Only 442 Warrington Properties for Sale

2017 has started with some positive interest in the Warrington property market. 

Taking a snap shot of the Warrington property market for the first quarter of 2017, the picture suggests some interesting trends when it comes to the number of properties available to buy, their asking prices and what prices properties are actually selling for. 

Properties for Sale in Warrington

Let us first consider the number of properties for sale, compared to 12 months ago:

When we add building plots and other types of properties that don’t fit into the four main categories, there are 442 properties for sale today, compared with 609 a year ago. This is a drop of 27%.

Compared with a year ago, Warrington asking prices are 5% higher.

Land Registry Figures

With that in mind, I wanted to look at what property was actually selling for in Warrington. Taking my information from the Land Registry, the last available six months property transactions for WA5 show an interesting picture. (Note: the Land Registry data is always a few months behind due to the nature of the house buying process, so November 2016 is latest set of data). The price shown is the average price paid and the number in brackets is the number of properties actually sold.

 

So what does all this mean for the property owning folk of Warrington?

Well, with fewer properties on the market than a year ago and asking prices 5% higher, those trying to sell their property need to be mindful that buyers – whether they are first timers, buy to let landlords or people moving up the Warrington property ladder – have much more information about the Warrington property market at their fingertips than ever before.

Those in Warrington who are looking to sell their property in 2017 should be aware of the risks of over pricing their property when initially placing it on the market.

Over the last 12 months, I have noticed the approach of a few Warrington estate agents is to suggest an inflated asking price to encourage the homeowner and secure the property to sell on their books. The down side to this is that when offered to the market for the first time, buyers will realise it is overpriced and won’t waste their time asking for a brochure. They won’t even view the property, let alone make an offer. So when the price is reduced a few months later, the property has become market stale and continues to be ignored.

Whilst the Warrington property-market has an unassailable demand for property – there is one saying that always rings true - as long as the property is being marketed at the right price it will sell.

If you want to know if your Warrington property is being marketed at the right price, email me on manoj@hamletwarrington.co.uk or call on 01925 235338. If you are in the area, feel free to pop into the office – we are based on 6 Bankside, Crosfield St, WA1 1UP. There is plenty of free parking and the kettle is always on.

Don't forget to visit the links below to view back dated deals and Warrington Property News.

Follow The Buy-To-Let Property Investment Market in Warrington

Warrington Property Market LinkedIn Page

Hamlet Homes Letting Agents Warrington Facebook Page

Hamlet Homes Letting Agents Warrington Twitter Page

Warrington Investment Property Specialist Hamlet Homes Website

‘Flipping’ Heck - Warrington Property Values Rise by £21.97 a day

Investing in Warrington buy to let property is different from investing in the stock market, or depositing your hard-earned cash with the building society.

When you invest money in the building society, this is considered by many as the safe option. However, the returns you can achieve are awfully low (the best 2-year bond rate from Nationwide is a whopping 0.75% a year!). While the stock market can give good returns, it’s a very ‘hands off’ investment - unless you are on the phone every day to your broker. It can also leave a feeling of lack of control.

Investment Properties in Warrington

“With buy to let, things can be more hands on.”

One of the things many landlords like is the tactile nature of property – the fact that you can touch the bricks and mortar. It is this factor that attracts many of Warrington’s landlords. They are making their own decisions, rather than allowing city whizz kids in Canary Wharf to play roulette with their savings.

Investing in property is a long-term game. When you invest in the property market, you can earn from your investment in two ways. When a property increases in value over time, it is known as 'capital growth/capital appreciation'. This has been strong in recent times in Warrington. The value of property goes up as well as down, just like shares do, but the initial purchase price rarely decreases. 

Rental income is what the tenant pays you – hopefully this will also grow over time. If you divide the annual rent by the value (or purchase price) of the property, this is your yield/annual return.

Over the last 5 years, the average Warrington property has risen by £40,100 (equivalent to £21.97 a day), taking it to a current average value of £205,600. Yields range from 6% a year and can reach double digit percentages (although to achieve those sorts of returns, the risks are higher).

