The National Housing and Planning Advice Unit (NHPAU) report sponsored
by this government estimate that houses will be worth 10 times average
earnings by 2026. This compares with 7 times average earnings in 2006.
The clear reason for this projection is the shortage of housing stock
and the expected number of new houses to be built in future years.
Stephen Nickell the chairman of NHPAU claims that even if 190.000 new
homes are built annually as predicted then ‘the housing crisis is
likely to deepen’.
To put this into prospective over 800.000 new homes were built in
Spain last year and there are dire warnings of a house price crash in
that country unless this figure is cut drastically in the immediate
future. There is a happy medium but planning authorities need to be
relieved of their personal fiefdoms. (defined as : something over
which one dominant person or group exercises control) !
Despite fears that The Bank of England would increase interest rates
this month rates were held at 5.5%. This decision may have been
influenced by the fact that a large percentage of fixed rate mortgages
are coming to the end of their life this year and home owners require
to re mortgage to avoid falling into the trap of paying up to 30%
higher monthly charges any time soon.
Interest rises over the last 2 years have led to increasing numbers of
re possessions and were at a three year high in 2006 at 17.000.
Although Gordon Brown gave The Bank of England complete power over
interest rates in 1997 there is no doubt that he will not want to see
re possessions increase any further. The steady increasing cost of
mortgages and the subsequent misery experienced by of thousands of owner
occupiers of the John Major years in the 1990’s was the single biggest
factor in the Tory party being ousted from power by the Labour party.
We are edging closer and closer to the time when Brown must decide to
call an election and one cannot imagine that he does not have ‘behind
the scenes’ power over The Bank of England’s monetary policy committee.
If he has not then his decision to hand over interest rate policy to
The Bank of England will come back to haunt him and he will follow Jim
Callaghan (the last unelected Prime Minister) to a very early exit
along with his Labour colleagues.
Kenneth Taylor
21 June 2007
(Kenneth Taylor is a non executive Director of Caduceus Investments Ltd the sponser of this web site. Caduceus is an investment company operating in the UK but based in Scotland).
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Monday, April 30, 2007
Interest Rates and the Property Market April 07
The question that most investors are asking right now is ‘how far will The Bank of England push up interest rates in 2007’.
The consensus a few weeks ago on rates was that the Bank would raise rates two more times this year by a quarter point - first to 5.5% in May then to 5.75% November..
However although annual inflation rose to 3.1% in March - Mervyn King, the chairman of the Bank of England monetary policy committee (which decides on monthly rate issues), stated that ‘there could be a sharp fallback in inflation over the next four to six months’ and indicated ‘that rates are now edging towards restrictive’.
If indeed inflation does fall back towards the end of this year we could start to see rates start to decline in 2008.
There has been quite a bit of speculation in the press that many smaller Buy-to-Let landlords have bought too late in the housing cycle and that they may start to get into financial difficulty as interest rates rise and house prices stagnate or fall.
This will only happen where landlords have bought at low yields, ignoring financial prudence, and are gambling on price rises to show a profit on their investment. As long as rents show a profit on interest rate costs buyers have no reason to sell and will not do so even in a falling housing market. They will take the long term view that demand will inevitably be more than supply in the UK where there is a long term shortage of affordable housing combined with a shortage of land and restrictive planning laws.
As house prices have risen lenders have offered more innovative schemes to entice
borrowers into the housing market. The most interesting change has been the lengthening of mortgage terms from the 25 years standard term to 35 and even 45 years. This new term supports the market as clearly monthly payments on an interest and repayment mortgage fall substantially as the length of the loan period is extended.
Low unemployment which the UK is currently experiencing and immigration from Eastern Europe also supports house prices. And Scotland is experiencing a flood of
Polish people in particular into the country as they perceive Scots as more friendly and welcoming than our English neighbours.
This immigration to the UK also helps hold down inflation. Everyone knows that tradesmen in the UK were charging more and more for their services a few years ago.. Indeed many householders had become frustrated at ‘not being able to get a plumber at any price’
In the natural scheme of things this would have led to more people training to become plumbers as they saw an opportunity to make money – But there would have been a lead time of several years before newly trained plumbers would be available.
