Great opportunity to buy to let in Leigh on sea! - 4 Bedrooms!!!!

This excellent  Four bedroom end terrace property Set in the popular Eastwood area. The property is offered in good decorative order throughout and benefits from a modern refitted bathroom as well as a good sized refitted kitchen/dining room. In addition there are four good size bedrooms as well and a large lounge. To the rear is a low maintenance garden and the property also benefits from a single garage. All sounds very good to me.

Call Aspire today on 01268 810815 link below to zoopla:

http://www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/33811742?

With a rent around £1100pcm that’s an annual gross return just shy of 6.11%.
Consider also that most pundits are forecasting further price increases this year, not as strong as 2015 but still around 5%. That would give you capital growth of £8745.00!
If this is of interest or you want to talk through your investment plans for this year please give me a call or pop in to our leigh on sea office...01702 477754

Leigh on sea Property Market – should you be buying?

A number of landlords, first time buyers and investors have approached me recently, asking about the Leigh on sea property market. With all these headlines about property values in the UK, should we be worried we are about to have a price crash or price explosion? We are at the early stages but the economy is now actually looking a lot healthier and there are signs we are seeing an actual recovery after several false starts. 

I am of the opinion that over the last few years, whilst mortgages have been a little more difficult to obtain than the last decade of the 2000’s, this lack of mortgages has produced some pent up demand for property. Now we appear to be on the other side of the financial crisis , and the banks are more willing to lend, this is why sales, prices and first-time buyer numbers have improved so rapidly. It has been like opening a shaken can of fizzy pop. You get the initial fizz of activity, and then it flattens. What we're seeing is a relatively normal market correction, not a quick transition from a recession to a boom or even boom to recession.

Property values in Leigh on sea have risen, on average by only 11.26 % in the last 12 months. When I look at Essex as a whole, prices have risen by 7.71 % and nationally by around 8.7%. Compared to the boom years of 2000 to 2004, when property values increased by 20% in 2000, 10% in 2001 and 16.2% in 2002, 23.5% in 2003 and finally 11.9% in 2004 in Leigh on sea, I cannot see why some are concerned about an unsustainable price boom.

On the other hand, speaking to others in Leigh on sea, the issue isn't potential massive drops in property values, but a lack realistically priced properties coming onto the market for sale, a lack of supply. In the first half of 2014 on average 156 properties came onto  the market for sale in Leigh on sea each month, whilst in the last three months of 2014 on the run up to Christmas, even though you would expect a slight drop, only 119 properties on average came on to the market each month. This lack of supply will keep Leigh on sea property prices relatively stable.

So, now is a good time to buy, provided you accept prices may fall again in a few years. It depends on how long you plan to own the property (whether as a home or investment), whether it personally suits you and most importantly whether you can afford it. Leigh on sea first time buyers preparing to take the plunge should bear these factors in mind. The biggest issue must be that buyers ensure they can take the hit of future interest rate rises and therefore, I ask the first time buyers of Canterbury to make sure you'd be happy in your new home, because you could be stuck there in five years' time.

Landlords tend to buy for the long term, so these short term movements don’t tend to affect them as much. The lack of supply in Leigh on sea of new properties coming onto the market indicates people wanting to buy have to move quickly, and don’t have the luxury of a few weeks to decide to view the property. However, my findings show that first time buyers and landlords in Leigh on sea  aren’t prepared to pay over the odds for a property to secure it. Maybe, just maybe, the memory of the 2008 price crash has given a dose of realism to the optimistic Leigh on sea property market?

Should you wish to discuss any other specific properties or just a general chat

 regarding the current market, please feel free to contact me on 01702 477754 

or call in and see me at 91 Broadway west in Leigh on sea.

Do You Have An EPC? - (Energy Performance Certificate)

 Do you have an EPC, or even know what one is? All properties for sale or let must have one when going on the market, however not many people know there's a register thats totally free to see them all and to check if your property already has one. You can find it here:

https://www.epcregister.com/reportSearchAddressByPostcode.html

You can search by postcode and it might save you some cash, and you check out neighbouring properties for build types, etc. It's a good research tool, and can show if the property needs upgrading (meaning negotiation on buy price).

Tenants are getting wiser to these now, and will do so more in the future I think. I'm seeing more people take note all the time. After all, would you rather rent a place that's cheap to heat, or a 'G' rated money pit?