Flips in Warrington

However, something I haven’t really spoken of in detail before is the more specialist area of flipping property to make money.

“FLIPPING - buying a property, carrying out some minor cosmetics and re selling it quickly.”

I have seen several investors recently who have made decent returns from this strategy.

·         One Warrington investor paid £125,000 for a three bed semi on Keyes Close in March 2016. It appears some cosmetic work was done to the property and it was resold a few months ago (November 2016) for £150,000.
That’s a 20.00% return before costs! (Or a compound annual return equivalent of 34.42% AER.) http://www.rightmove.co.uk/house-prices/detailMatching.html?prop=43307643&sale=89153106&country=england

·         Another Warrington investor flipped a lovely three bed detached property on St Bridgets Close, paying £159,950 in September 2016 and selling it again after some doing some cosmetic works. It was sold for £179,950 a few months ago (December 2016)!
That’s a 12.50% return before costs! (or equivalent 10.22% AER.)
 http://www.rightmove.co.uk/house-prices/detailMatching.html?prop=56283706&sale=89152779&country=england

This demonstrates how the Warrington property market has not only provided very strong returns for the average investor over the last five years, but how it has permitted a group of motivated buy to let Warrington landlords and investors to become particularly wealthy.

As I have mentioned before, more and more Warrington people may be giving up on owning their own home and are instead accepting long term renting. This leaves buy to let lending to grow from strength to strength. If you want to know what (and what would not) make a decent buy to let property in Warrington, then one place for such information would be the Warrington Property Blog.

Email me on manoj@hamletwarrington.co.uk or call on 01925 235338. If you are in the area, feel free to pop into the office – we are based on 6 Bankside, Crosfield St, WA1 1UP. There is plenty of free parking and the kettle is always on.

Don't forget to visit the links below to view back dated deals and Warrington Property News.

Follow The Buy-To-Let Property Investment Market in Warrington

Warrington Property Market LinkedIn Page

Hamlet Homes Letting Agents Warrington Facebook Page

Hamlet Homes Letting Agents Warrington Twitter Page

Warrington Investment Property Specialist Hamlet Homes Website

Cheap Warrington Letting Agents May Cost You Your Wealth

Click here for a simple 5 step guide to switching agents

Bored one evening, I watched an episode of Watchdog. One of the stories was about a rogue letting agent, who, in simple terms, received rent payments and failed to pass them on to the landlords – instead claiming they had ‘defaulted’.

The link below is an example of what happened to an agent back in 2015 in Warrington.

Letting agency leaves Warrington landlords struggling

Letting Agents and their Fees

As you can see, this isn’t a new story to hit Watchdog (or the headlines for that matter), but it struck a chord with me.

So many people are quick to judge lettings agents and beat them down on their fees. In writing this blog I always try to maintain an impartial balance with my articles and buy to let information. ‘What’s the point?’ I hear you ask. The point is nothing new – you get what you pay for. You can find many examples in all walks of life that prove this very argument.

Have you ever wondered why some agents will reduce their fees to such a point to undercut everyone else? Perhaps it’s desperation…

You have to ask yourself: if an agent is so quick to slash their fees… why? Equally, are you truly going to receive the service that you are being promised? Will you deal with a dedicated department? Are they actually local and can they even point to Warrington on a map?

A Word of Advice

My advice is simple.

Hunt out a couple of good local agents – recommendation is always the best way. If you don’t know the local area, you can always look at letting agents’ reviews on sites like Google.

Ask specific questions about how they manage a property. How many staff are in that department? Are you allocated an individual account or property manager? Where are they based? Do they guarantee the rent? If so, how does it work? Can they guarantee the condition of the property?  How do they deal with rent arrears? What are their referencing procedures? What regulations do you need to conform to? Are they a member of The Property Ombudsman for Lettings or an ARLA registered agent?

Can they give you details of a landlord that you can call to speak to about their experience? Or can they supply testimonials?

Whilst fees do come into play, they should not be the main focus when choosing an agent. May I suggest that if you can’t afford to pay an agent their worth, perhaps you should consider carefully about investing in property. Ultimately, choosing a good agent will save you in the long run and they are likely to be looking after one of your biggest assets.

