It's a Buyer's Market - It's Official

Lest we be accused of 'talking down the market' - heaven forbid - we said we'd spread some good news to shake you from your Monday blues. And the news? Well it's not news to everyone and merely looking at things from a different perspective for some others.

It's a buyers market. You know what they say about clouds and silver linings as well as ill winds that blow no good? Well that's where we're at right now, or at least rapidly approaching it in any case. If you're in the market for a property overseas - particularly in the UK, US or Spain - then the world is your oyster - there are thousands of investors and homeowners out there willing to take your hand off from the elbow down, or possibly even the shoulder.

Home repossessions are running at all-time highs and, if you're a potential investor, this is good news. Obviously it's awful news for those having their properties repossessed, but you're refusing to buy the houses isn't going to help them any and if you don't buy them someone else will. The poor misfortunates don't normally own these properties anymore in any case, most of them are being sold by their current owners - cuddly, loveable banks.

If you're looking for auctions and valuations in the UK you could visit or www.eigroup.co.uk or www.netpricehouses.com. For Spain take a look at the Direct Auctions site. If you're in the market for foreclosed property in the US this particular initiative in Florida may be of interest.

If you've got cash and don't have to borrow, or at least don't have to borrow more than 50% of the value, then you are even better off. Once effusive banks are rapidly becoming very reticent to shovel cash out over the counter to buy-to-let investors since their activities in the sub-prime market has shown them to be a complete shower of muppets. So now they're gone into reverse and even those with meticulous credit records are finding it difficult to raise finance. We're returning to the old scenario of banks not being willing to give you money unless you can prove you don't need it.

On the positive side (and this is a very positive post) the Euro is at record highs against a number of currencies, most notably Sterling and the US Dollar, so our purchasing power is significantly better than it was not that long ago. Not only that, if cross currency rates return to their former levels you'll have made a paper profit with no extra effort. Of course there is no guarantee that they will return to these levels, but the potential can add a nice bit of extra spice to your investment in any case.

Warren Buffet very famously said one of the keys to investment is to be 'Fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful' - well others are absolutely bricking it at the moment so the time to strike may well be nigh. Just be wary, re-possessed housing isn't always located in the best areas so be certain you're very sure of the area in which you're proposing to invest. Just because it's cheap or is being sold for 1/3 the price for which it was purchased doesn't necessarily mean it is good value.
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For a selection of property from around the world click here.

For a listing of agents selling overseas property click here.

For independent articles on overseas property click here.

For advice on purchasing property overseas click here.

For news on the world of overseas property click here.

For new releases and product updates from agents around the world click here.

For a list of upcoming overseas property exhibitions around the country click here.

www.OverseasCafe.com

Direct from the Developer - MRI Exhibition

Just a quick note to anyone intending to visit the 'Direct from the Developer' show in the Citywest Hotel today and tomorrow, this is an MRI (MacAnthony Realty International) exhibition.

Of course MRI are perfectly entitled to hold such an exhibition, the problem is that, in breach of guidelines issued to them by the Advertising Standards Authority of Ireland (ASAI), the company have 'forgotten' to mention in the advert that this is an MRI exhibition. This particular show is being run by the development arm of the Spanish based company so it is presumable that it will argue it is a different company to the parent MRI company and felt that it wasn't obliged to abide by the same rules.

Dates for upcoming shows can be found here.

If you're looking for a bit of background on MRI take a look at this Ask About Money transcript of an Irish Times report on the company from a couple of months back (we've included the AAM version because if you're not a member of Ireland.com you'll have to pay for the Irish Times version). If you can find it there is also a very interesting BBC documentary on the company and its activities but it is difficult to track down (MRI are heavily into legal threats when anything like this pops up).

If you wish to make a complaint to the ASAI about this matter you can do so here or you can contact the National Consumer Agency here.

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More Bleak News for UK Property Owners

The UK's biggest building society Nationwide says house prices are now going up by just 1.1 per cent a year - the slowest pace of growth for 12 years.

The mortgage giant also warns that property values could fall by as much as 5 per cent this year.

And despite the Bank of England cutting the base rate of interest to 5.25 per cent in February, the Nationwide, along with mortgage lenders owned by rivals Halifax and Lloyds TSB, are raising interest rates on some of their most popular deals.

See the full blog here on Sky.

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UK Property Links

For a selection of property in the UK click here.

For a list of agents selling property in the UK click here.

