We Introduce You

Well not quite ’sell the children’ in this case.

The Sunday Times reports Luke Clarke a young man of seventeen, little more than a child himself, has quite possibly become Britain’s youngest buy-to-let landlord.

It all began when Clarke, then 14, did work experience with his step dad, Terry Lucking, who runs the Peterborough branch of Belvoir Lettings. Luke did well. So well that when he did a follow up presentation at school (on rental returns, naturally), his teacher became a buy-to-let investor.

Luke started to save his £10,000 deposit from doing video inventories and being a rental agent whilst still at school. At the age of sixteen his step dad offered him a job as lettings negotiator and he went for it.

Clarke, who earns about £10,000 a year, topped up by another £3,000 in bonuses if he’s lucky, has everything carefully planned. “I want to make one, then two, then four, then eight purchases. I’ll re-mortgage and buy more ex-council properties”

Luke also said “I want to be a landlord till the day I die. Then I’ll pass my portfolio down. I’ve got every plan to have a great life and leave it to any children I have”

When I was seventeen I think I had other things on my mind - like wanting to run away with Bananarama, drink as many cans of Breaker as I possibly could and pondering about what a five ‘o’ clock shadow was.

Well, not quite “ALL CHANGE”, more of a Birmingham New Street than a Crewe - I think us Bloggers become natural ‘tinkerers’ - if there is such a word!

Firstly, you can now get a gander at my ugly mug on the ‘About’ page - but I’ll warn you, my ‘photogenicity’ deserted me at about 6 months old.

The next change is, I’ve added a new category called Secured Loan Titbits. I’ll be doing a regular post summarising what’s gone on in the secured loans industry and I’ll talk about things like recent financial results of companies who deal in secured loans, takeovers, what businesses are doing to expand and I’ll be keeping a watchful eye on regulation. Generally what you’ll find in the titbits category, are pieces of information whose content doesn’t warrant a full post in their own right.

The last change is a page full of useful Links. The links are split into two categories - one industry related and one for members of the public looking for information and advice about secured loans. Rather than posting a blind link, I’ll try and comment on what the links are there for and as the list grows it’ll probably be split into two distinct pages - one for industry and one for public.

I’ve never been a Sun Worshipper.

In fact I’m one of those people who whilst waiting for the Airport Coach in a foreign climes Hotel Reception get asked if I’ve just arrived.

It’s not the heat I don’t like - it’s the boredom of just sitting there and I’ve never seen the point of burning your skin for vanity’s sake.

Until Sun worshipping became a favourite pastime, people wanted their skin to be as white as white can be. The idea was that tanned skin was a sign of manual outdoor labour and was frowned upon by ’society’.

I just don’t understand why some people gauge how good a holiday they’ve personally had, or others have had, on the shade of white, red or brown they are.

But I’ll come clean. Something triggered me to write this post, as I’ve said before, I like walking, and yesterday I trudged up and down some hills in the Yorkshire countryside.

This morning? Well I was tomato red, with a sore neck, a rash on my arms, stiff legs and had a nose like Charlie Cairoli.

Sun worship?

No thanks, I’ll leave that to Ancient Egyptians, readers of the Daily Red Top and people who think it makes ‘em look ‘elthy