May 1 2008

I’m In London-Town….

Do you know that song? Great little tune by an Aussie Band calls the waifs.

Well you might have guessed that I am in Londontown. I have popped over to go to a friends wedding and as you might have guessed I have schedule in some business and property searching while here.

Went and did a little searching around today. What an interesting town it is. Especially as far as property is concerned. I have been here before but I did not have as much time to concentrate on looking into the property market but this time I did.

I am sure that you have all heard of the economic crunch that the world is currently facing, or apparently facing. Its talked about SOOOOO much, that even if it wasn’t true it sure will be soon.

Well the UK is not escaping it and it seems to be looming over the property market here as well. I travel quite a lot and get to assess very many varying property markets. And its interesting to see the congruencies and differences. I find it very eye-opening to be able to view all these countries, markets and properties and it somehow makes me a better developer at home. It gears me up to be able to deal with all sorts of deals that come across my desk and view them with a larger mind, more agility and definitely more confidence.

So I thought that you too may be interested to know my movement and hear some of what I am learning abroad.

One thing for sure about London is that it is one packed country and property is constantly in demand. The prices in certain parts of England, and London especially are absolutely astronomical.

They have a very interesting and diverse market within London itself given that they have a lot of government housing and rental control. This means you have low priced properties and rent with lower socio economic families living within a very close proximity to ridiculously priced properties and wealth. This means you have a very mixed playing field where there really are no rules. And where there are no rules, a developer can always get very creative and create opportunities.

One of the best opportunities in London is not so much development, but renovations. But if you tackle this with the mindset of a developer you will be able to make very good margins.

Development is more feasible on the outskirts of the city where land subdivision can provide fantastic opportunities. Land banking would produce very good returns, but that of course requires an outlay of capital and then…WAIT. Which you know I don’t like to do. However if you do have some spare profits throwing them and a good landbank opportunity usually is a good option.

Well I will have more adventures tomorrow and I will tell you of those then, Ive course I had to do a little site seeing so here are some pics…

Carly