For independent articles on overseas property click here.

For advice on purchasing in the UK click here.

For news on the UK property market click here.

For new releases and product updates from UK agents click here.

For a selection of property exhibitions featuring UK property click here.

Register now to receive our informative newsletter, save searches and tailor your OverseasCafe.com experience to your own needs.

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Bulgarian Black Sea Project to be Written Off

The Bulgarian property industry has been taking somewhat of a beating lately. Just as it had got some wind in its sails the global economy and economic crises around the world have threatened to conspire against it. The latest tale of woe is the 'writing off' of a 100m project in the Cape Kaliakra region.

The project couldn't sell enough product to ensure its viability, and has been bedeviled with complaints from environmentalists and architects alike, so it had to be condemned to the dustbin.

This ambitious project was the subject of a very high profile launch in January/February 2007 across Ireland and the UK. It was also very heavily promoted in the Middle East, particularly in the UAE, because of the Arabian theme running through the proposed development. The highest profile agent involved was Bulgarian Dreams, a company which has had significant recent troubles with its expulsion from the Association of International Property Professionals (AIPP).

You'll find a full report on the cancelling of this project here. Unfortunately, in the current economic climate, this is not the first, nor will it be the last, time that a project of such magnitude comes crashing to earth.

The project is still being promoted on many agent's websites at time of writing so be sure it is not sold to you as this would suggest that some of them are not even aware that the project has been abandoned.

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Bulgarian Links on OverseasCafe.com:

Bulgarian Property Listing

Bulgarian Property News

Bulgarian Agent News

Bulgarian Property Exhibitions around Ireland

Agents Selling Property in Bulgaria
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For all your overseas property needs visit:

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Spain - Can it Get Much Worse?

I know most people reading this blog will not have a lot of sympathy for estate agents, and those who know Spanish estate agents will probably have even less time for them. In our day-to-day running of the site we obviously have to deal with more than our fair share of them and, to be fair to them, they are a much maligned bunch. 90% of agents are decent, law abiding citizens who wish for nothing more than to make sure that their clients get the property they require and in return they expect to make a living from it. Fair enough, isn't that what the most of us want?

The problem for estate agents has been that, it being a largely unregulated industry, there is a magnetic attraction for the Arfur Daley's and Del Boy Trotter's of this world and it therefore meets with its share of calamity.

In any case, we know a lot of overseas agents and you can take our word for it, most of them are very decent people. Consequently we have a level of empathy when we see headlines like "Half of Spanish Agents Shut their Doors in 2007". A report in today's Financial Times isn't likely to fill those trying to sell a property in Spain with much joy either.

The end of the piece says: "Spain’s tourist hotspots have been hardest hit. According to a report by Aguirre Newman, the property consultants, residential estate developments in some parts of the Mediterranean coast now take an average of four years to sell, compared with a few days at the height of the property boom four years ago. About half of the new apartments on the Costa del Sol are sitting unsold, it says."

That's really gotta hurt.

On a lighter note. Here at the website we have a lot of Google alerts set up for various different topics in which we are interested. One of them is obviously Spanish Property. At one stage yesterday two alerts arrived in at the same time showing how two different organisations can have polar opposite opinions on the meaning of recent news:

Spain’s property market headed for a fall
Financial Times - London,England,UK
By Mark Mulligan in Madrid Spain’s residential property market is heading for a hard landing, as tightening credit conditions exacerbate problems of ...

Investors in Spain 'cannot lose out'
Holiday Lettings - Oxford,England,UK
Mr Walker added that Spain offers property investors a mix of accessibility and value for money. Although the strong euro will increase initial costs for ...

Whatever else you'll say about Estate agents, they're a great lot to keep the best side out.

www.OverseasCafe.com

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Free Promotion on OverseasCafe.com

If you are an agent and you want to promote your wares to the highly focussed audience of overseas property visitors you will find on the OverseasCafe.com website then there are a few things you can do to make sure people find you.

Firstly, get listed. It's free and at least you've got a foot in the door. Simply click the Register link and choose to list as an agent. Fill in your details and once you have been passed by Admin that's it, you've got a presence on the site.

Of course a presence on the site isn't everything, because there are hundreds of other agents there as well, you need to promote your Unique Selling Point (USP). To be seen you really need to have content on the site, preferably reasonably regularly. Content can be in the form of press release articles, news, advice or exhibition dates.

