Great Property with a garage in East Bridgford

I have viewed this property on behalf of an investor earlier this year. It is in a great location and benefits from a garage. It would easily achieve £595 pcm and value could be added by improving the kitchen. At the asking price of £142,000 it would provide a 5% return on your investment.

Click on the link for more info..

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-49494056.html

Lovely modern property in Newton, 5.5% return

This great modern 2 bed property is up for sale with Richard Watkinson. It should easily achieve £600 pcm and as it is for sale at £130,000 it should easily achieve a return of 5.5% with minimal void periods. 

Click on the link for more pictures...

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-46817476.html

Bingham Landlords invest £44.84million in the Bingham Property market

East Midlands property asking prices jumped by more than £4,000 to £181,100 in February according to Rightmove, an increase of 2.3% from January and 4.7% higher than a year ago. After the traditionally quiet months of January and February, the property market has started to warm up, but talking to some Bingham Estate Agents, they are reporting their lowest ever stocks of quality property for sale. However, asking prices have no relation to what property sells for (ie their REAL value); is the issue a lack of supply?

Putting aside Bingham’s continual housing supply shortage, (we only built 207  properties in the last decade but the population of Bingham grew by 446), this is now, according to some people, being exaggerated by an increase in homes being owned by buy to let investors, who tend to be buying a property as part of a long term pension plan and are more likely to keep it for longer than an owner occupier would. I have also seen unwillingness among homeowners looking to move, to put their own property on the market as they can find few suitable properties to make it worth their while going through the whole moving process.

Talking to some Bingham landlords only last week, I said that I believe this is the new norm in the Bingham property market, and is the consequence of over 35 years of not enough homes being built to meet the escalating growth in household numbers, resulting in a lack of quality homes for sale in many popular areas of Bingham.

When one looks at the historic data, in March 2008, there were 210 properties on the market in Bingham compared to today’s 35. Should we be worried?  Well in April 2010 , there were only 48 properties for sale in Bingham but ten months later in February 2011, this had jumped to 165 properties, for it to drop to 24 properties in August 2013. The number of properties on the market is a cyclical thing in Bingham, it always has been and always will be. As we go into the Spring of 2015, the number of new properties coming onto the market will increase ... just as the daffodils will flower.

So are landlords to blame? Well, on one side of the coin, yes they are. If they buy a property to rent out, that means someone can’t buy it to live in. However, it doesn’t matter if someone wants to live in a property if they can’t afford the deposit and upkeep .. and the youngsters of Bingham still need a roof over their head. 

So on the other side of the coin, if the Council aren’t building any properties and people can’t afford the large deposit for the mortgage, then Bingham landlords have stepped in and bought property to rent out to them. Bingham landlords have bought 210 properties over the last decade (investing approximately £44.84million buying those Bingham rental properties), meaning there were at the last count, 414 Bingham properties being privately rented out to tenants. Bingham tenants are in fact getting a good deal as well, as average rents in Bingham are 4.5% below where they were seven years ago. That sounds like a win-win situation for everyone to me. Stop blaming landlords and start building more properties in Bingham .. that is the only answer.

In the meantime, the demand from Bingham tenants for Bingham property is only set to rise over the coming years. If you want some advice and opinion on where (or not) to buy, please pop into our office 18 Market Place, Bingham or call me on 01949 714101.

Carnarvon Close, Bingham - great BTL investment

This smart property, on the market with Newton Fallowell with an asking price of £139,950, would make a wonderful buy to let.  As it is situated close to a primary school and at the end of a cul-de-sac it would let very easily.  I don't think this property will be on the market for long.  Click here for details:

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-32885430.html

If you are a landlord looking for a buy to let then please do not hesitate to get in touch for impartial, honest advice.

East Bridgford – the place to buy a property?

Information is so important when making decisions on what (or not) to buy when investing in Bingham property. The demand for rental properties is much greater that the supply and in some circumstances, we have four to five prospective tenants for each decent property. As always the demand is much greater for properties that are in good areas. 

Also, we are noticing that tenants are staying longer in their chosen property with some tenants staying for four years plus. This is obviously causing problems from the supply of rental property so we are relying on new investment landlords to bring new properties to the rental market.

