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

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.

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.

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.

A little renovation work for Spennymoor investors

There's a fee new properties appeared on Rightmove over the last week, which is unusual for this time of the year. One that caught my eye for investors is this one on Thorn Close-

THORN CLOSE, MIDDLESTONE MOOR, SPENNYMOOR DISTRICT

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-29708559.html

It's a 2 bed terrace on the market for £39,950. Although I disagree wholeheartedly with pricing strategies like this (whole numbers work perfectly with property portals - go for £40,000) the property is appealing at this price.

From the property description and the internal photos, it looks as though the property needs some freshening up, but on first internet inspection it looks like it's not major structural works.

These 2 bedroom terraced houses always have a reasonable rental demand. I think it would rent for between £350 and £400 per month. Based on the asking price, this would bring in a gross rental yield of between 10.5% and 12%, which is a good rental return for any investor.

Taking into account the potential of renovation, and the time this takes then there is a buffer in potential return to absorb this.

Have a look!