Wednesday, 15 July 2015

Property Focus: Pevensey Road


Property Focus: Pevensey Road





Located off Arundel Drive this property on Pevensey Road is offered for Sales by Taylors at an advertised Price of £250,000. It offers Three good sized Bedrooms, a Decent Lounge/Diner and reasonable sized Kitchen. A Second Reception room downstairs gives further flexibility to the living space. A Large driveway for 2 Cars with side access leading to Good Sized Rear Garden.
What I like about this Property is it flexibility. 
Firstly, it would make a very nice Family home in a nice quiet central location. 
If you were an Investor it could be let as a Family Home for about £895 pcm. A reasonable 4.25% could be achieved.
However, if you were use the second downstairs Reception Room as another Bedroom you could Attract Sharers/Students. Room Rates could be charged and a much more attractive £1200 could be achieved giving a return closer to 6%. 
Worth looking at considering proximity to University. Employing a good Managing Agent is an imperative though!
Its a shame that Taylors haven't bothered with more Photos......

If you would like any advice whether a client of ours or not please pop in and See me or drop me an Email




Monday, 13 July 2015

Who are you?

OK. So you want sell/Let your House? You open the Times and Citizen to see the plethora of Agents and their offerings.


Some say sold/Let or under offer/similar available so why advertise? Truth is they are not selling/letting houses they are selling their service to you as a prospective Vendor. 

They are trying to build their creditability by demonstrating that they can Sell a house like yours. Its all a ruse, so you contact them for a Market Appraisal.

Reality is nowadays a lot of propertoes are sold/let via the Internet through property portals like Rightmove, Zoopla, Prime Location, Homes24 etc etc etc. The internet's reach is vast, the Local Paper not so.


But people buy from People not some Url: up in Cyberspace.
So I maintain the first question to ask any Prospective Agent is who I am dealing with? Who will be shaking my hand and guiding me through this process?

Many big Nationals have complex structures with teams of staff dealing with the various stages of the Process. Not very consumer focused. A bit like a production line.
Consequently, you might find that, although you were very impressed with Richard who came out to see you and initially took your Instruction.In reality you never see him again and End up dealing with Tom, Dick and Sally who are based 20 miles away at Head Office.

Lets face facts, we are dealing with probably the single most Valuable Asset you have, so you should really be spending some quality time deciding who to Entrust with its Sale or Rental.

Please feel free to contact me and share your thoughts and concerns regarding choosing the right Agent to Market your Property

Wednesday, 8 July 2015

A Tale of two Properties - Putnoe Lane



Two Properties. One Road. Similar Price. Different Styles. What Outcome?


















Putnoe Lane 1 £700,000



















Putnoe Lane 2 £695,000


I have been watching both these two for a couple of months now.
Property 1 was originally priced at £750k but has gradually dropped to £700k more in line with Property 2 at £695k. Both offer Mammoth living Space, plots and Specification.
Property 2 was recently refurbished to a high Standard, but offers a much more contemporary Style and Set of Features. But is Bedford ready for this Style?
Putnoe 1 is more Traditional and but with a modern Twist. Which will prevail?
Either way it may take some time as buyers for these sorts of Properties are harder to find and are naturally more selective in there choices.

Watch this space......

Thursday, 2 July 2015

Nightmare Tenants, Slum Landlords





































Tenant is looking after the Property and keeps it clean and tidy



With Channel 5's Series currently airing on Evening Television, I thought it may be quite topical to look at some of the issues raised.
A good Agent can make the difference to bad situations developing too far. The agent should be inspecting regularly (if you pay them to), advising you on Steps to take and Serving Relevant Notices according to the Legislation.  
So with this in mind,  thought I might offer some pointers on how to choose an Agent:



  • Agent Focused on Customer Service for Tenant not just you. Good Idea to Pose as a Tenant to See who treats you Best. After all words spreads about the good and Bad Agents in any town! Tenants like to be treated fairly, so good tenants will naturally migrate to the Good Agents and ultimately your Property.
  • Letting Agents are not regulated, but the better ones typically belong to the National Approved Lettings Scheme (NALS) or the Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA)
  • Ask to See their Terms and Conditions, these may be 40 pages long so it might be worth asking for it to be checked by a legal Professional. All Charges have to be displayed by Law. If not on Display then report then to them The Property Ombudsman (TPO)
  • Find out exactly what their service includes. How often they Visit to check the Property, do they do accompanied Viewings. An important Document is the Inventory taken at the Start of any Tenancy. Is this part the Service? A Good inventory will save a lot problems later on when tenancy comes to an End.
  • Ask for Evidence of Visits, Inspections, Viewing and Inventories. A good Agent will be proud of the Service they provide and will only be too happy to demonstrate it.
  • When you call them on the Telephone and you get the Voicemail, doesn't necessarily mean they cant be bothered, they might be too busy to answer. Just as long they return your call and deal with your question promptly.
  • When the Credit Crunch hit in 2007 a lot of Estate Agents understandably jumped on the Lettings Bandwagon. It provided them with an income stream as their Property Sales Evaporated overnight. What I call Accidental Agents. Many of them still are not geared up for Property Management and are paying it Lip Service only. A good way to Check is to Find out where the Property Management (ie. Maintenance Dept) is carried out. You may find its located elsewhere and not necessarily in the same Town, City or County!
  • Check to see if they have won any Awards either Nationally for the Larger Agents or at a Local Level.
  • Review Sites can offer some guidance although theses can be open to abuse!
In General I would say that Research is the Key. Speak to trusted Friends, Family and Acquaintances to see what experience if any they have. Agents don't generally have the Best Reputation, but their reputation is tarnished by only a small minority.

