BUY-TO-LET DEAL OF THE WEEK: 3 bed house in Tangmere, £265,000, 4.8% yield

Summary:
3 bed house in Tangmere
Listed for sale on 07/09/20 @ £295,000
Now = £265,000
Rent = £1,050pcm
Yield = 4.8%
Last sold for £175,000 in 2004 (+51% in 16 years)

This three-bedroom house in Tangmere has been slashed in price by £30,000, less than three weeks after it was first listed. Now priced at £265,000, it appears to be decent value for a good-sized three-bedroom house that, as the agent describes, is "beautifully presented".

The caveat I'd make to that is it doesn't necessarily look that way in the photos (in my opinion - let me know what you think). The 'artistic' front photo is around 60% foliage, 20% sky and 20% house - to me, it makes it look overgrown and unloved. Whereas, in fact, it appears to have been very well looked after, with gas central heating, double glazing, a reasonable kitchen, modern bathroom and crisp décor throughout. Here too though, some of the photos don't do the house justice. Net curtains, pictures cluttering some of the walls and striped wallpaper seem to combine to make the house feel smaller, and less modern, than it really is.

Once the house is emptied of such things though, it will likely look a completely different property; and a far more desirable one, in my opinion. Good sized rooms (although bedrooms two and three are a little smaller than you'd ideally like) with very little improvement works necessary (unless the striped wallpaper really offends you - I think in the flesh it could look good). With the bonus of a garage and being at the end of a cul-de-sac, it should be popular amongst renters, with the two smaller bedrooms providing ample enough space for children's bedrooms and/or offices for working at home (increasingly important!).

It would likely rent for £1,050pcm, which would provide a decent 4.8% rental return from a freehold property that has seen capital growth of 51% in the 16 years since the previous owner bought it for £175,000.

The property is on the market with Henry Adams and full details can be found on Rightmove via the following link: https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-97000847.html

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   crjlettings.co.uk   clive@crjlettings.co.uk  01243 624 599

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BUY-TO-LET DEAL OF THE WEEK: 3 bed house in Chichester, £270,000, 4.9% yield

Summary:
3 bed house in Chichester
Listed for sale on 21/07/20 @ £280,000
Now = £270,000
Rent = £1,100pcm
Yield = 4.9%

This three-bedroom house in Chichester is in a good location close to St Richard's Hospital, which is popular with both hospital workers and young families. The house has just been reduced to a very reasonable £270,000, having been listed for £10,000 more in July.

It is a good size and in reasonably good order, with the fundamentals covered such as gas central heating, double glazing, a modern bathroom, cloakroom and kitchen. I say bathroom, technically it's a shower room as there's no bath, which can be an issue for those with young children. The house could also do with some cosmetic improvements in regards to its general decor and flooring.

Once modernised though it would be a good-sized home in a popular location, which should mean it would let quickly for around £1,100pcm. That would equate to a 4.9% rental return based on the current asking price, which is strong for freehold properties in Chichester.

The property is on the market with Purplebricks and full details can be found on Rightmove via the following link: 

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-82481647.html

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   crjlettings.co.uk   clive@crjlettings.co.uk  01243 624 599

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BUY-TO-LET DEAL OF THE WEEK: 3 bed house in Chichester, £280,000, 4.7% yield

Summary:
3 bed house in Chichester
Listed for sale on 28/09/19 @ £325,000
Now = £280,000
Rent = £1,100pcm
Yield = 4.7%

Having been marketed for nearly a year, this three-bedroom house close to Chichester's city centre is now available at a great price. First marketed at £325,000, it has been reduced in price by 14% to bring it to its current asking price of £280,000.

That makes it cheap compared to most three-bedroom houses in Chichester. When you factor in its excellent condition, which will require little or no input to make it a desirable home for tenants, it is as close to being a bargain as properties in Chichester can be.

It is in a popular location for families, being close to the city centre, train station and Chichester High School. The garden is a little smaller than most in the street, but it does benefit from having had the bathroom moved upstairs (although that does make the bedrooms abit smaller), as many of the houses retain the original downstairs bathroom location, which is becoming less acceptable to many.

Due to its great condition, it should quickly let for £1,100pcm, which would equate to a decent 4.7% rental return from this freehold property. One thing just to check is the outer brickwork. The main photo shows a colour difference, which suggests some work may have taken place at some point. I was chatting only the other day to tenants experience shrinkage in a new-build home how the different property types can be affected to different extents i.e. flats & mid-terraces are unlikely to move, whereas end-terraced and detached homes are definitely worth checking as they are obviously more susceptible to movement and external influences, such as the weather.

