Burnham - office conversion - Development Opportunity!

Hello Everyone! Well I would not be doing my job properly unless I bought this place to your attention! This place will naturally gain interest from all the investors and with a conversion into 2 flats this could offer a significant return on your investment.....that said I do not have any inside info so the asking price of just under £500K would have to looked at carefully given the potential outlay! 

If this place does hang around there may some hidden snags here and there....I would give the guys at Focus Residential a call to find out more details!

Cant get any photos on this place at the mo, so take a look at the link below.....

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-52470479.html

Court Close, Bray, Maidenhead - 3 Bed Detached - No Brainer!

Hello everyone! Today we off to Bray (well the outskirts anyway..), This was just such an obvious choice to bring to your attention....I think it will get the attention of both owner occupiers and investors....bit of a win win for the vendor! Its just come on the market with Roger Platt for a shade under £530K. 

Its got real potential, it needs some updating but the possibility to extend this is what is the real attraction. Seems a fair price to me and is below the average asking price for the area. Its a sure bet that this will not hang around so you will need to get moving if this rocks your boat!

Have a look at the link below for more details......

http://www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/37021042

Lillibrooke Crescent, Maidenhead - 3 Bed Semi - One for the Landlords!

Good evening! Were off to Lillibrooke Crescent in Maidenhead....this great place has just come on the market with Prospect for £380K. This is a real popular area for anyone looking to move to Maidenhead...its got primary and secondary schools within easy reach....therefore all you landlords should be taking an interest in this one. 

This place is nicely done out so you could turn this around in a blink of any eye. Yields would be approaching the 5% mark and with capital growth increasing by 15% over the past 3 years this one looks pretty good for the medium and long term as well. 

Have a look at the link below for more details:

http://www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/35802268

Burchetts Green Road, Burchetts Green - 4 bed detached - something a bit different!

Well good afternoon...where has that weekend sun gone!? 

Today I couldn't resist taking us off to Burchetts Green for a family home that has real potential....I wouldn't categorise this as eye candy just yet but blimey it could be! Its on with Hamptons for £875K.....which at a glance sounds fair to me....this is an area where it is often difficult when comparing prices as every house is so different....so you can tell me what you think if you decide to take a look around?

Whats fairly unique about a place of this size is thats its offered with no onward chain...so any family with a healthy budget this place may just be one....?

More photo's and details on the link below....

http://www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/36923493

What will the General Election result do to the Maidenhead Property Market?

After the shock of the Conservatives returning to power with a majority at Westminster, all the potential issues and possible uncertainties of a hung parliament has lifted the cloud from the Maidenhead property market.  Talking to Maidenhead Estate Agents, surveyors and solicitors in the area over the last few days, there are signs this has started a new impetus in the Maidenhead property market after a subdued six months, when an amalgamation of tougher lending conditions, a natural correction after the strong recovery in Maidenhead property prices in 2014, and political uncertainty ahead of the General Election slowed demand.

Against the back drop of Labour’s election promises of rent controls and three year tenancies, some Maidenhead buy to let landlords were waiting to see how these new policies would be implemented before they committed themselves to buying more property for their buy to let portfolio. Now that uncertainty has been removed, the long term picture is very positive.

So, with all that uncertainty now removed, where next for the Maidenhead property market?  Well with inflation at zero and with the Money markets happy David Cameron is still at No.10, the Bank of England have no reason to raise interest rates until 2016 at the earliest. As mortgage rates are at their lowest levels since 2010, landlords with large deposits will now be wooed by the mortgage companies in the coming months with low rates.

You see over the past couple of years, Maidenhead landlords have benefitted from a booming Maidenhead job market. Unemployment in Maidenhead has dropped to 1.1%, as a year ago, 799 people were claiming unemployment benefit compared to today’s 548. With more jobs and better pay, as the level of rents is directly linked to tenant’s wages, there has been an increase in the rental prices tenants are willing to pay for good quality Maidenhead properties.

Some landlords might be nervous about Tory’s plans for the housing market over the next five years in terms of tenant demand for their rental properties. One plan is for Housing Association tenants to have the right to buy their property. These kind of tenants were never in the private rented sector and will actually increase the supply of properties in the housing stock in decades to come. The Government ‘Help to Buy Scheme’ has only helped to buy 39 Maidenhead properties since April 2013. Considering 1,244 properties have changed hands in the last year alone in Maidenhead, I don’t think it has made a huge difference to our local property market.

The biggest matter, when it comes to tenant demand of rental property going forward, comes from the shift in the mind-set and attitudes towards renting itself. Twenty years ago you were seen as a second-class citizen if you rented a property. In Maidenhead, as in the rest of the UK (apart from Central London), renting continues to offer good value for money for tenants.  If you are an existing landlord in Maidenhead or thinking of becoming one (or as estate agents like to call you... a FTL... a ‘first time landlord’), then I must suggest you may want to seek out advice and opinions from trusted sources and other landlords you may know?? I will happily continue to give you my opinion on the current state of the market and the advantages/disadvantages to investing in the Maidenhead property market via this blog.

Bell Street, Maidenhead - 2 bed terrace - Central Location

Good morning all! I really like this place.....location alone means you should be onto a winner! Its a short walk to the town centre and when all that promised re-development happens this is the type of place that will reap the benefits. As a landlord you could expect yields around the 4% mark.....but with the added bonus of some good capital growth and with a queue of tenants waiting to rent this off you.....not a bad combination! It needs some work admittedly but this will just add to your profit margins!!!

