Leamington Spa property values - 8th in Warwickshire

Just wanted to share some work I did for a landlord the other day, after he said property was the one of the most expensive areas to buy in Warwickshire. 

Even I was surprised our lovely town offers decent priced property, for both homeowners and buy to landlords alike.

.. however the thing that struck me was the position of Southam. Yes, it's true a detached house in Southam itself is nearly £50,000 cheaper than our Leamington Spa, but in the eyes of the Land Registry (where the info has come from you), Southam included the villages of Harbury,  Knightcote, Napton on the Hill and Priors Marston, which will of course bring up the averages!

1	Henley-in-Arden	£398,800
2	Shipston-on-Stour	£338,250
3	Stratford-upon-Avon	£322,500
4	Kenilworth	£316,950
5	Warwick	£301,600
6	Southam	£268,400
7	Alcester	£267,250
8	Leamington Spa	£264,500
9	Studley	£224,500
10	Rugby	£207,400
11	Atherstone	£192,800
12	Nuneaton	£165,300
13	Bedworth	£146,300

Leamington Rental market - rule #3

... be realistic

People need a lot of money to afford a deposit at the moment, even with the Government Help to buy scheme, so many are renting instead. (5% of £200,000 is still a hefty £10,000 to save) This means there’s good demand for rental property, and we lettings agents can rent most things, often for a premium. 
However at some point this will change. As such don’t assume that just because you can currently rent a tatty property, that will always be the case, and don’t assume because some estate agent is promising to get you £x in rental, that it will rent at that price for ever. 
Do your figures on a worst case scenario and you should end up with your expectations being exceeded, not unrealised.

Leamington Spa - what we can (or cant) do for Leamington landlords

First and foremost, we’re a Lettings Agency. Once you’ve bought the property, we want to manage it for you(!), or help with just finding you a tenant. With that considered, it’s very much in OUR interests that you buy something that’s sensible and lettable – we don’t want you buying a dud, or something where the figures don’t stack up!

There’s some mutual gain here. As such we can help in a number of ways:

We’ll Give You Tip Offs!

We keep a close eye on the housing market, and run an email list of decent buys that materialise. These cover the whole market – from repossessions, to cheap DSS bedsits, to family houses in nice suburbs – there’s something for everyone. Sometimes you can even buy with a tenant in situ, which means you pick up rental income from day 1.

Some Estate Agents will also tip us off when they get a property they need to sell quickly, and landlords can pick up a good deal as a result. There’s no charge for this service – just email sean.driscoll@martinco.com and ask to be put on the list.

We’ll Act as a Sounding Board

When you’ve not bought investment property before, it can be daunting. What area? What type of property? What type of tenant? How much work needs doing? You quickly end up in a situation where you have 5 different estate agents constantly phoning you and swearing blind that their deal is the best one you’ll find!

 We’re more than happy for you to come and see us for a chat about the options. Show us what you’re looking at and we’ll tell you what we think of the deal, or suggest alternatives. Or just ping us an email with a link. You’ll get an open and honest assessment of whether the deal on the table is as good as it sounds. Again, we don’t charge for this and we don’t pressure people into purchasing anything. If you want to come for a chat, email  sean.driscoll@martinco.com

Some people come and see us once, go and buy something, and don’t use our lettings service, which is fine. Others come and see us on repeated occasions for advice during their search for a property. This is fine too, but we kind of hope these people will use us to let the property once they’ve bought it. When we’re giving our time freely, and on repeated occasions, it’s quite frustrating to find the purchaser has let the property through another agent who bullied them into it, because they weren’t strong enough to say no!

We’ll Formally Source Property For You

We have a number of landlords who like to invest, but don’t want to do the legwork, go and see properties, or even visit Leamington Spa themselves! In this scenario, we can source properties for you - we need a defined set of criteria, so we understand what you’re looking for, but thereafter you can leave us to do the legwork. We do charge a finder’s fee for this service, payable on successful completion of a purchase.

I hope you like the advice .. and one final piece of advice to raise a smile!

Leamington Rental market - rule #2

YOU will not live in the property you buy. 
 
As such, whether YOU like it isn’t the primary consideration! 
 
This is a business transaction, and as such the question is whether it works from a business perspective? A classic example housing estate near Mason Avenue and Newland Road – It's not my favorite place, but I've never known a landlord be short of a tenant in there!

Leamington Spa buy to let - take care with the professionals

If you’re lucky to find a good deal, you need to get it bought quickly before someone else steals it. I’ve seen people buy property in 7 days and I’ve seen it take 7 months. Sometimes (usually if there’s a chain) it’s out of your control, but often the length of time taken to purchase a property is something you can influence through the decisions you make.