If you would like any further help or suggestions, please Email or Pop in and See me

Best of Luck!

Saturday, 27 June 2015

Property Focus: Belvoir Walk


Property Focus: Belvoir Walk




This property, situated on Belvoir Walk, caught our Attention because the Street name being the same as our Business. 
The property been on the market since early May with Agents Wilson Peacock. Priced at £200,000 it offers 2 Good sized Double Bedrooms and a large 3rd single Bedroom. A Big Lounge/Diner Downstairs, together with Downstairs WC, Storage Cupboard and Porch further add to the flexibility of the Living Space. 
Outside there is a good-sized walled in Garden with Gated Access from the Rear. 
On the Downside is the Small Kitchen, not helped by the BIG Units as you walk in. Careful re-planning of the Kitchen would help alleviate this.
Its surprising that the Property has been on the Market as long, as this property does represent very Good Value not only for the Private Owner occupier, also as an Investment. A Rental Figure of £875pcm should be achievable, giving a 5.25% return on investment.

For more information click on the link below which will take you to the full details and photos

Belvoir Walk


Tuesday, 23 June 2015

Putnoe Property - Do you know the Facts and Figures?



Putnoe Property - Do you know the Facts and Figures?

Here at Belvoir, we can guide you to the right places. We can Help to identify property values and yields in Putnoe and other useful property related information, so you can make sure you get all the information you need about your future investments. Here are just a few property facts about Putnoe....

Looking at the MK41 postcode as a whole(of which Putnoe is a large Part). There are 529 streets, with 16656 homes, and less than a quarter of all those houses (2967 to be precise) have changed hands since 2010. 

When compared against a national average compound annual growth rate (CAGR) over the last 5 years of 12.5%, the growth in this postcode district has been 16.1%. This could well be because this is a dynamic local economy and housing market. Property price growth in this area has significantly exceeded growth in earnings and the national average house price growth and so the likelihood of it continuing will be dependent upon price earnings ratio, as well as investment by developers and local authorities in continually upgrading local infrastructure, schools, in addition to the continued strength of the local and national economies and any other economies upon which the area depends

Over the last 3 months, the average property value for this postcode district has been £178676

The most commonly found type of housing in this area are Semi- Detached Houses, making up 36.2% of the housing stock

Flats account for the lowest percentage of the housing stock in this district, at only 9.9%

The majority of property in this area is owner occupied.

Since Jan 1995 The highest Turnover Street in Putnoe was Kimbolton Road with 146 Transactions with an Average Value of £526830.
The Most Expensive Street is Cleat Hill with an Average value of £764821. The Least Expensive being The Fairway at £101254.
This shows that there is a wide spectrum of Properties in Putnoe!

Compared to the national average - MK41 has 6% more detached houses, 8% more semi detached houses and 13% less flats. This is a good indicator that Putnoe is good place to buy property in.

If you would like more useful facts and figures pop in to see us at our offices. 

Friday, 19 June 2015

How can you find a good property deal in Bedford?
I was talking to one of our landlords the other day, when he explained there were no property bargains for him to buy in Bedford. Here is what I discovered recently about finding bargains that I had discovered over the last few months.
A 4 bed detached on Pedley Way sold in 2008 for £310,000. In March 2015, it sold again for £278,000, a drop in value of 10.3%!  A Flat in the Limes, Linden Road was sold for £87,000 in March this year. It sold for £115,000 in 2006, these are excellent value properties.
Finally, one of those nice flats, opposite the hospital on Palgrave Road, sold for £156,950 in 2005. Considering property values are much of those being achieved in 2005, some lucky person picked up a bargain in March, when it sold again for £135,000.
So in answer to the question? The answer is it is all down to research and which requires time, dedication, a certain amount of determination and good old fashion Luck. And all those apply to a lot of things in life generally !
If you are looking to invest in property, whether a client of ours or not, drop by our offices if you would like any advice...

Thanks for reading this article, Please feel free to comment.