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

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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 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.

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.'

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.

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.

Detached property on a large plot in Spennymoor

With property starting to be diluted over the property portals with the advent of On The Market and their rules regarding signing up with them and the competition, the Spennymoor Property Blog will continue, but with feeds from more than one portal. On The Market is a new property portal that set out on the first of January 2015 and their proposition centred around three main areas, as far as I can see-

1- As an estate agent, you can only set yourself up with On The Market and one other property portal (large or small.)

2 - They charge less than Rightmove for what they provide for estate agents.

3 - They haven't got the saturation of the market that Rightmove have achieved - the majority if the general public haven't heard of the website and as such don't use it.

This property listing came from Rightmove and is a 2 bedroom detached house. There is potential to develop this property -

Barnfield Road, Spennymoor, Co Durham, DL16

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-48446104.html

It's on Barnfield Road and is in the market for offers in the region of £89,950. I am blue in the face with talking about portal pricing, so I won't go any further than to say that the agent isn't doing the property it's best by pricing it to the principles of portal pricing.

Its a 2 bedroom detached house that, in the words if the agent that has it for sale, is "in need of some internal modernisation and updating." This is generally agent speak for something that need a lot of work but in this instance, I fem that were looking at much more than a wreck. It's detached, has a detached double garage and what looks like, and is described by the agent as "a good sized plot." I know all of you developers out there like to add value and there is potential in this property. Potential to extend and possibly potential for more if the size is right and you can get the necessary planning permissions.

According to nethouseprices Barnfield Road is quite popular with 32 sales on their records, including 3 in 2014 and an average sale price of £78,021.

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

I'd expect a rental return of between £375 and £400 per month for this property as a two-bedroom house. Based on the asking price, this would equate to an annual rental return of between 5.0% and 5.3%, which may be a little on the low side for an investor, but the potential to develop this property and make it into a large 3 bedroom house. This will change the rental potential into something more like £600 per month and the return starts to look like something more serious.

Why invest in Spennymoor?

After several blogs on different properties in Spennymoor, I thought it was about time to let investors know why to buy property in Spennymoor. The town has a lot of potential and through this edition of my blog I'll give you some reasons to look at Spennymoor as a potential investment town.

Firstly, and most importantly, there is a strong rental demand in the town. As an investor, this is the most important factor. The demand is a mix of housing benefit and non-housing benefit tenants but a good property well-priced will always attract the right attention and you will be able to let in a short period of time. As with most of the North East, there are plenty of families looking to rent and if you can pitch it right then you'll find a good match.

This leads on to the estate agents. There are a few lettings agencies in the town, and these are all quite active in the lettings market. As with many UK estate agents, lettings has become a larger part of their business since the crash in the housing market that started with the credit crunch in 2008. The main agents all conduct sales and lettings, so if you buy through them, you can sample their services before you choose a lettings agent.

Spennymoor itself has lost a lot of their big employers as the main factories have closed. The retail area in the town centre is a little disjointed but provides employment. In terms of employment, one of Spennymoor's great advantages is it's proximity to Durham and it's links to the A1. This means that large parts of the population live here but work elsewhere in the North East. By travelling up and down the A1, it means that places such as Newcastle, Leeds and York can be reached in a commute. Although train services are relatively poor in comparison with other parts of the country, the East Coast Main Line connects durham quickly and regularly to Edinburgh, Newcastle and routes down to London. Again, this provides a potential commute for your tenants.

For me, as a Spennymoor resident, one of the main "selling points" of living here is access to the wonderful  North East and the leisure activities it offers. We are on the doorstep of such natural beauty and being able to reach and experience this quickly is a major selling point for any landlord looking to attract people from around the country.

Whether you're from Spennymoor or not, I hope this sheds some light on why you should consider an investment property in our town.

Grange Estate will generate strong rental demand

In amongst the new build properties that have been brought to market this week, this one on Witton Drive stands out as investment potential-

WITTON DRIVE, SPENNYMOOR, SPENNYMOOR DISTRICT

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-50205161.html

It's a 3 bedroom terraced property, although the estate agent (Dowen) describes it alternately as a mid link property and a town house. The asking price is £99,950.

Witton Drive is on the Grange Estate and property here usually sells quickly and demand for rental is strong. The property has 2 reception rooms, double glazing and a garage.

The average sold price for a property on Witton Drive is £64,392, according to the nethouseprices website, and there has been only one sale there in the last three years - at a price of £100,000-

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

I would expect this property to achieve a monthly rental of between £525 and £575 per month. Based on the asking price, this equates to a gross annual return of between 6.3% and 6.9%. This is a strong return on an investment.

With any potential house purchase, it's best to go and view the property several times and ask lots of questions. Investors may have to move quickly and fend off owner-occupiers for this one though.

Parkside in Spennymoor will attract families and investors

A new property to the market is this 3 bedroom family home that's just come to the market via Dowen-

PARKSIDE, SPENNYMOOR, SPENNYMOOR DISTRICT

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-50169509.html

It's in the ever-popular Parkside and has gone on the market at £118,500. Although it's another example of an estate agent not getting to grips with portal pricing, there's definitely potential here. It may appeal more to a family than an investor, but there's probably value here for either.

It's got three bedrooms and a kitchen/diner, which is popular for current buyers. Personally I'd get the estate agent back round to re-take some of the photos - a car on the drive is never a good start, for example.

For an investor, this property would attract a monthly rental return of between  £525 and £600. This equates to an annual rental return of between 5.3% and 6.1%, based on the asking price.

For a family home, there is always a demand for homes on Parkside. There have been 8 sales on Parkside in the last 5 years, with sold prices ranging from £86,000 to £130,000 but recent sold prices have been towards the lower end of this range-

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

It's definitely worth viewing for investors and owner-occupiers, so call the agent and make an appointment!