August saw property investors go back to school, according to TheMoveChannel.com´s Investment Watch. As students were packing their bags and saying goodbye to their parents before term starts, investors were equally busy preparing for another year of academic success.

For the majority, that meant putting money into student housing. Indeed, one student accommodation listing in the UK, where occupancy rates are high, promised returns of 8 per cent, a strong enough yield to attract the second-highest number of enquiries on TheMoveChannel.com last month.

Demand for student accommodation pushed another student development into the Investment Watch Top 10 as well. The first purpose-built student housing project in Brighton, it offered returns of 8 per cent too, generating enough interest to become the fifth most popular listing on the site.

August also saw investors enrol in an alternative curriculum. A self-storage opportunity received more applications than Brighton´s student housing, making it the fourth most popular course of investment last month. Indeed, high-yield alternative products dominated TheMoveChannel.com´s summer league table, with a carbon credit programme predicting up to 50pc returns, a renewable bamboo plot and property investment scheme all passing thorough examination.

But even with four of the Investment Watch top 10 taken up by alternative opportunities, student housing proved the most popular class: together, the two university accommodation opportunities took more enquiries than all of the alternative products combined.

Director Dan Johnson comments: "La Manga´s Las Lomas Village remains the most popular listing on the site, thanks to its unrivalled combination of sporting facilities and Spanish tourist appeal, but the latest Investment Watch report confirms a continuing trend among the main players on TheMoveChannel.com, who are investing for profit rather than lifestyle appeal: all of the top 10 listings in August are designed for income, be it rental or speculative.

"When it comes to investment property, student housing is one of the strongest classes around at the moment. Due to a shortage in purpose-built university halls, consistent demand for accommodation means that tenants are pretty much guaranteed, as long as developments are in the right location – and these two clearly are.

"With the summer ending and the annual university tenant cycle starting up again, investors have learned the benefits of student property from previous years, so it´s only natural that they are just as excited as the students to go back to school for another 12 months."

The top 10 investment properties for August 2012 are as follows:

Notes to Editors

Founded in 1999, TheMoveChannel.com is the leading independent website for international property, with than 400,000 listings in over 100 countries around the world, marketed on behalf of agents, developers and private owners.

The website address is http://www.TheMoveChannel.com and the office address is 24 Jack´s Place, Corbet Place, Spitalfields, London, E1 6NN.

TheMoveChannel.com´s Property Inspector, taking a closer look at global real estate each month.

In August´s podcast, The Property Inspector follows a lead from the FSA that takes him away from real estate into the mysterious world of alternative investments.

This week, the FSA announced new proposals to regulate the alternative market because of "the high levels of unsuitable advice it has uncovered and the potential for customer detriment", The Telegraph reports.

If the proposals go through, the promotion of Unauthorised Collective Investment Schemes, or UCIS, will be banned to retail investors, while sales will be limited only to investors who earn over £100,000 per year and have over £250,000 to invest or have extensive experience and understand the risks.

Are the FSA correct to crack down? Carbon credit schemes are one of the higher profile products, with over 100 companies reported to the watchdog in the last 12 months – up from 6 in June last year. Are alternatives a rip-off or a reliable investment strategy?

The Inspector´s case begins with Alternative Marketplace, a portal that advertises alternative products ranging from farmland and green energy to bamboo and carbon credits. Interest in alternative investments increased this summer, they said, with traffic to the site up by 72 per cent between July and August.

They then introduced the Property Inspector to Caesar Alternatives, an investment consultancy specialising in rare earth metals.

The Inspector questioned Andrew Cook, Managing Partner in the firm, to get some answers.

What are rare earth metals?

“Rare earth metals are the elements used primarily in high-end technology, such as mobile phones and solar panels. China has now cornered the market, which now allows them to raise prices, which may cause values to spike.”

What kind of returns can investors get?

“It’s very difficult to say. It’s at the medium-to-high end of the risk spectrum. Values have increased in the last few years and could go up.“

Alternative investments have a reputation of being risky and unreliable. Do you find that’s an obstacle you have to overcome?

