We all knew this day would come, as change is inevitable; but many of us have been surprised that it took this long for things to turn the other way. Today the marketplace is significantly different and affecting all major sectors of the economy, with slowing business growth, falling house prices and difficult credit conditions dramatically altering consumer spending and confidence.

Outside of the financial sector, homeowners and potential home buyers are paying most attention to the grim news circulating around Britain’s media. This is a time for information gathering and measured thinking, not rash decisions and blunt generalisations. Whatever your view on the current state of the economy and housing market, it cannot be ignored.

Britain is more vulnerable to an economic slowdown because of the high levels of debt held by many households that are well used to the widespread spending that typified the good years. Now higher interest rates have seen spending replaced with more cautious behaviour as more people become aware of the perils of these uncertain times.

The high cost of housing in the last decade has not helped as house prices have not really corresponded to income levels. People now have little to be optimistic about as house prices suffer their sharpest monthly falls since the early 1990s, down 11% compared to this time last year, 2007.

Hundreds of thousands of homeowners are looking to renegotiate or compare mortgages, only to find that their choice of available deals has decreased dramatically and average borrowing costs have risen sharply as banks struggle to cope with high lending rates and falling profits.

New buyers looking to get their foot onto the property ladder don’t fare much better when comparing mortgages. 100% mortgages are, for now anyway, a thing of the past while average two-year fixed-rate deals are less attractive than previous years and new mortgage lending has fallen to a 15-year low.

This property malaise has swept across the US and UK and is rapidly affecting other countries too as news of mortgage brokers, estate agents and house builders shedding jobs due to lack of demand is now common place in the national media.

It is understandable to wish to turn away from the somber news of negative equity, repossessions, and mortgage struggles but now is an important time to take stock, examine your spending and speak to your financial advisor. Patience and reliable information are key, it is important to acknowledge that this is a period of change, but also to remain upbeat as after the rain, there is always sunshine.

Adam Singleton writes for a digital marketing agency. This article has been commissioned by a client of said agency. This article is not designed to promote, but should be considered professional content.

Largely, the answer often depends on the person; you may have different values to the conventional home buying route. One reason for continuing to rent is the fact you have more freedom as a tenant, and will not find yourself tied to a scary mortgage contract with six figures written on it.

However, paying rent means that technically you are making your landlord better off, rather than contributing towards your own investment as you would be with a mortgage. Many refer to renting as throwing money down the drain; however, renting can initially be much cheaper than buying.

As a tenant there are no hidden costs and you know where you stand – you simply pay the regular rent each month and, apart from the odd bit of furniture as an investment, that will generally be all you pay for the roof over your head.

Buying comes with added costs; some mortgage lenders now charge arrangement fees, on top of several other costs that must be paid, such as stamp duty and surveys. These all add up and you could find yourself priced out of buying if you are not careful and forget to budget for all eventualities.

However, there is nothing quite like owning your own home. Yes the initial costs may be more than renting, but once these are out of the way, mortgage repayments are often similar - if not cheaper - than rent would be on the same property. What’s more, as a homeowner you can relax and do what you like in your own home - get a dog, smoke if or re-decorate, among other things. As a tenant you must abide by your landlord’s rules and there may be certain restrictions applicable to your tenancy.

One advantage of renting over buying is the cost of household repairs. If your water pipe bursts, or your roof leaks while you are renting a property, it is up to the landlord to foot the bill for repairs, whereas if this happens to you once you have taken out a mortgage, paying for repairs becomes your own responsibility.

But, if you are looking for a long-term home, buying may be the best option, as renting can be rather unreliable due to eviction risks and short tenancy agreements. Most private landlords only offer rolling six months tenancy agreements which are often subject to a satisfactory inspection at the time of the renewal of the tenancy; whereas local council and housing association tenancies are usually long-term leases, providing of course the tenant maintains rent payments.

There are pros and cons to both renting and buying a property, and the final decision about which route is best suitable depends on your own personal circumstances and whether you seek long-term security or not. It is also worth bearing in mind the housing market at the time as it may affect your decision if house prices are unstable.

Adam Singleton writes for a digital marketing agency. This article has been commissioned by a client of said agency. This article is not designed to promote, but should be considered professional content.

