I’ve been blogging about the Northampton property
market since 2010 – not quite sure where the time has gone(!) and in that time
my figures suggest I’ve helped over 150 landlords buy investment properties in
the area.
The blog started as an information source, but
rapidly grew into a way of promoting properties I’d seen locally that ‘needed
buying’. The first was in April 2011 (still on the blog if you look - http://lettingsblog.blogspot.co.uk/2011/04/potential-investment-with-9-yield.html).
One of my landlords paid £40,000 for it, spent £6k on it and rented it straight
away. It’s been empty for 2 weeks since, rents now for £450PCM, and is worth
£75k without trying. I’d buy 10 of these at £40k if I could now!
Times have changed – property prices have risen and
returns have been squeezed. In 2016 a few of my competitors have copied, and
also have their own blog – although they use these generally to promote their
own properties rather than looking at what may be a good buy from another
agent.
My mailing list has grown too – I know how many people
read the blog and it’s grown into something quite big. I also know how many of
my competitors read it, and I’m pleased to continue educating you(!) – I especially
liked the agent who, when asked a legal question about tenancies, told his
landlord to go and read Richard’s blog!
But the purpose of me doing this originally was to
provide information in an understandable format, and to help people who didn’t
know much about being a landlord to make the right decisions – whether that’s
purchasing a property or managing it once purchased – and that’s what I need to
go back to. I get too many emails these days from people who think they know
what they are doing, asking immediate questions about ‘best price’ or ‘discount’
– clearly they are still living in 2009 when repossessions were plentiful. In the current market anything half decent and sensibly priced sells immediately - there's no need for a vendor to sell cheaply - would you do this yourself?
With that considered, going forwards I won’t be
emailing out new blog postings en-mass as it’s in danger of becoming ‘another
property mailing list’. The blog will still be there, and I remain committed to
identifying purchasing opportunities that represent good value, but I’m only
sending these out to people who confirm they are ACTIVELY LOOKING TO INVEST. If
this is you, you’ll have been in touch with me recently, and I’ll know who you
are. You’ll also be aware that, in the current market, anything half decent
gets snapped up in roughly 30 seconds – as an example we recently advertised a
bang average 3 bed recently that was overpriced in my view (I won’t say which
one) and we had 20 viewings on it within 7 days. That’s the Northampton
property market in 2016!