“The people that we pitch our product towards are looking for something speculative. For a potentially higher return, they accept that there is naturally a higher level of risk involved. The metals are stored in London, so it’s not a paper asset or something out in South America – it’s something that’s physical that they can inspect themselves. That’s crucial.”

Words like “scam” and “con” fly around a lot. Have you encountered activity, or companies, in the market that made you think “Hmmm… that’s a bit dodgy”?

“I’ve encountered firms in the regulated marketplace that I would consider quite dodgy! Just because it’s regulated, it doesn’t mean the investment will give a good return – it just means that the money won’t be siphoned off into someone’s offshore account and the directors aren’t going to run off with your cash! If the money is invested in something that’s worthless, you’re going to get burned.”

Is that a case of a bad product or a bad broker?

“The problem is that the way it’s structured, clients are pitched on products that give good returns to the broker. That doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a bad investment, but clients need to be aware of it.”

What tips would you give to avoid scams?

“You need to think logically and do your own research. Buying into property funds in 2007, when property was at its peak, probably wasn’t the best idea, but people did it. And then some of the funds became illiquid and people’s money was locked away for years. It’s a case of looking at what you’re investing. Your money should never go directly to a firm unless they’re regulated. It’s always best to deal with things based in the UK and Europe so you can check on what you’re buying. Don’t just believe the sales pitch. Be sensible.”

Listen to the full investigation.

Would you consider investing in bamboo or is it all one big bamboozle?

Get in touch with the Property Inspector via Facebook or Twitter @TheMoveChannel and share your thoughts on alternative investment.

Notes to Editors

Founded in 1999, TheMoveChannel.com is the leading independent website for international property, with than 400,000 listings in over 100 countries around the world, marketed on behalf of agents, developers and private owners. The website address is http://www.TheMoveChannel.com and the office address is 45 Lafone Street, Shad Thames, London, SE1 2LX.

Contact Dan Johnson on 0207 952 7650 for further information. Property Inspector image courtesy of Snowshot.
 

Once upon a time, blogging was seen as just a hobby, a way that people could express their personal feelings on topics they cared about but in today’s media landscape blogging has taken on a bigger role, becoming one of the most important and cost effective ways for companies to promote their brand.

It is estimated that there are now over 200 million public blogs in existence and unlike other social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook; published content on a blog can be far superior. On a corporate level, blogs humanise a company, educate clients, aid meaningful social interaction and separate brands from competitors and when it comes to the property industry, one that is fiercely competitive and relatively unpredictable, blogs can hold great power in achieving effective results.

Nigel Lewis, renowned property journalist and editor as well as prolific blogger for FindaProperty.com comments,

“Many people and businesses shy away from blogging because it’s a time consuming and a creatively taxing process, often opting for the seemingly obvious routes of Facebook and Twitter but in my view they are missing a substantial opportunity to get their website higher up in Google’s results rankings as well as attracting an audience that would otherwise would pass them by.

“Blogs are a win-win from several perspectives. Firstly, it is the easiest way to publish content regularly with free and easy to set up services such as WordPress and Blogger. As well as this, blogs are also more likely to be trusted by users because they have an ‘editorial’ look and feel to them compared to more traditional website content or posted press releases. Another point to remember is that good content will attract readers on a long term basis and create an informal but strong bond that can be difficult to otherwise generate. Lastly, remember that blogs have a lot of social potential where readers can post their reactions to your entries allowing you to gain greater insight into your audience.

“But be warned – blogs also need a lot of thought and hard work to make them successful. All of the advantages of blogs come to nothing if the content is dull, copy-cat or infrequent. I would suggest a minimum blogging rate of once a week, and that the content needs to have at least an element of exclusivity – republishing in-house or third party press releases more or less verbatim (as many people do) is almost pointless. You want people to read your blog regularly because it’s interesting and offers a new perspective on (or information about) a subject.”

In spite of the obvious advantages, research conducted by The Group has discovered that only 16% of FTSE100 companies have a corporate blog, compared to 73% using Twitter and 55% using Facebook.

