tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8347207672078824572012-02-16T23:05:53.077ZJo Blogs on PropertyProviding an insight in to the world of residential property with relevant information, useful tips, personal views and real life experiences as a Property Developer, Landlady & consultant.
.... follow, find out, fraternize and feedbackJo Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11954426858077624593noreply@blogger.comBlogger241100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-834720767207882457.post-41487997438123929792011-02-06T19:50:00.000Z2011-02-06T19:50:33.417ZDo you really want to sell your Property?<!--[if gte mso 9]> Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]> <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]>
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mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4ptJo Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11954426858077624593noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-834720767207882457.post-18092229249034521832011-01-16T18:47:00.006Z2011-01-20T19:52:10.568ZFinding the right Estate AgentA few months ago I set out to find the best way to market a large Barn Conversion I built and hope to sell.
With over 30 years experience in all aspects of residential property I felt I’m best placed to do viewings and negotiations with potential buyers.
Understanding the need to maximise presentation and appeal to the widest market I located a good Property Stylist, Helen Silver to help me. IJo Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11954426858077624593noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-834720767207882457.post-86860213420119792622011-01-15T10:56:00.001Z2011-01-15T11:03:53.783ZA Lesson learned on Twitter about giving Professional Advice freelyI have read a few blogs and forum posts recently about the benefits of using Twitter, Facebook and Forums to help promote your business.
The general consensus is that you can use all of them to some extent but each in slightly different ways. I'm not a Social Media Guru so I'm not going to try and advise or educate you in any way. I am learning more each day about the benefits and if I were toJo Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11954426858077624593noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-834720767207882457.post-9718601711248108082010-12-31T17:26:00.001Z2010-12-31T17:30:43.375ZThe Best Things About Estate AgentsAs we leave 2010 and after much gloom in the Property Sector what better way to start the new year than with a brand new positive look at the long suffering Estate Agents’ industry?
Love them or hate them we just can’t do without them so let’s look at what we like most about them, for the purposes of this blog and to avoid sexual stereotypes our ideal agent is called Wallace:-
Wallace will Jo Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11954426858077624593noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-834720767207882457.post-16736783638343756432010-12-08T11:39:00.000Z2010-12-08T11:39:42.849ZWill next year be a year of Dreams or Goals for you?A discussion thread on the Property Tribes Forum was started a few days ago entitled 'What are your Goals for Next Year?' and the subject of Greed came up. There seems to be a growing number of so-called 'Property Gurus' successfully extracting £'000's by sharing their so-called 'Property Millionaire Secrets' even though they rarely achieved this sort of success themselves - below is a postJo Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11954426858077624593noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-834720767207882457.post-4338515266250534862010-11-19T16:47:00.000Z2010-11-19T16:47:51.499ZWill You Be Able To Refinance Your Buy-To-Let In Two Years Time?<!--[if gte mso 9]> Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]> <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]>
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mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4ptJo Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11954426858077624593noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-834720767207882457.post-56132403586569437972010-10-31T17:53:00.005Z2010-11-27T18:14:46.060ZRenovation & Remodelling a 1960's HouseAs we near completion of our Project, it’s a good time to post a few ‘Before & After’ photos. We have used some new and exciting eco products, top quality finishes and first class labour.
My blogs are sometimes a bit technical, I make no apology for that – far too often we are bombarded with Renovation Projects featuring new Kitchens, Bathrooms & Décor. Little attention being paid to the mostJo Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11954426858077624593noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-834720767207882457.post-62788898392888510922010-10-17T21:50:00.009+01:002010-10-20T11:20:51.265+01:0012 Things to know about Victorian HousesVictorian houses were often built with attractive detail rarely seen on modern properties. But don’t be fooled! Many were built cheaply to house workers in town centres and fall well short of today's building standards unless updated.
