£114.66 per week ... the increase in Falkirk property values

Last week, a landlord came in to our office to discuss the rising property values in Falkirk. He owns a varied portfolio of rental properties, primarily in Falkirk, and is thinking of buying more properties so he was interested in comparing the increase in property values around the area.

Over the last 12 months the average property value in Falkirk has risen by nearly £5,962, from £150,529 to £156,491. This is a healthy 3.94% increase or £114.66 per week. When you dig a bit deeper, the values for terraced houses has performed the best in percentage increase terms with the average increase over the last 12 month being £6,795 or 6.55% whereas semi-detached houses have performed the worst as they have only seen an increase of value of £588 or 0.39% over this period.  The value of detached houses and flats has increased by 4.60% and 2.72% respectively so they are somewhere in between terraced and semi-detached houses.

When we looked at some of the surrounding towns, what we found was very interesting.  Polmont has a highest average increase in property value of the surrounding towns at around £119.67 per week which is slightly greater than Falkirk but all the other towns in the area have had lower increases as Larbert increased by £112.44 per week, Bonnybridge by £90.73 per week, Grangemouth by £63.40 per week, Linlithgow by £61.06 per week and Bo’ness by £36.44 per week.

So overall average property values in the area have risen which suggests that the local property market is reasonably healthy although, as always, there are pockets that are doing better than others.

When considering this landlord’s buy to let portfolio, the rental values have been increasing over the last 12 months continuing the trend of the last few years.

So with rising property prices and rents, it could be a good time to invest in the property market in Falkirk.

We hope you find our posts useful.  If you would like some advice with your potential investment, please call me (on 01324 469840), come and see me in our offices (6 Vicar Street, Falkirk) or email me (robert@thekeyplace.co.uk).

www.thekeyplace.co.uk

#falkirk #property #buytolet #realestate #ownermanagedbusiness #retirement #retirementplanning #energyefficiency #privaterentedsector #prs #privaterentedsector #firsttimebuyers

Confessions of a ..... Letting Agent! Issue 2

Landlords often ask us what goes on behind the scenes at The Key Place and so we thought we would share our experiences, and what we have learned from those experiences, with you.

This week I’ve got a story for you about how The Key Place goes the extra mile to help our tenants, and therefore our landlords too.

We had a tenant in full time paid employment (a supervisory role), who came with great references.  Very sadly his grandfather died, who he was very close to.  As a direct result of this, the tenant went off the rails.  He split up with his long term partner, and got the sack from work for not doing his job properly.  He was unable to pay his rent and while we were chasing him for non-payment, he disappeared.

The tenant was a local lad, and as The Key Place is largely staffed by local people, they started asking around to see if they could find him.  Using our fantastic contacts, we did locate him, and arranged for him to come into the office to discuss how we could find a resolution to the situation.

We managed to speak to the company he worked for who, once they understood what had been happening, offered him a job, although at a lower grade.  The tenant had racked up a few debts, including his rent, and so couldn’t afford to rent a flat from us anymore.  We worked with the landlord to allow the tenant out of his lease, so that we could re-let the flat as soon as possible and get rent in for the landlord.  The tenant left the property in great condition, and moved in with family.  We set up a repayment plan with the tenant so that we could recover the missing rent on behalf of the landlord.

It just goes to show that there may be more to a non-paying tenant than meets the eye.  Rather than writing this off, The Key Place managed to work with the tenant to resolve the problem.  The landlord now has a good long term let on his property and is also recouping the lost rent. The course of action we followed resulted in the best outcome for the landlord – our extensive experience of the practicalities, as opposed to just the laws/rules of letting, allowed us to reach this conclusion.   And the tenant is happy and getting his life back on track.  All’s well that ends well.

www.thekeyplace.co.uk

What type of property in Falkirk RENTS the best?

A wee while ago I wrote an article for The Falkirk Property Blog all about what type of property sells the best in Falkirk – double click here to see the article https://bit.ly/2ymJeTP. 

I was at the Breakfast Buzz networking meeting at the Beancross restaurant on Wednesday morning (it is a touch life but somebody has to do it!) when my friend Maurice had a chat with me about the article.  He loved the article and wondered if I could do a similar exercise to work out what type of property RENTS the best in Falkirk.  Well you know I like a challenge so I gladly accepted this one.

Knowing how rentable a property is really important when deciding what (or not) to buy for your next property investment. Why? Well as soon as you buy it you will in all likelihood be looking to rent it out as fast as possible to reduce your property void costs so it is good to know what properties rent the best in Falkirk.

I have used a similar methodology as I used for properties for sale to ensure consistency ie the number of properties for rent, compared to the numbers that are rented subject to contract. Of the 16,819 households in Falkirk there are 78 properties on the market for rent. Of those 78 properties, 46 properties are fully available on the open market waiting for a renter and 32 have renters and are rented subject to contract. That means 41% of property on the market has a renter in Falkirk (interestingly it is very similar in the rest of the area eg in Grangemouth it is 39% and in Linlithgow it is 40%).