Ray Withers, Chief Executive of leading property investment company Property Frontiers, client of AB Property Marketing and avid blogger remarks,

“Blogging is an essential component of our social media strategy and has really helped build our company brand. We wanted a different way to communicate with our clients and by creating what is essentially a company diary of news, market comment and activities, our clients have built a greater awareness of who we are and what we’re about. To give some insight into how well our blog has done, we receive on average 500 blog visitors each month with 32% returning month on month. As a result, not only do our clients know us better but they trust us – you can’t put a price on that!”

For more information on the power of blogging and social media, a service which AB Property Marketing offers exclusively for the property industry contact Charlotte Ashton on 0845 054 7542 via Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or at www.abpropertymarketing.co.uk

The property industry is a hard place to do business these days, with fewer buyers who are better informed and fearful of the future; getting your business visible online is more important than ever.

Everyone knows that Google Search is THE trusted go-to source for driving a steady flow of potential clients to view properties and services showcased on your website but as internet market expert, Adam Samuel, who has over 10 years of experience, comments,

“Google is a fickle friend. On one hand it can give you top rankings, bringing you business success but on the other, it can take! Fail to comply with its terms of service and you can potentially lose 90% of your traffic overnight with no quick-fix solution (Trust me I know!).

“As you may or may not be aware, Google recently made major changes to the way they rank websites, generating a lot of confusion around how to rank your property website in the future and maintain current rankings.”

First There Was Panda – Low Quality Sites Lose Rankings

The Panda updates began in February 2011 and aimed to lower the rankings of “low quality” sites. Google’s algorithm looked at numerous factors to determine if it was ‘spammy’ and ejected sites it felt were over manipulated.

Then Came The Penguin – It´s Black And White

The latest update, Penguin, started at the end of April 2012 with Google allegedly heavily penalising sites that clearly violate their terms of service by plummeting their rankings.

Adam Samuel explains,

“Google Terms of Service is a vast document so this ‘violation’ could potentially encompass numerous possibilities, however I believe sites that have too many links that point back to their site with the same/similar commercial anchor text have been affected. This was common practice in the past when building links to a site so it’s a case of carefully redoing much of the previous work and updating your future online marketing approach.”

What do developers and property agents need to do today?

Real estate is a sector that commonly falls foul of Google updates because ranking high in Google for popular property keywords can prove very lucrative. If you haven’t seen any changes in traffic over the past months since the Penguin update then this is testament to a good online marketing strategy.

Responding to and future proofing for Google’s algorithmic changes is a full time business and this time Google is fundamentally ranking sites, which deserve to be there. They naturally attract links, because they are popular, up to date, attract comment and engage with their visitors.

Adam Samuel advises,
“A step you can take today would be to look at who links to your site and anything that looks unnatural probably is, so email the site in question and ask them to remove your links.”

Increasing traffic

Google’s algorithm may remain a mystery but you can be sure it will continue to roll out new changes in its quest to rank only high quality useful websites.

Adam concludes,

“Your site maybe fine today with plenty of traffic, but the future could be very different. My advice would be to keep on top of Google updates and constantly tweak your online strategy accordingly. DON’T implement huge changes overnight, read around the topic or consult with a professional who can keep you well informed and suggest changes tailored to your individual site.

“Reliance on solely Google for online traffic is a dangerous strategy, so seek out other sources of traffic. Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest are valuable tools for generating traffic if you know how to use them… but simply creating a Facebook page won’t work. Like any other department of your business; sales, customer services or accounting, online marketing needs a dedicated person to keep it working.”

For more information on what the Google Penguin means to you and your website you can contact Adam Samuel and the online marketing experts at AB Property Marketing on 0845 054 7524 or visit www.abpropertymarketing.co.uk.

“There will be no newspapers in ten years’ time” – these are the words of media mogul Rupert Murdoch, pointing to internet competition and government overregulation as factors leading to the demise of print media. Indeed, as a generation that relies on technology and the internet, utilising an abundance of digital media platforms be they smartphones or Kindles to access information, is print media gradually becoming redundant?

Johnston Press Plc, one of the top community media organisations in the UK thinks so predicting a significant decrease in its print media audience. Shrinking from 11 million print users down to just 8 million by 2020, Johnston estimates digital media will be king, growing its digital audience from its current level of 10 million to 20 million over the next 8 years.

