New Event Launched

First of two major announcements from OPP aimed at helping overseas property professionals in today's challenging market.

Property for Finance Professionals (PFP) 2010 will take place alongside The Property Investor Show in London 15th to 17th April. It will be an exhibition and conference aimed at finance and real estate companies that will help each group work effectively with the other at a time when the real success stories in the sector are those real estate investments such as SIPP compliant or guaranteed return products distributed through financial advisors. The main visitor audience will be financial advisors but it will also comprise Fund Managers, packagers, Banks and financial introducers generally. Exhibitors will be real estate companies seeking distribution through finance based companies as well as companies with bulk investment opportunities for large scale investors. For visitor or stand information please contact me on xavier.w@opp.org.uk or 0044 208 439 9496.

A market that's still selling....

Firstly, let me declare my interest. You may know that I am the owner of Richmond Green Marketing (RGM). We help developers reach market, largely through effective distribution networks. One of our clients is a master agency in Sharm el Sheikh with good coverage through five offices in the region. The reason I think this might be interesting more widely than just those already dealing in Egypt is why it is strong amidst the current general gloom and why our client has sold more than a property a day since the first of January.

There is not SIPP story (yet). People aren't lured with stories of massive capital growth. There is no 40% off (in fact, developers are putting prices up). There are no mortgages. There is only a little in the way of rental guarantees.

So why is it working? These are the most simple ingredients going.

1. You can buy a small apartment on a hotel managed resort from £29,000.
2. The sun shines every day.
3. It is very accessible from Northern European airports.
4. Once in Sharm, nothing is more than 25 minutes drive from the airport.
5. Touriism is booming due to the overrall ease of holidaying in Sharm.

As we all sit there scratching our heads about what will sell this year we would do well to remember the basics.

November Issue of OPP

The latest issue of OPP can be found here. http://content.yudu.com/A1i1ke/OPPNov2009/

Welcome to my blog

Hello and welcome to my blog. Having been late to adopt the mobile phone, the internet and email I thought I might get in slightly early with a blog. What do you mean you've all got one?

A quick intro. I am the CEO of The Richmond Green Group. We own The Overseas Property Professional (OPP Media - www.opp.org.uk) and Richmond Green Marketing (RGM Global - www.rgmuk.com). We also own the fractional portal New Skys (www.newskys.co.uk). More about them later.

So, why am I doing a blog? Well, obviously because I am not a good enough writer to be published regularly in OPP! Actually, it is because I genuinely enjoy the sector (cringe) even after 14 years. I meet a lot of people and hear lots of stories, news and views and I would like to share some of them with you. It is very difficult to know exactly what is going on out there so hopefully I can shrink the world a bit. I will also take the odd theme and expand on it. For example, I am working on a short piece on distribution. I happen to think that developers and destination agents spend a disproportionate time thinking about other matters aside from the critical subjects of product definition and distribution.

If I haven't switched you off then keep following.