Walsall Property Market

Comment on the Walsall property market

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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The Walsall Property Almanac – 2021!!

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

Market Next

I just love the salad bar at Harvester.  So when I heard my stomach rumbling at an according time I obeyed it and headed straight to the Harvester in Walsall on the A34 to Birmingham.  As I entered I was approached by someone who I didn’t recognise.  He turned out to be a local solicitor who subscribes to my Blog and said he was an avid reader.  He had a few questions and wanted to talk about property investments as he had a small portfolio and was curious to pick my thoughts.  He asked me my prediction on the Walsall Property Market for the next five years.  So, we had lunch at my favourite salad bar and discussed my favourite subject – the Walsall Property Market.  What a result!!

Property prices are both a British national obsession and a key driver of the British consumer economy. So what will happen next for the Walsall Property Market?  Here’s what I told him….

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Do Walsall Landlords ‘Regret’ voting for a Tory government…?!

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

david_cameron_3

Do you still remember that inevitable night of Thursday, 7th May 2015 at 10.05pm….??  With the shocking news that the BBC Exit Polls suggested the Conservatives would be returning into government with a majority.  Well let’s face it…it wasn’t that shocking as a two-horsed race can only be won by one.  The middle classes in Parkhall and Aldridge exhaled a huge sigh of relief, as Walsall landlords, faced with rent controls from Red Ed Milliband and the Labour Party, now had something to cheer about as the Tories were always considered to be a political party that accepted the importance of the rental market, supported its development whist properly targeting the lawbreaker/ slum landlords renting out sub standard rental accommodation.

Since May though, George Osborne announced future rises in stamp duty for buy to let landlords and a change in the interest relief on buy to let mortgages,some people have started to question that loyalty.

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Values of Walsall’s Semi-Detached Houses smash through the £185/sqft barrier

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

Rising property prices

In Walsall, I am speaking to more and more landlords, be they seasoned professional landlords or FTL’s (first time landlords), as they read reports that the Walsall rental market is doing reasonably well, with rents and property values rising.  Interestingly, one landlord recently asked how much he should be paying per square foot (more of that in a second).

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Freehold or Leasehold? What type of property to buy in Walsall?

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

IMG_7634

The life of a property manager is never dull!!  I love what I do and every day is different as you never know what you can wake up to (although I do try to plan my day).  What makes it extra special are the interactions I have with potential clients on a daily basis with new people looking to enter the buy to let market.

One such case was of a lovely gentleman I had an initial email enquiry from.  His children had grown up and flown the nest.  Some extra cash was to hand; he saw my blog and became interested in entering the market.  We later met up for a coffee.  He was considering making his first purchase and amongst the usual questions, one question stood out for me:

Do I buy a freehold house or a leasehold flat in Walsall?

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The ‘Liquorice Allsorts’ – Walsall Property Market!

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

ALLSORTS

I had an interesting meeting with one of my local Walsall landlords this weekend.  He wanted some advice around his current existing portfolio which he was looking to expand in a new direction by adding properties that would give him a higher rental yield today.  I’ve always advocated having a portfolio of a mixed bag of properties.  Looking at his current portfolio I noticed that they consisted of properties with generally a low or average yields so as usual this made me think about the Walsall Property Market.  In general a mixed bag of ‘liquorice allsorts’ (in property terms) can ease current cash flow and build you a nice nest egg for the future.

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Properties in the Highgate catchment area outperform Walsall by 27.06%!!

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

27.06% Up

I was having a chat with a footie-loving property investor friend the other day.  After we spent a very small amount of time discussing England’s chances of winning in the forthcoming Euro Championships (!), we got chatting about property.

He has a couple of young children and 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.

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Are Walsall tenants priced out of the Walsall Property Market?

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

Cash Pic

I had an interesting chat with a property landlord the other day about my thoughts on the Walsall Property Market.  The subject of the affordability gap between renting property in Walsall against purchasing came up in conversation and how that would affect tenant demand.  As a local Property Manager I have noticed how, in recent years, our tenancies are being sustained with tenants staying with us for longer.  So my curiosity got the better of me and I just had to take a look at the figures.  Here’s what I found…

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