donald kendall

Hi Antoine My dad is a non-UK resident and had a current account with Natwest (opened in the 80's) which they closed last year for this reason, and since then I have tried on multiple occasions at multiple banks to open a new account for him and have failed every time. So if you're looking for a current account my guess is you're stuck. You have 3 options as I see it: - open a savings account (Natwest have allowed this for my dad, the downside being there are no internet banking facilities or debit cards) - open an offshore account in Jersey or some such. Barclays are a good option - the

Hi Marion Through trial and error and a few mistakes I've come up with the following questions for estate agents (although they are not always very forthcoming with all the answers): - why is the property being sold, how long have the owners lived there (maybe they are moving after a short time due to noisy neighbours) - how long has it been on the market (you might be able to negotiate a good deal) - when does the owner wish to move and are there any potential complications in the chain (depends on your need for speed, could get a deal if they need to move quickly) - have the

Hello all I have a current lease of 150 years on my residence but have been given the option of buying the freehold on the place (it's a maisonette and the freehold would include the apartment below mine, which is owned by a friend). Does this add significant value to the sale price, is it worth buying the freeholder out? Is there some kind of formula for calc'ing what to do here? thanks!

Hi Sebastian You're in the right place, there are some very enthusiastic savers on this forum! I've found the biggest help to me is simply being aware of where the money is going, especially the little daily expenses; once you know where it is being spent you can change your habits accordingly. This sounds painful but I took the approach recommended by Pete Matthew in his Meaningful Money podcast and I documented every pound I spent for a month (using an app called Dollarbird, very straightforward, once you've set up your categories it takes just a couple of seconds to enter an expenditure on

I'll back up Richard's suggestion of PropertyHawk, very useful indeed especially the email reminders you can set up. I also use YNAB as a budgeting tool, it's brilliant for general savings and budgeting (and I also keep a separate budget for BTL's) but it's not geared specifically towards property and if you start building a large portfolio you may find it easier to use a spreadsheet/tool outside of this to keep track of individual properties. YNAB occasionally have specials where you can get it for less than £30. cheers

Hi Ammo, I'm a contractor and knew I was likely to leave my job and put myself at risk of not being able to get a mortgage so I pushed an application through asap while I was still in the job. This might be morally questionable if it doesn't involve full disclosure but I was never asked any question about my future intentions - they just asked about current income to which I was absolutely truthful The rental income is more than able to cover the mortgage so the bank is not at risk. However this may not be applicable to you, perhaps you need the money from the sale as a deposit before you can

You will almost always get a better price if you pay cash, it's more attractive to sellers because: - a cash deal is guaranteed and not reliant on a lenders valuation (particularly in London this is something to be aware of, I've had problems earlier this year with precisely this issue) - the deal will go through a lot quicker as you don't have to wait for valuations to be done, mortgage approvals, less paperwork etc. You can close in a few weeks as opposed to months and this can be very attractive to sellers especially if they are in a chain Given the choice between a mortgage buy

Hi Ewa The builds have not completed yet, work ongoing! Mentorship can be tailored to what you need and your level of experience, but this is an excerpt from what Mr Fogg is offering (hope he doesn't mind me flogging his services like this): Goal setting Strategy review and compatibility Steps to take to fill in gaps of knowledge Actions to take to move forward Review of properties that meet your goals Information on assessing deals / viewing guides Selection of properties to arrange viewings on Common property defects, areas that will be expensive to fix, areas that loo

Hi Engelo, I can't PM you on here so will drop a quick question here if you don't mind - are there any barriers to property ownership in the States if you're a foreigner (I'm presuming you're operating an Oz passport)? I did a road trip across the country a couple months ago and saw some interesting signs of recovery. A mate of mine in Phoenix has been slowly acquiring over the last couple years as well. I know this is a bit lazy and a google search would throw something up, but where there's an experienced head around always tap it I say! cheers in advance

Hi Louis As a business owner you're in a great place! entrepreneur.com is not a bad place to start, they have some good articles and a number of business plan templates you can use as a framework. Check this out before you start the process: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/38290 I've also attached a template and a random example of a completed plan to help out. I'd echo what Lee said above about outsourcing skills you don't have. I once decided to build a website as I thought it would be a great skill to have, but the time and effort I put in cost me far more than it would have to

Hi Ewa, I'm glad you started this as it's dug up some very useful information from Kev, Rich and co which will be helpful for me as well. Thanks to all those guys. I need to recycle my money asap in order to progress next year so I'm going to be looking at refurbs. Suits my personality too, I'm not a sit-and-wait-for-a-deposit-to-build kinda guy! I'm also concerned at buying a lemon through ignorance (my BTL's so far have been new build and less risk) so here's my initial thoughts for managing this next year: - BTL investing can be outside London but keep refurbs local - always get

Thanks for the link Mark, I'm always on the lookout for new content and ideas and that's a sweet interview. Don't think Josh took too kindly to your description of his 'New York' attitude Engelo, top draw! Rob & Rob it would be great to get Engelo on a podcast episode to shake things up a little, if he would be so kind!

I'll let you know how it pans out Nick! I'm from Zimbabwe.

I currently invest in property, wine, commodities (oil, agriculture, gold), equities across multiple sectors both local and international, and have a small amount of cash in the bank. I ask 2 questions: 1) What are you going to invest in. Agree with Steven, try and spread yourself around as much as you can to diversify risk. It doesn't mean you are completely protected as when markets crash these days everything seems to fall together, partly due to the herd mentality of fear and everyone running in the same direction at the same time, and partly due to large leveraged investors needing to