UPDATED buy to let guide for Northampton

The market has moved, so we've updated our buy to let guide for Northampton to give a more accurate reflection of price. You can download a copy from here or email us at northampton@belvoir.co.uk and we'll send one over.

SOLD. Merthyr Road, NN5 - definite buy if you're not area fussy.

Purchase Price	£80,000	Headline Return	8.2%
Rent	£550.00	Estimated Return After Service Chg	7.4%

This has appeared today and is a definite if you're not massively fussy over area. Merthyr Road is fine - I probably wouldn't want to live there but it's 100% rentable - we manage 4 properties on this road and don't have issues. 

This looks to be a 2 bed maisonette (flat) which should be a Local Authority lease (good!) and looks to be in well above average order. Will rent for £550 without any trouble. In the current market I'd usually expect the vendor to be trying much higher than this - I think £82,000 is a very sensible price compared to what else you can buy at that level. Lease length will need checking - but apart from that there should be no gremlins!

Contact me if interested and I'll put you in touch with the agent dealing. 

Property can be seen here http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-35083854.html

SOLD. WOOTTON - £125k 2 Bedroom Apartment

Modern 2 bedroom apartment situated in a cul-de-sac within the highly sought after Wootton Fields area of Northampton. Good for tenant quality and shorter void periods.

First floor apartment , the accommodation comprises communal entry, entrance hall, sitting/living area incorporating kitchen, two bedrooms and a bathroom. Further benefits include uPVC double glazing and allocated parking. 

Would rent for between £600-625 giving 6% returns which isn't bad at all!

For full details please see the link below:
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-34503378.html

We've been told £120k is the magic number, might be worth trying slightly below.
Contact the agent directly for viewings.

SOLD. 2 Bed Terrace in St James £115k

Just been given a chance to list this 2 bedroom terrace in St James - 5 minutes walk from the station, would rent for around £625-650 and therefore a great investment with 6-7% returns. Needs a bit of work doing to it to achieve the highest rents but definitely worth a view. Upstairs bathroom, courtyard garden.

Need to be quick as we have people queuing up for this sort of thing! northampton@belvoir.co.uk

Buying To Let - Beware of Overpricing!

There's a lot of this going on currently - people investing in property because they believe they will get rent of £x, then being disappointed when it doesn't happen. And if I'm being completely honest, people only have themselves to blame!

We're in a market where rents are (slowly but steadily) rising. But you still need to be sensible with the rent you're asking. A good recent example came when we were asked to look at a 2 bed house in Semilong that an investor had just bought. These things rent well - you have to keep an eye on what sort of tenant you're moving in, but the going rate is £600 to £650 dependent on how nice a property it actually is. Our lady wanted £725 because "2 other agents have told me they'll get this". One was the agent who had sold her the property, and the other was another corporate agent who's lister (the person who takes rental properties on) is bonused for getting them on the books (so will say whatever they have to). So she went with both of them, and not with us. 14 days later she's reducing the price and by the time she's let it, not only will it be in the price range we suggested, but she'll have lost 4-6 weeks of rent also, which she'll never get back. 

The simple way to avoid this is to do a bit of research. Look on Rightmove and look at Zoopla - using Semilong as an example you'll see that when 2 bed houses come up between £600 and £650 they rent quickly, and when they come up above this level, they hang around. So why is the one you're buying worth £725? I think "it's been recently decorated" was the reason given, but that's just nonsense and doesn't change the price boundaries. Equally if you're not sure yourself, take a bit of advice from someone who does know - and by that I mean a LETTINGS agent, not an estate agent that does a bit of lettings. That may be us, or there are a few other regulated agents in Northampton whose main business is lettings. In our example, the lady did this but she "didn't like them as they didn't think it was worth that much" - whereas alarm bells should have been ringing, she was actually critical of the lettings agent for being honest, and not giving her an inflated rental valuation! Thinking about it logically, we lettings agents generally take a % of rent for our services, so it's in our interests to get as much rent as possible without having the property sat empty. When a lettings agent says "no, that's too much", that's the time a landlord should start to listen!

SOLD. STUDIO APARTMENT FOR £66k offering over 7%

This has appeared in the last 24 hours, and I actually own an upstairs apartment in the same block, so I know the building well. It's a good cheap option if funds are limited!

GET IT HERE
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-50337073.html

Basics are:

• a studio apartment in Manorfield Close, Little Billing advertised at £66k. 
• it will rent, privately, for £400 per month - the same as mine - to a private (working) tenant, so that's an initial return of over 7%. This will be more if you can get the asking price down a little bit!
• it may need some improvement, but these places are tiny so it doesn't usually cost much. 
• the lease is fairly short on mine (about 80 years) so I'm guessing this will be as well. I plan to extend mine soon which will cost up to £5k, so again that needs factoring into the asking price. 
• Service charges and ground rent are negligable - about £200 - £300 per annum from memory. Owners tend to look after their own properties down there with minimal management company involvement. 

Interested parties drop me an email to richard.baker@belvoir.co.uk

SOLD. ABINGTON: Freehold 2 Bed Terrace @ £145k, £650 Rental Potential

COMING ON THE MARKET

Well presented 2 bed house in walking distance to the town centre, located just off the Wellingborough road. Neutrally decorated with modern kitchen and bathroom, plus 2 good sized bedrooms and living room with wood burner. Street parking available. 

This will rent for £650 PCM giving returns of around 5% - not the most aggressive but it will rent to a good-quality, insurable tenant.

Any interested parties please get in touch on northampton@belvoir.co.uk

SOLD. £149K for a 2 Bed in Hunsbury - Tenanted @ £625 PCM

Such a good buy that our sales director has considered buying it himself! 

Smart little 2 bed semi-detached in East Hunsbury - could do with some new windows in the near future but apart from that pretty immaculate!

Tenanted at £625 PCM giving a yield of around 5%.






Vendor has advised it MUST go to an investor who will keep the tenant in situ, please get in touch if interested: northampton@belvoir.co.uk

RUGBY: Freehold 2 Bed House, 6.5% Return for £120k

Available to investors only, this is a Victorian terrace property being offered for sale with a tenant in situ paying £650 per month - an initial return of 6.5%. It's in good internal order too with no immediate spending requirements. Ideally situated on a popular rental area.

A PART-FURNISHED two bedroom mid terraced property in New Bilton, conveniently located for the town centre. The house has a large lounge diner, kitchen with appliances, two double bedrooms and an upstairs bathroom. The property benefits from gas central heating and double glazing throughout. There is a low maintenance garden to the rear. Appliances - Washing machine, fridge freezer, oven & hob.

All interested parties please get in touch by e-mailing northampton@belvoir.co.uk - we will be advertising in 48 hours.