However the influx of tradesmen from Eastern Europe has filed the gap overnight and prices have stabilised and wage inflation has been halted. In addition immigration has helped to hold down prices so that present wages stretch further.
All these immigrants need somewhere to live and thus help to support Buy-To-Let investors – particularly in Scotland.
Ken Taylor
30th April 2007
The consensus a few weeks ago on rates was that the Bank would raise rates two more times this year by a quarter point - first to 5.5% in May then to 5.75% November..
However although annual inflation rose to 3.1% in March - Mervyn King, the chairman of the Bank of England monetary policy committee (which decides on monthly rate issues), stated that ‘there could be a sharp fallback in inflation over the next four to six months’ and indicated ‘that rates are now edging towards restrictive’.
If indeed inflation does fall back towards the end of this year we could start to see rates start to decline in 2008.
There has been quite a bit of speculation in the press that many smaller Buy-to-Let landlords have bought too late in the housing cycle and that they may start to get into financial difficulty as interest rates rise and house prices stagnate or fall.
This will only happen where landlords have bought at low yields, ignoring financial prudence, and are gambling on price rises to show a profit on their investment. As long as rents show a profit on interest rate costs buyers have no reason to sell and will not do so even in a falling housing market. They will take the long term view that demand will inevitably be more than supply in the UK where there is a long term shortage of affordable housing combined with a shortage of land and restrictive planning laws.
As house prices have risen lenders have offered more innovative schemes to entice
borrowers into the housing market. The most interesting change has been the lengthening of mortgage terms from the 25 years standard term to 35 and even 45 years. This new term supports the market as clearly monthly payments on an interest and repayment mortgage fall substantially as the length of the loan period is extended.
Low unemployment which the UK is currently experiencing and immigration from Eastern Europe also supports house prices. And Scotland is experiencing a flood of
Polish people in particular into the country as they perceive Scots as more friendly and welcoming than our English neighbours.
This immigration to the UK also helps hold down inflation. Everyone knows that tradesmen in the UK were charging more and more for their services a few years ago.. Indeed many householders had become frustrated at ‘not being able to get a plumber at any price’
In the natural scheme of things this would have led to more people training to become plumbers as they saw an opportunity to make money – But there would have been a lead time of several years before newly trained plumbers would be available.
However the influx of tradesmen from Eastern Europe has filed the gap overnight and prices have stabilised and wage inflation has been halted. In addition immigration has helped to hold down prices so that present wages stretch further.
All these immigrants need somewhere to live and thus help to support Buy-To-Let investors – particularly in Scotland.
Ken Taylor
30th April 2007
Monday, March 12, 2007
Coming Problems in the Buy to Let Market?
As a new non executive director joining Caduceus’s board my job is to find property portfolios that meet the company’s criteria. All new property purchased must have a good rental level and have some potential for capital growth over the long term.
Mark and I have been meeting vendors and agents in Fife, Dundee and Glasgow recently and have also been having discussions with corporate lawyers.
We have made offers for two separate portfolios within the last month
Involving 36 flats and are in discussions to buy two further portfolios. The first of these involves 57 flats and the second between 200 – 400 apartments.
There have been many articles on the ‘Buy to Let’ business in the quality daily news papers recently. In fact The Times and The Telegraph have published reports on a weekly basis over the last two to three months
Figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders CML confirm that property remains hugely popular as an investment class despite sky-high property prices and rising interest rates. The CML states that 440.000 buy-to-let mortgages with a total value of more than £38bn were taken out last year and increase of 57% from 2005.
Landlord Mortgages,- buy to let broker -, states that rental yields hit a five year low in 2006 – averaging 5.74%. Some yields are as low as 2% and London yields are about 4%.
Landlords therefore in many cases are gambling on capital growth as clearly such low yielding investments are running at a loss when BTL mortgage rates are factored in to a Profit & Loss account. One well known London agent – Mark Dampier of Hargreaves Lansdown- is quoted as saying : “ The yield situation now looks completely nuts. If you are getting a yield of just 4% you have no safety net and if you have a mortgage you are actually losing money’ Property prices do go down as well as up.”
However Nigel Terrington CEO of Paragon Group – the largest lender to professional BTL landlords points out ‘that rising immigration, growing household numbers, the expanding student population, and the increasing tendency of young people to defer their first home purchase, all mean there is a need for greater flexibility in our housing stock, and the private rented sector is ideally suited to that need’.
