Personal Finance Guide

Despite, or maybe because of the present credit crunch, there’s an ever growing number of Home Buyers Firms coming onto the UK market. These are either private individuals or companies who have come to the conclusion that, even with Home Prices sinking, it’s still a much better bet to put spare money into Properties rather than leaving it in a Bank.

The idea behind this is straightforward enough. Hefty deposits in banks along with any money belonging to companies are not covered by government guarantees, so could in theory disappear if the Bank goes bust. Properties on the other hand can’t under normal circumstances disappear. It’s also unthinkable that their values will drop to anything like zero, and in the medium to long term, it’s very likely that they’ll recover as the financial climate improves.

Nevertheless, it’s just too easy for the Home buyers to get carried away, and store up more problems for themselves. Let’s just pause and think for a moment about what that phrase “under normal circumstance” means. Just as we’re experiencing huge upheavals in the financial climate, we have to also be aware of the potential changes in our real climate due to global warming.

These changes might have a devastating effect on the value, and perhaps the continued existence of any Home you might select as an investment. The House Buyer who’s purchasing for an investment or as a safe home for his spare money may be tempted to just look at the results of a good survey which shows the value and condition of the property along with any present threats that may affect it.

A “real” Home Buyer who’s planning to live in the Home will look much more attentively at such items as coastal erosion, increased rainfall, old mining works, altitude, present and future industrial, commercial and Infrastructure developments, schooling etc. etc, and make his considered opinion about the effect of these during his lifetime.

Anybody lucky enough to be cash rich at the present time can be forgiven for keeping their eye firmly on the present credit crunch and its probable consequences. However, when buying Properties as an substitute to money in the bank, you need to treat the due diligence as seriously as though you were going to live in the Home.

To paraphrase: Let the Home Buyers beware! When people purchase Properties to live in; they make sure of all sorts of things; like present and potential future risks of flood, storm, landslip and other risks. It’s much too simple for those who purchase Properties for investment to pay lip service to these aspects.

These kinds of purchasers often just wait for a call from a property owner in trouble to “Buy House”. They jump on the opportunity with a minimum of effort, and go back to running their businesses. However, before I Purchase Houses, I take as much care as if I was going to live there myself.

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