So the Premier League is back this weekend and for the first time in a long time there are more than two teams in the running to lift the title....
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div>So the Premier League is back this weekend and for the first time in a long time there are more than two teams in the running to lift the title. With the top three sides in the country all starting the 2013-14 season with new managers it does beg the question: “Who is going to come out on top?”
Moyes, I feel will need time to settle in to the role. Pellegrino will have to understand the Premier League style of play and get to grips with the tactics required to win this division. This leaves the “Chosen One” back at Stamford Bridge who has experience in both aspects of these areas and that is the reason I feel he will walk away on top this year.
For the rest of the league their season will hinge on some very key appointments or departures in the summer and New Year transfer markets. Liverpool and Spurs are by far the teams which could certainly make or break their season depending on the purchases or sales of Luis Suarez and Gareth Bale. You could certainly clear a lot of the debt selling these two, but will the fans care about the finances or will they simply want success?
With £40 million and the £85 million sums of money being bandied around it does raise a question over “value for money?” When Fernando Torres (£50 million) and Andy Carroll (£35 million) sold in the summer of 2011 to Chelsea and Liverpool; to say “complete waste of money” would have been a total understatement, I thought that the “you get what you pay for” philosophy would have been reconsidered by the owners of football clubs but alas no. So the gamble remains, £85 million is a lot of money who let’s face it could get injured or simply not gel well, either way it could be a great piece of business for Spurs.
Can you put an exact figure on the value of a footballer? It’s not too dissimilar to the question: “What is the value of a property?” And the answer is the same: “It is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it.”
Never is this truer than in the housing market over the past 10 years. The housing market place has been up and down as often as Cristiano Ronaldo in recent times and there have been some properties which have sold for more than you would think. There has been a single space car garages sold for £200,000 and public toilets selling for £65,000. These are the extremes of course but what is happening in the housing market currently?
It appears to have hit the bottom and in many areas there are actually steady increases, but is there more room to drop in some areas? There are of course still small pockets of the housing market performing well throughout the country such as St Albans, Winchester, and Alderley Edge etc. where there is still high demand and these are the areas which are bucking the trend since the credit crunch.
However, if you look at the major cities of the UK it is very much a different story. Government’s statistics in Q4 of 2012 estimate the number of empty properties in the England alone as near 715,000 with many of these in the North West region. Over the past 4 years this number is gradually decreasing from its peak of 780,120 in 2008. So, how can a property market increase whilst there are so many empty properties, surely simple supply and demand economics need to be reversed here?
The good news is property will always be in demand in the UK, after all, we are a nation of home owners historically and being an island unlike the rest of Europe, no one is making any more land to build on, so property will always be at a premium.
The lenders can, inadvertently, dictate a housing market’s growth also; where products are not available for certain types of properties this can restrict the development of a marketplace. With restrictive criteria from the high street lenders around property type, construction, age, height, usage and even in some instances location, it does leave the financial intermediary looking at secondary tier lenders to assist with the moving of the housing market. There are lenders out there that with a common sense approach who could certainly assist with the housing recovery if their restrictions didn’t extend to the type of property they secure against.
At the Blemain Group we can consider all types of property within its group companies. From residential, semi and fully commercial including land with and without planning permission and with no geographic restriction in England Scotland and Wales it makes a great additional lender to any intermediaries panel. Some recent properties we have offered on include cash valued dilapidated property bought at auction, a carp fishery, a golf course in Scotland, a semi commercial licensed shop with apartment above and a listed manor house. The property market is certainly an area that is fully understood and movement from the Auction room to the high street are monitored so we can understand new applications and ensure we can offer on all property types on a long term or short term lending solution.
So, for your ‘Lending’ Fantasy League team ensure your panel of lenders have plenty to offer your business. In case you were wondering, here’s my Fantasy League Team for the 2013-14season:
Cech, Baines, Mertesacker, Toure, Enrique, Gerrard, Kagawa, Sigurdsson, Lennon, Van Persie (C) and Lukaku = £50 million (all for a cheaper price than Bale!!). Have a good season everyone!
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