Chichester Property News

Thursday, 12 December 2019

Is it worth buying boiler insurance?

The cold season is upon us and in an effort to keep warm many of us will have turned to a plain looking metal box called a ‘boiler’. When the heating was turned on for the first time it may have been off for months - so did yours work perfectly first time or was it coughing back to life?

Nowadays, many boilers are used all year round to provide hot water so you shouldn't encounter any nasty surprises when turning the heating on too. Still, the fact they’ll ‘just work’ is often taken for granted and these mysterious contraptions do have a habit of breaking down just as you need them most. And a broken boiler can be an expensive fix, landing you with a nasty bill to pay. So, to avoid a dent in your savings, is it best to buy boiler insurance instead?

Many opt not to buy boiler insurance as it becomes yet another monthly expense that seems unnecessary (until it’s needed!). However, each household is different and you should assess whether it makes sense for your own financial circumstances and peace of mind to set aside a fixed smaller amount each month versus the potential of facing a large one-off payment out of the blue.

Quickly browsing some boiler insurance policies online, I found that for £15 per month you can have unlimited repairs, with no excess to pay. Whilst this would equate to £180 per year down the drain if it wasn’t used, most boiler repairs will cost at least that much to resolve; one boiler I had broke down three times with three different faults in a 12 month period, costing a total of £720 to fix (that’s four years’ worth of boiler insurance payments!).

Looking through my records though, only 9% of boilers had repair bills above £180 in any one year; meaning boiler insurance would have been an unnecessary expense in most cases, which I guess is how insurance companies make their money!

Some households may be more susceptible to a breakdown, such as larger families with multiple users using hot water for showering/bathing and with more radiators in the house demanding heating from the one boiler. The boiler’s age may also help determine the likelihood it’ll breakdown; although many insurers stipulate a maximum age for boilers they’ll cover as they know this too!

If you do decide boiler insurance makes sense, you should first check to see if your home insurance covers it or whether it could be added as an extra. Alternatively, there are specialist providers, but whoever you use always be sure to understand what the policy actually covers.

Taking all of this into consideration, it seems to me that if you're on a tight budget, have an older boiler or don't want the hassle of phoning around for plumbers, then boiler insurance might be worthwhile. Having it would certainly help me avoid uneasy calls to landlords with the news of a large repair bill!

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If you are looking for an agent that is well established, professional and communicative in Chichester, then contact us to find out how we can get the best out of your investment property.

E-mail me on clive@crjlettings.co.uk or call 01243 624 599.

Don't forget to visit the links below to view my previous buy-to-let deals and Chichester Property News articles:

^{_{c/o CRJ Lettings, 30B Southgate, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 1DP}}

Monday, 9 December 2019

BUY-TO-LET DEAL OF THE WEEK: 2 bed flat in Chichester, £187,500, 5.3% yield

2 bed flat, Shamrock Close, Chichester, West Sussex

Summary:
2 bed flat in Chichester
Listed for sale on 29/11/19 @ £187,500
Rent = £825pcm
Yield = 5.3%
Last sold for £192,500 in 2016 (-3% in 3 years)

It's not often I write about a property in Chichester that has lost its current owner money. That in itself gives an indication a property is now available at a decent price. I believe that's the case with this two-bedroom flat in a good rental location (right next to St Richard's Hospital).

It's just been listed at £187,500, which is £5,000 less than the current owner paid in early 2016. Based on a rental value of £825pcm, it could provide a very good 5.3% rental return. Having said that the service charge at £1,322 last year is rather high for a block of this age and nature and will instantly drag that rental return down to a less spectacular 4.6%. At least the ground rent is only £10 a year and the lease has a decent enough 92 years left on it (although money will need to be spent extending that in the not too distant future).

