The Leaseback Blog

Letter From America - Volume 1

Daphne and I are in Baltimore for four days learning how we can spread the word about French leaseback investing more effectively. We're at the Glazer Kennedy Info Summit along with 900 others.

Most are from the US but there are about 30 Brits here, plus some from Australia, New Zealand, Israel, Sweden and Lithuania.

 
It's our first visit to this beautiful city and the sun is shining for us.  Not that we get to see it much as the seminar runs from 8:00am to 8:30pm each day.

If you own your own business or work in marketing you might want to check out Dan Kennedy and Bill Glazer - I think they are the best in the world at what they do and we can learn a lot from them.

Three stand-outs from the first day:

- it's not enough to sell something, you have to be about something. You have to have a set of beliefs and values that your target audience agree with and buy into. For me that would touch on areas like helping people be better prepared for retirement while avoiding being a target for politicians who want to tax them within an inch of their lives

- baseball legend (with the local Baltimore Orioles team) Cal Ripken Junior talking about perseverance. He played more than 2600 consecutive games over 19 seasons - the low point was when his father was fired as manager of the team, the high point breaking a long standing record of 2300 games

- Mary Ellen Tribby talking about finally launching her own business, www.workingmomsonly.com in January 2010 after 15 years on the corporate ladder, and how she is already earning more than her six figure salary from the business   

If you want to come to our next live event, Leaseback Liveski, at the Institut Francais in South Kensington, please go to www.leaseback.co.uk and register there as we are above 20 reserved seats now and we only have 30 in total.

I'll send another report soon.

Warm regards

Graham 

Is This Heroic Customer Service Or What?

Those of us whose success depends on delivering great customer service develop finely tuned antennae when it comes to rooting out great examples of the art.

But few can be as outstanding as the example set by 53 year old Australian Richard Champion De Crespigny last week. He lived up to his middle name when one of the engines on his Qantas A380 airbus blew up and he had to use all his experience to land the giant plane on the remaining three engines.

Most of us would have wanted to get away from the airport fast and get home for a stiff drink. Not 'Champion'. He stayed with the passengers in the terminal to answer their questions for 20 minutes, then gave them all his personal mobile phone number and said 'call me if you have any issues'.  

Not just great service. Heroic service.

Watch who you fly with...

Graham

www.leaseback.co.uk 

Join Us at Leaseback Liveski on Tuesday 30th November

Hi

This is your personal invitation to join us at Leaseback Liveski on Tuesday 30th November at the Institut Francais in South Kensington.

It's an informal evening with a chance to share some wine and canapes, look at some new projects and speak with four leaseback experts. Here's a short video I've created to explain the event:

Here's the schedule for the evening:

6:30-7:15 - wine, canapes and a chance to look at our latest projects
7.15 - How to own a leaseback ski apartment, beat the taxman, have some fun and retire when YOU want to...
7:45 - The UK launch of two great new leaseback ski projects
8:00 - Prize draw for the lucky couple to win a ski weekend in the Alps
8:05 onwards - more wine and canapes, more chat with the experts

The only challenge is that we have just thirty places available so we are limiting tickets to two per applicant. To reserve yours please email info@leaseback.co.uk or register on the home page at www.leaseback.co.uk

See you there?

Warm regards

Graham

Graham Rowan
The Leaseback Team
020 8940 7000
info@leaseback.co.uk

 

www.leaseback.co.uk

Forget Buy To Let, Now It's Die To Let

We Brits are obsessed with land.

Maybe it's the tiny island we live on. Perhaps it's the old exhortation to 'buy land, they ain't making any more of it'.

But this is going too far. Investors are now being encouraged to snap up burial plots in the belief that we are heading for a major shortage. The idea is that you buy a wadge of sites now, then sell them to the highest bidder in years to come when the bereaved family are desperate to bury auntie Gladys next to uncle Ron. 