Walls - usually solid brick with vertical timber studs nailed to the brick at 16” (400mm) centres. Thin slats of wood ‘Laths’ were nailed Jo Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11954426858077624593noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-834720767207882457.post-45203014087469501742010-09-03T09:49:00.001+01:002010-09-03T09:52:53.082+01:00Who Jo Met Today - Sam CollettThe inspiration for this blog has come from a friend, Sam Collett who writes a regular blog called ‘What Sam Saw Today’.
Sam is a ballsy, inspirational property lady who has moved mountains and continues to do so every day in her world of property investment and development; auctions; sales and if that’s not enough she writes eloquently and has bundles of enthusiasm which just overflows to Jo Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11954426858077624593noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-834720767207882457.post-60608639590058933122010-08-07T16:51:00.000+01:002010-08-07T16:51:10.073+01:0013 Top Tips for the Student Landlord13 has always been my lucky number so here are 13 of My Top Student Landlord Tips.
1. Invest in the fabric of the building, it needs to be robust, durable, dry and fresh. Water is the Landlord’s biggest enemy so make sure the chimney, roof, leadwork, gutters, windows, drains, ventilation, heating and plumbing are all well designed and maintained. Electrical wiring should be checked and Jo Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11954426858077624593noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-834720767207882457.post-34258357799215446822010-07-14T10:20:00.002+01:002010-07-14T10:20:32.193+01:00Nationwide Building Society Directors' Remuneration Letter of Complaint14 July 2010
Mr G Howe
Chairman
Nationwide Building Society
Nationwide House
Pipers Way
Swindon
SN38 1NW
Dear Mr Howe
I am in receipt of my voting papers and Summary Financial Statement for the year ended 4 April 2010 and despite being an extremely busy person I feel that I can not just ‘cast my vote’ without making comment on the Remuneration of the Directors.
I have studied the detail Jo Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11954426858077624593noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-834720767207882457.post-89352296798176603442010-07-07T12:15:00.000+01:002010-07-07T12:15:45.086+01:00Windfall from Low Interest Rates on Mortgage
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mso-pagination:widow-orphan;Jo Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11954426858077624593noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-834720767207882457.post-59576008943638491232010-06-21T19:40:00.003+01:002010-06-22T10:00:13.384+01:00Renewable Heat IncentivesFollowing on from my Feed In Tariffs Blog (see April 2010 Blog Archive on the right), we now have a further Incentive Scheme under consultation and to be introduced in April 2011 called the Renewable Heat Incentives (RHI).
Unlike the Feed In Tariffs scheme which is designed predominantly around paying you to generate electricity, the RHI scheme is designed to reward homeowners for installing Jo Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11954426858077624593noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-834720767207882457.post-57036396641529690052010-06-11T13:41:00.005+01:002010-06-14T12:30:17.641+01:00The Road to Freedom - How we did itDo you own a Property Portfolio and your own house with reasonable equity, long for financial freedom and want to travel but fear is holding you back?
Speaking from experience my advice is to stop worrying and start planning. In this blog I will share with you some of our journey on the road to freedom.
First, this is not for people making substantial money from their Portfolio – they don’t Jo Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11954426858077624593noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-834720767207882457.post-40936203076100205332010-04-02T22:28:00.001+01:002010-04-02T22:29:44.347+01:00Can you make money from Green Energy Feed-In-Tariffs? – The TruthSo you’ve seen the headlines - ‘making money from installing renewables’ or ‘being paid for producing energy’ some even quote higher returns than other investments. On 1 April 2010 the Feed-In-Tariffs (FITs) came into force for electricity generation.
I took a closer look to see if it is really as good as the headlines make out.
Taking a typical 2.1kw per hour solar PV station retrospectively Jo Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11954426858077624593noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-834720767207882457.post-61940798135269743442010-03-23T15:41:00.004Z2010-03-23T15:55:49.358ZStudent Lets - The Future Looks BrightHeadlines have recently been full of speculation on imminent cuts to Government funding and Britain’s Universities have been in the limelight. There has been much talk amongst Property People about the impact on Landlords like us who own and let Student Properties.