Press release articles include information on releases of new product, new phases coming on-line, promotions, price changes, etc. This information can be uploaded to the site directly from your account, simply log-in and click on Articles at the top of the page, then click on Add a News Article. Once the content has been passed by Admin your article will appear live on the site.

You can also present news articles to the site. These could involve details of changes to tax or legal rules, local news that would affect potential property buyers, etc. This information will have to be submitted by email to info@OverseasCafe.com. It will be uploaded with full credit to your company in the News section of the site.

If you have upcoming exhibitions or seminars around Ireland these can be promoted using the Exhibitions link at the top of your page when you are logged into the site. Once passed by Admin your exhibitions will appear live on the site.

Finally, you can upload property to the site for free. When logged in, click on Properties at the top of your screen and then on Add Property. This will allow you to upload your property details singly or in bulk.

All the above facilities are COMPLETELY FREE, but if you want to stand out from the crowd you will need to consider paying for some advertising on the site.

The cheapest method of promotion is to invest in some Premium Properties which appear at the top of all searches on the site. When logged in you can fund your account by following the Purchase Property Clicks link on the Properties page. Once you have funded your account you can change as many of your properties as you wish to Premium Properties (edit the properties and click on the Premium Property option, properties can be allocated and changed as you wish once funds have been assigned to the account). This will bring your properties to the top of any searches conducted on the site improving your visibility greatly. Remember to make the names of your properties representative of what you are selling, this will increase traffic greatly.

If you really want to be seen on the site and wish to brand your company on the Irish market then banner advertising comes highly recommended. Companies with banners on the site receive multiples of the amount of clicks as those who don't proving that, if people can't see your brand very obviously, they are less aware that you exist. When you have a presence they will associate it with other information and properties you have on the site which greatly increases the chance that they will visit your site and ultimately invest in a property or service with your company.

To upload banners to the site, log in and click on the Manage Banner Adverts link half way down your home page. Here you can upload banners to the site and dictate on what parts of the site you wish them to appear. It also allows you to calculate how many days the amount you propose to spend will last on the site for the pages you've specified. It is an extremely flexible system as you get to control exactly how much you spend and where you spend it.

When you are considering banner ads on the site remember that the more focussed they are the better they will perform. We recommend three step GIF adverts (these flash three consecutive banners of information to the potential audience, you can see examples of these on the site). These adverts can introduce the company and its logo on the first banner, a specific product or property on the second banner and the sales pitch on the third banner. It is a very efficient method of promoting your message to the highly focussed audience you will find on OverseasCafe.com.

You can also choose a package option, where we will suggest a range of ways in which your product can be promoted on the site and in its monthly newsletters. For full details of the packages available simply email info@OverseasCafe.com and we will forward details to you.

If you've problems with any of the above please feel free to contact info@OverseasCafe.com and we'll be glad to help you in any way we can.

www.OverseasCafe.com

UK Apartments

The era of the 'Buy-to-Let Investment Club' (BLIC) phenomenon that swept Britain over the past decade seems, along with the bumper property price rises seen over that period, to be riding off into the sunset.

These clubs offered 'clients' access to significant discounts on standard rates for buy-to-let properties across the UK. The properties were very often in city centre regeneration areas and were predominantly apartment units.

At one stage such clubs were estimated to be responsible for up to ¼ of all apartment purchases in the UK. These clubs typically negotiate bulk discounts of up to 15% for their members on large developments across the UK. The properties are then either 'flipped' on to other buyers or rented out with the rental covering the cost of the mortgage. So the theory went in any case. Unfortunately the proliferation of such clubs produced a false apartment market in the UK, which now appears to be in the process of collapsing. Many apartment owners across the UK are in serious trouble with no-one wanting to buy the units and no renters available to stay in them either.

The announcement by Inside Track, one of the largest of these clubs, that it is to discontinue its seminars, for which clients were charged anything up to £14,000, may well be the death knell of this spate of such 'bulk investment opportunities'. Many will not lament their passing.

Below are two interesting articles on the subject.

This Is Money, MoneyWeek

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UK Property Links

For a selection of property in the UK click here.

For a list of agents selling property in the UK click here.

For independent articles on overseas property click here.

For advice on purchasing in the UK click here.

For news on the UK property market click here.

For new releases and product updates from UK agents click here.

For a selection of property exhibitions featuring UK property click here.

Register now to receive our informative newsletter, save searches and tailor your OverseasCafe.com experience to your own needs.

www.OverseasCafe.com