Walsall Letting Agents

Nearly Half of Walsall Tenants are ‘Middle Class’!!

Head of Juicing @Ashmore Lettings & Sales Ltd Walsall Property Market , , , , , , , , ,
Nearly half of Walsall tenants are ‘Middle Class’!!
Nearly half of Walsall tenants are ‘Middle Class’!!

With Walsall youngsters not able to buy their own property, my research would suggest the progressively important role the private rented sector has been playing in housing people in need of a roof over their head. This, at a time of increasing affordability problems for first time buyers and growing difficulties faced by social housing providers – local authorities and housing associations – in their ability to secure funding from Westminster and then compete against the likes of the Taylor Wimpey, Barratt and Persimmon Homes of this world to buy highly priced building land.

Renting isn’t like it was in the 1960’s and 70’s, where tenants couldn’t wait to leave their rack-rent landlords, charging sky-high rents for properties with Second World War wood chip wallpaper, no central heating and drafty windows. Since 1997 with the introduction of buy-to-let mortgages and a new breed of Walsall landlord, the private rented sector in Walsall has offered increasingly high quality accommodation for younger Walsall households.

So, whilst I knew in my own mind that the type and ‘class’ of tenant has improved over the last 20 years, I had nothing to back that up… until now.

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Walsall Landlords & Investors – does your letting agent go THIS far?

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

Walsall Landlords & Investors – does your letting agent go THIS far?
Walsall Landlords & Investors – does your letting agent go THIS far?
A local Walsall landlord recently contacted me after he found my blog (the Walsall Property Blog) and thought to take me up on my offer of advice.  He lives in Parkhall and was thinking of purchasing a property he had seen.  As I’ve always maintained, opinion costs nothing and I am always happy to pass my opinion on any property in the open market.

After he sent me the link to the advertised property I started my research and found some interesting facts.  The property in Walsall was a 3 bed mid-terrace advertised for £129,950.  Just four weeks ago, when it was first advertised, it was priced at £134,950.  So a drop of £5,000 in a month! I smelt a potentially motivated seller. Here’s what makes it more interesting…when I dug deeper…I found the property had been on the market two years ago but for some reason, didn’t sell so was taken off market at that time!!

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Walsall Landlords…Avoid the Fire Sale!!

Head of Juicing @Ashmore Lettings & Sales Ltd Walsall Property Market , , , , , , , ,
Walsall Landlords…Avoid the Fire Sale!!
Walsall Landlords…Avoid the Fire Sale!!

Apologies in advance… another article that refers to the EU vote… but this time, its better news for Walsall property owners!

Let’s face it; even the sanest person in Britain has to admit that the Brexit vote will, in one shape or another, affect UK property. We must exclude central London, however, which is another world! Most commentators are saying prices will be affected by around 5%. So looking at their thoughts in more detail, property values in Walsall will be 5% lower than they would have been if we hadn’t voted to leave the EU.

As the average value of a property in the Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council area is £159,900, this means property values are set to drop for the average Walsall property by £7,995… batten down the hatches… stock up with soup and milk… mega recession here we come… it’s going to get rough!

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Walsall Letting Agent..Corporate or Independent?

Head of Juicing @Ashmore Lettings & Sales Ltd Walsall Property Market , , , , , , , , , ,
Walsall Letting Agent..Corporate or Independent? Walsall Letting Agent..Corporate or Independent?

Recently I read a really interesting article by Christopher Watkin, renowned property guru, which really made me think about whether landlords and vendors actually know who they are instructing when putting their property for let or for sale and the implications of being unaware of whether one of the large corporate owns your local agency!

I have noted my opinions and thoughts at the bottom of the article..

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Walsall Properties – Not Selling?!

Head of Juicing @Ashmore Lettings & Sales Ltd Walsall Property Market , , , , , , ,
Walsall Properties – Not Selling?!
Walsall Properties – Not Selling?!

Knowing how saleable a property is, is half the battle when deciding what (or not) to buy for your next property investment. Why? Well because one day, you may need to sell that property. If you go into the purchase with open eyes, you know most of the risks and can barter the price accordingly if you have to.

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Walsall’s Love Affair with the 24,044 Terraced Homes!

