Walsall Property Market

Comment on the Walsall property market

Walsall’s housing shortage – Are we in a Crisis situation?

Head of Juicing @Ashmore Lettings & Sales Ltd Walsall Property Market , , , , , ,
Walsall’s housing shortage – Are we in a Crisis situation?
Walsall’s housing shortage – Are we in a Crisis situation?

Walsall’s continuing housing shortage is putting the Borough (and the Country’s) repute as a nation of home owners ‘under threat’, as the number of houses being built continues to be woefully inadequate in meeting the ever demanding needs of the growing population in the Town.  In fact, I was talking to my sister the other day at a family get together; the subject of the Walsall Property market came up in the conversation (as I am sure it does at many family parties in Walsall, after the weather and politics).  My sister said it used to be that if you went out to work and did the right thing, you would expect that relatively quickly over the course of your career you would be buying a house, you would go on holiday every year and you would save for a pension.   But now things seem to have changed?

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Walsall man inherits £110,000. The Bank or Property?

Head of Juicing @Ashmore Lettings & Sales Ltd Walsall Property Market , , , , , , , ,
Walsall man inherits £110,000. The Bank or Property?
Walsall man inherits £110,000. The Bank or Property?

I  had an interesting email from someone in Walsall a few weeks ago that I want to share with you – don’t worry I asked his permission to share this with you all.  In a nutshell, the gentleman lives in Streetly, he is in his mid 60’s and still working.  He has a decent pension, so that when he does retire in a couple of years’ time, it will give him a comfortable life.  He had recently inherited £110,000 from an elderly family member.  One option he was considering was to put it into a savings account.  The best he could find was a 2 year bond with the Post Office which paid 1.9%; meaning he would get £2,090 in interest a year.

One of his other options was to buy a property in Walsall to rent out….

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Walsall’s Private Rental sector explodes by a whopping 1,093.7% in 20 years!

Head of Juicing @Ashmore Lettings & Sales Ltd Walsall Property Market , , , , , , ,
Walsall’s Private Rental sector explodes by a whopping 1,093.7% in 20 years!
Walsall’s Private Rental sector explodes by a whopping 1,093.7% in 20 years!

I find myself in a reflective mood today as I want to talk about the future of investing in property in Walsall.  Especially since my last article (which was a little gloomy) and the fast changing dynamics in recent times of the Private Rented Sector (PRS).

The truth is that we have got lethargic, with many property investment people having mistaken the ever-rising Walsall property market since the 1960’s as the eternal gift that kept giving as property prices constantly rose and doubled every five to seven years.

The days of making easy money from any old property investment in Walsall are over.

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Has Mr Osborne finally delivered the sucker punch to Walsall landlords?!

Head of Juicing @Ashmore Lettings & Sales Ltd Walsall Property Market , , , , , ,
Has Mr Osborne finally delivered the sucker punch to Walsall landlords?!
Has Mr Osborne finally delivered the sucker punch to Walsall landlords?!

Ding, Ding!!  Seconds out – Round 8!  George Osborne today delivered his 8th Budget Statement as Chancellor of the Exchequer.  Many consider the number 8 the luckiest of all numbers, and in Chinese culture it is favoured by business due to its association with prosperity, wealth and success.  Although, in boxing terms, not many fighters predict a knock out in round 8.  So, has Mr Osborne finally delivered the sucker punch to Walsall landlords?!

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Walsall rental market sees returns of 11.9% in 2015!

Head of Juicing @Ashmore Lettings & Sales Ltd Walsall Property Market , , , , , , ,
Walsall rental market sees returns of 11.9% in 2015!
Walsall rental market sees returns of 11.9% in 2015!

One of my out of Town property landlords called me as he was coming to visit his family and friends towards the end of the month during the Easter break.  He was born and brought up in Walsall and went to the Alumwell Business and Enterprise College which, as he recalls, used to be called the Alumwell Secondary School (way before my time of course!!).

To enhance his retirement, he has a small portfolio of four properties in the Walsall and surrounding area and wanted my advice on where to purchase his next buy to let property.  As a University lecturer he lives in a college-owned flat and would never dream of buying where he lives in Kensington where the average value of a flat is £1.62m and a house averages out at £4.1m.

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Walsall landlords heading for financial disaster?