The flat itself is a very good size with two double bedrooms. It's also in great condition, with a modern kitchen and bathroom. It's neutrally decorated throughout and has double glazing and gas central heating - so it really is ready to rent with very little money needed to be spent on it. As a bonus it has its own private garden - something I've written about before that is a huge draw for a flat in the 'flat vs house' debate.

All of the above makes it a versatile home to accommodate a variety of tenants - be that an individual / couple / friends / sharers / those with or without children. That should mean it is always in strong demand from tenants, which is one of the core principles at the heart of a good buy-to-let property.

The property is on the market with Charles Peck and full details can be found on Rightmove via the following link:
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-87052457.html

^{_{c/o CRJ Lettings, 30B Southgate, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 1DP}}

Thursday, 5 December 2019

How much of Chichester can you buy with £105million?

Congratulations to the Selsey couple who won an astonishing £105million on the EuroMillions. Top on the list of purchases for many lottery winners will be a new home, which got me to thinking - with £105m in their pocket, what could they buy if they wanted to remain in or around Chichester?

Chichester is of course regarded as an expensive place to live, with the most expensive parts being the surrounding areas of Bosham, Itchenor and West Wittering. Even so, the most expensive house ever sold within five miles of Chichester was ‘only’ £4.825m. This was a stunning five-bedroom detached property located in Spinney Lane in Itchenor, yet it still wouldn’t make much of a dent in the lucky couple’s winnings!

They could always buy the whole street! The properties on Spinney Lane have the highest average value of any street in the Chichester district, with each of its 31 homes being worth an average of £2,687,472. Even so, it means the jackpot winners could afford to buy them all and not have to put up with any neighbours if they wanted, at a grand cost of £83.3m.

If they’d rather go for quantity, they could always opt for the street with the most homes on it; which in Chichester is Stockbridge Road. It would take £85.1m to buy the entire street based on each property being worth an average of £251,737. That makes Stockbridge Road the most expensive street overall in the Chichester District, yet would still leave the lucky pair with just shy of £20m to cover the maintenance on the 338 properties they’d just bought!

If we look at Chichester as a whole, there are 57,664 properties in the District with an average value of £429,731. This suggests there’s a total of £24,780,008,380 worth of property, so the jackpot could be spent on buying 0.004% of the whole of Chichester’s housing stock! That equates to being able to purchase a total of 244 ‘average’ Chichester properties.

So, whilst it seems you can’t buy much of Chichester even with £105million, it’s amazing to think that the most expensive house ever sold in the District is practically loose change for the newly minted couple. There is certainly an exciting world of possibilities with such a substantial sum of money and I’m sure many of you will have dreamt about how you could have spent it.

If you’re thinking of buying up part of Chichester (albeit on a slightly smaller scale than I mentioned above) feel free to give me a call and I’ll be happy to discuss what particular property might provide you with the best returns.

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Monday, 2 December 2019

BUY-TO-LET DEAL OF THE WEEK: 3 bed house in Chichester, £266,000, 4.5% yield

3 bed house, Elizabeth Road, Chichester,

Summary:
3 bed house in Chichester
Listed for sale on 16/09/19 @ £280,000
Now = £266,000
Rent = £1,000pcm
Yield = 4.5%
Last sold for £208,000 in 2008 (+28% in 11 years)

Reduced by 5% this week from its original asking price of £280,000 is this three-bedroom house in Chichester. It's been on for about 10 weeks and has now been reduced to a very reasonable £266,000. That puts it amongst the cheapest three-bedroom houses in Chichester, so it's definitely worth a closer look.

It's located around a mile east of the city centre and is nearby to both primary and secondary schools. It's very much a house aimed at families, with a fairly standard layout including two double bedrooms and a single. It's in decent condition but could do with a few new carpets and a modernisation throughout. This could be easily done to the white suite bathroom by changing the wooden panels, whereas the kitchen might warrant a replacement. If this was done it presents a good opportunity to move the wall between the lounge and kitchen so as to create a spacious kitchen/diner and a fair sized lounge, rather than the current large lounge and compromised kitchen layout.

