Blog Entries

FINALLY REVEALED: the fast track to real wealth ... Yes, really ...!

vanessa@4wallsandaceiling.com — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 00:00:00 +0100

I really enjoyed the below blog by Jim Connolly: Revealed - the fast track to wealth. At first I thought it was just going to be another of those endless spammy "be a millionaire overnight" type of blogs. However, on reading, I really admired the way the author tackled this subject from a different and fresh perspective. It was refreshing!

Jim wrote:

It's a fact: We live in an age where peo [...]

It's holiday time ... (on Twitter!) ...

vanessa@4wallsandaceiling.com — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 00:00:00 +0100

Spring is in the air ... well, I'm trying to convince myself that it is ... and our thoughts turn to summer holidays.

vanessa@4wallsandaceiling.com — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 00:00:00 +0100

I think it would be true to say that, here in the U.K., the desire to own our own home is ingrained into our culture. Newspaper headlines charting the rise (and fall) of property prices are an almost daily occurance, not to mention the myriad of property programmes on the box - "A Place in the Sun", "A Place by the Sea", "Property Ladder", "Dream Homes", "Buy, Build, or Restore", "Homes Under The Hammer", "Escape to the Country" ... the list goes on and I admit to being a [...]

Four ways to kickstart 2010, save money, and make 2010 your best year yet ... !

vanessa@4wallsandaceiling.com — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 00:00:00 +0100

1. On the 27th of January, we are running our first property/social media networking event of the year, taking place in Guildford. Nick, my husband, will be our speaker, and he will be presenting a talk entitled: Find out why a portfolio of web content could be as valuable as a portfolio of property. There is a heated debate on this subject on Property Tribes, which will give you some insight into this topical subject. Full details for the event and registration is & [...]

VideoBlog: Christmas '09 - Greetings from Vanessa and Nick

vanessa@4wallsandaceiling.com — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 00:00:00 +0100

It's Christmas Eve! We hope that you are now beginning to unplug and relax and are getting around to spending quality time with family and friends.

Christmas is always a time for reflection [...]

VideoBlog: Holiday lets chat from the beach. Wish you were here ...?

vanessa@4wallsandaceiling.com — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 00:00:00 +0100

We were down at Camber Sands yesterday putting up the Christmas decorations for our Christmas guests at our 2 bed holiday let "SeaBreeze", located adjacent to the world famous Camber Sands beach near Rye, in E. Sussex. Whilst on the beach we thought we would exercise the Flip-Video cam and have a chat.

I came across Efua Adams of MK Furniture Rentals recently at one of my speaking engagements.

I was impressed by her new service and the flexibility it affords property professionals, especially in these challenging times where we all need to hang on to our capital and keep an eye on our cash flow!

Renting furniture means no capital outlay, the monthly paym [...]

How to avoid the voids ... ! Useful tips to avoid Landlords' worst nightmare ... !

vanessa@4wallsandaceiling.com — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Generally speaking, the "void" period is a Landlord's worst nightmare, so it makes sense to find ways to avoid it at all costs, especially in the challenging and highly competitive market conditions we are all experiencing.

Here are my Top Ten Tips to avoid the void: [...]

Money for nothing and your bankruptcy for free ....

vanessa@4wallsandaceiling.com — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 00:00:00 +0100

This post is prompted by a heated discussion that occured on Singing Pig recently. Rich Greenland posed the question "Where are all the good deal sourcers?" and it generated a very healthy discussion which threw up this comment:

Slower Broadband Speeds could hinder U.K. house sales

vanessa@4wallsandaceiling.com — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

For a while now, Nick and I have been talking about how the business world is changing at the fastest pace in history, and a by-product of this is a growing trend that will see more and more people working from home.

Large companies will re-structure with fewer employees and more contract workers and freelancers, who are brought in on a project-by-project basis. The recession is also creating unemployment, and we will see t [...]

Top ten reasons to buy a house rather than a flat ... every time ....

vanessa@4wallsandaceiling.com — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 00:00:00 +0100

1. Houses are freehold, flats are generally leasehold.

2. Cash flow is better off a house than a flat, as flats/apartments have service charges that bite into cash flow.

3. You can extend a house, put on a conservatory, do a loft conversion, convert a garage into an extra room etc. You can not do any of that with a flat! All these things ADD VALUE.

We thought we would share it with you here.

So what are we all about, now there hangs a question!

Well there's two of us: Nick Tadd and Vanessa Warwick ... ahem, G'day.< [...]

U.K. hotspots for theft and burglary .... Is your property safe and secure?

vanessa@4wallsandaceiling.com — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 00:00:00 +0100

When doing due diligence on a property, one of the things I always check is the level of crime in the area.

Crime has a serious impact on house prices and tenant demand, so it's important to understand what goes on in an area you are considering buying in. A female tenant is not going to rent your property if she feels afraid to walk home alone at night.

Areas with high levels of drug and alcohol- [...]

Using social media to market holiday lettings ....

vanessa@4wallsandaceiling.com — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 00:00:00 +0100

I have just created a twitter identity for one of our holiday lets, SeaBreeze at Camber Sands, East Sussex. You can view/follow at SeaBreezeCamber

W [...]

He who shares, wins ....

vanessa@4wallsandaceiling.com — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 00:00:00 +0100

For those of you still struggling to understand the benefits of social media engagement, I thought I would share with you a few stories of where sharing and networking led to unexpected results.

It seems to me that sharing inevitably creates a "win/win" situation for both parties!
Through Twitter, I recently came across Ollie Cornes, the founder of one of the original property networking forums, Singing Pig.

Seeing as how Ollie is something of a trail blazer when it comes to forums, having started Singing Pig in 2002, I took the opportunity to ask him a few questions as I felt I could learn a great deal from his experiences. I thought I would share the interview with you here.

1. What gave you [...]

Are you a leader?

nick.tadd@4wallsandaceiling.com — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 00:00:00 +0100

We are entering the era of the individual and the networked economy. In order for you and your business to stand out from the crowd, you need to be a leader.

In a tribal society, the Elders are the most respected and committed members of the community, the leaders, the sharers of wisdom, and the people to turn to for support and advice.

My first blog ever - apologies if this has been discussed before if so please refer me to where ever I need to go.

Strange one this - tenant looks to have has gone. But most of her stuff is still there. House in a right state. Neighbours say havent seen her for 3-6 months. We have called her, called friends, spoke to neighbours - no sign at all.

I served section 8 then abandonment notice [...]

The Property Tribes Forum goes from strength to strength ....

vanessa@4wallsandaceiling.com — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 00:00:00 +0100

To celebrate the news that the Alexa statistics report that the Property Tribes forum has grown 180% in the last three months, we've [...]

Why we started Property Tribes ...

nick.tadd@4wallsandaceiling.com — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Click here - to learn more.