High Town Road, Maidenhead - 2 bed Terrace - Brilliant location!

...As you know I always try and bring to your attention the latest properties to hit the market...but today its slightly different, this place has been on for over a month and really is in the heartland of investor territory in Maidenhead. I am slightly confused why it has not been snapped up! The Grenfell road area really will see the all benefits of the planned rail and town centre developments so I think its worth giving the ladies and gents at Roger Platt a call to find out some more. Let us know how you get on?

Its on £415K, there is some more info on the link below

http://www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/38118499

Arkley Court, Holyport - 3 Bed Terrace - If village life is for you.....

Good Morning, Today we are heading out of Maidenhead to Holyport, this nice 3 bed terrace provides a good alternative for anyone who is looking to invest outside of of the town. Holyport house prices continue to rise in line with Maidenhead so I think this is good investment if your are looking to spread your investment portfolio outside of Maidenhead itself. 

Its on with Prospect for £335K...but for that you still need to do a little work...I'm not sure modern day tenants are into red patterned carpets and pink rooms...cosmetics only but worth getting sorted to get the best price and avoid them void periods!

Take a look at the link below for more details.

http://www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/38418474

Maidenhead Property Market - Asking Prices Drop but Values rise

Those of you who regularly read my weekly articles in the Maidenhead Property Blog will know I like to keep abreast of the Maidenhead property market. Something attracted my attention this week about the local property market, something I wanted to share with my many readers.

Over the last month, there appears to have been an anomaly in the local property market, whereby asking prices in the town have dropped, yet property values have increased.  The average asking price of a Maidenhead property, according to Rightmove, fell 1.2% this month yet the average value of a Maidenhead property rose by 0.6%.

So how does this relate in monetary terms?  This anomaly has driven the average asking price of a Maidenhead property down slightly to £589,600 whilst the average value is now £509,400.

So why the difference? Technically an ‘asking price’ can be any price that a homeowner wants to place his or her property on the market for. Unfortunately, many times this is done without research and can result in overpriced properties that don't sell. As the Summer months are normally slightly quieter those left on the market wanting to sell often temper their asking prices in these months to try and generate interest in their property.

On the other side of the coin, the property ‘value’ is the price that a willing buyer is prepared to pay and a willing seller is prepared to sell at.   Therefore, in a nutshell, Maidenhead property values are continuing to rise and those homeowners in Maidenhead who have properties on the market, last month on average, reduced their asking prices .. great news for property owners and buyers alike!

In previous articles, I have spoken about the continued fundamental shortage of property coming on to the market compared to buyer demand. That is especially true for homeowners wanting to upgrade to a better house/better location.  I can appreciate Maidenhead home owners are reluctant to put their own property on the market speculatively and wait for the right property to become available and some high demand locations can suffer from a property stalemate.

Most homeowners don’t want to sell and have nothing to buy.

But that’s the beauty of the much maligned English and Welsh house buying process. You can find a purchaser for your property, then ask them to wait. By agreeing a sale (subject to contract) before you try to buy sounds concerning to many, but with fewer properties for sale you need to have a buyer for your property or you will be treated as a less serious buyer yourself. If you cannot find the right home for you, you can slow the deal with your purchaser until it comes along. If nothing suitable does comes along and you lose your buyer then the worst outcome is that you have to find another purchaser or take your property off the market and stay put for now, and as long as you mention this at the start they must not commit to any costs until you have agreed your onward purchase.

However, for the landlord/buy to let investors, these potential problems are nothing further from the truth. As I write this article, there are 76 flats for sale, 73 terraced houses and 54 semis for sale in Maidenhead.  Landlord/Buy to let investors can normally pick up some bargains in the Autumn months, as sellers who are selling their homes often have a pressing need to sell by this time.

The types of houses a Maidenhead landlord typically buys, are not the same types as the homeowners wanting to move to a posher area of the town as they are attracted by larger semis and detached properties. The best types of properties for buy to let are the smaller flats, terraced and semis (not the big detached ones). There are in fact many of these smaller properties for sale .. just look at the numbers of properties for sale (mentioned in the previous paragraph).

