A guide to North East England for a visitor from Outer Space

If you are looking at areas for oproperty investment and don't know a lot about Spennymoor or the North East of England then my blog is a great place to start.

It is full of things about life in the North East of England and also looks at the area in general.

Check it out!

A Guide to North East England for a visitor from Outer Space

Can a 4 bedroom home on Glastonbury Close be a Spennymoor investors dream?

In recent weeks I have seen more of a trend in the Spennymoor rental market for 2 bedroom homes to be available. This means that there is quite some competition for landlords looking to rent out a 2 bedroom home and there is some downward pressure on price starting to appear. With this in mind, I'm starting to look away from 2 bedroom properties at something a little larger for the family.

I have come across the following property from an estate agent outside of the town-

4 bedroom detached house for sale on Glastonbury Close, County Durham , Durham, DL16 6XP

PrevNext

Prev 

It is for sale by a company called Springbok Properties, who are based in Manchester. Their marketing blurb says -

"Springbok Properties offers a market-beating alternative to the traditional way of selling property. 

We have grown from selling 4 properties a month in March 2012 to selling 200 properties a month in March 2015. How have we grown so quickly? Simple: our entire organisation is aligned to one mission, and only one –providing the best customer service humanly possible."

There probably is long overdue a real shake up in the estate agency industry with better customer service and lower costs starting to come through, especially from online-only estate agents.

On to the property in question. It is available at an asking price of Offers In Excess of £140,000 and is a 4 bedroom detached house. It lies on the Yuill Estate so is very popular and has great transport links, being close to a bus route and close to the town centre.

The description and photographs are of a generally well maintained property that wouldn't need much work to turn around and start renting out. Whoever decided that it was a good idea to include those photographs of the bathroom need to start thinking about their future in estate agency though.

I think that there is a demand for four bedroom properties in the Spennymoor area and, as I said before, there is a glut of 2 bedroom property at the moment. In terms of rental potential, I can see this one going for somewhere between £575 and £650 per month. This equates to a gross annual return of between 4.9% and 5.6% based on the asking price.

It really has become decision time for many landlords with the changes in buy to let rules occurring in April 2016 so if you want to make a move before then this may be the time


.

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.

Can this auction property in Spennymoor attract an investor?

This property jumped out of Rightmove this week and into my attention-

HAZELMERE, SPENNYMOOR, Spennymoor District, DL16 6UL

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-37396203.html

It's a 2 bedroom semi-detached house on the Greenways estate, which always draws a lot of attention from investors and owner-occupiers.

It's being advertised at offered over £65,000 because it's being sold in auction by Dowen. They describe it as-

"A two bedroomed semi detached property situated in a quiet spot on the popular Greenways Estate in Spennymoor and having the benefit of GARDENS TO FRONT AND REAR, a GARAGE and TWO DOUBLE BEDROOMS."

Auction properties can be a little volatile in terms of what you will actually pay, just because of the nature of the auction itself. You could pay as little as the £55,000 advertised or much more if there are many people interested. And it all comes down to the day.

For someone who will buy at auction, it is important to know what you are doing. You must have a grip on the following-

• The auction rules
• Your finances
• The legal side of things
• Your deposit

I think that to assess this property, I'll have to select a price to base my calculations on. The price I have selected is £60,000. I think that this property will attract good attention on the rental market and I'd expect the monthly rental to be somewhere between £450 and £475. This equates to a gross annual return of between 9% and 9.5%, which is a good return.

This is one to keep an eye on.

See the rental potential of this flat in Dundas Street, Spennymoor

I'm going back to the basics of the blog this week and looking at a lower-priced property that has the potential for a good rental return. This property is a converted flat in Dundas Street-

Dundas Street, Spennymoor

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-37229916.html

It's a 2 bedroom flat on the market at Offers In the Region of £89,950. It looks like quite a stylish conversion and the estate agent described it as-

"CITY LIVING AVAILABLE IN SPENNYMOOR

A fantastic opportunity to purchase this unique ground floor apartment in a characterful building."

