By James Woolley

At the moment there is a big slowdown in the property market in the UK, and although this may not seem like a good time to buy property, it could actually prove to be an excellent opportunity to pick up a few bargains.

Property prices in the UK have dropped sharply in recent months which is not necessarily a bad thing because prices have increased steadily over a number of years now and so a correction was inevitable at some point.

This drop in prices presents a good opportunity for the long-term investor because if you look at the property that is currently for sale, you are likely to find that prices in some areas of the country have fallen to around about what they were about three or four years ago.

So if you”re investing for the long-term, which you should be if you want to make serious money from property, then this is a good time to be picking up some bargains, particularly if you are a cash investor or have some spare cash ready to invest.

It may be the case that prices have further to fall, but in the long run property prices only trend in one direction and that’’s upwards. Plus you can protect yourself to some degree by renting out your property if it’’s an investment and using it to earn an income, until prices start to rise again when you may consider selling.

The best thing about the current state of the market is that it’’s now very much a buyers market which means you can negotiate even better deals for yourself.

One way of doing this is by doing thorough research in your local area, picking out properties which are currently already on the market for a decent price, and put in cheeky offers well below the seller’’s asking price.

You will likely find that most of your offers will get rejected but you only need one seller to accept and you”ve got yourself an outstanding bargain.

Another good method of snapping up a cheap property is by visiting property auctions. Here you will find lots of properties selling for well below their true market value in a lot of cases, particularly at the moment when the property market is in a slowdown, because you have a lot less buyers to compete with.

So overall although prices are dropping slightly, in the long term this could turn out to be a good opportunity to negotiate some very good prices at below the true market value, and increase your chances of making good profits in years to come when the market inevitably picks up again.

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