This 3 bed Southampton semi makes a great buy 2 let and could yield 6.2%

This 3 bed semi-detached property is well located on Sholing rd. Southampton and is only 0.5 mile form Woolston Train Station. You can be into the city centre in 10 mins using either the Itchen toll bridge or the Northam bridge. It is a well located unit in SO19 that will have great appeal.

Clearly the property would benefit from modernisation and redecoration. When complete it will let at around the £925 pcm level and allowing £15,000 for improvement works would produce a Gross Yield of 6.2% based on the asking price of £165k. It will appeal to a wide tenant pool which will include young families, professional couples and sharers. Given the family nature of this home it would be advisable that the landlord consider pets.

Southampton property market comes alive

The Southampton property market has certainly sprung into life after a little lull over Christmas. We have seen an increased appetite from investors to secure buy 2 let stock before the freeing up of pensions in April.

In the last 4 weeks we have seen properties go to sealed bids and the asking prices being raised on a number of properties we are tracking. Selling agents are now encouraging vendors to hold tight as there may be an additional wave of monies into the market in April. Our advice to buy 2 let investors is to stay calm, do your homework and identify the real value of the asset you are looking at acquiring - don’t overpay as it can take years to claw it back. Agents are now selling properties that couldn't sell last year because they had fundamental issue and those issues have not gone away so please don’t buy someone else’s problem! If in doubt please talk to us.

There are good properties available to purchase in Southampton which will make excellent buy 2 lets but you have to do your homework. We don’t sell properties, we just let them so it’s in our interest to make sure you buy the right stock!. If you would like an independent view on any property you are looking at acquiring in the Southampton market or you would like some advice on the best areas and type of stock to buy, please do give me a call, drop in for a coffee or send me an email we would love to chat.

Buy-to-let landlords and retirees risk squeezing out first-time buyers, data shows

Newcomers already battling landlords armed with an average £100k deposit will in April face a wave of retirees armed with pension pot lump sums

 

Photograph: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

First-time buyers have been warned that they face increasing competition for properties as figures showed that buy-to-let landlords are looking for mortgages with deposits averaging almost £100,000.
Data from the Mortgage Advice Bureau (MAB) based on searches through the UK’s main price comparison sites showed that in the final quarter of 2014, people searching for a buy-to-let mortgage typically said they had £99,914 in equity to put down.
The figures include remortgages and new loans taken out to buy properties; according to mortgage lenders, in 2014 the market divided roughly in half between the two.
The amount of equity that buy-to-let landlords had was 15% higher than at this time last year, suggesting many have benefited from rising house prices.
Savings provider Scottish Friendly suggested first-time buyers “have just months left to buy a house or risk missing out on the chance of getting on the property ladder for years to come”.
The group, which offers insurance and investment products, said the imminent relaxation of pension rules in April meant newcomers to the market would be competing for properties with those retiring and keen to invest their funds in bricks and mortar.
“The baby-boomer generation has always had an unhealthy obsession with property,” said Neil Lovatt, director at Scottish Friendly.
“This has been manageable, even beneficial to the economy when people slowly climbed the property ladder. But the new pension rules will essentially bankroll a generation, allowing them to buy into an already over-inflated market in the expectation that it will help fund their retirement.”

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MAB’s figures, which are based on 250,000 mortgage searches a month, of which arbout a quarter are for buy-to-let loans, showed landlords were typically seeking to borrow £129,964 of a £229,878 purchase price. This meant an average loan to value of 56.5%, allowing them to secure mortgage rates as low as 1.99%.
Brian Murphy, head of lending at MAB, said: “House prices have settled into a steadier pattern in recent months, but the current low rate environment offers many buy-to-let borrowers the chance to reassess their finances.
“It means this part of the market is likely to see strong activity this year, both from people who are already involved with BTL and others who are learning the ropes.”
There was some good news for first-time buyers, as Nationwide’s latest monthly house price index showed a 0.1% fall in February and an easing off in the annual rate of growth.
However separate figures from the Bank of England showed mortgage approvals rose for the second consecutive month in January, prompting some experts to predict house prices will start rising again soon.
The Nationwide report showed the annual rate of price inflation fell for the sixth month running to stand at 5.7% – less than half the 11.8% rate in June 2014 and its lowest level for 16 months.
The average price of a UK home has fallen back to £187,964, from the recent peak of £189,306 in August.
Nationwide’s figures, which are based on home loans it has approved during the month and adjusted to reflect a typical house, are the first to show prices for February.
They are in line with other indicators that have shown waning interest from buyers and a change of mood from a year ago when prices in London and south-east England were spiralling upwards.
Bank of England figures showed mortgage approvals continued to rise in January to hit a four-month high. There were 60,786 loans approved for home purchase, up from 60,349 in December.
Matthew Pointon, a property economist at the thinktank Capital Economics, said the housing market appeared to be nearing a turning point.
“House prices held their ground in February according to the Nationwide. But with mortgage approvals rising for the second consecutive month, and mortgage rates dropping yet again, prices will soon return to a gentle upwards trend,” he said.http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/mar/02/buy-to-let-landlords-and-retirees-risk-squeezing-out-first-time-buyers-data-shows?CMP=EMCNEWEML6619I2