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

terraced-homes-walsall2-e1472339490937

Call me old fashioned, but I do like the terraced house. In fact, I have done some research that I hope you will find of interest!

In architectural terms, a terraced or townhouse is a style of housing in use since the late 1600’s in the UK, where a row of symmetrical/identical houses share their side walls. The first terraced houses were actually built by a French man, Monsieur Barbon around St. Paul’s Cathedral within the rebuilding process after the Great Fire of London in 1666.

Interestingly, it was the French that invented the terraced house around 1610 in the Le Marais district of Paris with its planned squares and properties with identical facades. However, it was the 1730’s in the UK, that the terraced/townhouse came into its own in London and of course in Bath, with the impressive Royal Crescent.

However, we are in Walsall, not Bath, so.. Continue reading →

Walsall Property Numbers Tell Us a Different Story!!

Head of Juicing @Ashmore Lettings & Sales Ltd Walsall Property Market , , , , , , , ,
Walsall Property Numbers Tell Us a Different Story
Walsall Property Numbers Tell Us a Different Story

New Prime Minister, Theresa May, has taken no time at all to comment on housing in the UK.  Speaking in Birmingham, she said it was important to give people more opportunity: “It is why housing matters so much, and why we need to do far more to get more houses built. Because unless we deal with the housing deficit, we will see house prices keep on rising. Young people will find it even harder to afford their own home”.

I thought I would look at the Walsall property market numbers to highlight what sort of problems she faces.

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Is the buy to let dream over for Walsall Landlords? Property Transactions in the Borough down by 23.3%!!

Head of Juicing @Ashmore Lettings & Sales Ltd Walsall Property Market , , , , , , , ,
Is the buy to let dream over for Walsall Landlords? Property Transactions in the Borough down by 23.3%!!
Is the buy to let dream over for Walsall Landlords? Property Transactions in the Borough down by 23.3%!!

In this post credit crunch world of sub terrain low interest and annuity rates, the growth of buy-to-let since 2009 has been phenomenal. The rates are so low, even a limbo dancer would struggle! So much so, there has been an evolution in purchase of property in the UK from that of just buying the roof over one’s head to that of a buy-to-let investment where it is seen as a standalone financial asset to fund current and future investment – complimenting or even replacing a pension. So recently, a couple of weeks before the release of latest Land Registry data of property transactions, quite a few market commentators were anticipating a huge increase in the number of properties sold in March as the 1st April 2016 stamp duty deadline got closer.

So what do the numbers tell us?

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Walsall Tenants are Setting Their Own Rents!!

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

Last week I went to meet a landlord who found me through my blog.  The property was a traditional end of terrace in north Walsall between Leamore and Coalpool.  The landlord had the property with an agent from out of the area and wanted my opinion.  Or at least that’s what I thought…

Quite often, when talking about the rental market, we talk about property, condition, area, location, amenities/ facilities etc. and seem to forget one of the most important parties to the equation… tenants.

Without tenants, there is no demand for the rental property. The profile of the Walsall tenant has changed and continues to change.  Although this is in part due to the credit crunch, job mobility and the raising of deposits, an increased number of people in their twenties are choosing to rent rather than buy and have done so, even when they were in a position when they could have bought a property.

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EU Referendum – 67.9% of Walsall Voters Vote With Their Feet…

Head of Juicing @Ashmore Lettings & Sales Ltd Walsall Property Market , , , , , , , , ,
EU Referendum - 67.9% of Walsall Voters Vote With Their Feet...
EU Referendum – 67.9% of Walsall Voters Vote With Their Feet…

As most of the polls suggested a Remain Vote, it came as a surprise to most people, including the City. The Sterling has dropped 6% this morning (at time of typing article), after the City Whiz kids got their predictions wrong and MP’s from the Remain camp are using words like “challenging times ahead”.

.. and now the vote has been made .. what next for the 67,280 Walsall homeowners especially the 33,748 of those Walsall homeowners with a mortgage?

The Chancellor in the campaign suggested property prices would drop by 18%. Using Treasury estimates, their method of calculating this was tenuous at best, but focused around the abrupt and hasty increase in UK interest rates, which in turn would raise the cost of mortgages, and therefore lower demand for property, causing a drop in property prices.… and I would agree and say, yes .. that will probably happen.

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