The estate agent is called Venture Properties and is based in Durham City, not based in Spennymoor. As with some of the properties I feature on here, the photographs and the description show a property that needs little or no work to have it ready to rent out. I think that rental demand for it would be strong as I agree with the estate agents - the apartment is akin to one you would normally find in a bigger city. I'm not sure why there have been two photographs included of the front door (one of it open and one of it closed) but generally the photographs show a well-maintained flat.

I'd expect a rental return of between £450 and £500 per month. This equates to a gross annual rental return of somewhere between 6.0% and 6.7%, based on the asking price.

This is a good, solid return on a residential property investment and I think that you could make a good long-term return on this property. There may also be a little play in the price. Nethouseprices show 2 properties sold in the street, but both freehold houses-

http://nethouseprices.com/house-prices/streets-details/county%20durham/spennymoor/dundas%20street/dl16/6ar/dundas%20street%20spennymoor

Comparing purpose-built 2 bedroom flats in Spennymoor, we have asking prices from around £60,000 to just under £100,000 so this one is towards the top end of that.

It's well worth a look.

Can an investor make a good return from this Spennymoor new build home?

I've been keeping an eye in the Spennymoor housing market this week and this property started me thinking.

Whitworth Road, Spennymoor, DL16 7QF

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/new-homes-for-sale/property-55510805.html

And what it got me thinking was can a new build be an investable property? The reason I ask this is because there's often a premium to be paid for new build. The developers have prices higher than a resale property but offer incentives such as legal fees paid, stamp duty paid, white goods and carpets. So for the investor, a new build property is usually avoided.

This property is on Whitworth Road and has an asking price of £169,995, which is a lot of money for a 3 bedroom property in Spennymoor. The selling agent describes it as-

A flexible THREE BEDROOM DETACHED HOME featuring a beautiful OPEN-PLAN KITCHEN and DINING AREA with a GLAZED BAY leading to the REAR GARDEN.

With a new build there's a guarantee and the place should be totally ready to move in to for your tenants. The photographs look great, but the show homes always do.

In terms of rental potential, tenants will probably be queued up for the prospect of renting this property, as long as the price is right. I think that this property would command a monthly rental figure of between £475 and £575 per month. Based in the asking price, this equates to a gross rental return of between 3.3% and 4%. It's an okay return but may not be what the seasoned investor is looking for.

Can a new build provide a good rental return? Maybe, but probably this one will go to a owner occupier.

See this potential investment property in Spennymoor before anyone else does

Another property that has come to market this week is this 2 bedroom house in Harewood Close, Spennymoor.

Harewood Close, Spennymoor, County Durham http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-35928357.html

It's on for the strange combination of "Offers over" and "£99,950." I write on a regular basis in this blog about the need for estate agents to think about their pricing strategies. Round figures work extremely well with internet property portals - it's called portal pricing.

If a customer puts in a search that they are looking for property from £100,000 to £125,000, for instance then they won't find this property, even though it's only fifty quid less than their search terms. The old "price it just under a hundred grand to make it seem cheaper" strategy doesn't work with the internet.

The estate agent is Robinsons, who are serial offenders with this portal pricing mistake, but market the property with the following description-

"This lovely TWO BEDROOM, TWO BATHROOM END LINK HOUSE is offered to the market in superb decorative order throughout and is situated on the popular Whitworth Park development."

And the property does look in good condition, from the photographs and the overall description. Any potential buyer, especially as an investment, will want to view the property at least once and ensure that it is in good working order and ready to rent out.

I'd say that this property would command somewhere between £400 and £475 per month as a rental figure. This equates to a gross annual return of between 4.8% and 5.7%, based in the advertised price of £99,950. It's an average rental return and the fact that the estate agent has stated offers over may stop you from getting it at a better price than this. I think that it being a relatively new property will attract interest from owner occupiers so it may be time to assess and see what the rest of the market thinks.

