Feb 14 2008 |
Eager To Invest In Property, But No Suitable Property For SaleCategory: Comic Sketches |
I don’t know if anyone else is in a similar situation, but I’m getting a little antsy about the serious lack of properties on the market. I’m a rabid user of property portals like Rightmove, Findaproperty, Primelocation and Propertyfinder. For the last few months I’ve been loading those sites to find a suitable property for buy-to-let investment. Unfortunately, those sites are miserably failing to produce enough variety. Not only are options limited, but also stock doesn’t seem to update all that frequently. It’s not like i’m looking for an obscure property hidden away amongst the highlands in Scotland. I have a particular location in mind; it’s an extremely popular town in Essex. A few years ago, when I was buying property in the same town, I was spoilt for choice. My agent would call me up with at least 15 viewings a week, which would all meet the specification of my requirements.
Don’t get me wrong, there are a few properties ready for the taking, but they’re not ideal. Either they’re highly over priced and/or they look like a squatters paradise. My spider senses tell me that a lot of buy-to-let investors are cashing in, hence why they’re are a abundance of highly inadequate dwellings. Vendors that are selling their “homes” usually offer the most decent properties, whereas landlords are trying to push out properties that have been worn and torn by tenants.
I have the ideal property in mind; ‘ideal’ being the type of property that is highly sought after in my local rental market, consequently generates a good rental return. I’ve been spending a lot of time looking online for potential ideal properties; i’m starting to age quickly and get frustrated…I DEMAND more suitable variety.
The property market has become idle, or at least it has in my local market. I get the impression that people don’t want to buy or sell right now because they’re too scared to make any rash decisions in such an uncertain period. And although a lot of people are getting repossessed, I’m not getting to see those properties because, for the most part, they’re getting sold at auctions. As for auctions, not for me at this moment of time.
Perhaps I should prevent further debt and take a holiday to recover…
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"I initially started this website as a complete property idiot;
the plan was to document my every step from property idiot to
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I’m in a similar position looking for development properties to renovate and sell on.
There are plenty of properties that make virtually no economic sense to renovate unless you are interested in taking it back to the brickwork and starting again.
Likewise, there are plenty of hideously over priced properties attempting to sucker in someone for the same price tag as other properties in much better condition - often in the same street.
I think there may be a couple of factors at work here:
Firstly, with the slowdown in the market, the business case for developing properties that worked in the past involved factoring in an increase in the value of the property to offset
cost of purchase / cost of sale - as well as a nice bit of profit too. This doesn’t exist any more, but the market has not adjusted what will inevitably be a fall off in developer activity.
Secondly, with the fantastic range of information out there on house prices (like housepricemaps) people are getting more nouse - but are failing to take into account the differences in properties that such figures fail to show. The house might be on the same street as one that sold for £200K, but is might not have such a favorable aspect, the loft conversion or the huge garden plot. I wonder if this expectation has an upward pressure on estate agent estimates. I couldn’t believe that estate agents are just doing a quick internet search to set their asking prices. Their profession is too honourable for that.
Thirdly, I wonder if the effect of all the home improvement programs that have been popular over the past decade or so are having a distinct impact. I expect that being house proud is nothing new, but the use of more costly materials and the overall level of expectation has been set far higher. I am inclined to almost talk myself out of this one though because of the number of DIY disasters I have come across must form some kind of counter balance for this effect.
Anyway - there are some ideas. Back to the property search pages…