Best Letting Agency Walsall

Avoiding a ‘Nightmare’ Walsall tenancy!

Head of Juicing @Ashmore Lettings & Sales Ltd Walsall Property Market , , , , , , ,
Avoiding a ‘Nightmare_ Walsall tenancy!
Avoiding a ‘Nightmare_ Walsall tenancy!

My neighbour came to see me the other day.  I’m old fashioned like that…Yes, I talk to my neighbours!  He knows I work in Property Management so thought he would pick my brains on a tenancy that has gone ‘awry’ for him.

If there is one thing that all landlords dread, it’s the ‘tenants from hell’!  Whilst the vast majority of tenants cause no problems and will treat your property with respect it is an inherent risk of being a landlord.  However, there are ways to minimise the likelihood of nightmare tenants becoming your tenants!

Now, I’ll help him to get his property back by following the legal process but I also wanted you, my Blog reading friends, to benefit from some tips I shared to ensure you have your risks covered.  By following the 5-step-guide below you just might avoid a nightmare tenancy…

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Walsall Property Blog on Holiday!

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

Keeping a blog updated can be an exhausting affair so I’ve decided to take a break especially, since the children have holidays.  The wedding season is also in full swing (I’m attending two weddings next week!!).  I hope to return to the blog towards the end of the month.

 

In the meantime, why not visit these property related websites to hone your property investor acumen?

http://www.landlordlaw.co.uk/ – This is a great resource of useful information, especially on legal issues.

www.periodproperty.co.uk is, as you can imagine, the place to find a thatched, listed or historic home, while www.propertyauctions.com lists dates and reserve prices on upcoming auctions plus tips for those bidding for the first time.

www.firstrungnow.com targets first-time buyers and has information on low cost properties for sale. Young buyers wanting to pool resources can find a co-buyer on www.sharedspaces.co.uk or www.co-buywithme.co.uk.

Whilst I’m away if there is anything you would like me to pick up on/ discuss/ write about upon my return please send me an email or message me via any of my social media sites.  Take care and happy holidays…

Phone: 01922 311016

Email: salekm@ashmorelettings.co.uk

 

Walsall Babies Cause Walsall Property Shortage!!

Head of Juicing @Ashmore Lettings & Sales Ltd Walsall Property Market , , , , , ,
Walsall Babies Cause Walsall Property Shortage!!
Walsall Babies Cause Walsall Property Shortage!!

What is the relation to babies being born and the Walsall property shortage I hear you ask!  Well…

….as more babies are being born to Walsall mothers, this increase will continue to add pressure to the already strained Walsall property market – and greatly affect the local property market in the future.

The past eight years of ever incremental increasing birth rates, a significant 3.96 babies were born for every new home that was built in the Walsall area in 2016.

My belief is that it has and will continue to aggravate the Walsall housing shortage. This means demand for housing (be it to buy or rent) has remained high.  The high birth rate has meant Walsall rents and property prices have remained resilient and they will continue to remain high in the years to come – even with the challenges the economy has felt over the last eight years.

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Walsall Property – 5 Helpful Tips on Getting the Best Out of a Refurbishment

Head of Juicing @Ashmore Lettings & Sales Ltd Walsall Property Market , , , , , , , ,
Walsall Property – 5 Helpful Tips on Getting the Best Out of a Refurbishment
Walsall Property – 5 Helpful Tips on Getting the Best Out of a Refurbishment

Not everything you do to a property adds a premium to the price.  A question I get asked time and time again from landlords, who think by maintaining a property where they replaced a boiler or a tenant, who through choice, changed the flooring and some minor decorative work feel they have done. So what does constitute value and how does this work with Walsall property?

Below are my thoughts and examples of 5 improvements that will add the most value to your next Walsall refurbishment (weigh up the costs against the extra you will achieve in rent though, each project is different):

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Walsall Property Owners and Selling Values..

Head of Juicing @Ashmore Lettings & Sales Ltd Walsall Property Market , , , , , , , , ,
Walsall Property Owners and Selling Values..
Walsall Property Owners and Selling Values..

A local property investor/ landlord contacted me last week with a million questions which I really enjoy.  Those of you that know me personally know I love to talk about Walsall property to anyone who would lend me an ear (at this point I wish I had some emoticons to add a couple of smiley faces)! Now, our investor was a shrewd individual it seemed and informed me how he had several properties achieving, what seems like from the outset, some great rental values..which got me thinking..what is actually happening with current property values and rents over the past year? What is the route to getting more ‘bang for your buck’?

The new year started with some positive interest in the Walsall property market. Taking a snap shot of the Walsall property market for the first quarter of 2017, the picture suggests some interesting trends when it comes to the asking prices for property and what prices properties are actually selling for.  This is really important to understand as everything connected to these two factors has a ripple effect which ultimately affects your final numbers whether you decide to flip (re-sell) or rent it out.

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Is the Walsall Buy to Let Market Over-Saturated?