See a real bargain in Front Street, Tudhoe in an unusual property sale

This property below has really caught my eye this week, as it's price looks unbelievable and the way in which it's being sold is interesting-

Front Street, Spennymoor, County Durham, DL16 http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-36747867.html

The agency selling the property is Livin Housing Ltd (resale) which is the selling arm of the local housing association. They describe the property and condition as-

Offered for sale by informal tender, a 2 bedroom end terrace house in need of structural repair and renovation so ideally suited for a Builder or Property Developer.

The only photograph of the property is the one of the front included, so you'll definitely need up visit the property with a builder to see what work needs to be carried out. The budding process is described as-

Offers are to be made in writing on form to be provided and returned to Livin Housing Ltd no later than NOON on FRIDAY 27 NOVEMBER 2015.

I'd suggest from this description and the low price that the property is being advertised at that there will be some interest in the property. And as such, the final sale price won't be as low as £25,000 but there's sjestsca chance!

In terms of rental return, I'd expect a monthly rental figure of between £375 and £425 per month for this property. That's a gross annual rental return of between 18% and 20%, based on the figure of £25,00 - an amazing rental return.

You'll have to see the property and have a think about how much you'll need to spend in it before making a bid, but this looks like one that definitely needs to be considered. And unlike many properties at a great price, you may not have many owner occupier as competition.

You'll find owner occupier interest in Parkside, Spennymoor

There's only one property showing on Rightmove as new so far this week-

PARKSIDE, SPENNYMOOR, Spennymoor District, DL16 6SA

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-53096759.html

It's not actually new to the market, but when a property is reduced in price by a certain amount (I think it's 10%) then it appears as new on the website. It's a useful tool for estate agents to get an existing property some more exposure.

This one is being marketed by Dowen and is available for Offers In Excess Of £145,000. It's a 3 bedroom detached house on Parkside, which is always a popular location as long as the price is right.

The agent describes the property as-

"An EXTREMELY MODERN and SPACIOUS three bedroom detached property which has a "WOW FACTOR" kitchen as well as EN SUITE FACILITIES, ENCLOSED REAR GARDEN and a GARAGE."

From the photographs and description it looks like there's no real areas to renovate, repair or decorate to have the place ready for tenants, but you'll obviously have to view the property at least once to confirm this.

There are 6 house sales showing on the nethouseprices website for Parkside-

http://nethouseprices.com/house-prices/streets-details/county%20durham/spennymoor/parkside/dl16/6sa/parkside,%20spennymoor,%20county%20durham

None are for detached houses but none are in excess of £125,000. The most recent sale on the website is 

20 Parkside, Spennymoor, DL16 6RX Semi Detached, Leasehold, Non‑Newbuild

£87,500

27th March 2015

I would think that this property would rent out for somewhere between £475 and £550 per month. This would give an annual rental return of somewhere between 3.9% and 4.5%, based in the asking price.

On this basis you may want to negotiate hard on the asking price, but bear in mind that it's advertised as 'Offers In Excess Of.'

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.

Clyde Terrace available for rental purposes

A new property came on to the market yesterday, and it gives us a chance to look at the auction process again-

CLYDE TERRACE, SPENNYMOOR, Spennymoor District, DL16 7SG http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-36262626.html

It's a 3 bedroom terraced house on Clyde Terrace in Spennymoor. The price showing on Rightmove is Offers Over £44,950 plus a buyers premium. This property is offered via auction and the estate agent marketing it is Dowen.

The auction site is here- http://www.greatnorthpropertyauction.co.uk/

And it states that once the auction is finished, you are expected to exchange contracts within 28 days and pay a buyer's premium.

The property is described as "A spacious mid terrace property which has the benefit of THREE BEDROOMS along with TWO RECEPTION ROOMS, a first floor STUDY and a GARAGE" by the estate agent. The garage and an extra room upstairs (the study) are an advantage here as there are many terraced houses in the town without a garage.