Today, I want to look at the East Bridgford to the North West of Bingham. By knowing the different areas in the Bingham area, I can weigh up potential hotspots in the rental market and show potential landlords where there could be an opportunity. Throughout 2014, 24 properties sold in the village of East Bridgford with an overall average price of £278,300 which was similar in terms of sold prices to nearby Gunthorpe at £272,500 but was more expensive than Bingham itself at £198,100 and Lowdham at £262,800.  The most inexpensive property in the village sold in 2014 was on Crossroads Drive, a most pleasant 3 bedroom modern town house which sold for £131,500 whilst the most expensive was a 5 bedroom detached house on Browns Lane which sold for £550,000.

In East Bridgford, there are 1,797 people living in 786 properties. It is the home ownership percentages that really got me interested, as it is this information, tied in with our intimate knowledge of the market, where we can match tenant demand to an under supply of rental properties. In East Bridgford, of those 786 households, 83% own their property (compared to the Bingham average of 76.2%).

There are only 41 rented properties in East Bridgford which are in the private rented sector (meaning 5.2% of East Bridgford properties are privately rented compared with the Bingham average of 10.63%). The reason the private rental sector is much lower is that East Bridgford has a high proportion of homeowners and hardly any local authority housing. The properties do sell well, in fact 152 properties have changed hands since 2007. However, with such excellent demand from homeowners and tenants, this could be the right area to purchase your next buy to let investment. 

Therefore, if you are considering buying a property for investment in the near future, as I don't sell property, I am always happy to give you my considered opinion on which property to buy (or not as the case may be) to give you what you want from your investment. If you are a landlord, new or old, I am certainly more than happy for you to pick up the phone or visit our office 18 Market Place, Bingham.  

A Bingham man’s home ..is his semi .. or terraced ... or bungalow!

Ok, a slight turn of phrase there on the classic, an Englishman’s home is his castle but when it comes to the UK  the ‘Brit’s are still a nation of homeowners‘ (although wasn’t it Napoleon who thought we were all shop keepers!). It  is interesting to note that up until the mid to late 1960’s, more people rented their home (albeit mostly from the local council) than owned their own. In fact, I was surprised to read that in 1921, over 75% of homes in England and Wales were privately rented with the remaining 25% being owner occupied. 

It was only after the Second World War, when the Beatles were rocking, that people started to buy instead of rent .. but instead of owning our property outright, we borrowed money from banks and building societies to buy them.  The roots of the growth of the private rental sector can be drawn back to the late 1970’s early 1980’s, when the council houses began to be sold off under the right to buy scheme. 

Even though 2,892 households in Bingham were owner occupied in 2001 and that number had increased to 2,969 households by 2011, the percentage of homeowner properties in Bingham dropped drastically from 78.54% to 76.28% Why, because whilst an additional 207 properties were built in Bingham between 2001 and 2011, a lot of them were bought as buy to let investments, thus more than doubling the number of private rental properties in Bingham. In fact, the number of properties in Bingham that were privately rented jumped from 204 in 2001 to 414 in 2011!

With stagnation in the number of people who own their home in Bingham and no more council houses being built, this is increasing the number of people looking to renting, as everyone needs a roof over their head. With the council house waiting list in Bingham being in the 5 to 10 year range for a decent property in a decent location, it shouldn’t be forgotten that it is Bingham landlords who house tenants waiting for a council house. Bingham landlords do not receive any subsidies from HMRC and income tax is paid on rent paid by the tenant combined these reduce the cost on the tax payer.

However, it’s not all doom and gloom in Bingham, as we have noticed more and more of the younger generation are renting because they can‘t afford to buy (raising a deposit being the sticking point for most), and a high percentage of the expansion in private renting actually from those who need and want temporary accommodation. There are  landlords who rent their own Bingham property out for the short term, for ease, and not necessarily purely for profit.