There are obvious benefits to being the owner of your home; the biggest being financial. Rather than renting and giving away money to a landlord each month, every payment you make is an investment taking you one step closer to completely owning your property.

Whilst renting is often seen as a temporary measure, some choose to do so for long periods of time. This means that sometimes your plans can be affected by other people’s desires – for example if your landlord bumps the price up because he wants more than what he agreed with you, then you might be left in the lurch as you may no longer be able to afford his new prices. He may also decide that renting out property is too much of a burden and decide to cash in. If you’re not ready to buy then this could leave you scouring the market again.

Another advantage to buying is that you get to make the rules for your home. With no landlord to answer to, or make requests to, you can live in as much squalor or as much luxury as you like. With no monthly inspections you can live as messily as you want – perfect for students– and if something gets broken you don’t need to wait for someone else to organise a replacement or someone to repair it. This is also true of upgrades – if you want a fancy new fridge to replace the slightly old, slightly odd smelling thing in the corner of your kitchen a landlord may be reluctant to replace it whilst it’s still, technically, in working order.

Redecorating is another important factor, and something that can really make a place feel like home, rather than just somewhere you happen to live. Again, this is an expense many landlords will feel is unnecessary, but is an exercise which many do as soon as they buy.

Whilst renting can be a good way to get to know a new city or a particular area or suburb, if you are looking to stay in one place then long-term buying is generally seen as the best option. It may be that your landlord is looking to sell and you can turn this to your advantage. They may not always want to sell, but finding someone who does want to get rid of their home shouldn’t necessarily be too hard.

Every city has countless estate agents, each with a vast array of houses for sale and, after checking with your bank manager or a mortgage lender as to what your budget should be, you will be able to get your keys and buy your own ‘home, sweet home’ doormat.

Adam Singleton writes for a digital marketing agency. This article has been commissioned by a client of said agency. This article is not designed to promote, but should be considered professional content.

Let’s not forget that landlord software also covers tasks covered by letting agents as well as those encountered private landlords.

So, what must a good landlord software package do? Well, it needs to organize information about tenants and properties logically. Encourage a workflow that speeds up the day-to-day running of a rental portfolio.

It must include legal template documents, for example, a Tenancy Agreement and Guarantee of Tenancy at a minimum. Year-on-year the UK introduces new rules and regulations to ensure Tenants and Landlords are protected. For example, we have seen the introduction of the Tenant Deposit Scheme and new HMO regulations to quote a few. The software must reflect these changes and be able to update itself.

Any landlord software must help the user not frustrate them! Like all good software packages it must not force the user to fill in every last detail. It must allow the user to use as little or as much of the package as required. The backbone of any good landlord software application is a good diary and task facility that ensures important events and jobs do not get forgotten. It must integrate tasks and ensure that it does a better job than using disparate packages like Word or Excel. An essential task is getting an advert of each property online with as little fuss as possible.

Put simply, landlord software packages are useful software tools to help landlords and letting agents manage their rental portfolios in the digital age. However, they must also include relevant legal documents to help successfully run a rental portfolio.

Babai has not paid a penny in mortgage repayments since January 1993, but judges in the court of appeal decided that squatter’s rights enable him to claim the property outright, after Nat West bank took too long in their attempts to enforce repossession. This decision means that the bank must now write off the mortgage on the property in Stockport, although they are considering an appeal to the House of Lords in a final last-ditch attempt to overturn the Court of Appeal ruling.

Nat West first made a formal demand to recover its outstanding debt in 1992, following which Babai agreed to repay his mortgage at the rate of £40 per month. However, after making only a handful of payments, Nat West failed to take any further steps towards repossession. In the absence of any action by the bank Babai and his family continued to live in the house, without paying any further mortgage repayments.

Some seven years later, Babai wrote to Nat West’s solicitors outlining his hopeless financial situation, and still Nat West did nothing. The court ruled that because action started in 1992 it was now ‘time-barred’ and ruled that the mortgage debt of £165,000 be instantly wiped out, making ‘squatters’ Djabar Babai and wife Zinat outright owners of the property.

Nat West lawyers argued that by awarding the property to the Babais the court would encourage lenders to come down harder on those falling behind with mortgage payments, but the judge’s dismissed that argument, saying that the bank failed to take appropriate action over 16 years, not a number of months.

