Parkside in Spennymoor is always popular

Just added to Rightmove is this property in the ever-popular Parkside-

Parkside, Spennymoor, County Durham

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-51230369.html

It's a 3 bedroom semi-detached property with an asking price of £114,950. It's brought to the market by Robinsons and this agent seems to be popular in this part of town. According to their blurb-

" In our opinion this spacious home would provide an ideal purchase for the growing family"

When you cut through the vast amounts of agent speak in the description of this property (and there's a lot to cut through) it's a decent 3 bedroom semi-detached house. It's close to the town, the good primary schools and the third bedroom isn't a box room. From the photographs, it looks vacant, so if that is the case then a sale and completion could possibly be agreed quite quickly on this. Again from looking at the photographs and reading the actual facts in the description, there doesn't look to be a lot of work involved and it has a kitchen/diner which is a massive selling point and a bit of a rarity in properties of this age. Many of the really new build properties have this feature and it is a popular feature, as the family room.

From the point of view of an investor, I would expect a monthly rental return of £450 to £525 per month. This equates to an annual rental return of between 4.7% and 5.5%, based on the asking price. This is a reasonable return, and the property should hold value over the years, as the location will always be popular for investors and owner occupiers alike.

There will be initial interest in this property from people looking to buy and live in it, and from landlord-investors. It's worth getting an early look so you can make your mind up.

Expanding my Spennymoor property blog

I'm looking at ways of expanding and varying my Spennymoor property blog. Although the blog highlights opportunities for landlords and has got some positive feedback, I'm looking we was of giving the blog a wider audience and a slightly broader appeal. There are a few ideas that I've been mulling over in my mind and I think that one or more of these will give the blog some new life. For those that like the current format, I will continue to look at available properties in the Spennymoor area and looking at any work that needs doing and the investment and rental potential of these properties. The blog hasn't run for a couple of weeks now, as I've been formulating the ideas to expand and diversify.

The additional ideas have been plentiful, with some discarded quickly and others have developed into kernels of ideas to take forward. Here are some of the potentials-

Interviews and features with local estate agents

I've looked at this as an opportunity for both the estate agents and their customers and potential customers. Estate agents will have a chance for people to read about what they stand for, what they are doing and what they could do for you as a user of estate agency services. Customers can read what makes an agent tick, what marketing they are currently running and what properties they currently have available. I have no idea about what response the Spennymoor estate agents would give this idea, but I think that it's a great outlet for publicity, especially as customers are looking in different places to the traditional marketing methods such as local newspapers.

Property awards

I'm thinking that as a large part of my blog surrounds the availability of potential investment property for landlords in Spennymoor, and the fact that I use the blog to look a how these are marketed, that I might look at running some property awards. I'd look at one of two options - either investment property of the week/month or a weekly/monthly award based on the quality of the marketing. I think that either or both would be quite interesting and would involve the readership of consumers and property professionals alike.

The investment property would go further than just looking at a few properties a week, it would look at real potential and the opportunity for an investor to get a look at something that might be a great investment.

The marketing side of estate agency really interests me, and in think that a well-marketed property gets more interest, more chance of a sale and a higher price achieved when the sale actually comes through. If I could recognise the marketing efforts if the local estate agents then I believe that it will lead to improvements in marketing and a better deal for Spennymoor customers.

There are several big moves in the estate agency industry to allow consumers to bring their property directly to market without an estate agent as an intermediary. If I could build up my Spennymoor readership to a string level then maybe in the future I could give potential sellers access to potential buyers but we're a long way from that at the moment.

Semi-detached property in Deneside has investment potential

There seems to have been a small exodus of Spennymoor estate agents from Rightmove. There's nothing showing uploaded for the last three days. I've gone to the new estate agency property portal called On The Market, and found this property-

https://www.onthemarket.com/details/1198345/

It's a 3 bedroom semi-detached house on Deneside with an asking price of £69,000. The estate agent in question is a Spennymoor Property Blog regular, Dowen. As an agent with a presence in Spennymoor town centre, Dowen get their fair share of properties.

They describe this on as spacious, in a quiet location with pleasant views to the rear. And they're right! The property itself looks lived-in and well-looked-after but is obviously quite dated. To buy and let this out to potential tenants, you will probably want to update the kitchen and possibly the bathroom. From the photos and description alone, everything else seems a lick of paint away from going to the rental market.

According to the nethouseprices website, the average selling price for a property in Deneside is £57,984 -

http://m.nethouseprices.com/soldprices/property_results?street=DENESIDE&town=SPENNYMOOR&outcode=DL16

The most recent, and possibly the most relevant sale is that of number 65 in March 2014 for £70,000.

Regular readers of my blog will know that this is the point at which we loom at the numbers. I would expect this property to achieve somewhere between £395 and £450 per month. This equates to an annual return of between 6.9% and 7.8% based on the asking price. Taking into account the fact that you may have to update the kitchen and bathroom, this is a reasonably healthy rental return for an investor.

It's probably well worth a look and an offer, based on the information you can gather from the estate agent on the On The Market website.