It might work. But it's a pure play on capital growth in land with no income from your investment in the mean time. And it's completely unregulated. Or is it an elaborate Halloween hoax?

I think I'll stick with guaranteed rental income from leasebacks and treat any capital growth as a nice bonus.

Warm regards

Graham

The Leaseback Team

www.leaseback.co.uk

020 8940 7000

 

Beware The Swiss Air Small Print

I fly to Geneva a lot.

When Swiss Air started offering return flights from Heathrow last year at sensible prices it was a God-send. No more schlepping to Gatwick and no more kicks in the shins in the rugby scrum to board  the low-cost airline.

This week it all went wrong. My mother came over by car ferry with some friends to join us for a few days before flying back with us on Tuesday. I looked at the cost of a single fare from Geneva to London and it was three times the cost of a return. So I bought a return knowing that my mum would not use the outbound portion of the flight.

When we arrived at Geneva airport on Tuesday evening to check in, they said they had Daphne and I's booking but not my mum's. Eventually they told me that, when someone does not show up for the outward portion of the journey, they automatically cancel the return leg without telling you. We were forced to buy a new ticket or she couldn't fly - the not very sympathetic Swissport staff at first said a single fare woudl be 1000 Swiss Francs. They kept pointing out that I must have ticked the box to say I had read the terms and conditions - come on, how many of us ever actually read all that stuff when we buy something online?

Eventually she told us that she could get us a return to Geneva for around 300 francs, so we bought this knowing that we would not use the return leg.

So the lesson is, if you ever want a single flight from Geneva to London, make sure you buy a return. But don't do what I did - make it a return from Geneva to London to Geneva.

So my relationship with Swiss Air has been badly damaged for two reasons  - first, for hiding behind the small print and not making it clear that this would be the outcome. Second, for a total lack of empathy with our position when handling the requirement for a new ticket.

I loathe and detest low cost airlines for the way they seem to design humiliation into their procedures, so I may stick with Swiss despite their shabby treatment of us this week. One thing is clear - if you were running an airline you wouldn't need to be very good at customer service to stand out from the crowd...

End of rant. I will now climb down from my soap box. Have a great weekend.

Graham

www.leaseback.co.uk

 

France Is Top Choice For Brits Moving Abroad

Overseas mortgage specialists Conti have revealed that France is the top location for Britons looking to move abroad.

43% of the inquiries it has received so far this year have been about France, with the number of Britons crossing the channel tripling since 2008.

Low interest rates, reduced property prices and the stable mortgage market in France, have been a big attraction for buyers looking to move overseas. The conservative approach taken by the country's financial institutions for years has led to its property sector being seen as steady and reliable.

Clare Nessling, Conti's operations director, said "It's clear that investors are favouring the tried and trusted locations when it comes to overseas property.

"But they also want easy access, good rental opportunities and security with price appreciation over the long term.

"The percentage of people inquiring about French mortgages has more than tripled over the last two years, and it's currently out on its own as far as popularity goes."

I'll be covering the excellent mortgage products available on today's Leaseback Lunch - if you want to join at the last minute the link to register is:

https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/464127278

Until next time

Warm regards

Graham

www.leaseback.co.uk

Hi folks

I just wanted to invite you to join me tomorrow at 13:00 UK time for the Leaseback Lunch webinar. From the comfort of your desk or home you can tune in while I cover:

- Update on some excellent French mortgage products
- How leasebacks can help you gain financial independence
- The launch of an interesting new project in Lyon
- A quick look at the rest of our portfolio
- Forthcoming events

Here's the link if you'd like to register:

https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/464127278

Hope you can join me at 1:00pm tomorrow, Wednesday.

Warm regards

Graham

Lowest Ever Fixed Rate Mortgages

With the French banks back from their long summer break, September brought some good news with fixed rate mortgages falling to their lowest ever level.

