Over 50% off - apartments

What a difference 5 years make.  You thought that house prices have been fairly stable in the UK since the crash in 2008.  Not if you were one of those unfortunate buy-to-let investors who were suckered into buying an over inflated apartment in a jazzy named development on the edge of a city centre.  Take for instance the Picture Works in Nottingham.  Back in 2008 two bed apartments were being advertised at £175,000 and spacious 1 bed for £135,000.

Most of them are now on the market with Allsop but you can now buy them with a group discount of over 50%.  The asking price for the block of largely unsold block of 114 apartments is offers over £7 million, less than half of the around £20 million the developer Lace Market Properties was hoping to make from selling them individually at the peak of the boom.

Bargain - real value?

A bargain?  With a Gross Investment Yield of almost 13% even with the considerable management costs at this price it looks good value.  It's a sign of the time that now it's not about value but about those that can raise the cash and obtain the loans to secure the value.  Details are as follows:


A Freehold residential investment opportunity comprising 128 apartments and 2 commercial units.
Investment Considerations
    •    114 unsold apartments (46 x 1 Bed, 63 x 2 Bed and 5 x 3 Beds)  subject to 106 AST’s and 8 Vacant
    •    14 apartments sold off on long leases producing a ground rent income of £3,500 pa.
    •    Total current rent reserved - £888,720 – GIY 12.7%
    •    A total of 3,057 sq.ft of ground floor commercial space
    •    87 remaining car parking spaces
    •    Estimated Rental Value  - £946,320 – GIY 13.5%

Price:  Offers in excess of £7,000,000

Sales details:

Michael Gorman
+44 (0)113 236 6683
michael.gorman@allsop.co.uk

William Shoebotham
+44 (0)207 344 2659
william.shoebotham@allsop.co.uk

Buy-to-let finance - access the market

BTL mortgage most popular

Max LTV	Initial Rate	Term	Completion fee	Booking fee	Incentives	Overall Cost for Comparison
85%	5.49% Discount	2 Years	2.5%	£130.00	No	6.9% APR
85%	6.19% Discount	3 Years	2%	£130.00	No	7% APR
80%	4.79% Fixed	Nov 30 2014	3.5%	£199.00	Free valuation up to £335 for purchases and remortgages and free legals on remortgages only.	6.4% APR
80%	4.69% Discount	2 Years	2%	£130.00	No	6.7% APR
80%	5.19% Discount	2 Years	2%	£130.00	No	6.8% APR
75%	3.74% Discount	2 Years	£1999	£250.00	No	5.4% APR
75%	3.25% Fixed	2 Years	3%	£250.00	No	5.3% APR
75%	4.29% Fixed	Nov 30 2014	1%	£0.00	No	5.1% APR
70%	4.25% Discount	2 Years	0%	£199.00	Free valuation up to £335 for purchases and remortgages and free legals on remortgages only.	6% APR
60%	3.25% Discount	2 Years	£1750	£250.00	No	5.3% APR

Search the whole BTL mortgage market free
 
Email: info@propertyhawkbtlmortgages.co.uk 

Tel: 029 2069 5446 

IMPORTANT! Due to current market conditions, lenders are withdrawing and replacing products with little or no notice. Please check our website regularly to see the most up-to-date products available.

Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgages.The Financial Services Authority does not regulate some forms of mortgage.

---

Grand in your hand

A new scheme by urban regeneration specialist Urban Splash the developer of the iconic Fort Dunlop Building in Birmingham will give landlords a grand in their hand if they refer somebody who makes a purchase of one of their properties.

I've admired Urban Splash's work for some time and their latest redevelopment in Sheffield of the listed Park Hill flats with stunning views over Sheffield.

Urban Splash operate an incentive scheme where if you refer somebody who buy's one of their properties you are eligible to receive a grand in commission. Generous? I've no idea on how good they are at honouring this commitment so any feedback from people who have tried it would be interesting.

The area in which the flats are located in 'not the best' as you would expect.  But the apartments are incredibly spacious and starting at less than a hundred grand would I'm sure rent well although with over 800 apartments in the block you could be up with a fair bit of competition from other investors.  Landlords that do consider investing will have to look carefully at the service charges before committing to purchase. 
 
