Friday 27 February 2015

Buy to let deal of the day - 4.6% gross yield in Teddington

Easy peasy one today (it is Friday after all)! Purpose built blocks are always reliable renters and shouldn't cause you any trouble. I like this one in Teddington - 2 great size bedrooms and just off Broom Rd so option of Hampton Wick or Teddington for commuting. As always with leasehold blocks - check out the ground rent and service charges as they have a habit of killing off your profit if you're not careful...

http://www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/35879991

     

Its on at £350k which I think is slightly over - £340k would be more like it. If you get it for that and rent it for £1300pcm then you'll get a 4.6% gross yield. It won't hang around long though!

Don't forget, if you've been thinking of buying a buy to let for a while but done nothing about it then now's the time - take action! Always regret the things you do rather than the things you don't do, that's my motto! :o)

Feel free to email me or call me (contact details on my website below). I'll happily offer you advice and chat through your situation.

Rebecca Smith
http://www.rebeccasmithpropertyservices.co.uk/

Wednesday 25 February 2015

Buy to let deal of the day - make more money in Whitton!

Whitton is definitely next on the list in my book in terms of up and coming areas. There are already some larger chains moving in and the fact that a handful of the big estate agents now have fancy shop fronts on the high street means that they can only be predicting that things are going upwards in the area.

I know I go on about it sometimes, but if you're going for cashflow/yield as your main investment strategy then you need to come out of Teddington/Hampton and into Feltham/Isleworth and also Whitton. This example shows you how and why it can work...

         

This is a 2 double bed ground floor maisonette on a decent looking street less than half a mile from the station. You would probably want to spend a couple of grand putting in a new kitchen but the rest looks perfectly respectable for the rental market. I reckon this would easily fetch £1200pcm and with a sale price of £250k, even if you pay full asking you've got a gross yield of 5.8%. Pretty decent in my book!

http://www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/35437769

Rebecca Smith
http://www.rebeccasmithpropertyservices.co.uk/

Monday 23 February 2015

Buy to let deal of the day - Twickenham 2 bed

This one jumped out at me this morning as it has that elusive 2 double bedrooms of pretty equal size and 2 bathrooms - prime high demand territory for the professional sharers! It would therefore demand a premium in terms of rent, helped by the fact it is 0.1 miles from Twickenham train station and its fast links into Waterloo...

Very smart flat too so no work needed which isn't great in terms of adding value but a walk-in investment that will make you money from day one...

      

Its on at 'offers over' £365k (a term I really dislike - just say the price you want to sell it at and then if people think its worth more than that then they'll offer more than that)! However, that aside(!) It should rent at a very decent £1600pcm giving you a not so shabby gross yield of 5.3%. Nice!

http://www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/35907295

Rebecca Smith
http://www.rebeccasmithpropertyservices.co.uk/

Wednesday 18 February 2015

Buy to let deal of the day - 5.3% yield in Teddington

Seems like quite a lot is coming on to the market at the moment in Teddington. I was almost spoilt for choice as to which to pick for my deal of the day today. I went with this one in the end as it has the potential for the highest yield in my opinion...

     

http://www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/35714244#lHPYF5j8g3wEYJ7T.97

It's a 2 bed flat right at the top end of Teddington next to Fulwell station. You still get the Teddington address but slightly more affordable. I actually think its on at a great price of £295k which with a rental figure in the region of £1300pcm gives you a gross yield of 5.3% and I'd be able to get you tenants queuing up to rent it!

If you're interested then just make sure you check out the lease length as I suspect that may have something to do with the price!

If you're thinking about dipping your toe in the buy to let world but are unsure of where to start or even whether its an option for you then please do drop me an email to rebecca@rebeccasmithpropertyservices.co.uk or call me on 0208 398 9333 for a chat. I'm always happy to talk through your situation and let you know my thoughts.

Rebecca Smith
http://www.rebeccasmithpropertyservices.co.uk/

Monday 16 February 2015

Teddington Landlords: Do you need to tell HMRC you rent your property?

Ok so this topic isn't the most exciting (dull more to the point and apologies for dropping this one in on a Monday!) but it is unfortunately necessary info. I like finding buy to let deals of the day far more than I do talking about property tax but its all stuff we need to know about and act upon.

Do you own a rental property in Teddington or anywhere else for that matter?

If your income from property rent is more than £2,500 a year you have to complete a self assessment tax return. If it’s less than £2,500 a year, you need to call the Self Assessment Helpline to report it.

There are different tax rules for residential properties, furnished holiday lettings and commercial properties and so lets look at how it works for residential properties which is bread and butter for most Teddington landlords:-
You or your company must pay tax on the profit you make from renting out the property, after deductions for ‘allowable expenses’. Allowable expenses are things you need to spend money on in the day-to-day running of the property, for example:
* letting agents’ fees
* legal fees for lets of a year or less, or for renewing a lease for less than 50 years
* accountants’ fees
* buildings and contents insurance
* interest on property loans
* maintenance and repairs to the property (but not improvements)
* utility bills, like gas, water and electricity
* rent, ground rent, service charges
* Council Tax
* services you pay for, like cleaning or gardening
* travel to and from your property if and when you need to visit
* other direct costs of letting the property, like phone calls,
* stationery and advertising

Allowable expenses don’t include ‘capital expenditure’ - like buying a property (repayment element of mortgage) or renovating it beyond repairs for wear and tear.

Hope that helps! 

If you're female this will probably make you smile!