Ask yourself this: can you afford to allow your home to be vacant or have a tenant residing in it without receiving income? More importantly… why should you?

A Cheap Warrington Letting Agent Example

I would like to leave you a link to a property forum going into more detail regarding the "rogue" agent very close to home in 2015. Click the link below for more information.

Warrington Landlords and Tenants Left in Distress

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

Email me on manoj@hamletwarrington.co.uk or call on 01925 235338. If you are in the area, feel free to pop into the office – we are based on 6 Bankside, Crosfield St, WA1 1UP. There is plenty of free parking and the kettle is always on.

Don't forget to visit the links below to view back dated deals and Warrington Property News.

Follow The Buy-To-Let Property Investment Market in Warrington

Warrington Property Market LinkedIn Page

Hamlet Homes Letting Agents Warrington Facebook Page

Hamlet Homes Letting Agents Warrington Twitter Page

Warrington Investment Property Specialist Hamlet Homes Website

Are One Bedroom Flats in Warrington Good Investments?

I have written articles before with research on two bedroom flats in Warrington and whether they are sound investments.

At that time, I was approached by a Warrington landlord who had religiously stuck with the same strategy in his time as a Warrington investor – two up two down terraced houses. The research I did at the time was enough to convince Paul to stick to his original strategy with the old adage – if it’s not broken, don’t fix it.

However, I did very little research on one bedroom flats in Warrington, so I thought it would be nice to look at the numbers for an ideal one bedroom investment flat would look like.

Flat Statistics

There are over 21,000 flats in Warrington. This only represents around 7.5% of the housing stock here, with the national average being nearer 17.7%. The average price of a one bedroom flat in Warrington is around £85,000, which isn’t a whole lot different compared to two bedroom flats that come in at £95,000.

However if you do the right research, you can find one bedroom flats in Warrington for a very reasonable £60,000. If you were to invest in a flat like this, you can expect a rental income of around £395 per month. Even after paying the service charge, usually around £1000 per year, yields could reach around 6.2% per year. However, you must remember that every landlord’s tax and interest rates are different, so it is essential to research your investment carefully before committing.

Now 6.2% is not as attractive as the yields you can achieve on a two bedroom flats – or the 8% plus you can  achieve on a two up two down strategy (without all the extras such as the service and maintenance charges mentioned above).

Capital Growth

Finally, let’s not forget about the potential increase in capital value of the property. I started looking at the history of the one bedroom flats in the Finsbury Close development and found that they sold for around £47,500 at first, and then during the boom in 2006 they sold for around £85,000. This has dropped dramatically since. Over the last 10 years, you can see that the value of these flats has started to reduce and during 2015/16, the average sales are around £63,000 - £70,000.

Potentially, these flats could go back up to similar prices they sold at in 2006 in the future.

As we know, investing in property is not a get rich quick scheme. It takes a lot of time, hard work and much more. The numbers I have used are averages. If you can pick up a nice two bedroom flat in similar developments to Finsbury Close in Warrington for the right price, then you can look forward to some great growth.

As I always tell my landlords – you make your money on the purchase price.

Make sure you’re doing your research daily, as you don’t want to miss that perfect opportunity – and they do crop up in Warrington. 

Email me on manoj@hamletwarrington.co.uk or call on 01925 235338. If you are in the area, feel free to pop into the office – we are based on 6 Bankside, Crosfield St, WA1 1UP. There is plenty of free parking and the kettle is always on.

Don't forget to visit the links below to view back dated deals and Warrington Property News.


Follow The Buy-To-Let Property Investment Market in Warrington

Warrington Property Market LinkedIn Page

Hamlet Homes Letting Agents Warrington Facebook Page

Hamlet Homes Letting Agents Warrington Twitter Page

Warrington Investment Property Specialist Hamlet Homes Website

Ask Andy - How to serve a valid Section 21 Notice in Warrington

Question:

‘Dear Andy,
I am an accidental landlord.
I rented my property out when I moved into my husband’s house about 6 years ago and we are now going through a divorce. I need my property back, so I know I will need to evict the current tenants.
How do I correctly serve a Section 21?
Thank you,
Sue.’