The most important aspects of the Rental business in these increasingly competitive times as The Bank of England raises key interest rates. are for Landlords to ensure their properties are let out full time and that they are continuing to achieve yields above their agreed lending rates. Fairly obvious stuff but many landlords are relying heavily on capital gains to achieve a profit and are in grave danger of losing out on their investments should the market stagnate or values fall.
There are many new landlords who have never experienced a falling market such as the collapse that occurred in the early 90’s and in the mid 1970’s. Once a slide kicks in there is a herd mentality that drives prices lower and lower. You can witness this effect in the USA right now.
Ken Taylor.
12th March 2007
An abbreviated version of this was published at www.diary.twotalk.net
Mark and I have been meeting vendors and agents in Fife, Dundee and Glasgow recently and have also been having discussions with corporate lawyers.
We have made offers for two separate portfolios within the last month
Involving 36 flats and are in discussions to buy two further portfolios. The first of these involves 57 flats and the second between 200 – 400 apartments.
There have been many articles on the ‘Buy to Let’ business in the quality daily news papers recently. In fact The Times and The Telegraph have published reports on a weekly basis over the last two to three months
Figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders CML confirm that property remains hugely popular as an investment class despite sky-high property prices and rising interest rates. The CML states that 440.000 buy-to-let mortgages with a total value of more than £38bn were taken out last year and increase of 57% from 2005.
Landlord Mortgages,- buy to let broker -, states that rental yields hit a five year low in 2006 – averaging 5.74%. Some yields are as low as 2% and London yields are about 4%.
Landlords therefore in many cases are gambling on capital growth as clearly such low yielding investments are running at a loss when BTL mortgage rates are factored in to a Profit & Loss account. One well known London agent – Mark Dampier of Hargreaves Lansdown- is quoted as saying : “ The yield situation now looks completely nuts. If you are getting a yield of just 4% you have no safety net and if you have a mortgage you are actually losing money’ Property prices do go down as well as up.”
However Nigel Terrington CEO of Paragon Group – the largest lender to professional BTL landlords points out ‘that rising immigration, growing household numbers, the expanding student population, and the increasing tendency of young people to defer their first home purchase, all mean there is a need for greater flexibility in our housing stock, and the private rented sector is ideally suited to that need’.
The most important aspects of the Rental business in these increasingly competitive times as The Bank of England raises key interest rates. are for Landlords to ensure their properties are let out full time and that they are continuing to achieve yields above their agreed lending rates. Fairly obvious stuff but many landlords are relying heavily on capital gains to achieve a profit and are in grave danger of losing out on their investments should the market stagnate or values fall.
There are many new landlords who have never experienced a falling market such as the collapse that occurred in the early 90’s and in the mid 1970’s. Once a slide kicks in there is a herd mentality that drives prices lower and lower. You can witness this effect in the USA right now.
Ken Taylor.
12th March 2007
An abbreviated version of this was published at www.diary.twotalk.net
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
Scottish Bingo In Terminal Decline
What follows is an article by an expert in the Bingo Industry Tony Stisi, who has asked that this be posted to draw attention to the current state of the Scottish Bingo Industry and what is about to happen to the English Industry.
I personally have been involved in the bingo industry since 1966 starting my career with Pleasurama [ who in later years were taken over by Mecca] @ the Coronation Ballroom on Ramsgate Promenade where I was taught my trade. This was pre 1968 Gaming Act when half crown roulette tables were the norm—the Golden scoop was the “BIG GAME” & prize bingo was played on electro—mechanical dedicated seating areas away from the main auditorium. “ Fred Carr” valve boxes were used to play “Linked Bingo” - restricted to 5 clubs using BT dedicated landlines. The monetary limit for many years was maximum £250 payout over 7 days!!! Now we can play for A MILLION !!