Rebecca Smith



Wednesday 11 February 2015

Buy to let deal of the day - why its worth investing in Sunbury-on-Thames

Most of you probably haven't considered investing in Sunbury on Thames but a new landlord asked my opinion on it yesterday so thought I'd see what deals are out there. With considerably lower purchase prices that Teddington and rents that aren't a million miles away then you can actually achieve pretty decent yields.

Lets look at this one as an example....

      


Its a big 2 double bedroom flat just around the corner from Sunbury train station which links direct to Waterloo. Already tenanted so a walk in investment and will probably be getting in the region of £1100pcm. With a purchase prices of £169,950 though, even if you don't get any money off the asking price, that's a cracking gross yield of 7.8%! Who would have thought it, eh?! 

As always though, just check the lease length and the service charges before you part with any cash.

If you are thinking of investing in property then please do get in touch. I'd be happy to help or offer my opinion. I can even source a property for you if you don't have the time or know-how to do it yourself and it will cost you a lot less than you think!

Rebecca Smith

Monday 9 February 2015

Buy to let deal of the day - great starter property...

Today's buy to let deal of the day is perfect for those of you either starting out in property investing or those who want to add a quick and easy one to your existing portfolio. Its a purpose built (i.e perfect for the rental market) one bed flat in central Hampton. It's on at £214, 950 so you could get it for £210k and it'll rent for at least £950pcm giving you a 5.4% gross yield. Not bad, but as always, check out the ground rent and/or maintenance charges - can cripple your profit every time if you don't do the maths....

  

http://www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/photos/34606525

Rebecca Smith
http://www.rebeccasmithpropertyservices.co.uk/

Wednesday 4 February 2015

Buy to let deal of the day - profitable project in Teddington

This came onto the market yesterday and as long as you can get it for the right price you'll not fail to make money on it. 

It needs a complete refurb (cha-ching!), which, as long as you don't mind managing the work, will immediately add value to your investment. It's on at £350k (well, it says 'offers in excess of', which I always think is an agent being a bit cheeky, and hopefull!) but don't pay any more than this if you want to make the numbers work. Do it to a top spec and spend £20k on it with a swanky kitchen and bathroom and it will be worth easily over £400k. If I were doing it I'd also try and rejig the layout a bit to squeeze more space in to the second bedroom. This will help to expand the target market for renting it out.

      
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-33508167.html

So, how does it stack up in terms of cashflow as a rental? Well, if you get it for the £350k and spend £20k that puts your total investment (minus fees) at £370k. Once done to a top spec you should get in the region of £1650pcm for it given its size and location. That would give you a gross yield of 5.4% on an invesment that is now worth at least £30k more and will go up with capital appreciation each year. Nice! 

If you are a regular reader of my blog and are tempted to take the plunge into property investment then please do give me a call or email me (0208 398 9333 or rebecca@rebeccasmithpropertywservices.co.uk). I'd be happy to chat through your options and give you some advice on how the local area can work for you.

Rebecca Smith
http://www.rebeccasmithpropertyservices.co.uk/

Tuesday 3 February 2015

Feltham’s property market outperforms Teddington’s by 71%!

A couple invited me for a coffee last week to discuss what they should do in terms of buy to let. They’d read the Teddington Property Blog and so wanted to see what research I could do for them on their ideas for investing. They used to live in Feltham but had managed to, in the last 2 years, move across to the more upmarket Teddington. They have inherited a nice lump sum and so were keen to take advantage of the investment opportunities within property. They were undecided about which of their familiar surroundings to invest in; Teddington OR Feltham. I reminded them that one of the most important considerations you will have to make before investing is considering the balance between annual return/yield and the annual value increase/capital growth of the property that you buy.

Teddington is one of the most sought after places to live in in the borough of Richmond. There are 10,091 households here and an impressive 6875 of those households (68.1%) in Teddington are owner occupied. However, only 2041 of those households (or 20.2%) are privately rented. Teddington has many different types of housing, but one of the most popular are the 1960’s two bedroom flats, which sell for around £445k (although there are some rather more expensive ones in some parts of Teddington) and rents are on average £1455 per calendar month. Feltham, on the other hand, is a different story altogether. Only 5392 of the 10416 Feltham households are home owners (51.8%) and surprisingly only 1656 private rental properties (15.9%), the rest being made up of local authority owned housing.

With this in mind, I carried out some further research and found that two bedroom flats in Feltham have actually outperformed those two bedroom flats in Teddington. This is because in Feltham, two bedroom flats have been selling on average recently for £230,000 and the achievable rents have been £1050 per calendar month. The yield which could be achieved from property in Feltham is therefore around 5.5% gross per year. When we compare this to the possible 3.9% per year yield on Teddington, that yield/return is 71% proportionally higher in Feltham than Teddington!

We must remember however that yield is not the sole consideration when investing in Buy to let properties. Areas which offer better yields (i.e. Feltham), normally suffer from lower capital growth (i.e. don’t go up in value as quick as the ‘more desirable’ areas.) Looking at average property values in Teddington back to 2000, the average property has risen by 275% to today. However, average values in Feltham have risen by 240% in the same time frame, so, although not a huge difference, still less.  It just goes to show, do you want yield or do you want capital growth when investing in buy to let property?


If you would like more information on investing in Teddington’s (or Feltham’s!) property market, please contact me on 0208 398 9333 or rebecca@rebeccasmithpropertyservices.co.uk, visit the Landlord blog www.teddingtonpropertyblog.blogspot.co.uk or follow the blog on twitter @Rent_Teddington. 


Rebecca Smith
http://www.rebeccasmithpropertyservices.co.uk/