Building Solutions (Midlands) Blog » Letting Agents

Harder to profit from buy to let?

Richard — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 18:54:56 +0000

With nearly a million people facing cuts to their housing benefits many buy to let landlords will be facing the usual issues with collecting rent from tenants who have little or no funds. There are many in the property sector that feel this could lead to a two tear system. With the lower end of the rental market becoming poor quality and the possible gettoisation of some areas with a high percentage of let properties.

Buy below market property

Richard — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 13:45:18 +0000

If you are looking for great property investments one of your main concerns will be getting your new investment property below market value. This way you have a head start compared with many other landlords and property investors in your area. There are several companies that can assist you in building property portfolios and help you find property below market value. It is always a sensible idea to go for a company with a well proven track record and a good trading history. If you are looking for a company to help you with your property investment strategies in the Midlands, we recommend Amber Valley Homes, with 12years of property trading experience they are always please to help new investors with sound advice. ambervalleyhomes

Good news for commercial landlords as High Court rules that some company voluntary arrangements are unfair.

Richard — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 18:37:24 +0000

A recent high profile court case has given many commercial property owners and managers a feeling that justice has been done. Landlords have long complained that company voluntary arrangements and pre-pack agreements are becoming a refinancing tool rather than a last resort. Retailers in particular have been accused by some in the property sector of using this type of legislation to circum vent lease agreements and pass some of their problems on to landlords. Some administrators have been accused of losing their sense of fail play over the use of company voluntary agreements and pre-pack companies. This recent court ruling will at least set some clearer frame work for retailers and landlords who find themselves in these unfortunate circumstances.

How to save money on selling your house

Richard — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 18:55:20 +0000

The humble British estate agent might have been a figure of fun to many of the British public, often stereo typed as driving X5’s, wearing flashy suites and having over groomed hair. Will these jokes become a thing of the past as we see the end of the traditional estate agent? The recent changes in economic conditions coupled with internet technology have forced many agents to change their business models and change the X5 for a ford focus. However hard the estate agent works they cannot overcome the historically low number of house transactions. So they may have to look at secondary income streams such as property management or property auctions to keep their business in good health until the UK property market stages a full comeback.

Landlords require more powers of influence over Insolvency practitioner’s charges?

Richard — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 10:01:35 +0000

There has been much debate in recent times that is tougher times. That the number of insolvencies has increased. Landlords have been concerned that insolvency practitioner’s fees may be high in comparison with similar fees required by secured lenders in the recovery of assets. Landlords who are often unsecured creditors are at a disadvantage in comparison with Banks who have a direct charge on a director’s home or other assets. So it may be that further regulation will appear in these more challenging financial times to assist landlords in debt recovery.

Making higher profits from buy to let?

Richard — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 09:47:25 +0000

Landlords and property investors are set to make higher profit margins as rents are rising and a shortage of suitable rental properties are coming to market.
The current increases in rents achieved are in complete contrast to the final quarter of last year as rents showed no increase back in 2009. Results from the Royal Institute of Charted Surveyors show their surveyors as optimistic about the future for rents. They reported the highest level of optimism for rising rents since the start of the survey in 1998. The increase in rents is driven by a direct decline in the number of properties available to let. With sound economic principles behind the increases in rental costs there appears little doubt that rents are and will continue to rise for the foreseeable future.
These statistics come at a time when many accidental landlords are choosing to leave the market as they have seen a recent rally in capital values. The demand for rental property also appears to be on the increase which coupled with less rental housing stock is a sure sign that rents will continue their upward course.
With the first signs of a freeze in the buy to let lending market starting to turn to a thaw and rents raising this is the best time for landlords for years! The banking and property finance market always follows a similar course. When things go bad the banks panic and stop lending, then they start to gradually lend to the “safest bets”, top earning domestic mortgages and low loan to value mortgages. With a marked increase in the number and type of buy to let mortgage products available, it bodes well for other sectors in the property sector. The next area that should receive positive news after the buy to let lending has recovered is the commercial property market. With time, better deals will make the commercial property market again a better proposition for property investors. Then that most interesting of all property sectors the world of speculative property development. This area of the property market has been brought to its knee’s by the worst lending drought for decades. This sector has been out of vogue with lenders and partly blamed for the financial crisis. It is true that speculative property development did play its part in the financial crisis. You only need to look at the volume of available property for sale in Spain. The whole country is crippled by a huge over supply of new build properties, with many experts in the European property market expecting fire sales and some real bargains as lending and reality bite.

Letting agencies and private landlords no longer face registration.

Richard — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 19:10:56 +0000

The new government is continuing with the cull of red tape, as it scraps the introduction of registration for landlords and regulation of letting agents. The plans described as well meaning but ill conceived have now been abandoned.
The scheme would have proved costly and ultimately any costs to landlords will eventually filter through to tenants. The government is also thought to be reviewing labors recent legislation aimed at stopping “studentification”, or the spread of “student ghettos”. The new laws made it necessary for property developers or landlords to apply for planning permission to turn their properties into H.M.O’s (houses in multiple occupation.

Better rental yields for landlords as demand for rental property increases

Richard — Thu, 27 May 2010 19:21:05 +0000

The first quarter of this year has showed very positive improvements in residential tenant demand which has in turn given landlords the opportunity to marginally increase their rents. The increase in rents has a dramatic effect on the rental yield that a property returns for its owner. In April 2009 nearly 60% of surveyors were reporting falls in both rents achieved and asking rents. This was in part due to a large number of venders with unsold houses looking to cover mortgage payments with rental income. Many of these reluctant landlords have grasped the recent opportunities in the sales market and have off loaded their unwanted housing stock.
News like this will again encourage buy to let lending specialists to dip their toes back in the buy to let mortgage market. There will be no sudden torrent of cash hitting the property sector and inflating any buy to let asset bubbles in the near future. With that said there are more buy to let mortgage products available and once the lenders money supply does become more fluid with rents rising could we see buy to let back in vogue?

Buy to let mortgages

Richard — Wed, 26 May 2010 19:43:01 +0000

It is a pretty liberating day when there is good news in the mortgage market and an even better day when buy to let brokers have some good news. The good news being that there is now a new provider of residential buy to let mortgages in the UK. The mortgage lender Kensington is providing a new buy to let mortgage product which interestingly is purely focused on existing experienced buy to let landlords. The lenders are obviously looking to lend to buy to let landlords who have experience of dealing with the various challenges that experienced landlords tackle with ease, issues like rental arrears and property repairs.

Cash boost for Buy-to-Let investors

Amanda — Wed, 12 May 2010 18:40:32 +0000

Reports have suggested that buy-to-let lending will almost double to £15.8 billion by 2012 if the demand for private rents increases as expected.

One of the biggest lenders to landlords has increased loan-to-value limits to 80 per cent for the first time since 2000, which gives borrowers a choice of better rates.

Another buy-to-let lender has said that the private rented sector needs to expand … yet it is being inhibited by the lack of available finance.

A collective of the country’s biggest landlords, investors and lenders have called on the new Government to change the tax system so that institutions are encouraged to build on a larger scale to cater for this increase in demand.