Can this Tudhoe Moor property be one to add to your portfolio?

There always seems to be the better potential of higher rental returns on property at the lower end of the property market. To explore this, I'll take a look at a house that has come to market this week with an asking price of £52,000.

Tudhoe Moor, Spennymoor, County Durham, DL16

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-57429539.html

It's is up for sale with Robinsons and can be found on Tudhoe Moor. As I've already said, it's available with an asking price of £52,000. The property is a 2 bedroom semi-detached house.

Aside from the standard comments, the estate agent states -

"Corner plot with extra large Gardens to rear and side. Patio area, Off street parking to the front 

Brick outhouse in rear garden"

It's interesting to know some detail about a property, especially if you are intending on letting it out in the future. A selling point for a sales estate agent will be a selling point for a landlord looking for tenants.

From the description and photographs it looks like it would be ready to rent out straight away, so the expenditure would only be linked to the purchase of the property. You may want to add a lick of paint and put a few plants in the garden but nothing of great cost by the look if it from here. Of course you'll want to go and check it out yourself before making an offer.

It's time for the financials, so let's take a look at what it will bring in rent. There looks to be quite a bit of competition for 2 bedroom properties to rent, so I think that you would get somewhere between £325 and £375 per month. This equates to a gross annual return of between 7.5% and 8.7% based in the asking price. This is a good solid rental return for any investor but beware the competition - there are a lot of 2 bedroom houses available for rent at the moment.

What does jargon do for the house buying process? Not a lot in my view

There haven't been many properties come to market recently. Rightmove new listing show nothing for the last week.

And very little for the last fortnight. It's the time of year when new properties will start to turn from a trickle into a flood. The Christmas and New Year period ends up with people breaking up, looking to move upwards and wanting a change.

This means new properties to market for the seasoned investor to look through and decide upon. There is a little more urgency than before this time because of the changes to stamp duty rules.

This property is something to consider while you are waiting for other options-

RUSHMOOR, SPENNYMOOR, Spennymoor District, DL16 6NX

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-56863415.html

It's marked by the estate agent as-

• IDEAL FOR FTB

This got me thinking about how much information an estate agent gives and how much they should give. For a potential owner occupier, the phrase ideal for FTB (First Time Buyers) is about as useful as putting any other three initials in the description.

As a property investor reading this and looking to see whether there is potential in the property above, the phrase ideal for FTB means absolutely nothing.

So we've established that it's of no use to anyone - mini-rant over.

Let's get to the figures.I think that this property would command a rent of somewhere between £375 and £425 per month. This equates to a gross annual rent of between 5.6% and 7.3%, which is a good annual return to start looking at for investment in property.

Keep an eye on this one.