Thursday 25 June 2015

Which flat should I buy in Belper?


Which flat should I buy in Belper? One of our landlords asked if they should buy a 1 or 2 bed flat to rent out to tenants. The first question I asked them was what was are they looking for from the investment - capital growth in the property or a great yield?

Answering this question will help you figure out which properties you should buy...The average asking price of a 2 bed flat in Belper is £126,000 today compared to £75,000 for a 1 bedroom one (excluding the retirement flats). This is quite a large difference. The 2 bed flat achieves an average rental price of £585 per month compared to £412 per month for a one bed.

That’s a yield of 5.6% for the 2 bed against 6.6% for the 1 bed. So surely, the 1 bed is the better bet? Well it does offer a better rate of return in terms of rental income, but the 2 bed flat is slightly easier to rent out, which means less void periods and will be a little easier to sell in the future. So as they say “you pays your money and take your choice”…but the good news is that Belper is always popular!

If you would like more information pop in to see us at our offices.

Thursday 18 June 2015

How can you find a good property deal in Heanor?


 

I was talking to one of my landlords the other day, when he explained there were no property bargains for him to buy in Heanor. We don’t sell property and don’t charge for our advice, but we can give impartial advice without any conflict of interest to our landlords. Here is what I discovered recently about finding bargains that I had discovered over the last few months.

A 3 bed end of terrace on Milward Road sold in 2006 for £100,000. In February of this year, she sold again for £73,000, a drop in value of 27%! That’s equivalent to growth of 3.5% per annum!. A 3 bed terraced in Mansfield Road sold for £123,950 in November 2006, but then sold again in January of this year for £95,000 – a 23.5% drop!

Finally, one of those terraced houses on Weston Street, just off Breach Road in the Marlpool area of the town, sold for £77,000 in 2005. Considering property values are much of those being achieved in 2005, someone picked up a bit of a  bargain in March, when it sold again for £69,000.

There are many ways to find bargains – whether it be on price or potential – the ones outlined here are just great value in price terms today!

Whether you are a landlord of ours or not, drop by our offices or give me a call if you would like any advice...

Thursday 11 June 2015

A few facts about the property market in Duffield





A landlord who has invested in rental properties throughout Derbyshire asked me about the property market in her home village of Duffield.

Now Duffield is in the Amber Valley district of Derbyshire, mid-way between Derby and Belper. It is centred on the western bank of the River Derwent at the mouth of the River Ecclesbourne. It is within the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Area and its elevated northern parts, remarkably, are the southern foothills of the Pennines. There is a popluation of some 5,000 plus people, with the arrival of Rolls-Royce in Derby, in the 1910s bringing further expansion to the area, helping to swell the population and in 1957 The Ecclesbourne School was founded, when George Wimpey, the building developer, built new estates, raising the population to around 5000. One was between Wirksworth Road and the River Ecclesbourne. The other was to the south of Wirksworth Road, extending New Zealand Lane and the previously privately maintained Broadway. The attraction of the village for housebuyers centres on this successful secondary school.

When we looked at the property figures though, what we found out about the village was quite interesting. The average value of a property in Duffield is £350,800, which is just £100,000 above the average of its neighbouring village of Little Eaton. The most expensive street in Duffield is Rigga Lane where an average property is worth in excess of £850,000, ironically on the edge of Duffied – on the way to Little Eaton. Only 3 properties out of the 11 properties have been sold since the summer of 1995.

The most expensive property was Outwoods House, The Outwoods, Duffield, which sold for £1,800,000 in 2014. The average rent in the village over the last 3 years has been £650 per month. Only 61 people have sold their property in Duffield, in the last 12 months, according to the Land Registry.

If you would like to come and discuss property in the area, you are welcome to visit our office in or call me today!

 

Thursday 4 June 2015

Do semi-detached properties on Highgate Drive, Shipley View make good Buy to Let Investments?



I was talking to someone who lives in a detached house on Highgate Drive, on the Shipley View in Ilkeston. He wants to purchase his first Buy to Let property and has noticed our local property articles, and was aware that we are happy to chat to landlords and so was interested in getting to know the industry a little bit more.

As he has lived in Highgate Drive for some time and he felt happy investing there as he knew it well, we started to discuss the property market in this area.
Firstly, we found that 20 semi-detached houses have sold in the Highgate Drive since the year 2000.
Property values in Ilkeston have risen on average by around 132% over the last 15 years but most semi-detached properties on the Highgate Drive have beaten that rise.

When we look back to 2000, a two bedroomed semi-detached property in Highgate Drive was bought for £50,000 and sold in 2014 for an impressive £125,000 – which equates to a growth of 150%!  Another semi-detached house on the same street sold for £40,000 and was purchased for around £100,000 in 2012.
With excellent capital growth you would expect yields to be comparatively lower, but most two bedroomed properties on the development can be picked up from £110,000 to £120,000 and could have achievable rents of £475 to £550 per month. This means annual yields can be around an attractive 6%!

This is backed up further when talking to one of our landladies who used to live on Mason Road in the same estate - she has bought several on that estate and has always had good returns, as each property is easy to rent and has only short empty periods between lets.
 
If you would like to talk to us about your potential investment, please come into our office, or let your fingers do the walking and pick up the telephone.