Rarely a year goes by when we don’t have to amend our strategic plan to accommodate the Government’s latest changes in regulation Jo Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11954426858077624593noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-834720767207882457.post-15100717757685228812010-03-18T21:48:00.001Z2010-03-18T21:49:28.166ZProperty - Investment or Business?If you are buying a property to earn income then you probably think of yourself as a Property Investor and you’d be forgiven for thinking that as everyday we are bombarded with this term in the media. Even the Tax Office want us to slip in neatly to this description and treats Property Investment differently than other businesses.
I don't really like to use the word Investment for what I do andJo Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11954426858077624593noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-834720767207882457.post-16300076826595044602010-03-09T22:00:00.006Z2010-03-09T22:53:27.288ZAdding Value improves your chances of successSo often I hear people say “I’d like to invest in a property but what happens if interest rates rocket, prices fall, tenants trash the property, rents are unpaid, voids etc etc “
Telling it straight, no one knows if these things will happen or not. I can only speak from experience and share with you some of the steps we’ve taken to protect ourselves from the worst that can happen.
Amateur Jo Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11954426858077624593noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-834720767207882457.post-55199556337078686752010-03-07T22:33:00.000Z2010-03-07T22:33:40.173ZIt has taken the blind man 30 years to discover the entire shape of the elephantAfter 30 years in Property I was a bit taken aback when a property person who I respect said ‘Jo, you need to define who you are’. We were having a conversation about Blogging and whether I had anything worthwhile to blog about.
I put a great deal of thought to this. My experience in property has been fairly extensive, wide ranging, detailed and very much ‘hands on’. But I’ve never Jo Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11954426858077624593noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-834720767207882457.post-34616087049307537462010-03-05T11:29:00.001Z2010-03-06T11:41:23.084ZHow to Value a Property?The key is to be armed with maximum knowledge.
The internet offers many tools and resources. Some give you the most recent prices that houses in a particular Post Code area sold for such as houseprices.co.uk , mouseprice.com & nethouseprices.com
You can register at the Land Registry and pay a small fee to obtain title deeds for a particular property at landregistry.gov.uk
Other sites give Jo Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11954426858077624593noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-834720767207882457.post-9355048258154405132010-03-02T09:59:00.000Z2010-03-02T10:28:13.529ZInvestment Opportunity?Yesterday I blogged my summary of the Conservatives’ Planning Green Paper. Today I thought it would be useful to look at some examples of how their proposals might affect us Property PeopleLooking purely from an Investment Opportunity Angle:-This 9 bedroom ‘Edwardian Gentlemen’s Residence’ has just sold, offers over £399k with potential to build another house in the garden subject to Planning Jo Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11954426858077624593noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-834720767207882457.post-21953840098336627102010-03-01T18:42:00.005Z2010-03-08T14:33:23.338ZThe Conservatives Planning Green PaperWhatever type of Property Guru you are, the Planning Process is bound to have an impact on you in one way or another. You can't avoid the politics behind the scenes. So with my usual desire to 'research, disect and summarise' I share with you my take on the Conservatives Planning Green Paper.
The main thrust of the document is ‘local participation and social engagement’, giving local people Jo Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11954426858077624593noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-834720767207882457.post-6510804604201101442010-02-28T21:50:00.000Z2010-03-01T20:34:27.283ZReflecting on the WeekZurich Building Guarantees Insurance is not always what you expect it to be and I have been looking at their inconsistent approach to dealing with claims for defects in residential property Most people think that adding additional accomodation to a property adds value, this is often the case. But at what point does the value of the additional accommodation become a less attractive option? It's Jo Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11954426858077624593noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-834720767207882457.post-22377347917654970632010-02-28T20:50:00.001Z2010-02-28T20:50:26.579ZJo is a Blogger at lastToday I join the online Blogging Community and hope to share, entertain, engage and inform anyone who has an interest in all things 'Property'. Jo Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11954426858077624593noreply@blogger.com0