The industry through evolution , innovation & embracing technological advances has come a long way since then !! I can therefore speak with some credibility on the issues facing the industry in Scotland currently & will be unleashed on a fairly unsuspecting [ I imagine ] Southern sector next year. I , as one of the founding directors of Border Bingo Clubs have been involved in bingo in the Scottish Borders since 1970 , either as a manager for Kingsway Entertainments Ltd who sold out to Granada in 1988 or running my own business at The Bridge Bingo Club in Hawick since 1986. That later evolved into Borders Bingo Club (BBC) with the takeover of The Pavilion Bingo Club in 1999. Since 1994 we have invested upwards of £600k to refurbish & rekit our clubs with the latest in new seating ,carpeting ,tabling etc . We have invested very heavily in ISDN link equipment & mcb technology right up to the ground breaking “Quad Card”.
We have faced many challenges over the years, competition, unemployment, industry malaise . All were overcome by dint of hard work & a belief that we would win out at In Galashiels ,since the 70’s, clubs , pubs,etc that played bingo and and no longer exist.
Prior to the smoking ban being implemented we had regular discussions on the likely impact on our business but at the end of the day it was pure speculation as we could not be certain of the unknown.
THE FACTS SINCE 26TH MARCH 2006.
[ These can be verified by our accountants—our gross profit tax returns & our vat returns ] .
1) Admits have dropped
2) Revenues—Participation fees, Mcb income & AWP income have all suffered dramatically.
3) Some smoking members have ceased attending altogether .
4) Smoking members are coming out later & are leaving earlier.
5) A large % of smoking members leave the clubs several times throughout the session but especially at the intervals where we in the industry garner our ancillary revenues which make up the bulk of our income. Smoking Members RESENT Going outside [ feeling like 2nd class citizens ] .It has detracted considerably from their enjoyment of the session.
THE FACTS ARE THIS
1) Severe reduction in income. 20% /30% & in some weeks considerably more.
2 ) Additional expenditure to try & combat the downturn.
3) Nothing we have tried so far ie the introduction of comfort breaks , additional earlier free incentives , higher jackpots , bar promotions etc has worked.
4) We have no idea where the bottom of the pit is & if we have fallen that far yet.
6) The management & staff are totally demoralised & the members are constantly asking if we are going to remain open as they themselves have seen the effect especially on the mcb prize money.
7) The treasury need to take into account in a very serious way not just the financial ramifications to the operators treasury itself but the enormous
SOCIAL IMPACT on areas where the local bingo club is the only leisure
outlet that our members have. Many of our members are female , go out on
their own & would never dream of going to pubs & clubs for their social activity. Their bingo club is where they meet their friends , check on each others wellbeing , catch up on the local gossip & have their moan about anything & everything !! What are they meant to do , sit at home looking at 4 walls or play on line bingo “Whoopee” !!
Job losses in the sector will be horrendous as clubs cut back & many will eventually close.
THE TREASURY NEED TO LISTEN , WE IN SCOTLAND AGAIN HAVE BEEN THE GUINEA PIGS FOR CHANGE !!
Unfortunately it is only those of us in Scotland feeling this massive pain & if the Treasury do not pay heed to our small voice ,waiting for the eventual avalanche of discontent emanating from English clubs then for those of us in the Scottish sector it will be way too late. Many clubs face bankruptcy & closure.
THIS IS NOT SCAREMONGERING AS quoted in an asinine on line comment.
I am now resting my case and can only hope that the powers in charge read & listen to THE SCOTTISH BINGO SECTOR Clubs have already closed !!!
If nothing is done then the impact on the industry will cripple it for good.
Tony Stisi on behalf of Border Bingo Clubs.
Email— ts@teviotview.com
I personally have been involved in the bingo industry since 1966 starting my career with Pleasurama [ who in later years were taken over by Mecca] @ the Coronation Ballroom on Ramsgate Promenade where I was taught my trade. This was pre 1968 Gaming Act when half crown roulette tables were the norm—the Golden scoop was the “BIG GAME” & prize bingo was played on electro—mechanical dedicated seating areas away from the main auditorium. “ Fred Carr” valve boxes were used to play “Linked Bingo” - restricted to 5 clubs using BT dedicated landlines. The monetary limit for many years was maximum £250 payout over 7 days!!! Now we can play for A MILLION !!
