In honour of  a decade of business for Bradshaw Farnham and Lea, the Venmore Group will take part in a whole year of fundraising events and challenges, donating 1,000 hours of labour to help raise the funds.

Rob Farnham, cheif executive of the Venmore Group says: "We have a long history of doing things out of the ordinary for the charity but this is without a doubt our biggest challenege yet."

"We are delighted to be working with Wirral based childresn charity Claire House and Zoe's Place baby hospice in Liverpool to raise a whopping &10,000."

"Not only will we be busy running, cycling and baking our way to reach the &10,000 target, we will also be giving 1,000 hours of our organisations time, which is worth a further minimum of  &10,000, to help each charity in any way we can, ensuring we are doing our utmost throughout the year."

The Venmore Groups first challenge of the year is a gift appeal, with each of our offices filling donation bags with books, toys or clothes.  Donations would be much appreciated and can be dropped off at any Bradshaw Farnham and lea, Venmore or Ball and Percival branch.

We are both excitedly busy preparing for our first auction of the year next Wednesday 13^th February at Liverpool Town Hall where we will be offering 49 lots both residential and commercial from all over the region.

The signs are certainly good for 2013 with last year proving to be most successful year for Venmore Auctions since the peak of the market.  There was a real buzz surrounding our last auction of 2012 with over 250 people packed into the magnificent council chambers in Liverpool Town Hall with plenty of competitive bidding pushing many sale prices well above guide.

There is a general feeling that both residential and commercial property prices have pretty much bottomed out and this is certainly reflected in our sales figures for last year with sales increasing as the year went on. Taking the year as a whole we sold 86% of vacant residential lots offered, 68% of residential investments, 54% of vacant commercial and 90% of commercial investments. These figures prove that there are plenty of good buys out there and some great yields available on both residential and commercial investments.

We have seen an increase in 2012 of companies offering “Quick Cash” for properties. This type of sale often targets people who are in financial difficulty or need to sell quickly but the end result generally takes longer than advertised and results in a heavily discounted sale price well below what could be achieved at auction. An auction sale can take as little as 6 weeks from instruction to completion so if you know someone who is thinking of using a “Quick Cash” company call one of the auction team for some advice - it could be worth thousands!

The lettings market in Liverpool City Centre continues to thrive, with the market being recognised for a huge number of tenants moving to the area, either to study or to work in Liverpool’s growing Business District.  

There continues to be a strong demand from tenants and a slight increase in supply helping to maintain a healthy level of occupancy and minimal void periods for landlords.   There have been some new schemes for rental onto the market providing tenants with a healthy range of styles to choose from.    

The student market is one of the main influences on the Liverpool City Centre.  We have noticed a large number of overseas students looking for rental property, many paying their full rental terms in advance giving landlords complete peace of mind.   With Liverpool having a student population of over 50,000, it is fair to say that they play an important role on the investor market.  Early signs are showing that the number of students in Liverpool will be similar next year.  

The ‘working tenant’ market is also very strong.  The City is now one of the largest office markets in The UK and the total office take-up rate in the city has reached 498, 391 square feet, a new record for Liverpool.  We have noticed that due to the amount of new office workers, the clientele we are dealing with on a daily basis has significantly improved and higher earning individuals are contacting us for rental property on a daily basis.  The ‘working tenants’ we deal with are usually in the mid 20’s, looking for their first apartment with their partner or somewhere to share with a friend whilst they explore life in the busy City Centre.

Our prediction for next year is ‘ more of the same’!   We would envisage the demand being as high as this year and with some new schemes in the pipeline, a healthy year for landlords is certain.

Name? - Kate Mee

Time Worked at Ball & Percival? -  5 Years

Favourite Southport Bar/Restaurant? - The Office Restaurant

Top Tune? - There's too many to choose from, but i do like a bit of Take That!!!!

Favourite TV Programme? - Luther

Interesting Fact about you? - I have a passion for all things food & cooking

As the first month of 2013 draws to a close we’re being told that we face a triple dip recession yet the viewing figures and instruction levels that we are seeing on both residential and commercial properties has risen by over 10% in comparison with our January 2012 figures. The common theme seems to be we’ve had enough of gloom and doom and we’re going to take our chances and move or invest.

