What The Facts Reveal

A couple of interesting pieces of news today for property investors. First inflation. It has dropped for the month of October from 5.2% down to 4.5%.   This does not sound significant but, historically, for a monthly movement, this is a large movement in the numbers. It is also crucial for the Bank of England.  Why? Because a key lever for managing the economy is the rate of interest. We normally look at the published interest rate known as base rates....

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Don't write off Les Anglo-Saxones!

Much blood letting and introspection has been occurring as the financial crisis has led politicians and commentators to question some of the assumptions behind the workings of the Anglo-Saxon model of capitalism. Germans, Russians and others have, consequent to the crisis, been questioning the legitimacy of American leadership....

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The Russian Bear

Russia is an important country on the world stage. This is also a country that matters when it comes to world property markets because Russians invest a lot of money in property abroad. What happens in their markets impacts other countries....

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Control

The media still bombards us with the bad news. The Obama optimism lasted a mere week - like the odd aspirin after a night out....

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Obamas victory is an inspiration to us all

Before the magic of the Obama victory is forgotten in the midst of familiarity and the fog of political battle, I want to savour the brilliance of the moment and how Obama’s story glorifies all of us and underscores what is great about being human....

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The opportunities on our doorstep

They say that life goes in cycles. And sometimes this is very apparent. Alise and I started out in property investing in individual properties in the UK. We stopped investing in the UK in any significant way in December 2003. There was still some value to be had in 2004 but it was clear to me that market was getting very exuberant and was rapidly losing touching with underlying economic reality....

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Wolseley

Here's another example of our gloomy recession hit nation.  I was in London today to have lunch with....

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For Some Historical Insights Recall the Internet Crash of 2001

Looking at the past is sometimes helpful when it comes to understanding and gaining some perspective on the present. Remember March 2001? We had just experienced an incredible bull run on the markets and Lastminute.com had just floated and successfully raised loads of money....

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Argentina

I have been asked by a few people as to what is going on in Argentina. First I will present the facts. Then I will explain what the President is attempting to do and how this sits with some perspective of Argentinean economic history. Finally I will explain the impact these events could have on our development in Mendoza, Argentina....

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Toxic assets, great crashes, depressions, how are we all managing to get up in the morning?

I believe that is it well overdue for us to be thinking less about those toxic assets and more about things we can control, namely flushing out the overwhelming toxic thinking circulating at present...

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