The photographs show a property that looks structurally sound and perfectly lettable in it's current condition, although would benefit from some updating. The description doesn't suggest any works are need either but, as with all properties that you may consider to buy, you will need to visit it and have at least one viewing. This is to ensure that you can verify the condition, the location and the surroundings.

The estate agent states on the property details that they think the property would rent out for £500 per month but I think that's probably the top end if the estimate. I'd say that £450 to £500 is a realistic range, though. It's difficult to measure the income this will bring because of the fact that the property is available at auction. If we use a ronded figure of £50,00 to include the buyers premium then we are looking at a gross annual rental return of between 10.8% and 12%. These are very good returns on investment but remember that this property is available by auction and these figures can change.

Spennymoor housing market is starting to pick up again

There is a natural flow to the UK housing market, and the way that the Spennymoor housing market acts is very similar to the rest of the country. There is activity in January as people start to put their houses on the market for sale. The main reason for this is that people have spent more time at home. They either realise that their home doesn't quite do what they want it to do or that they don't want to share it with the person they currently share it with - solicitors also report a big increase in divorce enquiries in January.

The first real buying market of the year starts as the weather improves. Easter is traditionally the time that things start to pick up as people are more willing to view properties, the weather turns drier and warmer and the nights get lighter. This works well in tandem with the January moves as the properties taken on by estate agents in January are the properties that sell in and around Easter. This more vibrant market lasts until around late-June or early-July before that market sees a lull during the 6 week school summer holidays.

When the children go back to school, the market starts again for people that are looking to move again. It's similar to January as more properties come back into the market. This is coupled with another period if high demand as people who want to live decide that they want to gerbil with it ang get the sake agreed quickly with one eye on moving in before Christmas. As I've said before, the Spennymoor market beiadly follows the rest of the UK in theses peaks and troughs, these ebbs and flows.

So, we're just starting the second busy seller phase of the market, and it shows. The number of properties available has dwindled since July as there have still been a few sales but very few new properties to the market. That is now starting to change as the children go back to school and the parents start to get back to normality.

This means that my blog will be able to expand again in the run up to Christmas - where the market will drop again as people's minds move onto things other than property. I'll be taking a look at two new properties per week to let you know what is out there and what might make a decent investment return for buyers, plus there will be some ideas in there for owner-occupiers.

Stay tuned and I'll take a look at the Spennymoor property msrket and introduce things such as my Facebook and Twitter feeds for Spennymoor property alerts and other exciting additions to the blog.

Looking at a higher price bracket can still bring solid returns

It's my first blog post for a little while, and I'm taking a look at a property in a higher price bracket than my usual. It can be easier to look at property in the lower-end price ranges and state that they will make a good rental income. However, this will often lead the landlord to be looking at housing benefit tenants, which isn't a problem in itself. But some landlords and some letting agents don't want to deal with housing benefit.

So it's this property on Abbey Green that I'll be taking a closer look at today-

Abbey Green, Spennymoor, County Durham

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-50660093.html

It's a 3 bedroom semi-detached house by the home builders Yuill. It's showing with Robinsons as new to the market, but appears that they are the second agent instructed. The asking price is another that ignores the portal pricing conventions and is on the market for £118,950. For those that don't know what portal pricing means or the difference it can make then see here-

http://eaboost.blogspot.com/2014/05/why-portal-pricing-really-matters.html

This agent describes the property as "In our opinion the property would suit a variety of purchasers including the smaller family" of which I'm not sure of the translation into English. From the recent build of the house, the description (including the NHBC guarantee) and the photographs we can see that the house needs little or no work to have it ready for occupation. Judging on how quickly these were snapped up when sold by the developers, I can't see that this one will be on the market for long if the price is right.

Looking at the data on sold prices for this road is a bit of a lottery because the houses were built so recently. The prices will not show incentives such as part exchange or free carpets, etc so it's difficult to draw any comparisons. The figures from nethouseprices are as follows-

http://nethouseprices.com/house-prices/streets-details/county%20durham/spennymoor/abbey%20green/dl16/6pd/abbey%20green,%20spennymoor,%20county%20durham?sale_date=last_ten_years

I think that a monthly rental return would fall somewhere between £600 and £675 for this property. This equates to a gross annual rental return of between 6.0% and 6.8%, based on the asking price advertised.