The industry through evolution , innovation & embracing technological advances has come a long way since then !! I can therefore speak with some credibility on the issues facing the industry in Scotland currently & will be unleashed on a fairly unsuspecting [ I imagine ] Southern sector next year. I , as one of the founding directors of Border Bingo Clubs have been involved in bingo in the Scottish Borders since 1970 , either as a manager for Kingsway Entertainments Ltd who sold out to Granada in 1988 or running my own business at The Bridge Bingo Club in Hawick since 1986. That later evolved into Borders Bingo Club (BBC) with the takeover of The Pavilion Bingo Club in 1999. Since 1994 we have invested upwards of £600k to refurbish & rekit our clubs with the latest in new seating ,carpeting ,tabling etc . We have invested very heavily in ISDN link equipment & mcb technology right up to the ground breaking “Quad Card”.
We have faced many challenges over the years, competition, unemployment, industry malaise . All were overcome by dint of hard work & a belief that we would win out at In Galashiels ,since the 70’s, clubs , pubs,etc that played bingo and and no longer exist.
Prior to the smoking ban being implemented we had regular discussions on the likely impact on our business but at the end of the day it was pure speculation as we could not be certain of the unknown.
THE FACTS SINCE 26TH MARCH 2006.
[ These can be verified by our accountants—our gross profit tax returns & our vat returns ] .
1) Admits have dropped
2) Revenues—Participation fees, Mcb income & AWP income have all suffered dramatically.
3) Some smoking members have ceased attending altogether .
4) Smoking members are coming out later & are leaving earlier.
5) A large % of smoking members leave the clubs several times throughout the session but especially at the intervals where we in the industry garner our ancillary revenues which make up the bulk of our income. Smoking Members RESENT Going outside [ feeling like 2nd class citizens ] .It has detracted considerably from their enjoyment of the session.
THE FACTS ARE THIS
1) Severe reduction in income. 20% /30% & in some weeks considerably more.
2 ) Additional expenditure to try & combat the downturn.
3) Nothing we have tried so far ie the introduction of comfort breaks , additional earlier free incentives , higher jackpots , bar promotions etc has worked.
4) We have no idea where the bottom of the pit is & if we have fallen that far yet.
6) The management & staff are totally demoralised & the members are constantly asking if we are going to remain open as they themselves have seen the effect especially on the mcb prize money.
7) The treasury need to take into account in a very serious way not just the financial ramifications to the operators treasury itself but the enormous
SOCIAL IMPACT on areas where the local bingo club is the only leisure
outlet that our members have. Many of our members are female , go out on
their own & would never dream of going to pubs & clubs for their social activity. Their bingo club is where they meet their friends , check on each others wellbeing , catch up on the local gossip & have their moan about anything & everything !! What are they meant to do , sit at home looking at 4 walls or play on line bingo “Whoopee” !!
Job losses in the sector will be horrendous as clubs cut back & many will eventually close.
THE TREASURY NEED TO LISTEN , WE IN SCOTLAND AGAIN HAVE BEEN THE GUINEA PIGS FOR CHANGE !!
Unfortunately it is only those of us in Scotland feeling this massive pain & if the Treasury do not pay heed to our small voice ,waiting for the eventual avalanche of discontent emanating from English clubs then for those of us in the Scottish sector it will be way too late. Many clubs face bankruptcy & closure.
THIS IS NOT SCAREMONGERING AS quoted in an asinine on line comment.
I am now resting my case and can only hope that the powers in charge read & listen to THE SCOTTISH BINGO SECTOR Clubs have already closed !!!
If nothing is done then the impact on the industry will cripple it for good.
Tony Stisi on behalf of Border Bingo Clubs.
Email— ts@teviotview.com
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
Scottish Independence…?
Living in Scotland and being a conservative I can actually remember the days when I delivered leaflets and we actually were wining the occasion seat north of Hawick. Then when we lost to Labour and wiped out in Scotland. But then came the the Scottish Parliament and under proportional representation we were able to get a small but significant number of MSP's in Edinburgh. Labour became the largest party with a minority government.
I often wondered why the Labour government in London set up an elected body that would never ever have a single arty majority. It would be virtually impossible to have more than 51% of the seats under our electoral system. Now I have finally worked it out.
The SNP (Scottish Nationalist Party) are going to be the largest party after the May elections. They are left wing, but have one policy that frightens me. A voting choice for the Scottish people – Do you want to be independent? This is a question that the Scottish people would probably say yes to. In part because the Executive has been such a mess in so many areas.
