Tag: house

23rd February 2016

2 Bedroom House, Redwood Close, Northgate, Crawley

If you’re looking for a freehold investment property rather than a flat, take a look at this 2 bedroom house in Redwood Close, Northgate, Crawley. The house has just come on to the market with estate agents King & Chasemore for Offers Over £240000. From the marketing photos the property looks to be in very good condition and includes a garage to the rear, accessed through the back garden. Here’s the Rightmove link if you want to take a closer look http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-40042080.html?premiumA=true

20-2-16 Redwood Cl

The agents are planning an Open House on Saturday 27th February, so if you’re interested give them buzz and put it in your diary !

Estate agents usually advise their clients (i.e. the sellers) about the buying positions of any potential purchasers. As a property investor, hopefully with your finances already sorted, you should therefore be in a good buying position if you wish to proceed.

However, please don’t forget to factor in the proposed stamp duty hike for buyers of 2nd properties, which “kicks-in” (in more ways than one !) at the start of April this year. If you can complete on your purchase before 1st April, you will pay at the standard Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) rates on the purchase price. If, however, completion were to take place on or after 1st April, you’ll have to add another 3% in SDLT ! At present it is believed that the additional 3% SDLT can be offset against future capital gains when you sell (see, for example, http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/buytolet/article-3333949/The-buy-let-stamp-duty-tax-trick-landlords-sleeve.html) . However, do bear in mind that governments have a nasty habit of “moving the goal posts”, particularly when it comes to tax. In other words, even if in theory you can claim back the additional SDLT now, there is no guarantee the rules won’t be changed in future.

So that’s the bad news, what about the good news ? Let’s have a look at the rental yield.

Properties like the one we’re considering here let for between £1025pcm & £1150pcm. Indeed, we let one back in September 2015 at £1025pcm. Assuming that you could secure the purchase at £240000, the range of rents we’ve quoted would give yields of between 5.1% & 5.75%. In our opinion yields of this size are very respectable indeed for the Crawley property market.

If you’re looking for further property investments in and around the Crawley area, or perhaps you’re looking at Buy-to-Let for the first time, why not give us a call on 01293 515588. We have many years of experience in the Crawley property market and, what’s more, our advice comes for free. Alternatively, you can always drop us an e-mail to crawley@northwooduk.com.

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author only and not of Northwood. If you are considering investing in property, please make sure that you seek appropriate professional advice.

17th February 2016

3 Bedroom House, Collins Rd, Bewbush, Crawley

Apartments have featured quite heavily recently with regard to our analysis of investment opportunities in the Crawley property market. So for a change, here’s a very presentable 3 bedroom house that has recently come on to the market in Bewbush, Crawley.

The property, which is being advertised by estate agents King & Chasemore, has a guide price of £265000. Here’s the Rightmove link for further details http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-39901038.html

Collins Rd BB 14-2-16

The property is clearly a family home, but could also just as easily appeal to sharers. Advantages in this regard are ample off-road parking, a downstairs WC and a bathroom which appears to include a bath & shower cubicle – though please check this with the agents.

From an investment point of view, comparable properties let from around £1100pcm to £1200pcm. Based on the guide price of £265000, this would in our opinion give you a good range of potential gross rental yields from around 5% to 5.4%.

Should you consider investing in this property, however, please don’t forget to check that the bathroom includes a shower !

If you’re new to property investment, but would like to consider “dipping your toe in the water”, we can help guide you through the process. We’re happy to give you advice on any property you see, be it through ourselves or even through another estate agent…… and what’s more, we won’t charge you ! So don’t hesitate to pick up the phone and give us a call on 01239 515588. Alternatively, you can always drop us an e-mail to crawley@northwooduk.com. We look forward to hearing from you.

PS      We’ve recently published our February issue of the Crawley Property Update. In this issue we look at the performance of the Crawley property market over 2015, compare the relative performance of flats in Redhill & Crawley and also look at how to target your investment property to maximise its’ potential. If you’d like a copy of the Crawley Property Update, then give us a call or e-mail us your request. As with our advice, the Crawley Property Update is free !