Going one stage further, Johnston expects that around 75% of people will access its news content via digital products such as smartphones while print readership will drop from 90% to a mere 25% by 2020. It is for this reason that Johnston expects all of its titles to lead with a ‘digital first’ approach with only a few print products lingering in its future.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the pond, Gannet, the publisher of USA Today as well as a number of smaller American newspapers displayed disappointing earnings for its old-media holdings seeing a 33% decline in quarterly profits while ad revenue fell 7% in the newspaper division over the past year. While the big players in print media such as the New York Times have experienced a long and fruitful existence, competition from online media such as AOL’s Huffington Post is fierce, stealing away traditional media users by offering easy to access bite size snippets of news information. With this in mind, Gannett reported a 9.4% rise in digital revenue in its most recent quarter further highlighting the growing popularity of the digital media platforms.

Charlotte Ashton, MD of leading property PR agency, AB Property Marketing Ltd, comments,

“While there is no denying the tactile appeal of holding a newspaper in your hand, digital advances have given rise not just to new ways of accessing information but how companies do business. There are now numerous ways we can share news with the world and as a result, information now flows more quickly and freely than ever before. Instead of relying on the morning newspaper we can access a constant stream of material via our PCs, smartphones or tablets anywhere and at any time.”

Indeed, there is no doubt that print publications have felt the burn from the steady decline in readership levels; even high profile newspapers such as The Times have set up online pay systems to view content as a way of ensuring success while a number of UK magazines have ceased their production completely or moved to the online world.

Ashton remarks,
“In today’s digital world it’s essential that businesses embrace this revolution to stay ahead of the game – we have already seen a number of property print publications move to digital realms with titles such as What House Magazine and Homes Overseas embracing the online world.

“Indeed, there remain a lot of people who want to keep print press alive and well. The sector which has sustained itself for hundreds of years will always have a following however the digital age has given rise to the way information is offered, perceived and experienced – it has a far greater reach so it is important that media agencies look at ways to convert written material into electronic form. Thankfully plenty of forward thinking print publications are already building their digital brands but it will be interesting to see what the print landscape will look like in the near future.”

For more information on e-news and online PR, contact AB Property Marketing on 0845 054 7524 or visit www.abpropertymarketing.co.uk.

“There will be no newspapers in ten years’ time” – these are the words of media mogul Rupert Murdoch, pointing to internet competition and government overregulation as factors leading to the demise of print media. Indeed, as a generation that relies on technology and the internet, utilising an abundance of digital media platforms be they smartphones or Kindles to access information, is print media gradually becoming redundant?

Johnston Press Plc, one of the top community media organisations in the UK thinks so predicting a significant decrease in its print media audience. Shrinking from 11 million print users down to just 8 million by 2020, Johnston estimates digital media will be king, growing its digital audience from its current level of 10 million to 20 million over the next 8 years.

Going one stage further, Johnston expects that around 75% of people will access its news content via digital products such as smartphones while print readership will drop from 90% to a mere 25% by 2020. It is for this reason that Johnston expects all of its titles to lead with a ‘digital first’ approach with only a few print products lingering in its future.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the pond, Gannet, the publisher of USA Today as well as a number of smaller American newspapers displayed disappointing earnings for its old-media holdings seeing a 33% decline in quarterly profits while ad revenue fell 7% in the newspaper division over the past year. While the big players in print media such as the New York Times have experienced a long and fruitful existence, competition from online media such as AOL’s Huffington Post is fierce, stealing away traditional media users by offering easy to access bite size snippets of news information. With this in mind, Gannett reported a 9.4% rise in digital revenue in its most recent quarter further highlighting the growing popularity of the digital media platforms.

Charlotte Ashton, MD of leading property PR agency, AB Property Marketing Ltd, comments,

“While there is no denying the tactile appeal of holding a newspaper in your hand, digital advances have given rise not just to new ways of accessing information but how companies do business. There are now numerous ways we can share news with the world and as a result, information now flows more quickly and freely than ever before. Instead of relying on the morning newspaper we can access a constant stream of material via our PCs, smartphones or tablets anywhere and at any time.”

Indeed, there is no doubt that print publications have felt the burn from the steady decline in readership levels; even high profile newspapers such as The Times have set up online pay systems to view content as a way of ensuring success while a number of UK magazines have ceased their production completely or moved to the online world.