However, delve deeper, and in Falkirk today it shows that 50% of both detached and semi-detached properties on the market have a renter, 42% of terraced houses have a renter and the figure is 40% for flats. 

Now this is interesting as the perceived wisdom is that larger properties – which detached and semi-detached houses are – take longer to shift but the figures suggest that this is not currently the case. 

This may be because of another fascinating observation that my analysis showed – of the 78 rental properties currently on the market, 67 (or a whapping 86%) are flats which means that there is currently little choice of detached and semi-detached houses so they are being snapped up faster than normal.

We are always giving advice to our existing and new landlords in Falkirk on what to buy (or not as the case may be).  Having this detail of information at our finger tips, allows us to spot trends in the local market, which then enables us to give the very best advice to our clients. We don't charge for that advice as we have plenty of opportunity to earn money by finding the best tenants for our landlords in the years to come on the investments we have advised on.  If you want some advice, come and see me in our offices (6 Vicar Street) for a chat, give me a call (01324 469840) or email me on (news@thekeyplace.co.uk).

www.thekeyplace.co.uk

#falkirk #property #buytolet #realestate #ownermanagedbusiness #retirement #retirementplanning #energyefficiency #privaterentedsector #prs #privaterentedsector #firsttimebuyers

New on the market modern BTL property waiting to be snapped up

The buy to let opportunity from The Falkirk Property Blog today is a modern 2 bed flat in the popular Ladymill Court in Falkirk.

The flat has a lounge with dining area, kitchen, 2 bedroom and bathroom with a shower over the bath.  The house has gas central heating, double glazing and an allocated parking space at the rear. 

Importantly, there are no pictures on the websites of either the kitchen or the bathroom so you will need to particularly check these rooms out at a viewing.

Double click here to see more details of this property

Turning the all important financials.  The flat has recently been put on the market by Yopa with an asking price of offers over £70,000 so let’s say it goes for in the region of £77,000.  I would expect this property to achieve rent of in the region of £495 pcm, so when we work out the annual yield you could be looking at a gross return of 7.7% which reflect that the property is new and therefore maintenance costs are likely to be lower.

I hope you find our posts useful.  If you would like some advice with your potential investment, please come and see me in our offices (6 Vicar Street, Falkirk), call me (01324 469840) or email me (news@thekeyplace.co.uk).

www.thekeyplace.co.uk

#falkirk #property #buytolet #realestate #ownermanagedbusiness #retirement #retirementplanning #energyefficiency #privaterentedsector #prs #privaterentedsector #firsttimebuyers

What type of property in Falkirk sells the best?

Knowing how saleable a property is half the battle when deciding what (or not) to buy for your next property investment. Why? Well because one day, you may need to sell that property. If you go into the purchase with open eyes, you know most of the risks and can barter the price accordingly if you have to.

Bearing this in mind, last week, a couple from Larbert popped into our offices to ask about investing in property. Their concern was if we have another property slump (and we will because that is what has happened to the British property market ever since the 1950’s), if they did need to sell, what type of property would be easier to sell. Now everything sells, even during a slump, but I did some research and followed up their query – I was actually quite surprised with the results.

A good guide to judge the saleability of property is the number of properties for sale, compared to the numbers that are sold, subject to contract. Now I carried out this comparison last week, so the numbers will be marginally different today, but of the 16,819 households in Falkirk there are 179 properties on the market for sale. Of those 179 properties, 76 properties are fully available on the open market waiting for a buyer and 103 have buyers and are sold subject to contract. That means 58% of property on the market has a buyer in Falkirk (interestingly in Grangemouth 45% of properties on the market have a buyer and in Polmont it is an impressive 71% (although there are far fewer properties on the market there).

However, delve deeper, and in Falkirk today, 62% of bungaows on the market have a buyer and great news for terraced houses, as 67% of them have buyers.  Semi-detached houses fair even better, with 28 of the 33 on the market now having buyers (making a whopping 85%). The properties that appear to be sticking though are flats at a comparatively lower 50%.

We are always giving advice to our existing and new landlords in Falkirk on what to buy (or not as the case may be).  Having this detail of information at our finger tips, allows us to spot trends in the local market, which then enables us to give the very best advice to our clients. We don't charge for that advice as we have plenty of opportunity to earn money by finding the best tenants for our landlords in the years to come on the investments we have advised on.  If you want some advice, come and see me in our offices (6 Vicar Street) for a chat, give me a call (01324 469840) or email me on (news@thekeyplace.co.uk).

www.thekeyplace.co.uk

#falkirk #property #buytolet #realestate #ownermanagedbusiness #retirement #retirementplanning #energyefficiency #privaterentedsector #prs #privaterentedsector #firsttimebuyers

Welcome to our new blog - Confessions of a Letting Agent

Landlords often ask us what goes on behind the scenes at The Key Place and so we thought we would share our experiences, and what we have learned from those experiences, with you.