With the basic updating it should still rent for £1,000pcm, which would mean a 4.5% return based on the full asking price. If the kitchen was replaced and expanded it might warrant a little more than this and would certainly help in making it a sought after property (as well as increasing the property's value). It last sold for £208,000 in 2008, so has risen in value by 28% in 11 years.

The property is on the market with Cubitt & West and full details can be found on Rightmove via the following link:
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-84806948.html

^{_{c/o CRJ Lettings, 30B Southgate, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 1DP}}

Sunday, 1 December 2019

Community focus: Review of 2019

Chichester Property News - Issue 45 - December 2019

Featuring the articles:

"Are general elections good for Chichester's property market?",
"How profitable is buy-to-let in Chichester?",
"CRJ Lettings named 'Best Letting Agent in Chichester'",
"Community Focus: Review of 2019"

and "Buy-to-let deal of the month: 3 bed house in Tangmere, £260,000, 4.8% yield"

➕ Plus, the latest average property values, rents and yields in Chichester!

Thursday, 28 November 2019

Are general elections good for Chichester’s property market?

In the run up to the general election I’ve been reading various articles about the housing manifestos for each party and what affect they might have on the property market. Whatever the politicians throw at it though, the property market in Chichester is something of a runaway train, whereby their meddling has little effect on the overall course.

It’s often mentioned in the press that the uncertainty caused by an election causes a downturn in property sales in the lead up to the opening of the voting booths. My analysis shows this to be completely untrue though, as the normal seasonal pattern occurs whether it’s an election year or not; the number of properties sold rises in Spring and Summer and drops again towards the end of the year (almost stalling as we approach Christmas).

There’s little effect upon house prices in the run up to an election or straight afterwards either, with perhaps the exception of May 2015’s election. Here there was a sudden jump in the average house price in Chichester immediately afterwards, possibly because the electorate gave the Conservatives an unexpected majority, which many concluded would be good for the stability of the country.

The fact the Conservatives have since introduced spurious tax changes against landlords, which will ultimately lead to an increase in rents for tenants, may be a factor as to who landlords in particular might be voting for come election day. Unfortunately for landlords, the other parties’ plans show little sympathy towards them either nor, in my opinion, any logical thinking towards the growing private rented sector.

It’s interesting to note that house prices nationally have risen at a similar pace over the last fifty years, regardless of which party is in power. My calculations suggest the Conservatives have the slight edge here, having overseen an average increase of 14.4% for each of the 31 years they’ve been in power. This compares to a slightly lower 13.7% average increase for each of the Labour party’s 19 years.

It won’t surprise many of you that Tony Blair resided over the biggest ‘boom’ in house prices of any British Prime Minister since data began. Under his premiership from 1997 to 2007, average UK property prices increased 211%.

Gordon Brown remains the only Prime Minister to have seen house prices fall during their time in the hot seat, with a 7.2% drop during his premiership between 2007 and 2010. Should Boris’ stay at Number 10 come to an abrupt end on 12th December though he too may share this unfortunate distinction, as house prices are hovering around the same level as they were when he took over just five months ago.

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^{_{c/o CRJ Lettings, 30B Southgate, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 1DP}}

Welcome to the original blog about Chichester's property market.

Bringing you the latest news, information and analysis that relates specifically to the property market in Chichester.

Each week I'll feature the article I write for the Chichester Observer as well as my 'buy-to-let deal of the week': a property hand-selected by me that I feel could offer good investment potential.

I'm Clive Janes from CRJ Lettings in Chichester. I'm a landlord who continues to invest in local property as well as manage my own rental portfolio. In 2013 I setup CRJ Lettings not only to manage other landlords properties as if they were my own, but also to give some tips as to how to best go about investing in property.

If you'd like to chat about the local property market or see a potential deal and would like a second opinion, please get in touch:

01243 624 599

clive@crjlettings.co.uk