Tag: maisonette

3rd March 2016

1 Bedroom Maisonette, Tollgate Hill, Crawley

Anecdotal evidence from solicitors indicates that completion dates for property sales that have only just been started will almost certainly be after April 2016. For investors looking to build their property portfolios, this means (thanks to the Chancellor) you’ll have to fork out an extra 3% stamp duty on top of the purchase price.

So will it still be worth investing in Buy-to-Let property after April ?

The answer to this question will of course depend on a multitude of different factors, not least of which will be your own personal circumstances. Getting proper & up-to-date tax advice is increasingly important, as will be investing in the right property that fits within your overall investment strategy.  For example, are you looking for Capital Growth, Rental Income or a combination of both ?

For now, however, let’s take a look at a potentially high yielding property that has recently come on to the market with Astons estate agents at £125000. It’s a 1 bedroom maisonette in Tollgate Hill, Crawley and the agents state investment buyers only.  This could mean that the property is already tenanted and the current owner wishes to sell with the tenants in-situ. Alternatively, it could also mean that the lease on the property is quite short – so cash buyers only, as it will be difficult to get a mortgage. Of course, rather than speculate, if you’re interested in the property just give Astons a quick call and they’ll be able to tell you ! Here’s the Rightmove link for the property http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-53140177.html

 

Tollgate Hill 27-2-16

Assuming that if you purchased this maisonette it would be an “additional” property & that completion took place on or after 1st April this year, you the would pay a 3% stamp duty surcharge. In pounds, shillings and pence that equates to £3750 ! So does this property stack-up in terms of an investment package ? To try and answer this question, let’s look at the figures.

Maisonettes like the one we’re considering here currently rent for between £600pcm & £650pcm. If you were to purchase the property for the full asking price of £125000, the gross rental yield would range from about 5.8% to 6.2%. So, pretty healthy indeed.

If, however, you were to take into account the additional 3% stamp duty and just add it on to the purchase price, the rental yields would be reduced a little to around 5.6% to 6.1%. Despite the additional stamp duty, therefore, these rental yields are still impressive when compared with the Crawley & UK-wide property markets. In addition, it has been reported that the government is going to allow the additional stamp duty surcharge to be deducted from any capital gain when the property is sold.

Hence, by carefully choosing the right property to invest in, decent rental yields can still be achieved despite the forthcoming 3% stamp duty hike heading our way  this April.

So, if you’re looking to invest & see a property that catches your eye (even if it’s through another agent), give us a call on 01293 515588. We’re more than happy to provide you with free advice and we can even visit the property on your behalf – and there’s still no charge or obligation on your part. Best to make use of this service before you part with any cash on surveys etc… ! Alternatively you can always e-mail us at 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.

 

 

 

14th February 2016

1 Bedroom Maisonette, Tolgate Hill, Crawley

Happy Valentine’s day !   ♥

To celebrate here’s a 1 bedroom maisonette on with Astons estate agents at £129950 in Tolgate Hill, Crawley. Unfortunately, there are no internal pictures, but here’s the Rightmove link if want further details. http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-52995727.html

Tolgate Hill Maisonette 14-2-16

According to Astons marketing literature the property is being marketed to INVESTORS ONLY as there is a tenant in-situ, currently paying rent of £675pcm. If you consider purchasing this property together with the tenant, the “usual rules” apply – check that rental payments have been made on time and that the property is being looked after well. In addition, make sure you remember to ask about any outstanding maintenance issues. If there are any that are unresolved, our advice would be to insist that they are fixed before you complete on the purchase.

So what about the rental yield ?

Well, based on the purchase price & stated rent, the gross rental yield would be 6.2%, which is very healthy indeed for the Crawley market.

If you’re looking to beat the stamp duty threshold hike and purchase this property before April, you’d better get your skates on ! Having said that, please make sure that do all of the necessary due diligence before committing to buy the property. As someone once, “Act in haste, repent at your leisure” !

If you’re looking to invest in the Crawley property market and would like some advice on what and where to buy, please give us a call on 01293 515588. Our advice is free and we’d love to hear from you. Alternatively, you can drop us an e-mail to crawley@northwooduk.com.

