If i 'give you' 300,000 Euros.....

[Laquitar]

how would you invest it?

a) The money is still in euros. Would you exchange straight now regarding of buying or not? Is the current rate the best we could get?

b) Would you buy now or wait for prices to fall more? (please bear in mind that this will not be a 'home' for us to live but invesment and rent income).

c) where in london would you buy and what type of property (again bear in mind that is for rental, so not where would you like to live but where would you invest?).

We are most familiar with North london and thinking to buy in area that is cheap now but maybe will increase value in few years (Palmers Green='the new muswell hill'?, Stroud Green='the new Crouch End'?, Kentish town='the new Camden'? What do you think of this? Other suggestions? (any part of london)

Sorry for so many questions and many thanks in advance.

And you a woman Swede?

have to say tdiddy wasnt the best disguise!

HerHonesty- i know. Namechange is only a disguise from DS searching me MN but I had expected to be recognised by insiders.

no! cheeky bugger.

DOn't think he has tried but we let him know who I am and then regretted it. DOn't want to leave a trail for him.

I am back!

Thank you all!

Kentmum,
yes i think it is possible-we've seen few flats in North London, luxurious ones, 2 bed 2 bath, for much less. But i am now also flirtng with her Honesty's idea and am going to check the market in Central London aswell.

HerHonesty,
i agree. I would like more rental income if i 'm going to invest this ammount of money. But i could compromise on rental income -for now - if the property has pontenional (sp?)to add lot value in the next years. (and this is why i was looking for 'upcoming' areas in my op). Ideally something with good rental income Plus the potenional to increase its value. am i asking too much?

Tdiddy,
very interesting post but like chinese to me [thick emotion]. Dh is now back in uk but we had a mad weekend. when we find few minutes in piece i will show him your posts as he is more brainy than me.

P.S. i think i have confused you with locations. Basically we have duel residence - homes/business here and in europe. Untill recently we ve spent more time of the year abroad and less here in uk. Now eldest son will start school (in uk) so will spent more time here and less in europe. We have a family home in london, so the new one will be purely for investment. it doesn't have to suit our needs and likes, only what can make the most money.

Understood- didn't want to put all the detail in the post and make even more boring but if you are interested in clearer explanation /more detail then I am g=happy to provide. Howvere, my main points are:

1)I think that a basket of oil, shares (say FTSE) etc has better prospects than property in the next few years

2)Such a basket is easier to manage and more liquid than property

3)The reason why people have made good money from property in the past is the concept of gearing i.e. buying a big asset with a small deposit. Well it is possible to do that with shares, oil, commodities as mentioned above.

BUT if you are committed to coming back and will need to buy a house anyway that you may want to take that route and buy it now if you are quite sure where you want to live. You should consider though that ideal location for investment property might not be where you choose to live.

best wishes

tdiddy i am sort of with you. lots of people forget that you get dividends with shares and capital growth. i have shares and property. by heck its nice when i get a dividend cheque without having to deal with annoying tenants!

That's right HerHonesty . And shares have fallen by more than property so I think buying the FTSE around 4000 is a better bet than buying property at current levels; if you are cash buyer of either.

If you compare buying shares cash with gearing property then you may have more upside/downside with property. However, it is possible to gear shares as mentioned above.

I am not anti-property as I have property other than main house but I am looking at oil, shares and fx. Fx can be a bit risky though!

Laquitar- not to confuse things too much but if your affairs/assets/income/liabilities are in span EUR/GBP then there is possibility to loc in exchange rates that you are happy with especially if you have idle cash lying around.

The concepts aren't too difficult but it does require working through to be comfortable.

UK Housing update:

According to figures published by RICS, enquiries by would-be homebuyers are translating more frequently into purchases. Newly agreed sales are rising more widely across the market than at any point since data were first collected in 1999 (FT). But most significantly, the seasonally adjusted net price balance of surveyors reporting falling rather than rising prices improved from -43.8 in May to ?18.1 in June. Although the balance remains negative, it is the highest reading since September 2007.

Still no need to rush in as things will slow in the autumn, i think.....