Its on with Roger Platt...well worth a look!

http://www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/36836987

St. Lukes Road, Maidenhead - 1 Bed Flat - seems like a good deal!

Good Morning Property Fans! Doing my daily search this nice little 1 bedder jumped out as the one to bring to your attention today. Its on with Connells for £184,950 - all in all I think this looks quite a good deal. If you manage to get hold of this for around the asking price you can expect yields approaching 6%....which is well above the average for Maidenhead. Another plus, this place is good to go....so any potential investor could get this back on the market with no delays for DIY! 

Good luck...I think this will get a bit of interest!

http://www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/36836484

Are Attitudes to Home Ownership changing in Maidenhead?

Speaking to a Bank Manager the other day in Maidenhead, we got talking about the state of the Maidenhead property market and whether we, as a Country, are turning more and more to the European style of property ownership, where it is the norm to rent as a opposed to automatically buying once you have a good job etc.

Even though a recent report by the Halifax stated homeownership remains a goal for 85% of twenty to forty five year olds, there is information emerging that attitudes in the UK towards renting your own home as opposed to owning it have softened, showing more and more, that renting is being seen as a life style choice.  In fact it is recognised in learned circles that the cycle of renting is also repeated by the fact that people who grow up primarily in rented accommodation are themselves more likely to rent than buy.

The biggest barrier often mentioned to buying a house is the claim that they are not buying property at the moment because of a lack of sufficient wages and the high level of deposits required - but like we said a few weeks ago, in Maidenhead, if a couple, one on the average Maidenhead salary of £39,202 pa and the other on the Minimum wage, assuming they had a reasonable credit history they would be showered with lenders offering them a 95% mortgage (a reasonable credit history means they haven’t defaulted on loans, paid all their bills on time nor got any County Court Judgements. Just because you missed just one credit card payment wont mean you have messed up your credit score and your ability to get a mortgage) and they would only need to find £12,500 as a deposit to buy a decent one or even a two bed apartment in the town .. it comes down to the perceived capability of the youngsters in Maidenhead to buy nowadays.

Interestingly, when I looked at the Maidenhead figures, the average Maidenhead tenant has a slightly middle aged profile (especially the 35 to 49 year old age range) compared to the English and Welsh average, as can be seen from the graph below. What interested me as well was the relatively large number of people renting over the age of 50! I know a couple of letting agents who say they have a decent number of mature tenants at their agency, but I always thought that was the exception to the rule. Obviously not!  (And that is good news for landlords as they make excellent tenants)

So what does all this mean for Maidenhead landlords and future Maidenhead landlords? I honestly believe there is a difference between the hope and perceived capability of the younger generation to buy a home. Although homeownership is seen as advantageous by a majority, many tenants admitted in the Halifax report they are not taking the steps they need to purchase their own home.

As the local authority aren’t building any properties in Maidenhead, people still need a roof over the head, and that is why, as I mentioned a few weeks ago in the Maidenhead Property Blog, the demand for rental properties will only continue to steadily rise in the coming decade. 

Oldfield Road, Maidenhead - 3 Bed - Could be a Gold Mine???

Good afternoon everyone! Well doing the scour of whats come on the market today this place was the obvious candidate to bring to your attention today! This has just come on the market with Connells for £385K and with average house prices in Oldfield Road around the £418K mark this likes it could be a good deal....obviously depending on what them refurb costs add up to! 

As with all these places it will get a huge interest from the investors and developers so I expect that sold sign to go up quickly.....!


http://www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/33002283

Walpole Road, Bunham - 1 Bed Flat - Sound Investment!

Good afternoon all! This place has just come on the market with Glenn Flegg....at an asking price of £160K this will get some attention for all the investors and landlords out there. Only a couple of photos to take a look at which suggest this will need some sprucing up here and there. But with easy access to Burnham train station location alone will drive buyers through the door. 

When you've got this ready to rent you can expect a monthly income of £750 per month....this should more than cover your costs and provide a yield in the region of 5.5%....not too shabby!

My guess is this won't hang around so move quickly!


http://www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/35043956

Moorland Way - 2 bed end of terrace - A Landlords Dream!

Afternoon everyone! I couldn't resist bringing this place to the attention of all you landlords. This Shanley built home you cannot go wrong with, its immaculately done out and will have tenants lining up to move in. 

You could expect a monthly rental income of around the £1,400 mark - this would not set the world alight in terms of yield (i.e. around the 4% mark) but bearing this would rent 365 days a year and give you a steady capital growth of around 8%.....looks like a sound investment to me!!!

Have a look at link below for more details......

http://www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/36739735

Twynham Road, Maidenhead - 2 Bed Detached Bungalow - Real Investment Opportunity!

Good afternoon all! Doing my daily scour of the property market this place really caught my eye. Bungalows are not always everyones cup of tea when it comes to developments but I think this one has real potential. Its not a bad looking place but does need quite a bit of updating inside.

Its on the market with Connells for offers over £450K - Given the amount of work that needs doing you might not want to stray too far north of this price.....that said it will still gain a huge amount of interest and therefore I expect this to be in the hands of developer pretty quick!

Take a look at the link below for more details and pics.....

http://www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/36690894