Lettings Walsall

Are Walsall landlords denying our Walsall youngsters?

Head of Juicing @Ashmore Lettings & Sales Ltd Walsall Property Market , , , , , , , ,
Are Walsall landlords denying our Walsall youngsters?
Are Walsall landlords denying our Walsall youngsters?

I received a very interesting letter the other day from a Walsall resident. He affirmed he was a Walsall homeowner, retired and mortgage free. In the letter he stated how unaffordable Walsall’s rising property prices were and that he worried how the younger generation of Walsall could ever afford to buy? He went on to ask if it was right for landlords to exploit the inability of others to buy property and if, by purchasing a buy to let property, Walsall landlords are denying the younger generation the ability to, in fact, buy their own home?

Whilst doing my research for my many blog posts on the Walsall Property Market, I know that a third of 25 to 30 year olds still live at home. It’s not surprising then that people are kicking out against buy to let landlords; as they are the gluttonous bad people who are cashing in on a social woe. In fact, most people believe the high increases in Walsall’s (and the rest of the UK’s) house prices are the very reason owning a home is outside the grasp of these younger would-be property owners.

However, the numbers tell a different story…

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5 reasons why NOT to use Gumtree to let a Walsall Property

Head of Juicing @Ashmore Lettings & Sales Ltd Walsall Property Market , , , , , , , ,
5 reasons why NOT to use Gumtree to let a Walsall Property
5 reasons why NOT to use Gumtree to let a Walsall Property

Honestly I could write a book about this. Time and time again through my agency career I would have landlords calling me, desperate for advice after they’ve placed a “lovely” tenant in their property using a free (or low cost) DIY advertising website. The tenant presented themselves as honest, open, and above all very capable of paying the rent.

But the truth is a different matter. They got into the property by deception, and ended up costing these landlords thousands of pounds in damages, unpaid rent, and above all…the stress. These landlords had to cover the mortgage whilst funding the legal battle. One made very difficult because they weren’t aware of all the legislation surrounding lettings. This could prejudice their position in court. Didn’t serve the Prescribed Information? Didn’t register the deposit within 30 days? That means the tenant could actually sue you for 3 times the deposit amount! And there’s more…

It has been said that some 30% of the PRS is made up of accidental landlords (Source: Landlordnews.co.uk). Here lies the problem. As an accidental, or amateur (not a bad thing!) landlord, it is unlikely that they invest the time to make themselves aware of all the legislation surrounding lettings. There is a lot, but as the saying goes “you don’t know what you don’t know,” so most are blissfully unaware – until it goes wrong, and they can do with disastrous consequences!

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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 and the Housing White Paper..Back to the Future Part 2 (2037)!!

Head of Juicing @Ashmore Lettings & Sales Ltd Walsall Property Market , , , , , , , ,
Walsall Property and the Housing White Paper..Back to the Future Part 2 (2037)!!
Walsall Property and the Housing White Paper..Back to the Future Part 2 (2037)!!

I had an interesting conversation with a landlord who called me last week.  He manages his own portfolio and seemed well versed with the lettings industry.  He kept himself updated of the constant and fast changing world of housing and all the happenings in the Walsall Property Market.  He said he had been receiving my newsletters for some time now and followed my Blog with interest and wanted to pick my brain on the much awaited housing White Paper.  A summary of my thoughts and discussion with the landlord follows…

In case you didn’t know, a few weeks ago, the Government released a White Paper on housing.  It was interesting to note that the Private Rental Sector (PRS) played a key part in the future plans for housing. This is especially important for our increasing Walsall population.  It follows nicely from the article I wrote last week regarding Walsall property since 1981 where we looked back at what has happened since then.  In today’s article we can marry both the White Paper impact on Walsall’s Property Market, together with projections for the future and how they both tie in.

In 1981, the population of Walsall stood at 255,509…

…and today it stands at 278,902.

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Walsall Unemployment Rates Drop to 7.3%! What Does This Mean for Walsall’s Property Owners?

Head of Juicing @Ashmore Lettings & Sales Ltd Walsall Property Market , , , , , , , ,
Walsall Unemployment Rates Drop to 7.3%! What Does This Mean for Walsall’s Property Owners?
Walsall Unemployment Rates Drop to 7.3%! What Does This Mean for Walsall’s Property Owners?

It was late May 2016, The Right Hon. Member for Tatton, Mr George Osborne, published an official HM Treasury analysis stating UK house prices would be lower by at least 10% (and up to 18%) by the middle of 2018 compared with what is expected if the UK remained in the European Union.  So, eight months on from the Referendum, are we beginning to show signs of that prophecy?

The simple answer is yes and no.

Good barometers of the housing market are the share prices of the big UK builders. Much was made of Barratt’s share price dropping by 42.5% in the two weeks after Brexit, along with Taylor Wimpey’s equally eye watering drop in the same two weeks by 37.9%. Looking at the most recent set of data from the Land Registry, property values in Walsall are 5.75% up month on month (however, the month before that, they had seen decrease of 0.1%) – so is this the time to panic and shout?

Doom and Gloom then?  Well, let me consider the other side of the coin.

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The Side-Effects of the 0.25% interest rate on Walsall Property.

Head of Juicing @Ashmore Lettings & Sales Ltd Walsall Property Market , , , , , , , ,
The Side-Effects of the 0.25% interest rate on Walsall Property.
The Side-Effects of the 0.25% interest rate on Walsall Property.

I had an interesting chat with a Sutton Coldfield landlord who owns a few properties in Walsall. He said he was in town shopping with his wife.  Whilst she was shopping for clothes he thought he would call me whilst taking a break over a coffee.  In his words he went on to say; “Talking about the Walsall property market is a lot more interesting than clothes shopping”!

We had never spoken before as he uses another agent in the town to manage his Walsall properties,  yet after reading my blog on the Walsall market for a while, the landlord wanted to know my thoughts on how the recent interest rate cut would affect him and the property market in general.

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Walsall Property Prices Cut…But Values Go Up!

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

UPDOWN

Those of you who regularly read my weekly articles in the Walsall Property Blog will know I like to keep abreast of the Walsall Property Market.  Something attracted my attention this week about the local property market, something I wanted to share with my many readers.

Over the last month, there appears to have been an anomaly in the local property market, whereby asking prices in the town have dropped, yet property values have increased.  The average asking price of a Walsall property, according to Rightmove, fell 1.1% this month yet the average value of a Walsall property rose by 1.2%.

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