This decision has some interesting implications, not least of which affect Babai and his credit worthiness. As he was declared bankrupt in 1994, that information will now have disappeared from his credit reports, and because the repossession action is now struck out by the high court that too will disappear from his credit file. So, with assets of over £200,000 and no or minimal debt, Babai should be able to rebuild his credit score extremely quickly, and maybe start a new business using his house as collateral.

His future certainly looks far brighter than it did one year ago. From being in an almost hopeless financial situation Babai now has the world at his feet, pending any decision from Nat West to make a final appeal to the House of Lords. Until the bank declares its intentions Babai will be no doubt be keeping his fingers crossed that his newly acquired property remains his!

Until recently there were only three 18-hole golf courses in the whole of Bulgaria, and even the oldest of those had only been open for seven years; but now developers are actively constructing six more quality golf courses across the country using them as the centrepiece for extensive and elaborate property developments.

Several star names from the world of golf have become the driving force behind the new Bulgarian developments. Ex-Ryder cup captain Ian Woosnam has designed two of the new courses currently under construction, while Gary Player has his signature on a couple, and the remaining two have been designed by less well-known golf architects.

Of the three existing courses in the country, two are near Sofia and the other is close to the Black Sea coast. The St. Sofia Golf Club & Spa in Ravno Pole is only a 15 minute drive from the centre of the Bulgarian capital and is frequently used to host business conferences as well as welcoming golfers and holidaymakers.

Slightly farther away, the first course ever built in Bulgaria is at the Air Sofia Golf Club, located 25 miles outside Sofia at Ihtiman, just off the Trakia E-80 highway. Over the last four years the development has been extensively improved and is now home to the prestigious Air Sofia Hotel and Country Club. This par-71, 5,810-metre course is often described as the Balkan’s best kept secret and as well as golf, guests can also enjoy an extensive range of other sports and leisure facilities at the first-ever custom-built golf resort in Bulgaria.

The only other golf course currently open in Bulgaria is the Sliven Golf Course which is a 55-mile drive from the Black Sea coast in the heart of the countryside. This relatively new and challenging par-71 golf course was opened in May 2004, at 6,010 yards is the longest in Bulgaria and offers spectacular views of the Balkans from the fairways.

Since Bulgaria entered the European community many hundreds of thousands of UK holidaymakers have visited the country, attracted by the appealing combination of low prices, cheap flights, superb Black Sea resorts and excellent Balkan skiing. And although most UK holidaymakers have headed for the beach or the slopes up to now, if new golf developments continue to be built at their current pace many more will be opting to take a golf holiday in Bulgaria, itching to test their ability against the brand new courses.

Until recently there were only three 18-hole golf courses in the whole of Bulgaria, and even the oldest of those had only been open for seven years; but now developers are actively constructing six more quality golf courses across the country using them as the centrepiece for extensive and elaborate property developments.

Several star names from the world of golf have become the driving force behind the new Bulgarian developments. Ex-Ryder cup captain Ian Woosnam has designed two of the new courses currently under construction, while Gary Player has his signature on a couple, and the remaining two have been designed by less well-known golf architects.

Of the three existing courses in the country, two are near Sofia and the other is close to the Black Sea coast. The St. Sofia Golf Club & Spa in Ravno Pole is only a 15 minute drive from the centre of the Bulgarian capital and is frequently used to host business conferences as well as welcoming golfers and holidaymakers.

Slightly farther away, the first course ever built in Bulgaria is at the Air Sofia Golf Club, located 25 miles outside Sofia at Ihtiman, just off the Trakia E-80 highway. Over the last four years the development has been extensively improved and is now home to the prestigious Air Sofia Hotel and Country Club. This par-71, 5,810-metre course is often described as the Balkan’s best kept secret and as well as golf, guests can also enjoy an extensive range of other sports and leisure facilities at the first-ever custom-built golf resort in Bulgaria.

The only other golf course currently open in Bulgaria is the Sliven Golf Course which is a 55-mile drive from the Black Sea coast in the heart of the countryside. This relatively new and challenging par-71 golf course was opened in May 2004, at 6,010 yards is the longest in Bulgaria and offers spectacular views of the Balkans from the fairways.

