Wansbeck Close is unusual for Spennymoor and ideal for investors

I've decided to look in today's blog at this property in Wansbeck Close, Spennymoor as we don'r get many apartments for sale in the town and this represents a nice change-

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-34979172.html

I've lived in certain parts of the country where there are as many flats or apartments as there are houses. In certain areas, there are many, many large houses converted into two or more flats as developers found they could generate more money this way and 1960's to 1990's planning departments did nothing to stand in their way. With land and space being more plentiful in the North East, this isn't a phenomenon that has ever cropped up, aside from the major cities.

This property is a 2 bedroom first-floor apartment and looks to have been designed and built as a flat rather than converted into one after being built. From the photographs and description, there doesn't look like there is an major renovation needed to get this into a position to let out again. The bathroom looks newly redecorated and does look to be in good condition, as far as can be told from the photographs. The walls look to have quite dated wallpaper on, but a lick of paint in these areas will help to improve the overall presentation and rental potential of this property. The only area that the photos highlights as a potential concern is the kitchen. Although it looks to be in a perfectly lettable condition, to enable the property to gain top rental value a new kitchen may have to be installed. But that decision is about maximising potential - I repeat that the property looks ready to let out with the kitchen in it's current condition.

The estate agent is the town's newest major estate agency - Harringtons - and they describe the property as extremely spacious. The estate agent is another that doesn't seem to grasp the basic estate agency concept of portal pricing and they offer the property at a strange combination of "offers over" and "£69,950." Portal pricing isn't just an excuse for me to have a moan - it's an important factor in marketing a property. Set, whole prices such as £70,000 (which, let's be clear is ONLY £50 more than the asking price here) means that anyone searching from £70,000 to £80,000 will find the property - whereas with the current price they just won't.

The property will attract attention from fellow investors, so you may have to move quite quickly with this one. I'd expect it to gain somewhere between £375 and £425 per month, with the top end of that estimate being more likely if the kitchen is renovated. This equates to something in between 6.4% and 7.3%, based on the asking price. It's a fair return on an investment but you may wish to try a negotiation on the price in order to get the return that you are looking for, especially with any renovation costs to be factored in.