Here comes the Sun!

I suspect most of us feel our hearts lift with the lighter nights and warmer weather and I’m no exception, I love the seasons and while I love to play in the snow I am always very happy to see the sun peeking out from behind our clouds and the flowers bloom.

Last week was really good fun for me and I met some inspirational business associates. At Sunsplash we don’t believe in competitors but collaborators and so with that in mind I have been busy meeting with and signing up some excellent collaborators.

First, I met Lisa, a woman of amazing energy and focus. Lisa is the founder and Managing Director of Boodles Ltd, am award winning book-keeper service also offering training and software. Lisa was full of ideas and business opportunities and it was a privilege to spend time with her before she headed off to a photoshoot for yet another award she and her business had won!

After this meeting I met Kiran Singh Kiran is an interior designer, event planner and TV producer. She is one of those creative types who is quite literally brimming over with ideas. We had already decided that Kiran shall start to play a pivotal role within Sunsplash Media and TV but the purpose of our meeting was to plan ways in which she and I could work together. I left the meeting with a long ‘To Do’ list which included preparing advertising material for TV and radio, planning an event on 9th July and to start to write a monthly column for her online magazine ‘Vivacious’. I’ll keep you all posted on how these things ventures progress but it’s certainly an exciting time and I suspect Kiran and her huge energy and enthusiasm will keep me very busy over the coming months.

Next on the list was to review some properties which had recently become available in the Algarve and the Silver Coast of Portugal. I was very excited to hear that a list of stock was being made available to me via a new contact, most of which was being sold below market value. I wanted to check it out and make sure it was all that it seemed so arranged a meeting with the Company who had sourced the stock. I’m a great fan of Portugal and would love to live there one day. In fact we were out there in February and are planning a trip in July. For me it has an abundance of pros’ which include;

1. close enough to the UK to commute back and forth,
2. has great all year round weather,
3. has a strong sense of its own culture and identity,
4. is safe,
5. is economical (you get a lot of property for your euro)
6. has sound secure rentability
7. is a ‘half way house’ between Europe and Brazil.

I could go on but in essence there think there are some great deals to be had and thanks to this meeting I now have a bank of great deals; villas starting from €200,000. Please contact me for further details on these Portugese bargains.

The week drew to a close with a Sunsplash Dinner party for colleagues, clients and friends. Every quarter we get together for a social where we enjoy some good food and wine. The weekend passed by in a whirl with me helping Marcus in his garden, it’s funny cos gardening always reminds me of the days as a kid when my Mum used to make me and my sisters sit for hours on end picking out weeds or collecting berries from the trees in the garden. As a child I hated it and thought it was the most boring thing ever to do in my spare time (imagine sulky child face complaining loudly!) Now I’m getting older (ahem) I realise I quite like gardening and living in my urban flat in central London I really miss the green space.

With that in mind I took some time out yesterday to view some lovely little garden cottages in High Barnet, still close enough to get into London in 30 minutes but more room for me and my cats to make a mess in and I even get my own bit of garden at the rear! Bliss!

I called a letting agent to let my own place out in North London and much to my amazement all day today prospective tenants were quite literally queuing up to view it. Before my flat had even been advertised for let the agent had found a tenant and it seems I am moving to greener parts in a few weeks. Much thanks have to go to Angels Worldwide, my letting agent for looking after me so well.

Now I REALLY can’t wait till the sun comes – let’s just hope it decides to stay this time!

Best wishes and great week to all, I’m off to find some packing boxes!

Laura

Home is where the cats are!!!

I'm pleased to say this week has been very busy and productive. It was filled with all the usual stuff; meeting clients, signing contracts, helping my clients buy properties overseas, attending training course on developments (in particular some very exciting ones in Brazil & St Lucia, if you'd like some details on those please click here to contact me).

However, one thing I did this week which turned out really well was my "Buy a House – House Party". Bit of an unusual concept. Basically we'd become a bit tired of all the same old same old property seminars. There are so many property companies out there hiring hotel rooms, serving tepid tea and soggy biscuits that we thought we'd try something a little different. My view is that connections should come first, business after. By connections I mean 'real' connections, the type where you genuinely get to know a person and build trust and confidence in them and what they do.