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 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.

11th February 2016

I’m

1 Bedroom Maisonette, Bewbush, Crawley

King & Chasemore estate agents are advertising this 1 bedroom maisonette in Waterfield Gardens, Bewbush, Crawley at Offers Over £160000. The pictures look very good indeed and the agent says that the property has been well looked after. The main picture they’ve used is one of the lounge/diner and it does look very inviting !

Here’s the Rightmove link for further details http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-39865725.html

Waterfield Gdns 11-2-16

The accommodation appears to be of a good size and properties like this can achieve between £700 pcm to £750 pcm in rent. Based on these rents, the rental yield ranges from around 5.3% to 5.6%, so very respectable indeed.

In terms of purchasing, as an investor you would probably be competing against first time buyers & people downsizing. For rental purposes, however, your target markets are more likely to be young or older couples (without children) & possibly singletons.

If you’re looking to invest in rental property and would like some advice about what to buy and perhaps more importantly, what NOT to buy, give us a call on 01293 515588. Our advice is free and we’d love to hear from you. You can also e-mail us on crawley@northwooduk.com.

 

 

 

 

8th February 2016

2 Bedroom Maisonette, Langley Green, Crawley

Choices estate agents have just put this 2 bedroom maisonette on the market today, with a guide price of £210000 to £220000. From the few internal photographs, the property looks to be in good order. Here’s the Rightmove link for further details http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-52959433.html

Langley Dr Maisonette 8-2-16

One of the advantages these types of properties have over their more modern counterparts, is that the accommodation tends to be larger in size. For this particular property another plus point is that it has its own private garden. However, if you’re interested, please check whether or not the garden is attached/detached to the property. As the name suggests, with a detached garden you have to go out of your front door to gain access to the garden. This arrangement is clearly less desirable, particularly for people with children, than  the “attached” type. A quick call to the agents will clarify the matter.

From an investment point of view, the target market for this type of property would probably be a young family or alternatively, an older couple. The key for us, however, will be the garden location.

All things being equal, does the price stack up in terms of rental yield ?

Properties like the one we’re considering here currently let from between £950pcm to £975pcm. So based on the guide price, we can easily calculate the best and worst case rental yields. These come out at around 5.2% to 5.6%. So pretty healthy all round.

If you’re considering property investment in or around Crawley, it is crucial to identify the different target markets that your property will appeal to. If you’d like any advice on which type of property suits which type of tenants, why not give us a call on 01293 515588. We’d be more than happy to give you some free advice. Alternatively, you can drop us an e-mail to crawley@northwooduk.com.

 

 

 

 

3rd February 2016

1 Bedroom Maisonette, Pound Hill, Crawley

Two properties for you today !

Both are 1 bedroom maisonettes in Wakeham Greens Drive, Pound Hill. The properties are being marketed by estate agents Mansell McTaggert and Park & Bailey. Coincidently,  both are priced at £150000.

It is quite possible, of course, that these properties are one and the same but being marketed by different agents – we had thought of that ! However, from a close inspection of the fixtures & fittings in the kitchen, it would appear that they are actually two different properties. If you’re not convinced, here are the Rightmove links for a closer look  http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-52875145.html  &  http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-39646083.html .

Wakeham Greens Dr #3

From the internal pictures the properties look in pretty good decorative order. In the current rental market you would expect to achieve £700pcm  to £750pcm in rent.  Based on an asking price of £150000, this would give you a potential gross yield of 5.6% to 6%. So, not too bad at all. We actually featured a similar property back in October 2015 – this time a 2 bedroom maisonette. The yield calculations gave virtually identical results. If you’re interested, here’s the link https://wordpress.com/post/thecrawleypropertyblog.com/222

Pound Hill is one of the more favoured locations in Crawley. In addition, from our experience, your potential tenant(s) should not have any issues finding places to park their car. These properties are further from Three Bridges mainline station than the likes of flats at Trafalgar Gardens, Maunsell Park, Jacobs Court etc…. However, the distance is definitely “walkable” in our opinion and should not put people off.