Mortgage Companies

We all want the best rate, but in a competitive mortgage market you should also pay attention to which mortgage companies lend easily. A good mortgage broker will know this and you should take their advice. I know from purchasing myself that lenders such as The Mortgage Works move at pace and can get an offer out in 10-14 days.
 
Alternatively Barclays / Woolwich ask LOTS of questions and seem generally more reluctant to lend. From personal experience I’d favour a good rate with an easy lender rather than an excellent rate with a difficult lender, every time.

Surveyors

If you want additional reassurance regarding a property, a survey is important but you must be realistic regarding what that survey will show. The surveyor won’t want a situation where you accuse them of missing something at a later date – so they’ll mention everything! You need to be realistic that, for example, most Victorian properties will
have a “higher than average damp reading”. Don’t panic when you receive the report - when you get a list of problems, you need to ascertain if there’s anything on that list that doesn’t apply to every other house on the street.
 

Conveyancers

The best conveyancer is not the cheapest. You can buy conveyancing online for £99 but we’ll all still be here in 6 months whilst they look for the paperwork they’ve lost. A good conveyancer will get the deal done quickly - if you don’t have one, we can recommend a couple. Also, don’t forget your conveyancer works for you. Often people allow the conveyancer to set the pace of the transaction. You should be telling your conveyancer you’re looking for a quick transaction before you instruct them and chasing them regularly. People who do this purchase properties more quickly.

Leamington Rental market - rule #1

Rule #1  Everything Lets

When potential investors come to see us, they are often concerned whether the property they buy will let. They needn’t be – it doesn’t matter if it’s a palace or a flea pit – everything lets, but that’s not a recommendation to buy a flea pit! The question they should be asking is WHO it will let to – a 3 bed in the town centre is far more likely to attract sharers than a family for example. Every now and then a landlord comes in with a property that he’s been unable to let through another agent. 

We know without seeing it that either 

1. it’s badly presented or 
2. he’s overpriced it. 
3. There isn’t usually a 3

 

Leamington Landlords .. have you stopped receiving the rent?

We've been contacted by a number of landlords in recent weeks who have stopped receiving money from their lettings agent, without reason. The agent is also not returning phone calls, and their shop is shut. Clearly the agent  in question has stopped trading, or is very close to doing so, but where does that leave the landlord, and what should he do?

From a tenancy perspective, I'd recommend the landlord do the following:

1. Contact the tenant, and tell the tenant to stop paying the agent with immediate effect. This will stop any more money going missing.
2. Either appoint another agent and give the tenant the new agent's details, or give his own bank details and contact details - effectively managing the tenancy themselves.

What other problems could the landlord face?

1. Where is the tenancy deposit? If the agent has it, or rather doesn't have it, the landlord could have a problem, as he would be liable to his tenant for the full value of the deposit.
2. Where is the gas safety certificate for the property? This is really important. The landlord may have a copy, or there should be a copy in the property. If a copy can't be found, the landlord is better off instructing a new certificate himself. I can help with that if required
3. Where is the inventory? If the landlord wants to make a claim on the tenancy deposit, he'll need a copy of this.
4. Where is the tenancy agreement? The landlord or tenant may have a copy. Legally the tenancy can exist without it, as a tenancy agreement can be verbal. However to prevent disputes between landlord and tenant it's worth getting a new copy signed if one can't be found.
5. Does the agent have a set of keys? A landlord should try to recover these.

What can a landlord do to recover the money he's lost?

• Assuming the tenant has paid the agent, but the agent hasn't paid it on, the landlord needs to take some legal advice. I suspect the prognosis isn't good.

What can a landlord do to stop this happening again?

Quite simply, use an agent who is a member who has Client Money Protection Insurance - so if the agent is experiencing financial problems, any loss suffered by the landlord is insured.

Leamington Spa leasehold property .. should you buy them?

Some landlords seek to avoid flats, or other leasehold properties. There are valid reasons for this, namely:

• There’s a monthly service charge to factor in, which will negatively affect your return.

• There’s a lease that’s depreciating, and if you need to renew it, there’s an associated cost.

However, some Landlords make good money out of leasehold units. That’s because they are careful about what they buy and factor in the associated costs. They would argue:

• Leasehold properties usually cost less than their freehold equivalents to start off with.

• If the property has a long lease, this is unlikely to ‘bite’ you during your period of ownership.

• Leasehold properties tend to be more modern and as such in better internal order.

• Leasehold properties rent just as well as freehold ones. Many tenants like the ease of renting a flat.