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author only and not of 
Northwood. If you are considering investing in property, please make sure that you 
seek appropriate professional advice.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5th February 2016

2 Bedroom House, Cottesmore Green, Broadfield, Crawley

Here’s a presentable 2 bedroom terraced house that has just come on to the market with estate agents Connect UK at £215000. From a quick scan of the marketing photos we would say that the property may well be empty – not much on the kitchen worktop & the fridge/freezer plug looks as though it’s been pulled out. Take a closer look and decide for yourself –  here’s the Rightmove link http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-39735858.html

Cottesmore Grn 5-2-16

If the property is empty and there is a mortgage to pay, the seller may well be flexible with the asking price. So if you’re in a strong position with your finances arranged, don’t be frightened to use your bargaining position to negotiate a favourable deal.

There are two other pieces of useful information to consider about this property.

Firstly, the details say there is no onward chain. This could help you by potentially speeding up the sales process. If you can complete on the purchase before the start of April you won’t be liable for the additional 3% stamp duty charge the chancellor is bringing in for the purchase of second properties.

The second piece of information is that this property is not a leasehold flat ! We know that’s obvious just from the picture, but the buying process for flats tends to be more protracted than for freehold houses. The reason for this is that as part of the sales process, management information from the freeholder’s agents will have to be obtained. This can add weeks on to the length of time between an offer being accepted and completion taking place. So if you’re in a hurry (to beat the April deadline), buying a house rather than a flat would seem a sensible option, given the choice.

So what about the rental yield ?

Two bedroom properties like this rent from around £900 pcm upwards. In fact a similar property just around the corner in Jersey Rd was advertised at £1000pcm and has recently been let. Of course, as with property sales, the advertised & agreed rental prices may differ.

However, based on rents ranging from £900pcm to £1000pcm, together with the advertised sale price of £215000, the gross rental yield would range from 5.0% to 5.6%. So quite a good yield for the Crawley market. As always, if you can negotiate a price reduction, your yield will increase. Over to you if you’re interested.

If you’re a potential investor or just curious about property investment in and around Crawley, why not give us a call on 01293 515588. We’d love to hear from you. Alternatively, why not drop us an e-mail to crawley@northwooduk.com.

 

 

7th December 2015

3 Bedroom House, Tilgate, Crawley

Here’s a 3 bedroom house on Ashdown Drive, Tilgate, Crawley that has just come on to market with a guide price range of £260000 to £290000. Moore & Partners are the estate agents and there’s an Open Day on 12th December. So give them call if you’re interested. For a closer look now, however, here’s the Rightmove link http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-56472209.html

Ashdown Dr 7-12-15

The agents (Moore & Partners) indicate that the property could do with some updating. We’d agree with this, although from the pictures the house is presented in a neat and tidy condition. However, the green bathroom suite is a bit of a giveaway ! Of course, with your investors hat on, one key element you would need to have in the bathroom would be a shower over the bath. From the pictures and description, this appears to be missing. If you don’t change the bathroom suite (for a white one !), the minimum we would recommend is to make sure that there is a shower over the bath.

Please also check that the property has double glazing through out. It is mentioned in the description a couple of times, but in relation to specific windows & doors only.  A quick call to the agent will remove any doubts.

If you were interested in the property with a view to updating it, one question to ask yourself is how much is reasonable to spend on the remedial works ? Of course, there are no “hard & fast” rules in answering this question. However, we looked at a similar scenario in our previous blog of the 19th October 2015 and the analysis there can also be applied here. Here’s the link to the blog in case you want to take a look https://wordpress.com/post/thecrawleypropertyblog.com/274

In reality, any renovation project should be concerned with making sure that what you plan on doing is “reasonable” and “fits in” with similar properties in the area. To that end, similar properties in the Tilgate area that have already been updated are being marketed for sale in the £280000 to £300000 price range.  One property is up for sale at £295000, with a tenant in-situ. In terms of rental returns, however, properties like the one we are considering here currently rent out for between £1150pcm to £1200pcm.