Therefore, with every report stating the rental market will continue to grow throughout the rest of this decade, with high demand and limited supply in the Bingham, if you are considering buying a property for investment in the near future in Bingham, I am always happy to give you my considered opinion on which property to buy (or not as the case may be) to give you what you want from your investment. If you are a landlord, new or old, I am certainly more than happy for you to pick up the phone or visit our office 18 market Place, Bingham. 

Lovely apartment - great investment opportunity - Bingham

This 2 bed apartment came to the market last week and is being sold by Richard Watkinson & Partners.  Situated on the ever popular Meadowsweet estate, these apartments let very easily and should achieve a 5.5% yield*.

Click here for full details of this great investment opportunity:

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-48700321.html


                    

*Excludes any leasehold fees etc

What types of properties are actually selling in Bingham?

Prices up, prices down, prices stable .. the newspapers are full of good news, bad news and indifferent news about the Brit’s favourite subject after the weather .. the property market. The thing is the UK does not have one housing market. Instead, it is a patchwork of mini property markets all performing in a different way.  At one end of the scale is London, which has seen average prices grow in the last twelve months by a shade under 19% (and again that is an average because some boroughs  in London have risen by 26%) whilst, by contrast, Wales only saw a 2% increase in property values (although in the Merthyr Valleys they dropped by over 11%).

We can’t ignore the rest of the UK, and we can’t forget that the Chancellor’s Stamp Duty reforms have polarised the London property markets above £1,000,000 because at the top end of the market, punitive Stamp Duty charges will dampen demand further. While the Bank of England warned of the growing London property price bubble in the Spring of 2014, even talk of a recovery in some areas was premature. In 2015, irrespective of where you are in the UK, one story will unite the patchwork quilt of markets –  really slow property value growth.

But what about Bingham? Well, we haven’t had the December figures from the Land Registry yet but the last few months activity and prices achieved would suggest neither house price growth nor drops.  In fact, most sellers are buyers anyway, so if you need to take less for yours, you won’t have to pay as much for the one you want to buy ... and that is good news for everyone as most move up market when they move. This is even better for landlord investors, as they can bag a bargain as well.

The question you should be asking though is not only what happening to property prices, but which price band exactly is selling? I like to keep an eye on the property market in Bingham on a daily basis because it enables me to give the best advice and opinion on what (or what not) to buy in Bingham. 

If you look at Bingham and the immediate surrounding villages and split the property market into four equal sized (into terms of households) price bands. Each price band would have around 25% of the property in Bingham, from the lowest in value (the bottom 25% ) all the way through to the highest 25% (in terms of value).  Over the last two months (63 days to be precise), in the lowest quartile, (those with asking prices under £160k) 32 properties have come onto the market in Bingham and 34.3% of them 11 properties have a buyer and sold stc. The next quartile, between £160k to £250k, of the 43 properties that came on to the market, 30.2% of them (13 properties) have a buyer. The £250k-£400k price range has seen 40 properties come on to the market, and 22.5% of the properties have a buyer (9 properties). The most expensive 25%, the £400k plus range, has seen none of the 21 properties that came on to the market find buyers (0%). 

Fascinating don’t you think?

The next three months’ activity will be crucial in understanding which way the market will go this year and I honestly believe we will not see any house price growth or drops this side of the election. Election or no election, people will always need a roof over their head and that is why the property market has rode the storms of oil crisis in the 1970’s, the 1980’s depression, Black Monday in the 1990’s, and latterly the Credit Crunch together with the various house price crashes of 1973, 1987 and 2008.

And why? Because Britain’s chronic lack of housing will prop up house prices and prevent a post spike crash. ... there is always a silver lining when it comes to the property market!

If you would like any advice on choosing properties, please come and see me at our office in Market Place in Bingham or call me on 01949 714101.

Sound investment home in Calverton

A landlord came to visit last week and was looking for an investment to let now and then to move her family into when they come back from a year abroad.  

She was not necessarily interested in the monthly rental return, but wanted an 'easy' let that would hopefully increase in value over the coming years.

This property is on the market for sale for £199,950 with Gascoines and should achieve a yield of just over 5%.  It looks to be in good order and will require little to no maintenance to bring it to the rental market.  It is a great example of this type of investment. 

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-32193756.html