Buy-to-let finance - search market

BTL mortgage market

The buy-to-let mortgage market has improved considerably this year and the number of products available to landlords has increased. This has led to greater competition between lenders resulting in some excellent deals being offered.

Lenders have also started providing special deals to landlords which are available exclusively through selected brokers only. These products are often highly competitive, designed for specific customer lending requirements and may only be offered for a limited time. The provider of Property Hawk Mortgages has been chosen by a number of lenders to distribute this type of targeted product and currently has a range of special deals on offer. These include buy-to-let mortgages with Hinckley & Rugby Building Society, Leeds Building Society, Accord Mortgages, Kent Reliance and Skipton Building Society.

Special deals available via Property Hawk Mortgages in October:
•    Hinckley & Rugby BS - 3.74% 2 year discount up to 75% LTV with a £1999 completion fee and no early repayment charges (5.40% APR)

•    Accord Mortgages – 3.49% BBR tracker until 30/09/2014 up to 75% LTV with a 2% completion fee and £500 cashback (6.00% APR)

•    Skipton Building Society -  4.29% fixed rate until 30/11/2014 up to 75% LTV with a 1% completion fee and a free valuation and no legal fees for remortgages (for properties valued up to £500,000) (5.10% APR)

•    Kent Reliance - 5.49% 2 year discount up to 85% LTV with a 2.50% completion fee (6.90% APR)

•    Leeds BS - 4.25% 2 year discount up to 70% LTV with no completion fee. Free valuation up to £335 for purchases and remortgages and free legals on remortgages only. (6.00% APR)

Further details of these products can be found using the Property Hawk Mortgages free online mortgage finder.

Search the whole BTL mortgage market free
 
Email: info@propertyhawkbtlmortgages.co.uk 

Tel: 029 2069 5446 

IMPORTANT! Due to current market conditions, lenders are withdrawing and replacing products with little or no notice. Please check our website regularly to see the most up-to-date products available.

Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgages.The Financial Services Authority does not regulate some forms of mortgage.

Landlord seeks direct payments

The debate over direct payments to landlords rumbles on as the Chief Executive at one of the 6 pilot Housing Association calls for tenants to retain the choice to pay the new Universal Credit direct to their landlord.

We thought the Tories had seen sense when they arrived in power and immediately reversed the Labour parties stance on the Local Housing Allowance.

It seems that political dogma may once again be gripping the corridors of power.  However, this is only a pilot project and we hope that the politicians will listen to the practitioners and give the tenants the opportunity to choose NOT to choose!

To read the full article follow the link.
 
Landlord insurance - professional rates

I'm waiting for the "Green Deal"

One of my tenants has recently been complaining that the double glazing in his property has "blown".  What does this mean?  Well in essence the seal between the internal and external pains has broken and as a result the air tight vacuum that was there reducing the heat loss through the window no longer works properly.  Quite often this is accompanied by moisture seeping into the gap between the two panes of glass and resulting in small patches of condensation. 

I'm keen to act but I'm holding fire to see what happens with the new Green Deal which is proposed to come into operation in 2013.  For those landlords that have not come across it, the Green Deal is
a way of financing energy saving improvements to your property which are financed by low interest loans.  In the case of landlords the costs of these loans need to be less than the expected energy savings meaning that effectively the tenant will be saving money even if they are contributing to the costs of the Green Deal loan.

Early indications from Grean Deal Assessors is that the interest rate on the loans is going to be between 7-8%.  Not horrendous, but you can get cheaper with some larger amounts on secured loans and certainly through mortgage finance.  My big question is how many tenants are really going to want to shell out more money for an improved and more energy efficient property if they have to shell out more cash up front in terms of rent + Green Deal finance.  Will they not argue that the benefit comes back to the landlord (largely erroneously in my view) in terms of an improvement in the capital value.  Watch this space for further updates as I look into what the Green Deal will really mean in practice for landlords.

Landlord insurance - trusted brokers