photo credit: easement

Technorati Tags: real estate, real estate investing, property, property investment

I’ve learnt valuable lessons about behavior through my current lack of funds, such as - not having two pennies to rub together makes me negotiate hard - because I have to. I give the impression of being a tough negotiator, when really I haven’t got the option to tread the middle ground. It’s all or nothing.

If I had the funds – I would have paid, as Formula 1 racing drivers would say – ‘for sure’. Yet in this game of chicken – which I didn’t realize I was playing – it’s the mortgage lenders who have blinked first.

To give you some background: After one of my properties was sold with a thumping great loss, the lender pursued me for the unsecured debt. Following a brief telephone call, I’m informed that the lender will accept a settlement of 50% of the total.

What’s wrong with education?

All the way through the repossession process I am reminded that our education system isn’t what it could be. My situation is down to a simple calculation – more money went out than came in. After a few months, I couldn’t make up the shortfall so I stopped paying the mortgage and the property was repossessed. So the lender in its infinite wisdom gets the village idiot to phone and ask if I can pay a cash settlement of tens of thousands of pounds, and guess what – I can’t.

Hard ball

Weeks and months go by with weekly calls requesting that we come to an agreement. Then we reach the end of the road. The lender sent a demand with the next step being bankruptcy. I call to discuss the situation and immediately the lender agrees to slash the debt by a further 50%, for an instant cash settlement. I explain my financial situation and the lender agrees to accept a few hundred pounds in full and final settlement. The lender has finally recognised that they are looking up the barrel of a gun, and so accepts something rather than nothing. I’m relieved that this battle is over, and look forward to many more soon.

What’s the lesson?

The lesson is: Always negotiate as you will be surprised by how much money you can save. It was easy for me, because like I said – there was no middle ground for me to tread.

This is a lesson learnt and one that I will use when I start to see better times ahead. The lesson for you is: Just because your not looking down the barrel of a gun, don’t think that you shouldn’t negotiate hard on anything. What’s the worst that could happen?

photo credit: dominiccampbell

More material for my ‘Ikerous’ blog arrives daily, without fail. This time it’s the turn of the credit card company. It wasn’t my intention to name any of my creditors, but I’ll make an exception if I it’s something you should know about.

I stopped paying my credit card bill a while back and now they’ve got to the point where they’re threatening to send the boyz round…literally. The letter basically says that I have two choices 1) pay the debt in full – ho bloody ho, or 2) come to an arrangement to pay an amount monthly. Neither of these options is viable in my situation as losses accrued on my 10 million pound property portfolio already exceed 1 million pounds.

Lottery funding is required

It’s got to the stage where it doesn’t even make sense to play the lottery each week - a win would be a waste of time. Losses are so high that there isn’t really any point in paying towards any debt. Will the credit card company be the ones to press the big ‘B’ for bankruptcy button? Every time I say ‘B’ I think of that bloody Belinda on Big Brother – not an entirely pleasant thought.

Credit thugs

Back to the letter – I have two options. Failure to accept either of these options the letter carries on, with regret I must add, that the debt will be sold to a third party debt collector who does door step visits – fantastic. Wouldn’t it be funny if I was Ricky Hatton…

The reality of the matter is that the credit card company in question isn’t really out of pocket. Like a fool I have left this card fully loaded for years, just paying the minimum monthly amount, so they’re probably in credit anyway. At least this won’t happen again for a while as credit isn’t really on the radar at the moment.

Technorati Tags: property, property investment, real estate, real estate investing

photo credit: Stepheye

When I agreed to write about my property investments gone wrong situation, I couldn’t be sure that I would have enough material. Then the post arrives followed half an hour later by a knock on the door - both make me paranoid - and new material ‘et arrivee’.

If this is happening to you – you have my sympathy - It would be easy to buckle and declare myself bankrupt. However: I have a feeling that I can get through this (and so can you) without falling on my sword. I might be totally wrong in my assumptions here – but so far - nobody has pushed the big ‘B’ button, which makes me wonder why.

Go ahead - shoot me

I think the real answer is money. Basically it costs the creditor money to file for a debtors bankruptcy. Unless the creditor is quite sure that bringing this action will give them some, if not all there money back, they probably won’t bother as they will throw good money after bad.

I like to try to put a positive spin on most things, but bankruptcy isn’t one of them. If I could do that – my next job would be with Saatchi and Saatchi, or in the Cabinet. However – like most threats they are only effective if you have something to lose, and frankly – I don’t. Which I feel has put me on the high ground - yeh right!

So if one of my creditors does decide to push the ‘B’ button, they will lose as I really haven’t got anything left to give.

The letter

Just like the fat bloke in the first Harry Potter film, I’ve grown to love Sunday – why? No mail. I believe the Royal Mail is considering stopping weekend mail altogether – Hurrah! I nearly cried tears of joy. It’s another one of those – we’ve just given away your property for nothing letters – asking me to make up the difference. I tell you – The Sultan of Brunei couldn’t make up the difference. This is the start of another round of phone calls with half wits no doubt. ‘Phone calls with half wits’ - could this be a hit TV series?

The Knock at the Door

It’s a chap I’ve grown to know and like, who has to serve me with more papers to attend court and explain why I haven’t made a payment on some other property that was given away. A day out - hurrah!

Technorati Tags: property, property investment, real estate, real estate investing

photo credit: Torley

I’m going to surprise you – I’m writing under a pseudonym - Ikerous isn’t my real name. I’ve chosen the name Ikerous for two reasons. Firstly it describes what I did, and secondly it allows me to write anonymously without the need to let you know my real name – Wilf Armitage.

Neither am I bitter or twisted following my fall from grace, and I’m not embarrassed. I’ve learnt a lot of lessons and I want to share my experience, so some can learn from it and avoid the mistakes I made.

The way we were

I built up a property portfolio with a value in the region of £10 million. All of it was new build city apartments, and I had some pretty impressive stuff – properties that I was really proud of, properties that I furnished to a fantastic standard. I bought at the top end dealing in the spectacular end of the market. It was great - I loved every minute of it, and I wouldn’t change a moment. I got top rents – I was flying, and I got some great deals.

When I got it right – it was really right

I got some fantastic property deals, and made a lot of money. Over the next few weeks I want to explain how I got those deals, and how you can too. When you get it right you can make more money in an afternoon than most people will make in ten years.

Why Ikerous?

I became Ikerous – I took my eye off the ball – didn’t pay attention and flew too close to the sun. I started to believe my own publicity – that’s when I fell off my pedestal. Now I fight a daily battle with property repossessions, and trying to stave off bankruptcy.

I’ll be back

As events unfold, and properties are repossessed I will tell you the story along with my opinion on the event, and the action I intend to take. I will recover from this mess, better for it and more likely to succeed.

Technorati Tags: real estate, real estate investing, property, property investment, financial