Andy’s Answer:

I am sorry to hear about the situation you are in. You are not on your own; this does happen from time to time. You would also be able to issue a Section 8 Notice as you have lived in the property previously, however I will talk about a section 21 notice today.

You must follow a set process when serving a section 21 notice to ensure it is valid. If you fail to do this, the possession claim can be dismissed by the courts and you must start the process all over again.

I am glad you emailed in with this question as it has now given me the chance to put this guide together.


What is a Section 21 Notice?

This is probably the most common way to evict tenants. It’s often called a “no fault’’ possession notice as a landlord does not have to give a reason for taking the property back. A section 21 can only be served under an Assured Shorthold Tenancy (AST).

When Can I Serve a Section 21 Notice?

You can serve a section 21 notice within a fixed term so long as the notice expires after the end of the fixed term, or it can be issued when the tenancy is periodic. You can also use an appropriate break clause to end the tenancy early; however this must be included in the tenancy agreement.

For tenancies which started one or after 1st October 2015, or became periodic on or after that date, you cannot serve the notice within the first four months of a six month term tenancy. For these tenancies, you must also use the new Form 6a notice.


Being Prepared – What to do before serving a Section 21 Notice.

The list below contains the mandatory requirements for a section 21 notice to be valid. You must have:

• Protected the deposit correctly
• Served the tenants the prescribed information
• An AST agreement in place
• A valid EPC and Gas Safety Certificate
• Allowed the fixed term to come to an end, or used an appropriate break clause to end it
• Served the tenants with the government guide, ‘How to Rent’

If the landlord has not done all six points in the list above, then the section 21 notice will be invalid. The courts may also need proof the notice was served, so having photographic evidence of the letter going through the door of the property or a picture of the tenants accepting the letter by hand helps. 

If the property is a HMO (house of multiple occupancy), landlords must have a valid HMO licence to serve a valid section 21 notice. A HMO requires a license if there are more than five people over three stories, or the local council may require a mandatory license for HMOs of other sizes and specifications. 

Click the image below and print it off, use this as your guide to serving a Valid Section 21 Notice.

If your tenants won’t leave after giving them the two months notice then you can apply for an accelerated possession order.


What’s an Accelerated Possession Order?

Usually the tenants will find a property within this time and leave peacefully – especially if you have a good tenant landlord relationship. However, it’s not always the case and further actions may need to be taken.

The accelerated possession procedure in conjunction with a section 21 notice often means landlords don’t have to go to court. A judge looks at the paperwork and, if everything is in order, grants a possession order with no hearing. Landlords can complete a form and submit this (along with other paperwork) online. There will be a fee to pay for this process.

It’s crucial all the paperwork is in order and the Section 21 Notice has been served correctly. If not, a judge may dismiss the case and the process must start all over again. If something is not right, or the tenant puts up a defence (they may argue they never received the notice), a judge can arrange a hearing. But if everything goes well, an order for possession will be granted.


What If Tenants Won’t Leave?

This is very rare; however I have come across this.

If the tenant has decided to dig their heels in and have not left by the date stated on the possession order, you must apply to County Court Bailiffs’ to remove them by force. There is another fee to pay for this process.

I hope this guide helps. I have handled many section 21 notices, so if you need a second opinion, feel free to get in touch.

Email me on andy@hamletwarrington.co.uk or give me a call on 01925 235 338. Pop in for a chat – we are based on 6 Bankside, Crosfield St, WA1 1UP. There is plenty of free parking and the kettle is always on.

-Andy

P.S. Don't forget to visit the links below to view back dated deals and Warrington Property News.


Follow The Buy-To-Let Property Investment Market in Warrington

Warrington Property Market LinkedIn Page

Hamlet Homes Letting Agents Warrington Facebook Page

Hamlet Homes Letting Agents Warrington Twitter Page

Warrington Investment Property Specialist Hamlet Homes Website