If you are a landlord or thinking of become one for the first time, and you want to read more articles like this about the Maidenhead Property Market together with regular postings on what I consider the best buy to let deals in Maidenhead, out of the many of properties on the market, irrespective of which agent is selling it, then feel free to get in touch!

Gordon Road Maidenhead - 5 Bed Semi - Real Opportunity for Capital Growth

Good Afternoon! This place is on the market with Andrew Milsom and Carson & Co for £550K. Its located in the "college area" of Maidenhead which is a real hub for people looking to buy /invest with a view of gaining some top end capital growth. This is already a very spacious semi, but with some further investment to so some upgrading and modernisation you could really could be onto a good thing! 

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

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-51874864.html

Lowbrook Academy catchment area properties £31,200 bonus for parents

I was having a chat with a Maidenhead property investor the other day, when he asked if schools, especially primary schools, affected the local property market in terms of demand from buyers and tenants to a property.  Anecdotally, I have always known this to be true, a good school creates good demand and good demand does affect house prices.  So, I asked my colleagues on the front line, who take the phone calls from people putting themselves on our mailing list and they confirmed that most people cite location as their number one factor.

After looking through our mailing list, it confirms there is a close correlation between the high demand areas of Maidenhead and the close proximity to a good primary school.  Talking to my team in a recent morning meeting, they agreed many people would look to increase their budget quite significantly, whilst others would consider downgrading their property requirements to be close to a good primary school.

Those of you who regularly read this blog will know I like a challenge, so I decided to look at the science behind these assumptions.  According to the SchoolGuide website, Lowbrook Academy Primary School is one of the best primary schools in Maidenhead.  Its figures are certainly impressive. Their last Ofsted Report classified it as Outstanding, 98% of 11-year pupils achieving Level 4 or above in maths, reading and writing whilst 74% of them achieved level 5.  Finally, the schools’ KS2 rating was classed as Excellent.

Looking at property sales within half a mile of Lowbrook Academy, property values have risen in value since 2001 by 96.61%, whilst according to the Land Registry, the Maidenhead average as a whole has risen in the same time frame by 91.03%.

That means the parents of Lowbrook Academy have seen the values of their properties rise proportionally 6.13% more than the Maidenhead average ... it doesn’t sound a lot until you realise that has added an extra £31,200 to the values of those properties in the catchment area.. interesting don’t you think?

However, whilst a good primary school significantly contributes more to house prices, the same can’t be said for secondary schools. There are two reasons for this, firstly, as secondary schools are much larger, so their catchment areas are correspondingly much larger, meaning parents don’t need to live so close to the school. Secondly, in the UK, whilst the difference between the top 25% and bottom 25% of secondary schools is not insignificant, in the primary school sector, the difference between the top 25% and bottom 25%, according to the London School of Economics, is considerably and significantly more.

Many other Maidenhead landlords, both who are with us and many who are with other Maidenhead agents, like to ring/email us to discuss the Maidenhead property market, to consider how Maidenhead compares with its closest rivals and hopefully we can answer all their questions. You must take lots of advice and seek out the best opinion. One good source of opinion, specific to the Maidenhead property market is the Maidenhead Property Blog http://maidenheadpropertyblog.blogspot.co.uk.

I don’t bite, I don’t do hard sell, I will just give you my honest and straight talking opinion.

North Town Road - 2 Bed Semi - Investment Opportunity

Good Morning! This place will be coming to the market soon with Romans, at £275K - I think this is a good opportunity for anyone who is thinking of getting on the investment ladder. Admittedly, it may not look the prettiest from the outside, but this place has a lot to offer when you get inside......its really quite spacious and is nicely done out which will please all them tenants! 

It looks like a vacant which is also a bit advantage.....take a look at the link below for more details.

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-55202084.html

Greenfields, Maidenhead - 3 bedroom maisonette - Expect good yields!

Good evening! 3 Bed maisonettes are quite rare...and combined with great location I think this place will gain a significant amount of interest from investors and will not hang around long! You could expect to get a rental income in the region of £1,200 PCM which would give a yield just shy of 6%....not to shabby and well above the average for Maidenhead. 

Its on with Roger Platt for £250K but suggest you move quickly on this one!


http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-36647511.html