Just last week, I sat in my car outside of a lovely four bedroom cottage in Air Cliff. This week, I’ve had discussions with its owner who lives in America. Knowing that it is quite difficult to sell residential properties costing over £200,000 in village locations unless the price is really low, I’ve recommended doing a lease option deal on it.
To do that, we’d take the property for ourselves then we’ll offer it as a rent to buy property. That would be a really nice opportunity for someone who doesn’t have a large amount of cash on hand.
We also had a lovely two bedroom property that we visited in Billingham last week. Its previous owner needed updated vendors and wanted to move quickly. So, that’s what we did.
We had a viewing on Saturday and we had the sale agreed on Monday.
With the deposit paid, it’s now in the hands of solicitors. We did have a mortgage decision on principal on that which isn’t a problem considering it was a first time buyer.
Then on Monday, I was meeting with a new letting agent who wants to do some business and refer some properties to us. His referrals consisted mostly of portfolios and landlords looking to sell quickly.
One of those properties is in Air Cliff, the Brownlee place where we’re doing a serviced accommodation. The refurbishings done there are coming out really lovely. Most of the upstairs rooms are all painted out. We’ve also installed a new shower unit cubicle in one of the rooms. If you’ve seen it before, you can appreciate the beautiful changes made.
On Monday
The electricians brought all the wiring needed for the broadband. We decided it’s best to go with wired broadband and give everybody a good secure connection in the property. It’s going to take about a week to install. Two weeks after that, we expect the phone lines and equipment to be installed as well. The refurbishments are being done ahead of the schedule, which is a very good thing.
Carpet’s been negotiated and I got quite a shock at the quote. To be honest with you, I fell off my chair! They actually knocked us about 1300 pounds off. I haven’t accepted it, but it’s a good start. Luckily, I’ve got a favorable deal offer from a national supplier for the supply of all the needed linen in the property.
On Tuesday
I signed up for another property in Stanley from a lady I’ve met last September. She wasn’t sure whether she wanted to sell at the time. Her finances weren’t brilliant. Anyway, she came back to me last week and said, “Can you come out and have a look?” We’ve signed up her nice three bedroom terraced property at the same price I’ve offered in September.
Nice buy for somebody who really wants to have a nice investment property. At that price, the buyer has benefited a nice discount because they have been selling that property for over 60,000.
On Friday
I spoke to a guy that I’d seen a couple of weeks ago. He’s a vendor in York. I know you’re probably thinking, what am I doing in York? Well, we got an inquiry from a landlord that has five properties. I wouldn’t normally go that far south. We operate in the northeast, but these are really, really top quality properties in a top quality area. You’re not going to get the yields that you get in the northeast, but they’ll be compatible with what you would get in Durham City as HMOs for students. You’ll get about 7% yield, but they’re in a really good area in the center of York, where the capital values have been increasing over the years and I expect that to continue.
So, I just want to appeal to a different type of investor – not always with people that are on our books. For someone that just wants a nice armchair hassle-free investment, I really believe that that is the ideal property.
I also have three properties having a pair of flats each. They are semi detached and terraced properties. One flat is upstairs while the other is downstairs. Apart from that, we also got a block of flats with four units that has development potential.
Beside those properties, we also got five lovely purpose built self contained flats. They are really nice properties and they’re all in the same street. If someone wants them, they’ve got a nice pot of money there. If someone wants to have a hassle free long-term investment, then this could be the best buy for that. I’m just currently waiting for offers, while I’m going through compliance.
This week we processed two lease options. One of those leases is for three properties while the other is for one property. I’ve just got all the papers in and I hope to complete them on Monday.
Generally, it has been a great week!
Properties are still continually coming in. Next week, I’ve got six more coming from Stanley. That’s why we’ll fast-track the processing of the properties we have right now. So, you’ve got to be fairly quick and on the ball if you want the deal offers at the moment.
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