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.

Is there a business reason for a quiet estate agency Christmas!

Only one property has appeared on Rightmove so far this week, and it's a new build-

Whitworth Road, Spennymoor, DL16 7LN

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/new-homes-for-sale/property-49484003.html

This fact has for me thinking whether there is a business reason for property not entering the market at this time of year. I understand that people will have a focus elsewhere and that photos of the property may look dated if they contain Christmas decorations but I'm interested to see where the demand is.

Traditionally people who get a new tablet, smartphone or laptop for Christmas will have a good browse over the Christmas period and this includes looking at their local area on Rightmove. The below article from the Rightmove blog in 2013 states that their 10 busiest days are in January-

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/news/articles/rightmove-news/homemovers-spring-into-action-as-rightmove-records-busiest-january-ever

This adds up, into view, to a business case FOR putting your home on the market, not a case AGAINST it. Your home will probably look cosy, festive and inviting for the Christmas period, so why not make the most of the effort you put in? It's up to the estate agent to revisit when the decorations are down and take fresh photographs.

I've known of estate agents that will put the property on the market in late December and market the property "quietly" with an agreement with the vendors that viewings won't start until a certain date after the festivities. This builds up the interest in the property and the agent can pre-book the viewings. The vendor (and some buyers) can feel a sudden rush of interest when viewings are allowed. It's a good tool for estate agents and one I'd like to see the estate agents of Spennymoor try - it will allow Spennymoor sellers to experience some of the January rush.