Again, we are looking at a solid rental return for a residential lettings investment and, as I've already said, there could be some competition from owner-occupiers for the purchase of this property.

Commercial property for investors on Spennymoor High Street

Looking on Rightmove today I've noticed something a little different out there for the investor-

31 High Street, County Durham

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/commercial-property-for-sale/property-50598655.html

It's a commercial property with a current, national and long-standing tenant and a guide price in auction of £80,000. There is potential here and we can look directly at actual returns because we already know what the tenant is paying per month in rent.

Commercial property is a different beast to residential property so you need to do your research and ensure that you instruct a solicitor that really understands the ins and outs of commercial property transactions. And the mortgage market is also wildly different for commercial transactions so you'll need to ensure that all of your research is carried out before you commit to buy at auction.

The agent shows the following description-

Retail

Full Description

Tenure: Freehold

This lot is for sale by auction as lot 70 on 6th July 2015.

Freehold Shop Investment

- Let to Shoe Zone Ltd on a new 5 year lease expiring in 2020 
- Tenant in occupation for many years 
- Town centre location 
- No VAT applicable 
- Current Rent Reserved

£9,000 pa
SIX WEEK COMPLETION AVAILABLE

So we know it's freehold, we know the rent and that's there's a six week completion available.

Now it's time for the figures. The gross annual rental return, based on the guide price is 11.25%, which can always be seen as a good return - especially with the guarantee of a five year tenancy from the current tenants.

A property with the potential to rent out immediately in Spennymoor

New to the market this week is a recently built property near to Green Lane. It's on Watson Park and is being marketed by Robinsons-

Watson Park, Spennymoor

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-51877109.html

It's a two-bedroom terraced house and has an asking price of a very strange £90,500. Why the estate agent has picked a price of just £500 over a property portal threshold is completely beyond me, but that's their decision.

They describe the property as -

"We offer to the market this recently constructed TWO BEDROOM MID-LINK property which is offered to the market in immaculate decorative order throughout. An ideal purchase for the FIRST TIME BUYER."

As a quite new property, and judging from the photographs, the chances that there is work to do in the property in minimal.

I think that the fact that the property is so new, you could be looking at an average rental return of between £400 and possibly pushing up to £500 per month. This equates to an gross annual rental return of between 5.3% and 6.6%, based in the asking price. This is a good solid return for an investor, with the property more than likely to still be covered by a new build guarantee.

Durham Road in Spennymoor always has strong demand from tenants

Although it's for sale by auction, so it's a little difficult to determine the actual selling price, this property on Durham Road definitely has investment potential-

DURHAM ROAD, SPENNYMOOR, SPENNYMOOR DISTRICT

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-51785729.html

It's showing on Rightmove as offers over £49,950 and is being marketed by Dowen. The actual price will be determined by how the auction goes plus there's a buyers premium when you've bought the property - although the amount of this wasn't stated on the Rightmove listing. And the confusion continues a little further as, although the property on showed as uploaded in the last 3 days, the listing also states that the auction took place in 4th June. I'll attempt to clear up the confusion and post my findings on here.

In any case, the benefits of buying in Durham Road are evident, no matter what the property, as long as the price is right.  Durham Road always has a good demand for rental as it's good for transport links and close enough to the town centre. The only downside is the recent rise in attendances for Spennymoor Town football club and the parking issues this sometimes causes. But once a fortnight for a couple of hours through the football season isn't a major hardship.

The agent describes it as-

"A spacious THREE BEDROOMED end terrace property which has the benefit of TWO RECEPTION ROOMS and OFF STREET PARKING."

