. McLives.

Initial plans appear to centre around four "mini-villages" in the south east. Surely 'Tesco Town' has already been done in Inverness, with it's 5 (Five !) Tesco stores, where's Lord Sainsbury when you need him, to throw some orange into the mix.

I wonder if you'll get clubcard points with a house purchase..... Every little helps.

Mr J

Oh dear.....stranded in paradise

I, like tens of thousands of other Britons, am stranded overseas with little idea of when I might return home, thanks to volcanic activity thousands of miles away. But far from feeling anger, frustration and helplessness – I simply cannot believe my good fortune.

While horror stories continue to surface of epic overland journeys and airport slumber parties – plundering the reserves of both the great British resolve and holidaymaker’s bank balances – I remain reclined on a sun lounger in a West African paradise, and all at the expense of my tour operator.

If ever an advertisement was needed for the fully protected package holiday, surely this is it. From my sunny haven, the alternative route home for an independent traveller, or for one whose holiday company refuses to cough up compensation, would be ghastly.

I am in on holiday with The Gambia Experience (www.gambia.co.uk) in Africa’s smallest country, whose tiny, solitary international airport serves just a handful of destinations. As things currently stand, to get home I would be forced to take a 40-minute flight to the Senegalese capital, Dakar, followed by a four-and-a-half -hour flight to Madrid, from where I would be required to continue my journey by train, and/or bus and boat. Judging by the hectic scenes at train stations and ferry terminals across Europe, this schlep could take several days and would cost as much as £1,500.

The situation appears to be improving. Eruptions have eased and European airports are starting to open, much to the delight of those travellers far less fortunate than myself. But for me, and the majority of other Britons at my beachside resort, we tune into BBC World News each morning selfishly hoping to hear of further disruption and volcanic activity.

The backlog of flights could still force us to stay here for several days after UK airspace re-opens – and should our tour operator’s patience wear thin, we may have to contemplate the aforementioned odyssey. But as long as our airlines and tour operators continue to pick up the tab for meals and accommodation (and our family remain understanding), we couldn’t be happier......

J

Cheap As Chips....

Today from the 'Property Hawk' Landlords looking for a buy-to-let bargain will have to head west & north according to the latest figures released by Mouseprice.com.

Mouseprice have released figures for the cheapest streets in the UK.

The one street they have identified as being the cheapest is Fernhill in the Welsh region of Mountain Ash where the average property costs just "28,600. This street also topped last years poll, although average pries have risen over the year from £24,640.

The top ten cheapest streets in order were:

1. Fernhill,Mountain Ash. Wales £28,600
2. Oxford Street, Brierfield, North West £32,800
3. Ann Street, South Bank, North East £32,900
4. Edward Street, South Bank, North East £34,200
5. Scarborough Street, Middlesbrough, North East £34,400
6. Redcar Road, Middlesbrough, North East £34,400
7 Victoria Street, South Bank, North East £35,600
8. Wood Street, Burnley, North West £35,700
9. Elmwood Street, Burnley, North West £35,800
10. Altham Street, Burnley, North West £35,900

Landlords looking for a bargain property investment should remember that a cheap property isn't necessary a great investment. Cheap properties are also likely to have low levels of rent so that what a landlord should look at is the relationship between the capital value and the rent. The rental yield. Areas with low capital values are likely to be blighted by low demand from owners and renters leading to lower capital and rental growth prospects.

Check them out on Google Street View - some don't look too bad, though I personally wouldn't be tempted. It's a bit like deciding to buy a Korean car or one made in Germany....

Lets be careful out there folks !

Mr Jackson.

Radio Ga Ga...

Early on Easter Monday, I joined in a BBC Radio Scotland discussion about the Scottish property market. I was on as the bear (obviously) and the other participant, representing ESPC (the Edinburgh Solicitors Property Centre), was to be on as the bull.

But it didn't quite work out as the BBC had planned. I was participating in the discussion from my car (I couldn't get to the studio and there were too many chocolate-sick children moping around inside for me to use a land line). It was also raining pretty heavily.

So when my supposed opponent announced that the best we could hope for for the rest of the year was that house prices would stay stable before they fell again, I thought I must have misheard.

But I hadn't. Further discussion showed that he really meant it. Unlike most property market professionals, he not only thought the market was unsustainably fragile, but was prepared to say so. Amazing.

But the weird thing is not that he suddenly came over all honest, but that for so long most other estate agents have not been prepared to do so.

