Making money from your home

These days many people are finding it difficult to sell their homes, largely because there is a shortage of buyers fuelled by lack of mortgage availability and low consumer confidence amongst would be buyers. The scrapping of the controversial Home Information Packs by the coalition government resulted in more people wanting to put their properties up for sale, but the low level of interest from buyers may have put many sellers in a difficult position.

Whilst it may be difficult for sellers to actually get their properties sold in the current climate there are ways in which it may be possible to make some money from the property if a decision is made to take it off the market until conditions improve. For some people this could be a viable way to clear some more of the mortgage whilst the property market improves.

Hiring out a room to a friend

Many people probably know of a friend, colleague, or even a family member who may be looking for a place to live, and offering a room out to such a person could help out the friend or family member and bring in some more money to pay the bills and mortgage. For many this is a great solution because they are sharing with someone that they know rather than a complete stranger but at the same time will still be able to make some money to make the mortgage and bill payments each month.

Taking in a lodger

In the current climate many people are struggling to afford a mortgage or even to rent a property of their own, and this has resulted in many looking for just a room to rent. If you do not have a problem offering up a room to someone that you do not know personally then taking in a lodger could be a good way to make money on your property. You could advertise your room, or you may find that there are people that place adverts to say that they are looking for a room.

Look at local amenities

It is a good idea to look at local amenities in your area, as you may find that there are colleges, universities, schools, or hospitals nearby where students, teachers, or doctors and nurses may be looking for local accommodation close to their work. Again, it may be a good idea to advertise if you are willing to rent out a room or you may find that those looking for accommodation place adverts themselves, enabling you to contact them.

Tags: position, room, property, scrapping, month, money, accommodation, mortgage

FSA investigation leads to two arrests

An investigation into a so called boiler room operation by the Financial Services Authority has led to two arrests, according to a recent report.

The Financial Services Authority has been investigating claims of illegal share selling, which are known as boiler rooms, and after raids on a number of homes last week two men were arrested. The raids were carried out by the FSA along with police officers.

The two men arrested are thought to be involved with Universal Management Services (UMS), which is said to be a boiler room, which means a front for illegal share selling. It is thought that consumers that have fallen victim to this scam may have lost over £5 million collectively. Although these boiler rooms are usually operated from abroad, which means that the FSA cannot take action, the agency can act on those based and operated in the UK.

Reports claim that consumers were cold called in order to sell them the shares. Victims are talked into purchasing shares that are actually worthless of worth very little. The company responsible is not authorized by the FSA. The investigations started after a number of consumers complained about the pressure put on them by sales people, who then told purchasers to write cheques out to UMS.

Jonathan Phelan, head of retail enforcement at the FSA, stated: “This the first time we have taken this action and it shows that we will not hesitate to use our powers to protect consumers, including launching criminal investigations where appropriate.” As part of the investigation over £5 million worth of assets have been frozen, according to the report. The FSA also pointed out that there are at least four other companies with similar names in the UK but that they are not related to UMS.

Tom Smith
10th November 2007

Tags: criminal, fsa, dealings, dealer, services, room, shares, boiler, financial, authority

Insurers still have work to do

A new survey shows that most of us are pleased with the service we receive from insurers but many firms are still failing to deliver in specific areas.

The Association of British Insurers (ABI) asked thousands of people to take part in the Customer Impact survey and the results were generally positive.

However, despite the majority of customers (55 per cent) saying that they would be “extremely” or “very likely” to recommend their insurance firm to a friend, 20 per cent responded with a negative “not at all” or “not very likely”.

A massive 85 per cent of those questioned said that their company was easy to do business with, while 53 per cent were either “extremely” or “very satisfied” with the service they received.

Customers generally rated the insurance sales process as “very good” or “excellent”, with 58 per cent of people responding in this way.

Despite these positive figures, customers said that the thing most lacking in the sales process is clarity of information at the point of sale.

In addition, the complaints process was also highlighted as being in need of fine tuning, with four per cent of people having complained in the last 12 months and 50 per cent of these describing the handling of their complaint as “poor”.

“This year’s survey shows a strong position in several areas, and room for improvement in others,” said Stephen Sklaroff from ABI.

“Each company will review their own performance against the industry results, and where necessary take action to improve.”

Tags: percentage, year, British Insurers, industry results, economics, Impact, room, sale.In addition

Home Insurance Advice

If you have a mortgage you will already have Buildings insurance for your home. This is required to replace anything connected to your home that will affect the valuation. This may include roof repairs, flooding, storm damage or damage to internal fittings such as kitchens, bathrooms or interior decor. Read more

Tags: home contents insurance, advice, room, jewelry, overall insured figure, home insurance, buildings insurance provider, finance