Although it appears to need some work to bring it up to modern rental demands, it is an end-terrace and it has the off street parking, so I'd suggest that when it has been modernised, it could a he ive a rental return in the region of between £425 and £500 per month.

This is where is usually give a rental return figure, but this one is a little more difficult than usual given the fact that the property is at auction and there is this unspecified buyers premium to consider.

I'll base the figures in £60,000 to cover these factors and the renovation costs. It works out as a possible gross rental return of between 8.2% and 10% per annum. A quite healthy return for your money.

As I've said before, I'll try to find out some more facts about the sale, the auction and the buyers premium and when I do I'll put a short post on here to confirm the details.

St. Andrews Road in Spennymoor could be an investors delight

I've been taking a look at what has become a growing Spring property market in Spennymoor. There are several auction entries this week, but it's this property below that's caught my eye as an investor-

St. Andrews Road, Spennymoor

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-34358373.html

It's a 3 bed terraced house on St. Andrews Road Spennymoor with an asking price of Offers In the Region Of £69,950. It's on the market with Harringtons and they've got into this habit recently of listing property on Rightmove and using a photo of the interior as their lead photo. I would say that approximately 99% of properties on the property portals have a photo of the exterior as their lead photo - and for good reason. Being able to see the outside of a property gives the potential buyer a good idea of the size of the property, the parking and garden space and whether they perceive it to have kerb appeal. Photos really do paint 1000 words and I think that Harringtons have really missed a trick here. Especially with this property, as the interior is in need of some work and the room they have chosen is small, devoid of furniture and badly presented.

The agent describes it as-

"An ideal first time buyer purchase offering spacious living accommodation and in need of some cosmetic modernisation."

I see it as a property with much potential. From reading the description and looking at photos, the work needed here looks like redecoration rather than structural. It looks to have a big enough kitchen to fit a dining table in, which is a big bonus in today's market. People are seeing the kitchen as becoming more and more the most important room in the house. The house builders have tapped into this and now pretty much provide it as standard in new builds.

So, there's potential if you can spend a little money on it to bring it up to scratch. I see a monthly rental of somewhere between £395 and £475 for this property, after looking at what else is on the market. This equates to a gross annual rental of between 6.7% and 8.1%, based on the asking price of £69,959.

Even this level of refurbishment may put off some residential buyers, so there can be potential in this for the investor.

Spring turns For Sale boards into Sold By boards

The Spring weather has started to turn For Sale boards into Sold By boards in Spennymoor seemingly as quickly as bulbs into daffodils.

The change in weather brings about an interest in moving and viewing property again. One thing I've noticed during my time in Spennymoor is that people generally time time and pride in their gardens. This will ensure that the property is ready for viewings and that it looks better on the property portals such as Rightmove and On The Market. This in turn brings about more interest in the property, more viewings and potentially a better sale price, usually all in a quicker time. This blog shows advice to estate agents as the weather gets better-

http://eaboost.blogspot.com/2015/03/the-weather-turns-now-crank-up-your.html

So what can Spennymoor house vendors do differently to make their property stand out from the crowd?

Well firstly you need to ensure that the outside is up with the crowd, in terms of how the gardens look. And you need to make sure that your estate agent knows this and is prepared to market your property using this. If the flowers have bloomed since your home went in to the market, then get the estate agent back round to take their marketing photos again, otherwise they'll look dated. Get them to take the photos when the sky is looking good and when you're ready.

At the same time, you want them to take photos of the inside of your house. It's time for Spring cleaning (otherwise known as decluttering) and for any little jobs that need doing around the house. A viewer that sees several small jobs that need doing will also wonder what large jobs are hiding behind them, and this isn't the impression you want to leave on someone who you want to buy your home.

Some more ideas can be found in my Kindle book, How To Sell Your House-

How to sell your house: What estate agents don't tell you by Steven Thompson http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00I5HOJAM/ref=cm_sw_r_udp_awd_Zf.jvb00X4HX2

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00I5HOJAM/ref=cm_sw_r_udp_awd_Zf.jvb00X4HX2

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.