Lets assume for a moment that this would lead to an independent Scotland and the essential break up of the United Kingdom. But it would not – see later.
Labour in London would loose two things. Firstly the sixty odd Member’s of Parliament. Toney Blair was I think the first Labour leader ever to be elected to the post of Prime Minister without the power of those Scottish MP’s.
Secondly the next Labour Leader and by default Prime Minister Gorden Brown due to take over in May of next year is Scottish from a Scottish seat along with most of the senor positions in his next cabinet.
So with a Conservative Party rising in the poles, England and Wales with Northern Ireland would become a one party sate for the Conservatives.
Okay so without a working majority in the Scottish Parliament could the SNP force a vote in the Scottish Parliament to make Scotland independent following a yes in the referendum? No – not without other party support.
All the other parties would oppose such a vote based on where they currently stand. Except perhaps one – the most unlikely but the with the most to gain.
The Conservatives.
I saw an article last week in a very upmarket magazine written by an ex conservative arguing for just such an event. An independent Scotland.
Am I in favour of such a thing? In all honesty I do not know. My business is basically at the moment a Scottish one, but most if not all of our future growth will be in England. I have an address south of the border, and when it comes time to decide if I want to live in Scotland or England for personal reasons I do not want to give up my British Passport, so would probably choose to live in London until it was all over and then come back to Scotland as a Sassenach. (Scottish word for outsider).
There will be plenty of time later to argue over the economic reasons both for and against the creation of an independent Scotland. Long live the Conservative England will be a rallying call in the near future…
Mark.
I often wondered why the Labour government in London set up an elected body that would never ever have a single arty majority. It would be virtually impossible to have more than 51% of the seats under our electoral system. Now I have finally worked it out.
The SNP (Scottish Nationalist Party) are going to be the largest party after the May elections. They are left wing, but have one policy that frightens me. A voting choice for the Scottish people – Do you want to be independent? This is a question that the Scottish people would probably say yes to. In part because the Executive has been such a mess in so many areas.
Lets assume for a moment that this would lead to an independent Scotland and the essential break up of the United Kingdom. But it would not – see later.
Labour in London would loose two things. Firstly the sixty odd Member’s of Parliament. Toney Blair was I think the first Labour leader ever to be elected to the post of Prime Minister without the power of those Scottish MP’s.
Secondly the next Labour Leader and by default Prime Minister Gorden Brown due to take over in May of next year is Scottish from a Scottish seat along with most of the senor positions in his next cabinet.
So with a Conservative Party rising in the poles, England and Wales with Northern Ireland would become a one party sate for the Conservatives.
Okay so without a working majority in the Scottish Parliament could the SNP force a vote in the Scottish Parliament to make Scotland independent following a yes in the referendum? No – not without other party support.
All the other parties would oppose such a vote based on where they currently stand. Except perhaps one – the most unlikely but the with the most to gain.
The Conservatives.
I saw an article last week in a very upmarket magazine written by an ex conservative arguing for just such an event. An independent Scotland.
Am I in favour of such a thing? In all honesty I do not know. My business is basically at the moment a Scottish one, but most if not all of our future growth will be in England. I have an address south of the border, and when it comes time to decide if I want to live in Scotland or England for personal reasons I do not want to give up my British Passport, so would probably choose to live in London until it was all over and then come back to Scotland as a Sassenach. (Scottish word for outsider).
There will be plenty of time later to argue over the economic reasons both for and against the creation of an independent Scotland. Long live the Conservative England will be a rallying call in the near future…
Mark.
Sunday, December 10, 2006
Hello and Introduction
Thanks for having a look at this blog. It is new but in fact it is also the continuation of a blog that was started in April 2006. Let me explain…
With my wife Anna I started a company called Caduceus Investments Ltd in 2002. Said company is an investment company investing in residential property. Unlike most Landlords we decided to manage our own property under the banner www.tworent.com and yes that is also a web site of available property. We started very, very small. And have grown at a rate of 370% per annum since then. We now number our properties in the hundreds and are planning to soon do so in the thousands.
By 2006 many of our tenants were loosing contact with us. We now have four offices and staff. So we started this blog aiming to provide communication with the tenants and prospective tenants.