Annual growth of 6.7% brings average property prices to £179,492.

The Land Registry has just released the latest house price data for January which shows an annual price increase of 6.7 per cent which takes the average property value in England and Wales to £179,492 compared with the peak of £181,101 in November 2007. House prices are up 1.3 per cent since December.

The regional data indicates that:

• London experienced the greatest increase in its average property value over the last 12 months with a movement of 12 per cent
• the North West experienced the greatest monthly rise with a movement of 2.6 per cent
• the North East saw the lowest annual price growth with a movement of 0.1 per cent
• Yorkshire & The Humber saw the largest monthly price fall of 1.5 per cent.

Sales and repossessions during November 2014, the most up-to-date figures available, show that:

• the number of completed house sales in England & Wales decreased by 19 per cent to 68,107 compared with 83,726 in November 2013
• the number of properties sold in England and Wales for over £1 million decreased by 18 per cent to 869 from 1,060 a year earlier
• repossession volumes in England and Wales decreased by 47 per cent to 687 compared with 1,286 in November 2013
• London was the region with the greatest fall in repossession sales

Region	Monthly change since December 2014	Annual change since January 2014	Average price January 2015
North West	2.6%	3.7%	£113,861
South West	1.5%	6.3%	£187,032
East	1.4%	10.4%	£200,925
England & Wales	1.3%	6.7%	£179,492
South East	1.2%	9.4%	£242,232
East Midlands	0.9%	4.7%	£132,984
West Midlands	0.9%	4.4%	£137,367
Wales	0.7%	1.6%	£119,263
London	-0.2%	12.0%	£458,283
North East	-0.2%	0.1%	£97,974
Yorkshire & The Humber	-1.5%	2.8%	£119,408

Cambridge landlord fined for harassment

A landlord who harassed the American tenants of a house she owned has been order to pay a total of £4,500. Rosemary Hill, 74, of Mildenhall, denied harassment but was found guilty by a jury at Ipswich Crown Court.

The Cambridge News reports how an American family moved into a property in Long Road, Feltwell owned by Hill. They claim they were then bombarded with increasingly "vitriolic and personal" comments in emails and phone calls from Hill between October 2012 and June 2013.

Terri and Dwayne Scott, both US citizens, said that within a matter of weeks of moving into the house, their relationship with Hill began to deteriorate when they asked for defects with the property to be fixed.

During the trial the prosecution said that Hill may have been trying to hound the couple and their four children out of the property because she had other potential tenants willing to pay a higher rent lined up.

Mrs Scott said that as correspondence between them progressed, Hill's tone became increasingly “terse, personal and offensive”. Hill had accused the family of failing to look after her property, she said. Hill also contacted Sgt Scott’s senior office at RAF Mildenhall to discuss what she said were problems with the tenancy.

The jury were given details of an email said to have been sent by Hill to the base commander at RAF Mildenhall saying she wanted to remove the Scott family from her property and which she concluded with: "Americans cannot and will not come into my country, wreak havoc and leave with nothing happening."

Hill declined to give evidence and did not call any defence witnesses during the trial. She was cleared of an alternative offence of racially aggravated harassment.

At the trial recorder David Pugh, sitting at Norwich Crown Court, told Hill she must pay a £2,000 fine and contribute £2,500 towards the cost of the prosecution. He also granted a restraining order which will remain in force for 10 years and prohibits Hill from engaging in further harassment.

http://www.landlordtoday.co.uk/news_features/Cambridge-landlord-fined-for-harassment