The Association of Relocation Professionals

News Digest June 07
By Annie Panton

I don’t really know where to start!

HIPs; Buy to Let landlords trying to avoid tax; the growth in the market and in the same breath, signs that the UK market is slowing; first time buyers anguish about stepping on to the first run of the ladder; demand for rented homes rising more than the supply in the first quarter of 2007 but at the same time house prices rising, creating lower yields for landlords. See The Times www.timesonline.co.uk for more information

HIPs

HIPs is probably the story that will rumble on for some time and here is a reminder of where we stand at the moment:

Ross Clark in the Telegraph 26th May – commenting on the HIP’s fiasco declared that ‘it has threatened to slow down the buying and selling process and make gazumping all the more likely.’
The Government were forced to put back the start date of HIP’s from 1st June to 1st August and to apply the process only to properties with four or more bedrooms until further notice.
Towards the end of May, the RICS forced a Judicial Review on Energy Performance Certificates, the most controversial element of HIP’s, which has forced the UK Government to delay the legislation pending the Review.
There are not enough qualified assessors to carry out the work at this stage anyway – making the Government and in particular Ruth Kelly, the Communities Secretary (funny title!) look foolish to say the least.
The professionals in the property business have been critical of HIP’s for some long time on the basis that they might affect the market; mortgage lenders insistence that they would continue to carry out their own valuations before making mortgage offers etc.
If you have any comments, let’s hear about them from a relocation perspective.

PowerPoint

I just had to report on this as I am sure a lot of readers will agree with new research that declares PowerPoint to be a waste of time. We humans are apparently unable to take in information from two places at the same time – the spoken word and (very often) having to read impossibly small print that someone has squeezed on to a PowerPoint slide. I say good riddance – we use it too much and would be much better off without it!

The article I read in The Times gave tips to would-be ‘PowerPoint-free’ presenters from Templar Advisors Ltd., who suggest talking in measured tones at a speed that allows the audience to digest the information. Key messages backed up by evidence are the answer, apparently, together with stories, anecdotes and ‘the use of hands’ – which I thought was wonderful. There’s no doubt that presenting our messages in the right way is also a great persuasion technique.

Trials of Trailing Spouses

An article in the Economist caught my eye as we so often talk about the ‘trailing spouse’. Times are changing though – a large number of American diplomatic posts are now ‘unaccompanied’ – classed as too dangerous for children and sometimes for spouses.
Individuals who are single or divorced are therefore in a strong position to climb up the ladder and some are claiming that these are not necessarily the best or the brightest people but instead are those with the right mentality to sign up for the roughest, toughest unaccompanied posts in some of the most dangerous parts of the world.
In Europe, it’s different – where many diplomats can commute and go home at weekends. Many Governments have cut back on diplomatic allowances, which has lead to partners earnings becoming a vital part of the overall family budget – something we’ve all known about for years in the corporate sector – but it’s apparently coming home to roost in the diplomatic area too.
Solutions to this problem are quite interesting, apparently. The wife of America’s ambassador to Greece has a job – she is America’s ambassador to Albania, the country next door!! Another married couple served recently as British ambassadors to Austria and Slovakia respectively. I also read that one ambassador rotates the job with his wife so that they don’t have to move from their home country!

MondaytoFriday.com

Do take a look at this web site - as it might help some of you in your search for accommodation on behalf of people moving on commuter assignments. The concept has been receiving considerable National Press interest in recent months – if you need more information do let me know at annie@quintusconsultants.com

Today's News

The Telegraph reports today that more than half of the managers of small and medium size businesses find it more difficult to run a successful company than they did three years ago – with a third of them saying that customers were more demanding and colleagues wanting faster response times. I’m sure this applies to our industry too!!
And added to this – we spend about 2 hours a day dealing with emails – according to another survey – with a third of the emails being totally irrelevant!
And finally – Tesco is apparently planning to take on high street solicitors by launching a property conveyancing service – talk about a one stop shop!!!