My Blog reading friends may be aware of the ‘eviction ban’ introduced at the start of the pandemic. The good news is this is being lifted on the 23rd August 2020.
Our government recently announced changes to the eviction processes in England and Wales. These temporary measures aim to help the courts cope with the influx of possession proceedings once the ‘eviction ban’ is lifted.
The changes include claimants needing to issue a “reactivation notice” to resume halted evictions and will be effective until March 28th, 2021.
A two bedroom semi detached house on the popular Reedswood estate in Walsall, WS2.
This is just a quick one this week following on from my involvment with the letting of a similar property on the same estate this week.
Sadly, there are no other photos on the listing, but suffice to say it has two double bedrooms, a modern kitchen, a family bathroom with shower, a rear garden and off-road parking. It would be better appreciated by a viewing. The location is within easy reach of all the major road networks, services and other amenities lending easy access to Walsall town centre plus Reedswood Retail Park is just around the corner.
5 Easy-Peasy ways your Walsall home can attract Tenants & Buyers with kerb appeal
Too often I am going to meet landlords and vendors in Walsall who have a perceived idea of how to present their home when looking for a tenant or a buyer. I have always said that you want to present your home in a way which will take the prospect’s mind away from thoughts of excess expenditure and expensive necessary changes they may have to fork from their pocket in addition to paying that all important price tag. The moment you have prospects thinking of where to place that all important sofa or ‘Will my bed fit in this room?’, is where you have created a chance of converting the prospect into a potential tenant or buyer. Now that’s on the inside but how important is the outside and what can you do to make your Walsall home more desirable?
You want your home to stand out from the crowd. You want tenants or buyers flocking to see what it has to offer. First impressions matter, and how your home looks from the outside can impact how buyers view the inside. Wow them from the kerb and they will enter with hope and anticipation. Disappoint them and it will take twice as much effort for your property to win them over.
Getting the right kerb appeal doesn’t take rocket science; here are 5 easy-peasy ways to attract Walsall tenants & buyers.
A family home with low maintenance gardens and a block paved curtilage at the front of the property, which could be used for off-road parking. Two of the bedrooms are double sized, with the third being a single.
The extension includes a utility room and a sitting/ reception room. Top this all off with a modern kitchen and bathroom (Ground floor) and you have a rental property that is good to go.
In recent weeks I have had the pleasure of meeting up with a few investors who were looking to enter the Walsall Property Market. There are so many approaches to investing in property and many ‘Guru’ type figures out there, all willing and able to help…all for a fee of course (some of the fees are eye watering)!! Having attended the course, some of the investors found my Blog and decided to take me up on the offer of a meeting over a cuppa. The common theme/ question that came up repeatedly was… “Do I buy with or without a mortgage”!?
For most Walsall people, a mortgage is the only way to buy a property. However, for some, especially Walsall homeowners who have paid off their mortgage or Walsall buy to let landlords, many have the choice to pay exclusively with cash. So, the real question is, should you use all your cash, or could a mortgage be a more suitable option?
Over the last couple of decades, the rise in the number buy to let properties in Walsall has been nothing short of extraordinary. Many in the “left leaning” press have spoken of a broken nation, the fact many youngsters are unable to buy their first home with the rise of a new cohort of younger renters, whom have been daubed ‘Generation Rent’ as landlords hoover up all the properties for their buy to let property empires. Government has been blamed in the past for giving landlords an unfair advantage with the tax system. It is also true many of my fellow professionals have done nothing to cover themselves in glory, with some suspect, if not on some rare occasions, downright dubious practices.
Yet has the vilification and unfair criticism of some Walsall landlords gone too far?
It was only a few weeks ago, I read an article in a newspaper of one landlord who had decided to sell their modest buy to let portfolio for a number of reasons, one of which being the new tax rules on buy to let that were introduced last year. The comments section of the newspaper and the associated social media posts were pure hate, and certainly not deserved.
Like all aspects in life, there are always good (and bad) landlords, just like there are good (and bad) letting agents… and so it should be said, there are good tenants and in equal measure bad tenants. Bad letting agents and bad landlords should be routed out… but not at the expense of the vast majority who are good and decent.
But are the 3,983 Walsall portfolio buy to let landlords at fault?
The Tories allowed people to buy their own Council house in the 1980’s, taking them out of the collective pot of social rented houses for future generations to rent them. Landlords have been vilified by many, as it has been suggested by some they have an unhealthy and ravenous materialism approach to make cash and profit at the expense of poor renters, unable to buy their first home. Yet, looking beyond the headline grabbing press, this is in fact ‘fake news’. There are seven reasons that have created the perfect storm for private renting to explode in the 2000’s.
In my research to discover potential properties for buy to let investment it does appear that there are other properties on this newbuild housing estate up for sale, therefore, I will probably be covering more properties of these types in my upcoming posts over the next few weeks. Shropshire Close and it’s locality is a burgeoning area for rental properties. I have helped many of my clients to buy and rent out the properties for sale on this estate. They are selling at a reasonable price and achieve above average yields. They are newbuild and in general need very little work doing to them in order to bring them up to a lettable standard even if they have been previously occupied and in addition are ideally located. So, let’s get on with the show…
Are We Building Enough Affordable Homes in Walsall?
Before we begin… no, that’s not a location picture of Walsall-on-Sea!!
Within my blog about the Walsall Property Market I mostly only talk about two of the three main sectors of the local property market, the ‘private rented sector’ and the ‘owner occupier sector’. However, as I often stress when talking to my clients, one cannot forget the third sector, that being the ‘social housing sector’ (or council housing as some people call it).
In previous articles, I have spoken at length about the crisis in supply of property in Walsall (i.e. not enough property is being built), but in this article I want to talk about the other crisis – that of affordability. It is not just about the pure number of houses being built but also the balance of tenure (ownership vs rented) and therein, the affordability of housing, which needs to be considered carefully for an efficient and effectual housing market.
An efficient and effectual housing market is in everyone’s interests, including Walsall homeowners and Walsall landlords, so let me explain ..
An immaculately presented 2 bedroom terraced house on Penmire Grove a new build housing estate about half a mile south of Rushall, Walsall, WS4. The property is being marketed by Bairstow eves (01922 321791) and added today!
I cannot say anymore about the spec other than can be seen on the photos. Needless to say go and have a look for yourselves, it will be worth it. Marketed at offers of over £140k, notwithstanding the spec, I think that the asking price is a little over what you should expect to pay.
A three bedroom semi detached house on a prestigious and popular estate in the Coalpool area in Walsall. Since major redevelopment in the area, the area’s profile has now been raised substantially making it a popular choice for rental.