Both properties are being offered with no onward chain, so if you want to beat the April stamp duty deadline, you’d better give the agents a call !

If you’ve seen an investment property that catches your eye and would like an independent opinion on its merits for the rental market, give us call before you part with any cash on surveys etc… We’ll give you an honest opinion on what we think the property will let for. We’ll also be able to advise on whether you need to do any improvements, such as decorating, to achieve the maximum from your investment. Don’t hesitate to give us a call on 01293 515588 or send 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 you should seek 
appropriate professional advice.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

30th October 2015

2 bedroom maisonette, Langley Green, Crawley

Here’s a maisonette in Langley Green, Crawley which according the agents, Fox and Sons, requires a little tender loving care. Well, we certainly wouldn’t disagree with them ! However, with a guide price from £200000, there may be some scope to add value and provide a good buy-to-let investment. Here’s the Rightmove link for more further details http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-37349547.html

LG30-10-15You may recall that we featured a Langley Green maisonette previously (16th September 2015 blog) which was in tip-top condition and had a guide price of £220000.  At the time rents for these types of properties were, and still are, in the region of £975pcm. All things being equal this gave a gross rental yield of around 5.3%.

If the property we’re featuring above were in a similar condition to the one in our previous blog, we would expect it to achieve a similar rent of £975pcm. Assuming that you could buy at the lower end of the guide price range, you can see that there is some room (perhaps even up to £20k) to completely renovate the property. Of course, if your renovation costs were lower, your rental yield, based on purchase price & renovation costs, would be even higher.

As we’ve previously mentioned, if you can move quickly on any deal, you may well be able to drive a harder bargain & hence get a lower price. This idea was also mentioned in todays’ FT ( http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/b902e6e4-7e54-11e5-a1fe-567b37f80b64.html ). There’s also another aspect that might help you in your bargaining position if you went for this property. Can you guess what it is ?

The internal pictures of the maisonette show that, not only is it in need of a “make-over”, but it’s also empty! An empty property is one that is not earning money, or is perhaps costing mortgage payments to someone. So may be the vendor might accept a lower price for a quicker sale. Who knows ? But, if you don’t ask, you don’t get !

If you’re looking for investment properties in Crawley or surrounding towns, or have your eye on a potential buy-to-let and would like a second opinion, we’d be happy to have a chat with you. Just give us a call on 01293 515588 or e-mail us at crawley@northwooduk.com.

10th October 2015

2 Bedroom, Split Level Maisonette, Ifield, Crawley

Take at look at this 2 bed, split level maisonette in Ifield, Crawley, that has just come on to the market. The property is a “Commission property” i.e. built as part of the Crawley New Town development, post 2nd World War. As such, although it is not new, it has the advantage of much larger all round accommodation, compared with its contemporary counterparts. Add to that a large private garden and we think it would make a good long-term investment.

The property is being marketed by Martin & Co with a Guide Price of £210 000. Here’s the Rightmove link for further details: http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-51870907.html

Ifield - Warren DrProperty like this one in Ifield, Crawley, will appeal particularly to couples with young children because of the private garden. Based on the guide price, to get a 5% gross annual return, you would need to achieve a rent of £875pcm. We would estimate that a property like this should achieve £875pcm to £950pcm.

If you’re looking for property investment in and around Crawley, or know someone who is, give us a call on 01293 515588 to discuss what options are available in the area. Alternatively, e-mail us on crawley@northwooduk.com.

9th September 2015

One bedroom maisonette, Northgate, Crawley

A one bedroom maisonette in Glenview Cl, Northgate, Crawley has just come on to the market with Astons estate agents at £159950. Gelnview 9-9-15Although there are no internal photos to show condition, properties like this usually rent for in excess of £700 and may be more. Ideal as a starter home, in case you get fed up with the rental game!

Based on the asking price and our rental guide, you should get a gross annual rental yield of around 5.25%

Here’s the Rightmove link :http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-36297228.html

If you’re looking for property investments in and around Crawley & would like some advice on what to buy and what features to aware of, why not give us call on 01293 515588 or drop us an e-mail to crawley@northwooduk.com   .