Here's a list of some of the best leaseback mortgages currently available:

3.3% over 25 years at 100% loan to value with a 'cap and collar' of plus or minus 1%

2.75% over 30 years at 85% loan to value fixed for 3 months then Euribor + 1.95%

2.4% over 30 years at 80% loan to value fixed for 1 year then Euribor + 1.55% capped at 4.4%

With regard to variable rate mortgages, there is no sign of a hike in the base rate which would bring changes to the 3 month Euribor rate against which the majority of variable lending is pegged.

As ever, if you'd like a personal mortgage simulation please get in touch and we'll set it up for you.

Warm regards

Graham

Graham Rowan

The Leaseback Team

www.leaseback.co.uk

+44 (0) 20 8940 7000

How Much Personal Use Should I Go For?

This is one of the most common questions I get from leaseback investors.

It's important because the amount of personal use you choose has a direct impact on the amount of guaranteed rent you receive.

I've always replied that people tend to over-estimate how much time they'll be able to spend in their overseas property. Now I can back it up with 'official' statistics!

On Thursday I went to an event at the Association Of International Property Professionals (AIPP) in London. One of the presenters was Nick Turner, who heads up The Registry Collection, which lets out 60,000 holiday properties across Europe on behalf of their owners, said that the average amount of time spent in holiday homes by their owners is just 2.9 weeks per year.

Less than three weeks. That's why the leaseback model is so powerful. If you recognise this reality at the start you can let the tourist management company do all the work, pick the two or three weeks you want for personal use and let them manage the property the rest of the time.

So don't bother buying a 'classic' second home in France in the naive hope that you'll be out there every other weekend. Admit that your hectic schedule will only allow you a couple of weeks a year, then choose the investment vehicle that maximises the return from your new asset for the remainder of the season.   

Warm regards

Graham

Graham Rowan

The Leaseback Team

www.leaseback.co.uk

Join Us At Leaseback Live! On Tuesday 26th October at the Royal Society Of Medicine

French Market Update

We're all braced for financial pain from George Osborne later today, so I thought you might welcome some good news to start your day.

The number of Brits looking for overseas property online has doubled in the last year according to Primelocation International. While enquiries were up 95% across all countries, enquiries about France were up most of all at 153%.

Rightmove reports a similar surge, with enquiries up 73% in the year to April.

Another sign of changing attitudes comes from holiday rental firm HomeAway. Bookings for ‘staycations’ in the UK have so far only reached 54% of their level at this time last year. Their general manager Courtney Wylie said  ”Places you can drive to in Europe that are mid-way between a UK holiday and a long haul destination are doing well. France in particular is having a nice resurgence”.

This is an important point that I will be talking about at Leaseback Live!, the event we are holding on Tuesday 13^th July at the Institut Francais in South Kensington. When you take a long term view of overseas property investment you have to consider what will happen as oil becomes scarce and prices rise above $100 a barrel again.

Our current habit of nipping across to Rio for a stag weekend or getting married on a beach in Thailand will have to change. Air fares will become prohibitively expensive and who knows what governments might do to get their green policies back on track? Some sort of limits on long haul travel cannot be ruled out.

This is a major factor in France’s favour as a long term tourism location and a base for your investment property. You can drive to France. You can take the ferry to France. You can take the train to France. In other words, you’ve got options. What options do you have for getting to the Caribbean or to Phuket?

France is already the most visited country on the planet. It offers a huge variety of locations from the snowy Alps to the sunny south to the buzz of Paris. All on our doorstep, across just 21 miles of water.

If it’s not one of the factors in your overseas property investment decision today, I would urge you to take a ten or twenty year view and place proximity and flexibility of travel options high on your list of criteria as you make your  long term financial and leisure plans.

Until next time

Warm regards

Graham

PS: If you’d like tickets to Leaseback Live! on 13^th July from 6:00pm to 9:00pm at the Institut Francais in South Kensington please email info@leaseback.co.uk

Graham Rowan

The Leaseback Team

www.leaseback.co.uk

+44 (0) 20 8940 7000

info@leaseback.co.uk