The collapse in the number of houses for sale (the main factor behind the mini-boom in prices over the last 10-12 months) has not been driven by a sudden shortage of housing in the UK. It's been driven by a belief among would-be sellers (pushed in part by over-optimistic agents) that the longer they wait to sell, the more likely things are to return to 'normal' – i.e. the more likely they are to get the price they think they would have got in 2007.

But this is not in the interests of estate agents. As we've written here before, agents need high sales volumes more than they need high prices if their businesses are to succeed. So it makes sense for them to try to persuade reluctant sellers to come to the market by telling the truth. The truth being that with house prices still massively overpriced by historical standards; with interest rates only able to rise from here; with unemployment and taxes set to soar; and with mortgages still relatively hard to come by, it is almost impossible to make a case for house prices across the nation to keep on going up.

In the process of looking for a house for my own family I have seen a huge number of overpriced houses. Many are still on the market thanks to the fact they have been too highly valued by the agents. Once a seller has a price in their head it is really hard for them to take less, and that's one of the main reasons why the current market (outside prime London) is so very illiquid. It is also why I was so pleased to hear the man from ESPC being so honest: if he can persuade his fellow property professionals to do the same, we might suddenly find some liquidity returning to the market.

On that bombshell - if you have a house for sale that's sticking around, is it time you got an honest opinion from your agent and perhaps looked at the unthinkable - Dropping the price...?

Until next time.

Mr J

Poverty & Homelessness...

Poverty and homelessness in a wealthy society is not just an UK issue. Spotted in Madrid Spain was this poor soul.

I was all for offering a helping hand and taking her home with us, unfortunately Mrs Jackson would have none of it - She's normally so charitable too....

Yours wishfully,

Mr Jackson.

Millionaire developer with an ASBO !

Continuing on from my good neighbours theme, this from The Telegraph yesterday made me laugh and also wince a little !

A millionaire property developer harassed her neighbours for months by peering through windows, screaming insults and placing curses upon them, a court heard yesterday.

Patricia Bailey peered through other people’s blinds, pushed open windows and threatened “damnation” upon all those who lived nearby.

Her behaviour was so bad that she was given an indefinite nationwide Asbo and told by a judge that he wished she could be banned from “the entire planet”.

Yesterday, Mrs Bailey tried to get last year’s Asbo lifted, saying she was wrongly penalised and the punishment was unduly harsh.

Under the terms of the Asbo the 60-year-old was forced out of her original flat in central London and moved to another property overlooking Lord’s cricket ground.

James Couser, representing Westminster City Council, said the anti-social order had been necessary because of Mrs Bailey’s “bizarre” behaviour.

"Mrs Bailey is a woman who has a history of neighbour disputes,” he told Southwark Crown Court.
"The behaviour that is complained of is simply put, bizarre, of the most bizarre nature I have ever encountered.

"There is a CD containing footage of several incidents - this is very much a greatest hits compilation because there are a lot more video recordings.

“Mrs Bailey had a propensity at that time to go into communal areas and peer through windows, peek through windows and push through those windows - very strange behaviour indeed."

Neighbours recorded her antics and a video played in court showed Mrs Bailey, who lived at number three, chanting: “Keep away all evil my Lord, from flat four and flat five. “Banish them, O Lord, from here to damnation and hell.”

In the footage, Mrs Bailey was seen accusing her neighbours of carrying out a “witch hunt”, while they described her as “mad” and living in a fantasy world.

Mr Couser said the residents where she used to live wanted the Asbo to remain in place because they were worried she might come back to “haunt them”.

The order reads: “You must not use threatening, abusive, aggressive or obscene language or behaviour towards any person, in any public place in England and Wales, until further notice.” Oh dear, we'd best watch out for her up here next....

Mrs Bailey, who has a previous conviction for racially aggravated assault, was also banned from contacting her old neighbours.

The hearing continues......

I'll keep you updated, until the next time,

Mr Jackson

Slide with the snakes

Just a reminder to my 'newer' readers (Where have you been up until now....?) To check out the Property Snake for cut-price house bargains in your area.

This great, easy to use website shows you which houses have been reduced recently, some by as much as 50%, however the best reductions I could find in Moray were 10%, better than nothing though !

This just goes to show the Moray property market is a law unto itself and doesn't really follow the trends. It seems the only people reducing their prices in the area are those who are desperate.

Shop further a field and snap up a bargain or two, in a couple of years time when the market rallies you should have yourself some half decent equity.

Here's a couple that caught my eye - Property 1, Property 2

www.propertysnake.co.uk

Slitheringly Yours,

Mr Jackson.