Head of Juicing @Ashmore Lettings & Sales Ltd Walsall Property Market , , , , ,
Walsall landlords heading for financial disaster?
Walsall landlords heading for financial disaster?

One of my Walsall Wood landlords rang me last week after he had been speaking to a friend of his over a Costa (as you do!!).  They were discussing the Walsall property market and neither of them could make their mind up if it was time to either sell or buy property.  If you read the newspapers and the landlord forums on the internet, there is a good helping of ‘doom and gloom’, especially with changes in the taxation towards landlords, new legislation on checking tenants and the general uncertainty in the world economic situation (see last week’s article at https://walsallpropertyblog.com/2016/03/01/walsall-landlords-could-be-fined-1188000/) .

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Walsall landlords could be fined £1,188,000!!

Head of Juicing @Ashmore Lettings & Sales Ltd Walsall Property Market , , , , , ,
Walsall landlords could be fined £1,188,000!!
Walsall landlords could be fined £1,188,000!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

OMG (Oh My Gosh/ God for the old school peeps), said one of our tenants signing up last Saturday!!  This is when they saw the load of paperwork they had to sign.  Gone are the days when you could just ask for a word of mouth referral, collect a copy of a Tenancy Agreement from the local WH Smith and Bob’s your tenant (or is it??).

Amongst the hoard of documents I had were the Right to Rent Guide, copy of the Energy Performance Certificate, a current Gas Cert, an Electric Report, a Schedule of Conditions and Inventory, Prescribed Information and Terms & Conditions of the deposit scheme where the deposit was registered/ kept plus a few other bits…so the sharp intake of breath was understandable.

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Would you rent your Walsall property to a Housing Benefit applicant?

Head of Juicing @Ashmore Lettings & Sales Ltd Walsall Property Market , , , , , ,
Would you rent your Walsall property to a housing benefit applicant?
Would you rent your Walsall property to a housing benefit applicant?

“What does the ideal Walsall tenant look like?”, asked one of my landlords from Brownhills the other day, to which he carried on before I could reply, “Let me guess, a professional couple, both in their 30’s, flawlessly tidy, pays their rent early, doesn’t complain or fuss, with no plans to move any time soon and cheerfully accepts annual rent rises”.

Before I can answer that question properly, I have always believed all a landlord wants, and expects, of their tenants is to pay their rent on time and look after the property as if it were their own.  In return, the landlord should provide a property that is warm, clean, and damp free and resolve any maintenance issues quickly and without fuss.

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The death of home ownership in Walsall…??

Head of Juicing @Ashmore Lettings & Sales Ltd Walsall Property Market , , , , , ,

house ownership

I had the most interesting chat with a mature couple (in their early/mid 50’s) from the Aldridge area the other day, whilst viewing one of our rental properties.  The property wasn’t for them, but their son, who wanted a second viewing with his parents to get the parental blessing.  Now I know that isn’t the norm, but in this case the parents were going to act as guarantor.  We got chatting about the Walsall property market and how they had bought their first property in the town just after they got married in the late 1980’s when they were in their early/mid 20’s.

Anyway, we got chatting about how the youngsters of the UK seem to rent more than buy nowadays and from that the conversation covered a number of similar topics.  I want to share the highlights of that conversation with you today.

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Walsall Property Market or The London Stock Exchange? Where shall I put my savings…??

Head of Juicing @Ashmore Lettings & Sales Ltd Walsall Property Market , , , , , ,

House Cash

It is almost 7 years since Mervyn King, the then Bank of England Governor, slashed UK interest rates to the unparalleled figure of 0.5% – 5th March 2009 to be precise!  In just under five months, starting on 8th October 2008, the rate had come down from 4.5% to that low figure, all in an attempt to ensure the British economy survived the worldwide credit crunch and there it has stayed since.

In the Summer of 2015, people were predicting a rise in the New Year, yet now, some forecast it may stay at this level for years yet to come with the issues in China.  Now, I am not some City Whiz kid with a hotline to Mr Carney at Threadneedle Street, but merely a humble letting agent from Walsall, so I cannot profess to know what will happen to interest rates.  However, what I do know, speaking to my Walsall friends and Walsall landlords is that these low interest rates have hit savers really hard.

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