If you consider a 5% rental yield as a benchmark return on your investment, these rents translate into prices ranging from £276000 to £288000 with an average of about £282000. Hence, spending £15000 to £20000 on top of a purchase price of £260000 to renovate the property would, in our opinion, not seem too excessive. Of course, the assumption is that the money is spent wisely and not, for example, on gold-plated taps ! One item that the selling agent hints at is the potential for off road parking (subject to planning consent). In our opinion, this would be something well worth considering if updating the property.

If you have your eye on a renovation project, be it to do up and sell or rent out, don’t hesitate to give us a call. We’d be more than happy to give you our opinion as to what would be reasonable to spend your hard earned cash on. Call us on 01293 515588 or e-mail us on crawley@northwooduk.com.

21st October 2015

3 bedroom terrace house, Tilgate, Crawley

This 3 bedroom house in Tilgate, Crawley, popped on to the market yesterday with estate agents Moore & Partners. The Guide Prices starts at   £260000. From the pictures the property looks to be in very good order and should make an ideal family home whether renting or buying. For more details have a look on Rightmove. Here’s the link: http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-49700830.html?premiumA=true.

Apparently there’s an open day on the 24th October, so if you’re interested give the agent a call and have a look round.

Johnson WalkIn the present market, houses like this one will usually rent for between £1150 pcm to £1250 pcm. If you could secure the house at the lower end of the guide price range, these rental figures translate into a gross yield of between 5.3% to to 5.8%. Pretty good !

Two things to bear in mind. If you’re an investor with nothing to sell and are willing to progress the sale quickly, this can be attractive to a vendor. The vendor could therefore consider an offer from you more favourably than someone else who is, for example, in a sales chain. The other point is that the lettings market usually goes fairly quiet over Christmas, not picking up again until late January /early February. As such, if you purchase the house and complete during the festive period, you may have a longer than usual void period i.e. when the property is without a tenant. Don’t panic (Captain Mainwaring !), however, as the lettings market normally picks up again at the end of January / beginning of February.

If you’re considering buying an investment property in Crawley or the surrounding towns, why not give us a call on 01293 515588. If you see a potential investment property through another agent, we’re more than happy to take a look ourselves on your behalf. We can then give you an unbiased opinion on whether the property represents a good investment or not. There’s no charge for this either ! Alternatively, drop us an e-mail to crawley@northwooduk.com.

19th October 2015

Renovation Project  – Does it Stack Up?

3 bed semi, Three Bridges, Crawley

Here’s a three bed semi-detached house in Crabbett Road, Three Bridges, Crawley, in need of complete modernisation. The property is being marketed by Fox & Sons with a guide price of £260000 to £280000. If you can buy the property at the right price and take care not to overspend on the renovation costs, the property could be a good investment. Here’s the Rightmove link for more details: https://www.rightmove.co.uk/rmplus/property/showPropertyMcr.action?propertyId=37026873

Crabbett Rd 3 BridgesSo I can hear you asking, is it a good buy or not?

Well, there are clearly two aspects to this property from an investment point of view. Doing it up and then either selling or letting it out.  Let’s consider the property from the point of view of renting.

Assuming that you’re not a “slum landlord”, the property clearly needs a top to bottom revamp. You’ll also notice from the picture above that the house next door has off-road parking to the front and what looks a garage at the end of the shared driveway. In our opinion, both off-road parking and a garage would be highly desirable and would need to be factored in to any cost analysis. Remember that when these properties were built, families did not usually own more than one car, if that. Nowadays, however, many have 2 or even 3 cars. So providing additional parking/garaging space is, in our opinion, a priority to seriously consider.

One way of seeing whether an investment deal stacks up is to consider how much it would rent for. If we assume that the property is in “tip-top” condition, with additional parking etc…., we would expect it to rent for around £1200pcm (and may be a bit more) in the current market.

