By Tim Crighton, Marketing Manager, Property Secrets

To be frank, it's not often that I have the opportunity to do this.

Our investment schedule - the list of investments we'll be launching and when - changes on a weekly basis, so it's very difficult to preview deals without the risk of one or more falling through because of late demands we find unacceptable.

However, our deal brokers have done such a good job that I'm confident enough to give you a flavour of what's coming up and also to outline my reasons why the first two (maybe three) months of the year are such a good time to buy.

I'll cover the "why now" question first, as it helps put the deals into context.

Simply put, the developers won't have sold many units over the Christmas period and, like any business, they will be keen to see some revenue come in to kick start the balance sheet in the New Year.

So, this means that they are a lot less likely to try and re-negotiate any pre-agreed prices or terms from before Christmas. We've been negotiating property investment deals in central and Eastern Europe since 2004 and, believe me, we know this is how it works.

What happens with deals further down our schedule is that developers start seeing price growth as the weeks pass by, and we are then in danger of some re-negotiation attempts as they realise that they could sell the units for more to the local market, almost always with worse payment terms.

And, of course, as we hit March and April, prices are likely to increase on any investments that we have not yet agreed terms on.

Another "why now" thought - if you believe in bricks and mortar as an investment, there has never been a better time to invest in central and Eastern Europe.

Here's why.

We have always believed that the market fundamentals make these CEE markets a relatively safe investment - no market is completely risk free - but the credit crunched market of the UK means there has never been a better time to invest in CEE. In my view, these markets are far less risky than the UK property market right now.

The fact that there is very little mortgage debt in these developing markets means that the banks are not nearly so impacted by the credit crunch and lending to home owners should not be adversely affected.

Add to this the fact that the agreed price per square metre we will be able offer in our forthcoming deals will have been shaken hands on in the last quarter of 2007. We always strive for below market value investments when we agree a deal for our members. Price increases between negotiation and launch only strengthen the value of this.

So, on to the investments.

Our first opportunity of 2008 sees us in Sofia, our third deal there to date.

This investment is currently live, so I'll let you read the report for yourself. I've seen the site, and its proximity to the Metro line, and the remarkably low price per square metre make it a very attractive capital city investment. My own view on when you'll see accelerated growth for Sofia like we're seeing right now in Bucharest? Six months, maybe sooner.

For the next investment opportunity, we'll see Property Secrets return to Slovakia.

We've kept a close eye on this market for quite some time now through a combination of our articles (http://www.propertysecrets.net/categorybrowser/slovak_republic_property/8.html), the Slovakia Market profile (that has just been fully updated and will be published later this month) and also our members' opinions on our forums (e.g. http://www.propertysecrets.net/forum/slovakia_ps_any_more_deals_soon/topic/9385/post/29550.html)

The Slovakian property market has just starting booming after a period of relative quiet.

The brokers have all separately been on recent trips to Slovakia (Bratislava, Kosice, Trnava) and have come back excited about the investment opportunities there - sometimes you have to see a location to fully understand the property market there, as demonstrated in this article...and this one!

After that, we will have an investment in a Romanian second tier city, Baia Mare. If you missed the article, read here.

This deal is all about getting in first into a new market before prices take off in order to maximise your returns - and only possible via our insight gained from our analyst and editorial teams. With no apologies for blowing our own trumpet, this is what makes Property Secrets really different.

Next up, an investment in Ostrava. Again, click here if you want to read more on Ostrava.

We really like the Czech market - Prague and Brno are two of our most popular investment locations and rightly so. Great economies, a continued influx of FDI, solid capital growth, developed rental market and the availability of the best finance in CEE. Ostrava offers the same rock solid fundamentals but is lower down the growth curve.

A word of warning - we have previewed this investment at an investor evening (the deal was subsequently moved back because of planning permissions) - and pre-registrations are high, so don't bank on it!

The final preview I can give you is of a deal in Bucharest - one of our favourite investment locations and currently enjoying turbo charged capital growth.

If you see a Property Secrets deal in Bucharest and you like the Romanian property market, jump on it as, trust me, our brokers have to work very hard to source quality deals in this market as developers don't need foreign investors because they can sell out quickly to the local market.

It's only our track record of selling units quickly to high quality overseas investors and the fact that we build long term relationships with developers that allow us to continue to source such high quality deals in high growth markets.

But it's hard and getting harder.

So, if you believe in the CEE markets like we do - whether it's the higher capital growth markets of Sofia, Bucharest or Baia Mare, or the slightly more established markets of the Czech Republic and Slovakia, we have a great variety of investments in the next two months for the property portfolio builder.

Happy 2008 - and happy investing.