Posted on 22/05/09, filed under Land | No Comments
Our bankers, ministers and MPs have led us to a very sorry state of affairs, no matter how often they try to blame the global economy. I propose for starters, …
i) Set up Parliament on the lines of a recognised business structure (and keep all that Black Rod stuff, shouting and screaming in the House of Commons, Opening of Parliament purely for show and the TV cameras)
ii) Apply ‘best practice’ as used in businesses
iii) Use all the current employment legislation regarding interviewing, reviews, redundancy processes and apply all discrimination laws.
iv) Insist on transparency, clarity, integrity at all levels
v) Get a good Accountant for Financial and Management Accounting and insist on annual returns to the relevant HMRC departments
If this doesn’t cure the ills of Parliament, at least MPs will finally realise that their acres of red tape has done very little to improve the lives of business owners. Then we can have another discussion on how to improve business.
Do you have any ideas? Comments please …
Posted on 11/05/09, filed under Estate Agents, Finance | No Comments
As we all know from reading and listening to the media for the last year at least, mortgage borrowing has
never been harder. This has perpetuated the vicious cycle that has been an integral factor in the decline of the housing industry.
Of late, borrowers have been demanding deposits of 30% or more on properties and charging astronomical arrangment fees to add insult to injury. But are lenders finally starting to relax a little?
Recent reports show that although two-thirds of mortgage deals still require borrowers to put down a deposit of at least 25%, figures from the financial information service Moneyfacts, show a recent rise in the number of deals demanding smaller down-payments. The total number of mortgage deals has risen by 7% in the past month, with more needing only a 15% or 20% deposit.
We’d like to know what your experiences are. Have you found that lending has relaxed, or are you still struggling to find a reasonable deal? Comment on our this blog and let us know your thoughts…
Posted on 05/05/09, filed under General Interest, Overseas Property | No Comments
There are lots of ‘companies’ carrying out property management and key-holding services in Marbella. 
If you own a holiday home abroad, you might be surprised at what can happen when you’re not around -
- break-in
- postbox full of junk
- leaks
- power cuts
- and mucho mucho mas!
Not to put too fine a point on it, but having someone carrying out ‘key-holding’ services is a godsend. We know, because when there was a power cut, if our key-holders hadn’t acted quickly we could have had a freezer full of putrid food! What about when the air-conditioning needed maitenance. Our key-holders were available for the engineer to call and we weren’t left waiting for days during our holiday.
Horror stories abound - have you heard the one about the couple who let their holiday home and the visitors left a massive burn mark in the bed mattress (and tried to cover it up by turning the mattress over). Luckily the key-holders carried out a site visit as soon as the visitors had left, smelt the smoke (could have been a lot worse) and were able to alert the owner of the damage.
For key-holding services in Marbella, we recommend Jenny & Alan Hedges who live permanently in Pueblo del Rio, just 3 Km to the East of Marbella.
Don’t leave things to luck - for a small monthly charge, Jenny & Alan will look after things for you!