Now assume that the property achieves a sensible gross yield of say 4.5% to 5%. Based on the achievable rent and yield figures, we can now calculate how much the property should be worth. If you like, this is a “reverse yield” calculation, where we know the likely achievable rent and a sensible range of yields for the property type.

So, based on a 4.5% to 5% gross rental yield and a rent of £1200pcm, the value of this property in “tip-top” condition would be expected to be somewhere in the region of £288000 to £320000.

Does this range of calculated values for the property look sensible, or is it wide of the mark?

Well, looking at the Rightmove comparables there is in fact another property in Crabbet Road which was marketed at “Offers in Excess of £330000” by agents Mansell McTaggart. This property is now under offer – here’s the link https://www.rightmove.co.uk/rmplus/property/showPropertyMcr.action?propertyId=50464786. The Mansell McTaggart property, however, has a large garden & has been extended to give additional downstairs space and 3/4 bedrooms. However, like the property we’re considering, it also needs modernisation.  In our opinion, our calculated price range does seem to fit reasonably well with that of the slightly larger property advertised by Mansells.

Now for the final bit…. at last!

Let’s assume that the property we’re considering is now in tip-top condition and worth about £290000 i.e. towards the lower end of our calculated value range. If we bought the property for £260000, we would have in theory £30000 to play with in order to do the renovation work. If we spent any more than this, we may well be overspending and putting more money in to the property than it is worth. Of course, if the property once renovated were worth £300000, we would effectively have £40000 to invest in the renovation works, before we started to overspend.

Having completed our calculations and looked at the comparables for both sale and rent, the property appears to stack-up as a potential investment…. at least on paper.  If we were interested in going further with this property, we would now need to view it and see just how much money was needed to be spent, in order to bring it up to “tip-top” order.  For this we may also need to take trades people along to provide quotes for the work required.

If you’re looking for a renovation project, or want a second opinion on one that you have your eye on already, why not give us a call on 01293 515588 for a chat. Our advice is free. Alternatively, just drop us an e-mail to crawley@northwooduk.com.

8th October 2015

3 Bed Semi, Three Bridges, Crawley 

This property has just popped up today in St Richard’s Mews, Broomdashers Road, Three Bridges, Crawley. On the market with King & Chasemore for offers in the region of £290 000, the property was previously marketed for £299 950 from April this year. The drop in price is probably an indication that the vendors are motivated and would really like to sell in the current “selling season”. For more details here’s the Rightmove link: http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-54703412.html

Broomdashers 8-10-15As an investment, this property would appeal to a family with children. In our opinion it is has a number of things going for it. These include: 2 allocated parking spaces and proximity to local schools, the town centre & Three Bridges station for fast trains to London – good for commuters. Decoratively, at least from the pictures, it also appears to be in good condition.

The other feature we like about this property is that it is Halls Adjoining with next door. So, if the next door neighbours are overly sensitive to noise from TV’s etc….. the doors to the lounge/diner can be closed providing a sound barrier. Less hassle for tenants, neighbours & landlords alike !

Looking at houses in the area from a rental perspective, this type of property should achieve between £1200pcm & £1250pcm (and may be more). Based on these rental figures and assuming you could secure the property for £290 000, you would expect to get a gross yield of between around 4.9% to 5.2%. Of course, as an investor with (presumably) no dependent sale, you might be in a strong position to negotiate the price even lower, particularly if you are willing to do the deal quickly !

If you’re an experienced landlord looking for new property investments, or perhaps you’re new to “Buy-to-Let” and would like some advice, why not call us on 01293 515588 for a chat about  the different options Crawley has to offer. You can also e-mail us on crawley@northwooduk.com

25th September 2015

3 bedroom house, Southgate, Crawley

Here’s another “doer upper” for you to consider. A 3 bedroom terraced house, in Southgate, Crawley.  On at £250000 with local Crawley agent, Taylor Robinson, the Rigtmove link for further details is http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-51725176.html.

We’ve recently let a 3 bedroom house in the same area for £1150pcm. Based on this and the purchase price quoted above, you’d get a maximum gross annual yield of  5.5%.

