Ex council properties can make great investments!

If you are looking for a reasonable return on your investment don’t discount ex local authority properties.  They make good rentals as they are generally well built and offer tenants lots of storage which is always a plus.  I recently found a property advertised by Your Move in Andover on Galahad Close for the asking price of £150,000.  The average rental in that area is £775pcm, depending on the condition.  Therefore even if you were to buy this property at the advertised price this would still represent a very respectable 6.2% yield on your investment.

Likewise ex local authority flats offer good value for money and again tend to offer good storage and occasionally garages.  The management fees are very often lower on these flats but beware as the management company do not hold much of a sinking fund as with other block management companies.  Therefore when additional work is required such as repairs to roofs, decorating communal areas etc they will send you a bill!  Click here for a good example of an ex local authority flat which again offers a yield of around 6.2% even if buying at full asking price as a monthly rental value of £650 should be achievable:

If you are considering investing in a rental property and want to know if what you are considering is a good purchase, pop in to our office and we will be glad to advise you.

Herons Rise Vs Berry Way

A landlord came into our office to ask whether Berry Way, Burghclere Down or Herons Rise would be a better place to invest in. He was considering purchasing a 2 bedroom mid terraced house, after reading a recent newsletter we had sent him.

The properties on Herons Rise were predominately built in the 1970's. They were built by a local builder, predominately for the first time buyer market.  This has remained the case but they have also become popular with buy to let investors. The Burghclere Down development was built in the early 2000’s. The properties here are more aesthetically attractive as is often the case with properties built after the 1970’s, and are of a similar size to those on Herons Rise. The average value of a mid terraced house on Herons Rise is £149,000 whilst on Berry Way a mid terraced house has an average value of £180,000

On Herons Rise, a two bedroomed mid terraced house can achieve rents of around £725 per month, with a three bedroomed mid terraced house achieving around £800 per month. Looking at the rents for Berry Way, a two bedroomed mid terraced house can potentially achieve £775 per month, with a three bedroomed semi-detached house achieving around £875 per month.  Both have similar yields of around 5.8% to 5.2% per year, therefore making both areas sensible propositions.

If you would like any advice when choosing properties, you may come and see us at our office on London Street.

Hello!

Hello to you all! This post marks the beginning of the Andover Property blog. I don't know about you, but we're very excited about it!

And who are we? We are Carole and Anna Bazzoni, a mother/ daughter estate and letting agent team who have both lived in Andover our whole lives. We have been working in the property industry for a combined total of 18 years now- 19 if you include Anna answering the phone and doing the filing on a Saturday. All these years have been a steep learning curve for us and this blog is to try and make everyone else's dealings with property that much easier.

We hope to post an article at least once a week about anything; from the ideal rental, to how to make your property more sale-able, and possibly even the odd post about the day to day life as an Andover lettings and estate agent.

We would love to hear your feedback and suggestion about this blog by either the comments section below, or you can email Anna direct at anna.bazzoni@martinco.com .