If you would like any advice on buy-to-let properties in Leigh on sea just drop me a line and I'll be happy to help. rob@castleestateagentdltd.co.uk -

 01702 477754

Leigh on sea Landlords: Do you need to tell the HMRC you rent your Property? Do you have own a rental property?

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.

With respect of residential properties -

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, like:

* 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

* 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.

Should you wish to discuss any other specific properties or just a general chat re the current market, please feel free to contact me on 01702 4777754 
Robert@castleestateagentsltd.co.uk or call in and see me at
 91 Broadway west, Leigh on sea ss9 2b

Another Westcliff steal - 7.89% yield - only £90k

Midweek special! This Afternoon i have Just spotted this little gem, we are back Westcliff again for today’s investment. These properties rarely come onto the market and when they do, they’ll make a great addition to an investment portfolio or an excellent starter property for a new portfolio.

It’s just come on the market Last week with Bairstow eves for a price of £90K. Yes, you read right £90K. OK, its ground floor one bedroom apartment, but all of the main principles of an investment property still remain, with one bedroom properties being in great demand. How much are they in demand, I hear you say? Well one bed properties rent for circa £575 to £600 per month in westcliff and last week, Rightmove shows that they had 2324 searches for such a property criteria. So, 2000+ searches, with only 6 properties on the market as of today, confirms their strong demand.

So the demand is strong, what about the rent and yield? Well, if we were to say that the rent would be circa £600 per month, which is on the cautious side, then this would return a decent yield of 7.89%.

Check it out further at 

http://www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/35818250?

Should you wish to discuss any other specific properties or just a general chat re the current market, please feel free to contact me on 01702 477754  rob@castleestsateagentsltd.co.uk or call in and see me at 91 Broadway west in Leigh on sea

London property prices rise 12.3% and Leigh on sea is booming

The price of an average UK home rose to £250,000 by last December, tipping many properties into the three per cent stamp duty bracket. before the new stamp duty changes.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said house prices in December were up 5.5 per cent compared with a year earlier, partly because of a 12.3 per cent increase in London.

The market may be hotting up in the capital but Essex too is seeing a boom according to  new figures from Castle estate agents Group which has six regional offices in the county. Their research showed that key Essex locations are seeing significant property price inflation.

In Leigh on sea, prices have risen by 12 per cent; Benfleet is also up by 11 per cent; and Southend is 13 per cent  is up, six per cent over the  last 12 months. According to the Nationwide House Price Index, prices across Essex as a whole are up by 8 per cent year on year.

There has been a surge of lower end properties on the market over the last six weeks, as rising prices have taken many home owners out of negative equity says Robert Butterworth, castle estate agents MD: ‘We have seen a huge increase in the number of cheaper properties like starter and small family homes coming on the market, since the start of the year.

When home owners bought properties at their peak in 2007, they soon found that their properties dropped in value as the recession kicked in and demand fell away.

With prices on the up, many home owners are finding they can trade up and the growth of first-time buyers is also fuelling demand.

First time buyer numbers are at their highest levels for over five years, following initiatives such as Funding for Lending and Help to Buy, which have widened access to mortgages and allowed some people who were previously trapped in renting to break free.

Many agents are concerned over what could happen when interest rates rise.

Why I think 2015 will be an interesting year for property investors...

As we enter the second month of 2015, you might agree that it’s already gearing up to be an exciting year. Some of the reasons why I think 2015 will be an interesting year include:

• We’ve had a revamp of the stamp duty system
• A close election just around the corner
• Agents Mutual have just launched their online platform (OnTheMarket.com) to combat Zoopla’s and Rightmove’s duopoly
• The European Central Bank  is moving forward with quantitative easing
• Lenders are becoming more creative with their products such as mortgages where you can fix your rate for 10 years

In my local investment area (Leigh on sea), property prices are certainly continuously inching higher which is causing the more astute investors to become more creative with how the realise value in their property deals.

I’d like to hear your views about what’s happening in your investment area and what you think will happen to the property market this year?

Should you wish to discuss any other specific properties or just a general chat re the current market, please feel free to contact me on 01702 477754  rob@castleestsateagentsltd.co.uk or call in and see me at 91 Broadway west in Leigh on sea