SG25-9-15

However, realistically speaking if you buy this property you’ll have to spend money getting it into a lettable condition. From the picture above the curb appeal could certainly do with improving! Remember one of our lettings Mantras: Good / excellent condition gives higher rents and lower void periods.

In our opinion, the property would need a complete makeover with new bathroom and kitchen. Walls, ceilings, woodwork etc…should be repainted and then new flooring & kitchen appliances installed. If you spent £10k to £15k on the works required and then let the property for £1150pcm, your maximum gross annual yield would still be above 5%, ranging from 5.2% to 5.3%. Not too bad at all.

If you can negotiate the purchase price down, then so much the better. Don’t be frightened to ask for a price reduction and be prepared to walk away if your figures don’t add up. Another word of warning – keep a tight rein on the renovations costs !

If you’re looking for property investments in Crawley or would like a second opinion on a “doer upper” project, we’d be more than happy to have a chat. Give us a call on 01293 51558 or send an e-mail to crawley@northooduk.com.

24th September 2014

3 bedroom house, Gossops Green, Crawley

If you’re looking for a project with great rental potential, here’s a 3 bedroom house, just on today at £250000 with Blakemore & Sons. You’ll notice from the internal photos that the property could do with a makeover. Here’s the Rightmove link for a closer look http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-51687262.html.

By renovating / re-decorating a property like this you’ll have a much better chance of reducing void periods and also attracting the best quality tenants. Not rocket science if you think about it.

GG 24-9-15

Assuming that the renovation did not set you back any more than say £5000, you would expect to achieve rent of between £1100 & £1200 pcm. Based on a purchase price of £250000 plus £5000 to renovate, you should expect to get a maximum gross annual yield of between 5.2% and 5.6%. Not bad at all. Of course if you can negotiate the price down a bit, so much the better !

If you’re a property investor looking for your next buy-to-let deal, or perhaps new to this business and making your first tentative enquiries about investing in property, why not give us a call to discuss the different options in the Crawley area. You can also e-mail us on crawley@northwooduk.com.

19th September 2015

Three Bedroom House, Ifield, Crawley

Some property investors are concerned about buying leasehold properties. They’re worried, for example, about the maintenance charges levied by the freeholder, what happens to the communal areas in the case of flats etc.. etc….

Investing in leasehold properties is fine in our opinion. However, freehold properties are equally as good. So, if you feel happier owning the freehold, why make life more difficult for yourself by buying leasehold ! ?

So, here’s a potential freehold investment property. It is a 3 bed terraced house in Ifield, Crawley, close to Ifield train station. In good condition, these types of properties will normally rent for upwards of £1200pcm. This property is marketed by King & Chasemore, Crawley, with a guide price of £270 000. For more details, here’s the Rigtmove link: http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-54774053.html

Treyford 19-9-15From the marketing photos the property looks in good condition (but do please check !) and has a garage en bloc. There are also local schools close by, which brings us nicely on to the subject of the type of potential tenants properties like this will tend to attract. Any guesses ?

If marketed in the right way a property like this 3 bedroom house will, of course, attract families. Proximity to schools is very often a major consideration for these types of tenants and this property has both primary & secondary schools close by.  If you’d like to know more about letting these types of properties – both pros & cons – we have a free guide to help you. Just send us an e-mail and we’ll forward it on.

Back to the figures…what about the yield ?

Well, based on the guide price and a rental figure of around £1200 pcm, you would expect a maximum gross annual yield of 5.3 %. With a bit of tough negotiation, however, you might be able to get a price reduction & improve the yield figures. As estate agents ourselves we can give a bit of “inside information” – strictly legal of course ! – about presenting any offer you care to make in the best possible light. Just let us know and we’ll forward the information to you.

If you’re looking for property investments in and around Crawley, or would like a an independent opinion on a property you have your eye on or are buying through another agent, why not give us a call. We’re on 01293 515588. You can also e-mail us on crawley@northwooduk.com.