So what we did was copy the age old format from the 'Tupperware Parties' (if you can remember those!?) The format is simple; invite some clients to my home, provide some nice food and drinks, have a SHORT presentation by one of our developers (plus a very knowledgeable pension advisor) and sit back and see what happens. Well what happened was a very enjoyable evening where we successfully managed to mix both business and pleasure. I had a great time and after some great feedback from those who came along will definitely be hosting these nights regularly.

Talking of parties, Sunsplash Homes are hosting a dinner for friends and clients in London on 24^th April – if you would like to join us please click here to book your place.


Anyway, after a busy working week I was looking forward to a relaxing weekend and collecting my new cat; Eddie. Eddie was a stray cat I found a few weeks back. When I found him he was bashed and bruised after too many fights so after a few weeks of recuperation with the cat's protection league he was ready to be homed. When no owners came forward I couldn't help but want to take the little guy home to live with me. He is currently curled up asleep in my office – looking as if he's lived here for years!


This week the old adage "home is where the heart is" has certainly proved true, for both clients and cats!!! Until the next time have a great week!

An Interesting Day...

I had an interesting day yesterday. In the morning I drove to Muswell Hill in North London for a breakfast meeting with my friend Geraldine McMahon. Geraldine is a coach who specialises in helping people find their aim and passion in life. People who are perhaps scared to take that 'leap of faith' to lead a life with their true passion in mind. She and I relate with each other as we each spent several years working in very stressful environments before finding something more enjoyable; she as a TV producer on a well known chat show and me as a litigation lawyer!

Anyway, we had a lovely breakfast catch up and agreed that we were in the ideal place to cross refer clients. She with clients looking to buy property overseas and me with clients and friends looking for a coach.

You can have a look at Geraldine’s website here . I can wholeheartedly recommend her as a good and kind soul who will help you find your passion in life.

After the meeting I headed back to my office, it was such a glorious sunny day I wasn't in too much of a hurry and on the way received a call from a client seeking copies of my calculations for rental return and capital growth for a property he has bought in Barbados.

Back at my desk I settled down to review the figures before sending them on to him. I knew they were good (had prepared them last month after my Caribbean inspection trip) but had forgotten just how good they really were. I decided to double check the figures and comparables.

In essence, what I confirmed was that the property my client was buying in Barbados had an instant equity of over £130K and could reasonably earn him a rental return of £40K per annum. Ideal for him as he has become increasingly tired of the daily drudgery of his day job and dreams of running his own business.

My client was delighted with the info I sent over and told me he can now really see his dream of being self-employed and financially free coming true. It occurred to me that this was exactly what Geraldine’s clients might be looking for; a property investment to give them an income to enable them to leave their day to day jobs and live the life of their dreams!

After my chat with Mr Client I turned my attention to plans we were putting in place for a charity climb up Mount Kilimanjaro. My Partner Marcus climbed it last year and motivated by him and the comic relief team we decided to organise a 'Sunsplash Climb’ in 2010.

To my amazement a good friend of mine; Sarah, then emailed me completely out of the blue to say she and 7 others were planning to climb Killi in 2010. I told her of our plan to do it in aid of a Kenyan orphanage we sponsor and she agreed it sounded like an excellent idea.

On reflection it occurred to me that this had been a very special day, one full of interesting coincidences, overlaps and synchronicity. I couldn't help but realise, if I hadn't taken my own 'leap of faith' a few years back and followed my own dream then my day might have been very different indeed. The question might follow for anyone reading this note; have you taken your own leap of faith yet? If yes, has it worked out for you? If you havent then I only have three little words (to quote a well known brand); "Just do it!"

Blessings to all over the upcoming Easter festivities.

Laura.

Welcome!

Welcome to my first blog posting!
This is something I've been intending to do for a while but this year has been so hectic I just hadn't sat down and started blogging.

So today is the day that all changes and the reason for it is simple. I am lucky enough to have a job that I absolutely love. I feel so inspired by what I do every day and if I can convey even a tiny proportion of that on here then I am sure that might help someone out there in their property search.

I get to travel across the globe looking at property developments, I work with a fabulously inspiring team at Sunsplash Homes http://sunsplashhomes.com I help my clients secure safe and profitable property investments and at the end of all of that we build homes for the homeless as a social enterprise.

What more could I ask than that?

I shall write here regularly with updates of all that I've learned and seen so please check back here often.
Best wishes!
Laura