Despite the negative publicity generated by the Halifax price index stating that Wirral suffered the fourth highest housing price drop in 2012  we have toikeep this in perspective and remember that this is a single year view.

Looking at the 10 year performance of property on Merseyside, the Nationwide report prices rising by 47% which means that Merseyside out performed in capital growth every single London Metropolitan suburb and also so called property hotspots like Cambridge and East Anglia.

It is the long term view that most of are interested in be that as buying a family home or investing in the buy to let market.

For Landlords the combination of very low mortgage rates , rental yields of  7% and the prospect of long term capital growth explains why the local auction market is buoyant and city centre property sales have grown over the past six months.

The city centre and attractive suburbs of our region still have  a supply shortage of  quality rental accommodation  as rental demand continues.

The financial institutions are under government pressure to increase the amount of funding available to first time buyers and  there are some really competitive rates beginning to emerge.

Within our own business property sales in 2012 increased by 7%, properties sold at auction by 52%  and our rental stock grew by 12%.

So the question what to expect in 2013? We believe it will be a year where the volume of sales increase and prices remain static across most sectors of the market. The student market shows no sign of abating as student numbers remain static.

Overall we still believe that taking a 10 year view now is a great time to invest.

Mortgage lenders are gearing themselves up to lend more to the Buy to Let market in 2013.

For many clients this is proving to be a useful source of additional income and potential increase in capital value. Our mortgage advisers in 2012 arranged mortgages for many first time landlords and many existing landlords refinanced some of their portfolio in order to buy more property.

Going into 2013 it appears to be that many properties are competitively priced whether these are houses being sold by vendors or repossessions or even auction properties.

All of our advisers are qualified and experienced and are able to recommend from the whole of market, this means that they are able to find you the most suitable mortgage for your circumstances and if you quote brief your market we will waive our &250 life time fee.

At The Venmore Group we are able to assist you find a suitable property, arrange the finance and manage the property for you, it really is a one stop shop for all your needs.

For First Time Buyers there are many competitive mortgage arrangements in the market place, our mortgage advisers specialise in really helping a First Time Buyer all the way through the process as they realise what a daunting task buying your first home is. We are happy for parents or friends to attend the mortgage meeting for extra support.

Remortgage is still a very competitive area with many lenders offering a “fees free” remortgage arrangement where they cover the basic valuation and conveyancing costs, therefore making moving your mortgage more cost effective. Many clients feel nervous about the current economic climate and want the security of a fixing their monthly payments, there are many highly competitive fixed rates currently available on the market which clients can benefit from.

To arrange a no obligation meeting with one of our advisers please call Jane on 0151 342 1755

Venmore Mortgage Services is a trading style of BFL Mortgage Services Ltd which is Authorised and Regulated by The Financial Services Authority. Registered in England & Wales. Company number 06734055. Registered office 7 Pensby Road Heswall Wirral CH6 7RA.

You may have to pay an early repayment charge to your existing lender if you re-mortgage.

Your home or property may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage.

In terms of the recovery of the Merseyside and District commercial property market is the glass ½ full or ½ empty?

At this stage of the year it is usually difficult to predict how the commercial market will perform.  There was as usual the pre-Christmas slowdown in transactional business and a few high street failures.  Whilst the names were big Comet, HMV, Blockbuster etc. the numbers were less than many predicted.  This slowdown is generally followed by a pickup, which has happened in January. 

Confidence has been endeavoured by the stock profit rise of 7% in January.  There is an agreement that such a large % rise is misplaced.  What of significance has changed economically between 31^st December and 31^st January to justify such a surge?  I suspect it is the weight of money  from year end and bonuses finding a home in the stock profit as there is little other choice for it to go, and funds having to comply with liquidators until the banks come back with greater significance into commercial property lending,  then the market will continue to move at a sluggish pace.  However on Merseyside there is a greater resilience and other than during the periods of central government interaction we have become accustomed to such low activity levels so the impact of the down turn will be lesser.

Activity at the bottom end and very top end remain generally unaffected as on the one hand the low end market has always survived without the banks and at the top end the blue chip business will always attract support.

It is the middle market, again, where the problems lie.  What have in the past been perceived externally as the economic weaknesses of Merseyside will in my view, ironically prove to be its strength in what will be a difficult year.

So the Answer to my original question, marginally, on balance, ½ Full.