It turned out as everything that we do to be a little bit more complicated. During the summer a job advert got us a little bit of bad publicity. We ended up in a lot of national newspapers and a search on Google to this day brings up about 700 listings for me. We used the blog to reply to the papers who also started to reply to what we said. We were running an on going conversation with one paper over a month. We also got mentioned by the BBC.
Add to this the type of thought process that I have. I live and breav business. Which I also like writing about. I have very strong political views on many social issues and as a Landlord make a lot of comments on what I see. And some of the things I have seen… So the blog began to develop readers who really were not interested in when the grass was going to be cut in Argyll Street. And the people living in Argyll street were really not that interested in what I had to say about immigration into Dublin.
So this is an attempt to bring some sort of order to the blog and make it relevant to the people reading it. There are now four blogs!
The original blog www.twotalk.net has moved to www.diary.twotalk.net . It has also changed in a few ways. The non relevant sections for tenants and prospective tenants have all been removed. All the other people involved in working in the company are also now making posts to it. So it has become as the new name suggests a diary of what is going on in the company. Over Christmas we are writing too all of our tenants and asking them so make their opinions known on the site, so we hope that it will start to take a more relevant life of it’s own.
Incidentally the www.twotalk.net web address will now tale you to a web site which lists all of the blogs, and any other multi media endeavours – more on that later.
So the second blog is called www.business.twotalk.net which as the name suggests is about business. Here you will find articles about the property investment business, opinions of what we think is going on. Along with book reviews of books that Mark reads and how relevant help if any they have given. A lot of people who provide services to the Investment company have made comments about how they would like to post too the blog – so we are inviting any of you to submit business articles here if you wish. A few people involved directly in the company will also be posting here.
The third blog reflects the fact that we are a property rental company as you can see from the name www.property.twotalk.net . This is going to be aimed at the prospective tenants of www.tworent.com . There will be features on property that we have available for rent, articles on what we do as a company for tenants etc. News about properties coming to and off the market and new areas that we are moving into.
The final blog is a reflection of the personality and interests of the chief writer to these blogs Business and Science Fiction. Basically it will look at two areas, where Business is portrayed in SF media and how. Or alternatively where SF portrays some aspect that is really a reflection of what is actually happening in the real world. Mark has a lot of personal friends who are into SF so hopefully you might see some other people writing here as well.
So are we becoming a media company as opposed to a rental and investment business? Who knows. We met a tenant last week who was impressed with what we were trying to do and found it refreshing even just to meet the Landlords and never mind ones that ran a blog. There is lots of hype about how it is possible to run a magazine these days through a blog site with none of the costs. So maybe we will become a multi million pound online business. Other businesses have transformed themselves into other forms of business. A living breathing company such as ours has to evolve.
So now that you have read all about the four blogs, who are Mark and Anna you are asking?
Mark and Anna Kennedy-Stewart are the dynamic and lovely couple who own and run this company. Yes it is Mark who is writing this. So let me tell you about myself first. I am Scottish, born in 1965. I am a Chartered Accountant and hold a degree in Business Organisation. I have founded two very successful businesses, one was called EVision which was in the Accounting software business before being taken over recently by another company. The current company and by far the most successful was founded with my wife Anna. I am a gadget geek and well into Science Fiction. The book and DVD collection is huge. Most of my close friends are either through SF or business. I have done a lot of travelling in the USA and Kazakhstan.
This probably explains why we have an office in Kazakhstan. Also how my wife comes from there – where I met her well over a decade ago.
Anna is the love of my life. And my partner in the company. Her background is in Marketing and she worked for the Kazakhstan national TV company before she came to the UK. While I have a holistic approach she is very focused on detail. Russian and multi lingual, that’s my wife.
Together we have a teenage daughter who works for the company most summers and is also taking after dad and studying Accounts.
I am the company Chairman and she is the Managing Director. You will find her posts in the Diary blog.
So I hope that this gives you some food for thought about what this is all about. And please either post a comment after a post or send an article for publishing to article@tworent.com
Mark.
With my wife Anna I started a company called Caduceus Investments Ltd in 2002. Said company is an investment company investing in residential property. Unlike most Landlords we decided to manage our own property under the banner www.tworent.com and yes that is also a web site of available property. We started very, very small. And have grown at a rate of 370% per annum since then. We now number our properties in the hundreds and are planning to soon do so in the thousands.