Ashton remarks,

“In today’s digital world it’s essential that businesses embrace this revolution to stay ahead of the game – we have already seen a number of property print publications move to digital realms with titles such as What House Magazine and Homes Overseas embracing the online world.

“Indeed, there remain a lot of people who want to keep print press alive and well. The sector which has sustained itself for hundreds of years will always have a following however the digital age has given rise to the way information is offered, perceived and experienced – it has a far greater reach so it is important that media agencies look at ways to convert written material into electronic form. Thankfully plenty of forward thinking print publications are already building their digital brands but it will be interesting to see what the print landscape will look like in the near future.”

For more information on e-news and online PR, contact AB Property Marketing on 0845 054 7524 or visit www.abpropertymarketing.co.uk.

10 years ago when AB Property Marketing’s (ABPM) MD, Charlotte Ashton, began her career in property marketing, the world was a different place. Properties were bought and sold using traditional methods; by appointing the local high street estate agent, putting a For Sale board outside and maybe some print adverts in the local paper.

• 33 million British adults used the internet daily in 2012 (ONS)
• 92% of property searches start online (Rightmove)
• My Online Estate Agent offers unbeatable fixed listing fee of £249 and no commission

But then we entered the 21stcentury.com. It’s doubtful that Sir Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web back in 1989, had any idea what impact his brainchild would have on our lives but with 33 million Britons using the internet daily in 2012, double the number 6 years ago according to data from the ONS, a life purely offline almost seems #unimaginable.

From emailing friends and family to reading the news, doing our banking, ordering the weekly shop or even finding a home, the internet has become our first port of call. In fact 92% of property searches start online with portals such as Rightmove, Zoopla, Prime Location and many more attracting millions of eyeballs daily.

Going one step further and fully embracing the power of the internet in today’s property market, Londoner Richard Patterson has combined his experience as a landlord and online technical skills to create My Online Estate Agent.

Richard comments,
“Having been a landlord for 7 years now, I’ve had my fair share of experiences of dealing with high street estate agents. All too often I’ve been disappointed by the level of service offered and frustrated by the high fees charged, especially when you end up doing the work, such as showing prospective buyers and tenants around, yourself!

“Sick of agents not turning up, being hung over, late, rude or just damn right unhelpful, I wanted to offer an alternative; a service which combines all the benefits of a quality high street agent but embraces the ease and efficiency of the internet and gets results, all for a tiny fraction of the cost.”

My Online Estate Agent offers a fully comprehensive estate agent service (with the exception of arranging viewings which today many vendors prefer to undertake themselves) which includes a home visit to take professional photographs of the property and floor plan measurements, arranging and gathering feedback on viewings, negotiating offers and instructing solicitors all for an unbeatable fixed price upfront of £249 and no commission.

Properties are advertised on their extensive partner network of over 120 websites including Rightmove, Zoopla, Find a Property, Prime Location, Homes 24, Globrix, Find a New Home, Property Finder, Gum Tree etc and since launching only 12 months ago, My Online Estate Agent is already one of the largest operators with over 400 sales and letting properties on the market across the UK.

With numerous happy clients already My Online Estate Agent has appointed leading property PR agency, ABPM to spread the word further both to the on and offline communities.

Commenting on the appointment,Charlotte Ashton,says,
“Whilst the property market as a whole has been somewhat lethargic to embracing the internet, there has indeed been a marked shift in the last year or so with more and more buyers and sellers using online services such as My Online Estate Agent to achieve their goals. In these times of austerity, vendors are even more cautious of high agent fees and if they can achieve the same results whilst enjoying a good level of service then I can only see online estate agency services becoming even more popular.”

Vendors and landlords can list their properties directly online at My Online Estate Agent but in keeping with the team’s awareness that almost half of the British population, 48%, use social networking sites (ONS 2012) you can also Like them on Facebook or follow them on Twitter and Google+.

Richard Patterson is available for market comment and can be reached on Richard@myonlineestateagent.comor for more information on this superb low cost, fixed online estate agency service please visit www.myonlineestateagent.com or call 0845 434 6080.