The property is on the market with Purplebricks and full details can be found on Rightmove via the following link: 

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-74420971.html

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   crjlettings.co.uk   clive@crjlettings.co.uk  01243 624 599

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BUY-TO-LET DEAL OF THE WEEK: 3 bed house in Westhampnett, £345,000, 4.9% yield

Summary:
3 bed house in Westhampnett
Listed for sale on 20/06/20 @ £365,000
Now = £345,000
Rent = £1,400pcm
Yield = 4.9%

I thought best to follow up this week's article about '£ per square foot' by taking a case in point. There are two three-bedroom houses available for sale in Lillywhite Road in Westhampnett; this one, priced at £345,000 (having been reduced from £365,000) and another at £307,500 (having been reduced from £325,000. 

Both are a similar age (built circa 2010), are in good condition, include a garage and are primed for Rolls Royce employees who fancy walking the mere few hundred yards to work. They are also both leasehold houses, which marks them down as unusual (and in some peoples eyes unsuitable). Where the two houses differ though is on their size.

The 'cheaper' of the two (many people's 'obvious' choice as a result) is set over two floors and totals 907 square feet (excluding garage). That equates to £339 per square foot, which is above Westhampnett's average of £299 per square foot. My buy-to-let pick though is set over three floors (and should arguably be described as a four-bedroom house) and totals a massive 1,348 square feet (again excluding the garage). That equates to a bargain-busting £256 per square foot of floorspace!

Of course that isn't the be-all and end-all, and the lower priced of the two houses has a larger garden and is semi-detached rather than mid-terraced, so it isn't quite a straight fight. Nevertheless, calculating the £ per square feet acts as a guide to confirm my suspicions that this well-presented property in a nice location offers good value for money.

Due in part to its good size, I'd expect it to achieve £1,400pcm in rent, which equates to a decent 4.9% yield (although, again, bear in mind the leasehold costs). Interestingly that's identical to the yield I'd expect from the other three-bedder I compared it to, which is likely to achieve £1,250pcm...which also equates to 4.9%. 

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-93776996.html

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   crjlettings.co.uk   clive@crjlettings.co.uk  01243 624 599

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BUY-TO-LET DEAL OF THE WEEK: 3 bed house in Chichester, £330,000, 4.4% yield

Summary: 3 bed house in Chichester Listed for sale on 04/12/19 @ £425,000 Now = £330,000 Rent = £1,200pcm Yield = 4.4% Last sold for £295,495 in 2010 (+12% in 10 years) I saw this three-bedroom house on the first phase of Graylingwell Park come on at the end of last year. It was priced at £425,000, which I assumed was a typo and it was meant to have been listed for £325,000 (which is what similar properties on the street were selling for). Alas, a few days went past and the priced stayed the same and I thought "huh?". I guess the market felt the same way, what with it being reduced to £400,000 within a few weeks, before dropping a chunky £50,000 to £350,000 in February and now this month it has been reduced to £330,000. That's a £95,000 drop (22%) compared to when it was first marketed. Now, I'll make a side-point here - what's going on? Either the agent allowed the vendor to market the property at a wildly unrealistic price, or the agent provided the wildly unrealistic price and the vendor has allowed them to reduce it by nearly a quarter since...and stuck with them?!? Quite bewildering. Putting that to one side, let's focus back on the house itself. Lloyd Road is something of a pet project for me...I lived on the street for six years, own a house on it and manage several others there. I'm well-versed in the intricacies of the varying plot sizes, layouts, parking allocations and which properties benefit from solar panels (and when they were commissioned, which greatly affects their feed-in-tariff rates). The houses are well presented and offer a good amount of space and a good quality of fixtures and fittings. They therefore typically appeal to young professionals who are willing to pay a slight premium for what do feel like premium homes. As such, I'd expect to achieve £1,200pcm for the property, although the particularly small garden might put some people off. On the plus side though, whilst parking is an issue in the street for many, this house has the benefit of two allocated parking spaces. That rental figure would mean a 4.4% rental return on the current asking price. That's a fair, if unspectacular return, for freehold properties in Chichester. It also raises the point that the solar panels on these houses never seem to add to the sale value, but if you buy one with them they can put £100+ per month in your pocket from the feed-in-tariff. The current owner bought the property in 2010 for £295,495, meaning they've only seen its value increase by 12% in a decade, compared to the average Chichester home increasing by over 40%!  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-66811512.html

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   crjlettings.co.uk   clive@crjlettings.co.uk  01243 624 599

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