By 2006 many of our tenants were loosing contact with us. We now have four offices and staff. So we started this blog aiming to provide communication with the tenants and prospective tenants.
It turned out as everything that we do to be a little bit more complicated. During the summer a job advert got us a little bit of bad publicity. We ended up in a lot of national newspapers and a search on Google to this day brings up about 700 listings for me. We used the blog to reply to the papers who also started to reply to what we said. We were running an on going conversation with one paper over a month. We also got mentioned by the BBC.
Add to this the type of thought process that I have. I live and breav business. Which I also like writing about. I have very strong political views on many social issues and as a Landlord make a lot of comments on what I see. And some of the things I have seen… So the blog began to develop readers who really were not interested in when the grass was going to be cut in Argyll Street. And the people living in Argyll street were really not that interested in what I had to say about immigration into Dublin.
So this is an attempt to bring some sort of order to the blog and make it relevant to the people reading it. There are now four blogs!
The original blog www.twotalk.net has moved to www.diary.twotalk.net . It has also changed in a few ways. The non relevant sections for tenants and prospective tenants have all been removed. All the other people involved in working in the company are also now making posts to it. So it has become as the new name suggests a diary of what is going on in the company. Over Christmas we are writing too all of our tenants and asking them so make their opinions known on the site, so we hope that it will start to take a more relevant life of it’s own.
Incidentally the www.twotalk.net web address will now tale you to a web site which lists all of the blogs, and any other multi media endeavours – more on that later.
So the second blog is called www.business.twotalk.net which as the name suggests is about business. Here you will find articles about the property investment business, opinions of what we think is going on. Along with book reviews of books that Mark reads and how relevant help if any they have given. A lot of people who provide services to the Investment company have made comments about how they would like to post too the blog – so we are inviting any of you to submit business articles here if you wish. A few people involved directly in the company will also be posting here.
The third blog reflects the fact that we are a property rental company as you can see from the name www.property.twotalk.net . This is going to be aimed at the prospective tenants of www.tworent.com . There will be features on property that we have available for rent, articles on what we do as a company for tenants etc. News about properties coming to and off the market and new areas that we are moving into.
The final blog is a reflection of the personality and interests of the chief writer to these blogs Business and Science Fiction. Basically it will look at two areas, where Business is portrayed in SF media and how. Or alternatively where SF portrays some aspect that is really a reflection of what is actually happening in the real world. Mark has a lot of personal friends who are into SF so hopefully you might see some other people writing here as well.
So are we becoming a media company as opposed to a rental and investment business? Who knows. We met a tenant last week who was impressed with what we were trying to do and found it refreshing even just to meet the Landlords and never mind ones that ran a blog. There is lots of hype about how it is possible to run a magazine these days through a blog site with none of the costs. So maybe we will become a multi million pound online business. Other businesses have transformed themselves into other forms of business. A living breathing company such as ours has to evolve.
So now that you have read all about the four blogs, who are Mark and Anna you are asking?
Mark and Anna Kennedy-Stewart are the dynamic and lovely couple who own and run this company. Yes it is Mark who is writing this. So let me tell you about myself first. I am Scottish, born in 1965. I am a Chartered Accountant and hold a degree in Business Organisation. I have founded two very successful businesses, one was called EVision which was in the Accounting software business before being taken over recently by another company. The current company and by far the most successful was founded with my wife Anna. I am a gadget geek and well into Science Fiction. The book and DVD collection is huge. Most of my close friends are either through SF or business. I have done a lot of travelling in the USA and Kazakhstan.
This probably explains why we have an office in Kazakhstan. Also how my wife comes from there – where I met her well over a decade ago.
Anna is the love of my life. And my partner in the company. Her background is in Marketing and she worked for the Kazakhstan national TV company before she came to the UK. While I have a holistic approach she is very focused on detail. Russian and multi lingual, that’s my wife.
Together we have a teenage daughter who works for the company most summers and is also taking after dad and studying Accounts.
I am the company Chairman and she is the Managing Director. You will find her posts in the Diary blog.
So I hope that this gives you some food for thought about what this is all about. And please either post a comment after a post or send an article for publishing to article@tworent.com
Mark.
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