Since Bulgaria entered the European community many hundreds of thousands of UK holidaymakers have visited the country, attracted by the appealing combination of low prices, cheap flights, superb Black Sea resorts and excellent Balkan skiing. And although most UK holidaymakers have headed for the beach or the slopes up to now, if new golf developments continue to be built at their current pace many more will be opting to take a golf holiday in Bulgaria, itching to test their ability against the brand new courses.

Until now fixed rate and discounted mortgage products have offered rates usually one per cent below the standard variable rate, making them attractive to borrowers. Once the discounted period of the mortgage expired it was cheaper in the long run to take out another two or three year fixed rate or discounted mortgage product than stick with a SVR mortgage. But, now the rates of the discounted products have increased and the arrangement fees have shot up well past the rate of inflation, making them more expensive in the long run.

Financial institutions were initially happy to promote the discounted products as loss leaders that wouldn’t start to make profits for them until they reverted to SVR after two or three years. But, as more borrowers became savvy to the fact they could switch mortgages at the end of the promotional period with no penalty, banks and building societies gradually increased their arrangement fees in order, they say, to cover their costs.

The increase in arrangement fees was already making cheaper, promotional mortgages more expensive, but the global credit crunch has also had a significant impact as financial institutions have to pay more to borrow the money they lend as mortgages, meaning that now longer-term deals would be best for many borrowers. According to price-comparison site Moneyfacts, arrangement fees for new loans have doubled in the past two years; from an average £411 in 2005 to £827 this year but arrangement fees of £1,500 to £2,000 are not uncommon. In some cases paying the high fees can be worth it, particularly for those with larger mortgages, but only on products with competitive rates.

Because of the fee increases and interest rate rises, astute mortgage brokers have calculated that some of the best five-year deals on offer are now cheaper than the worst of the two-year deals. Even lifetime trackers are only marginally more expensive than short-term products, due to banks and building societies protecting their profit margins by cutting the short-term discounts on offer.

In a market that has over 3,000 different products on offer, brokers and industry expects are advising any would-be mortgage switchers to weigh up the overall cost of the product over its lifetime and factor-in items such as arrangements fees, especially if they are added to the mortgage, before committing to a new deal. Even though the headline rate of a longer-term product looks more expensive, a longer –term mortgage would actually work out cheaper in the long-term.

Adam Singleton is an online, freelance journalist and keen gardener. He lives in Scotland with his two dogs.

Mintel says that it’s not just those with poor credit records who are being assessed as ‘risky’, but those who move home regularly and the self-employed. After carrying out a thorough analysis of the nation’s entire mortgage book they have concluded that almost one in ten of the UK’s 16.5 million mortgage holders would be classified as sub-prime borrowers. Almost another one in four can be classified as non-standard borrowers; these are people who may be self-employed, have irregular income or have fallen behind on regular payments and therefore fall into the ‘high-risk’ category.

Because of the perilous state of the financial markets following the mortgage crisis in the US, people who are not in traditional, financially secure situations will become the first casualties of the tighter lending criteria imposed by lenders. Homeowners in that category will now face increased fees and higher interest rates if they move or attempt to remortgage.

However, it is ironic that more people are moving into the so-called ‘non-standard’ mortgages category due to changing circumstances, such as increasing levels of divorce and self-employment, just as the estimated £125billion market becomes more expensive, and loans become harder to obtain. Many lenders are already withdrawing products such as bad credit mortgages, and seeking to improve the margins on their remaining lending portfolios. It’s unlikely that borrowers in the ‘non-standard’ category will be unable to compare mortgage products favourably against traditional mortgages; the interest rates will be higher and the supply severely restricted, as lenders become more risk averse.

Senior Finance Analyst at Mintel, Toby Clark said: “Sub-prime borrowers form only the tip of the ice-berg. As lenders become increasingly cautious, mortgage-holders will be offered less than favourable terms when they need to remortgage. As many will not be able to afford the increases, we may see millions suffer.”

Clark points out that the amount of standard mortgage holders of two and three year fixed rate deals due to expire shortly, will only make the situation worse. Many will find that arrangement fees and interest rates are dramatically higher than when they took out their original deals. In some cases borrowers will be unable to afford the increased payments and could be facing the spectre of repossession.

Paul McIndoe is an online, freelance journalist and keen hillwalker. He lives in Edinburgh with his two dogs.