Head of Juicing @Ashmore Lettings & Sales Ltd Walsall Property Market , , , , , , , , ,
Is the Walsall Buy to Let Market Over-Saturated?
Is the Walsall Buy to Let Market Over-Saturated?

If I were a buy to let landlord in Walsall today, I might feel a little bruised by the assault made on my wallet after being (and continuing to be) ransacked over the last 12 months by HM Treasury’s tax changes on buy to let.

To add insult to injury, Brexit has caused a tempering of the Walsall property market with property prices not increasing by the levels we have seen in the last few years.  There is even a possibility we might even see a very slight drop in property prices this year and, if Walsall property prices do drop, the downside to that is that first time buyers could be attracted back into the Walsall property market; meaning less demand for renting ( ie rents will go down).

Before we all run for the hills, all these things could be serendipitous to every Walsall landlord, almost a blessing in disguise.

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Walsall Properties…”How Much to Buy Them All?!”

Head of Juicing @Ashmore Lettings & Sales Ltd Walsall Property Market , , , , , , , ,
Walsall Properties…”How Much to Buy Them All?!”
Walsall Properties…”How Much to Buy Them All?!”

My 14 year-old has started his GCSE’s this year. He wants to be a Chartered Surveyor as he loves buildings and anything to do with cars. He posed the fascinating question last week which got me thinking…

So this weekend, I sat down and calculated what the total value of all the properties in Walsall are worth … and just for fun, worked out how much they have gone up in value since he was born back in the summer of 2002! I used information from the latest census, land registry and the ONS.

So, here you are…

In the last 14 years, since the autumn of 2002, the total value of Walsall property has increased by 95% or £8.3 billion to a total of £16.1 billion. Interesting, when you consider the FTSE100 has risen by 68.9% and inflation (i.e. the UK Retail Price Index) rose by 38.7% during the same 14 years.

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Are Walsall Pensioners ‘Trapped’ in their Homes?!

Head of Juicing @Ashmore Lettings & Sales Ltd Walsall Property Market , , , , , , , ,
Are Walsall Pensioners ‘Trapped’ in their Homes?!
Are Walsall Pensioners ‘Trapped’ in their Homes?!

During a site visit last week I was approached by a mature, friendly gentleman who lives next door to one of the properties I manage in Pelsall. He lives in a Bungalow, which is one of my favourite property types that he owns outright (mortgage free). We got talking about the Walsall property market and then he mentioned something which piqued my curiosity. How many other Walsall pensioners are in a similar situation?!

Walsall people aged over 65 currently hold more housing wealth in their homes than the annual GDP of the whole of Northumberland (strictly speaking a county can’t have a GDP, but as everyone knows the phrase, it works for comparison purposes!)

This is a problem for everyone in Walsall!

Many retiree’s want to move but cannot, as there is a shortage of such homes for mature people to downsize into. Due to the shortage, bungalows command a 10% to 20% premium per square foot over houses of the same size with stairs. To add to the woes, in 2014, just 1% of new builds in the UK were bungalows, according to the National House Building Council – down from 7% in 1996.

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Pace Yourself with Walsall Property…!!

Head of Juicing @Ashmore Lettings & Sales Ltd Walsall Property Market , , , , , , , ,
Pace Yourself with Walsall Property…!!
Pace Yourself with Walsall Property…!!

With the fast approaching Christmas holidays soon upon us some prayers are being offered by the local bob sleighing enthusiasts for snow although, we are more likely to see it between January to March than December.  However, the Walsall property market has a pretty confident feel to it.

With the underlying fundamentals of a continued lack of properties being built, a shortage of properties – both in terms of quantity and quality -coming to the market and the continued low mortgage rate environment, enquiries from first time buyers and buy-to-let landlords is strong and motivation is even stronger, given those inexpensive lending rates and general demand caused by under supply.

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Walsall Landlords and Tenants : What does the Tenant Fee Banning order mean for you?

Head of Juicing @Ashmore Lettings & Sales Ltd Walsall Property Market , , , , , , , ,
walsall-letting-fees-ban
walsall-letting-fees-ban
  • Tenant Fees set to be banned within 12 to 18 months
  • Rents due to rise as those fees passed to Landlords
  • Landlords won’t be worse off – and neither will tenants or agents

With our new Chancellor of the Exchequer revealing a ban on tenant fees in his first Autumn Statement on Wednesday what does this actually mean for Walsall tenants and Walsall landlords?

The private rental sector in Walsall forms an important part of the Walsall housing market and the engagement from the chancellor in last Wednesday’s Autumn Statement is a welcome sign that it is recognised as such. I have long supported the regulation of lettings agents which will establish and cement best practice across the rental industry and, I believe that measures to improve the situation of tenants should be introduced in a way that supports the growing professionalism of the sector. Over the last few years, there has been an increasing number of regulations and legislation governing private renting and it is important that the role of qualified, well trained and regulated Lettings Agents is understood.

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