Despite recent tax changes to the buy-to-let schemes undermining the appeal of property investment. We at Hawkhurst Alternative Investments would urge you not to entirely rule out property investment should you currently have your eye on the prize.
In fact it could be the ideal time to benefit from interest rates currently at a low period and housing looking set to rise in value. Nevertheless, It’s important to be aware of both the risks and benefits of the property investment market, so it’s equally important to pick the right area and property for you to invest in for the future.
A good trick to live by in terms of your investment, is to pick an abode that you would live in yourself. Don’t get me wrong, you don’t actually have to live there, but could you put yourself in a potential buyer or tenant’s shoes and be able to reside in the abode?
Perhaps it is also worth considering the wide range of people personality that would be eager to live in your property. Does it match up to their requirements in and around the area? Are they a major city commuter? Or are they needing to be in a specific school catchment area for their young family or perhaps thinking of starting one etc?
Could your property tick all these boxes?
With this in mind, target audience should be diverse and not stuck in the remit of the average family. If your property is near a university for example, you can modify the property into clean and comfortable apartments for students to rent generating you a handsome profit.
This approach can help sales and rentals, as cultivating a property to which new people can easily add their own features, can boost the likelihood of a prospective purchaser or tenant seeing that building as their future home and staying there for the long term.
Another piece of important advice is to be well on top of the numbers game! Yield is a massive part of a potential buy-to-let, this is how much annual rent received as a proportion of the price paid. You should ensure you pay close attention to your success in this respect, it’s a good idea to have rentals and sales annually appraised – this is good for checking that money received through rentals is continuing to reflect market value.
The next step is to think about insuring the property – particularly if it has many beautiful and valuable features. However, insurers tend not to cover damages for a property which you have not occupied for 30 days – in that instance, you could take out what is called unoccupied home insurance.
Furthermore, with properties available from as little as £60,000 and achieving a sustainable rent of £350 per month, even first-time buyers can position themselves on the property ladder whilst taking advantage of living at home with family of friends or renting closer to home, having purchased a property in a less-expensive part of the country on a buy to let basis. These properties will also be managed by our partners, again providing you with peace of mind and hassle-free ownership.
Hawkhurst Alternative Investments are here to help you with your property investment, for now and well into the future. Call us on 0345 894 8441 for more information.