I had a call from one of my team to say that a tenant of ours had stormed into the office shouting and swearing and demanding money to stay in a hotel. 

A wee bit of background to this:  a landlord that we only find tenants for (TFO) has the flat upstairs from his, and there was a pretty big leak from her flat into the flat below.  The TFO landlord lives overseas and we don’t hold insurance for her, and so there was a delay in getting the leak fixed and the works dealt with.  Our angry tenant had to move out and we agreed to put him up in alternative accommodation or to give him an allowance to stay with friends and family.  He chose to stay with friends and family. 

So why the sudden change of heart that led to him storming into our office demanding cash to stay in hotel?  A few months ago this would have seemed completely out of character as he was a good tenant with a secure job who paid his rent on time.  I was suspicious about what was going on.  Well I called him myself and told him that we had found him a B&B locally and that I would pay for his room directly, and give him an allowance for food.  He wasn’t happy with this offer and wanted the cash instead.  In fact he not only wanted the cash, he was desperate for the cash.  This got me wondering what for?  Drugs? Drug debts? Certainly something that was causing him a lot of stress.  Having called his bluff, I never heard from him again. 

This got me thinking about what had happened.  The tenant was acting irrationally as he clearly wanted cash instead of just a bed.  However I chose not to offer cash, and by calling his bluff, I found out that it wasn’t a B&B he was after at all. 

The other consideration here is the overseas landlord trying to manage her flat from overseas.  Had her property been fully managed by The Key Place, the problem would have been dealt with much quicker.  We offer insurance to our fully managed landlords and so could have actioned the claim on her behalf too.

This is just one of many real life stories in our new Confessions of a Letting Agent blog. 

www.thekeyplace.co.uk

#falkirk #property #buytolet #realestate #ownermanagedbusiness #retirement #retirementplanning #energyefficiency #privaterentedsector #prs #privaterentedsector

Falkirk Property - Do you know the Facts and Figures?

Here at The Key Place, we can guide you to the right places to identify property values and yields in Falkirk and, as well as that, we can provide you with other useful property related information so you can make sure you know all you need to know before making your future investments.

I was reminded of this the other day when I was chatting to a landlord of mine and he said that I was a font of useful information about the Falkirk property market ..... at least I think he said useful! 

This got me thinking that others may be interested in some ‘useful’ property facts about our town of Falkirk ....

There are 1197 streets Falkirk with 16,819 households, and just over a quarter those houses (4,512 to be precise) have changed hands in the last 10 years.

Compared to the national average, Falkirk has 45% less detached houses, 7% less semi detached houses, 20% less terraced houses and 24% more flats. This ties in with Falkirk having significantly more single person property occupancy compared to the national average (39% vs 35%) and correspondingly more 2 person + households.

Falkirk has less owned properties than the national average (57% vs 62%) and less Council/social renting than nationally (31% vs 25%).  Overall this means that only 12% of properties in Falkirk are privately rented which is slightly lower than the national average of 13%. Given that there is a shift towards people renting rather than buying their own home, this means that there is slightly more to ‘go after’ in Falkirk.

We also have information at our fingertips on seemingly daft things which can turn out to be quite important.  For example, 80% of properties in Falkirk have gas central heating which is much higher than the national average of 74%.  This is really useful to know when refurbishing a flat and considering whether you can ‘get away’ with electrical heating ..... it is less likely that you can in Falkirk.

I could go on but I better not!

If you would like more useful facts and figures pop in to see me at our offices (6 Vicar Street, Falkirk), call me (01324 469840) or email me (news@thekeyplace.co.uk).

www.thekeyplace.co.uk

#falkirk #property #buytolet #realestate #ownermanagedbusiness #retirement #retirementplanning #energyefficiency #privaterentedsector #prs #privaterentedsector #firsttimebuyers #90%mortgages #95%mortgages

Criminal offence ..... call to action

All letting agents now require to be registered with, and regulated by, the Scottish Government.  It is a criminal (not civil) offence to trade as a letting agent after 1 October 2018 if you are not registered with, and regulated by, the Scottish Government.

Registered letting agents require to adhere to the Scottish Government Letting Agent Code of Practice which means that, amongst other things, they have to have suitable policies and procedures in place, there staff need to be appropriately qualified, and they have to control their clients’ money sensibly and they have to have professional indemnity and client money insurances in place.

Call to action ..... landlords

If they use a letting agent, landlords now have a duty to only use a registered one to ensure that they are legally compliant.  I keep hearing more and more practical reasons why this is the case, for example, did you know that you will be refused a mortgage on a buy-to-let property if you use an agent who is not registered?

Landlords please use a registered letting agent.

Call to action ..... letting agents

There is significant work in getting a letting agent into a good enough shape to be able to be come regulated.  If letting agents who have not registered are looking to sell their business given the hassle involved, get in touch as I know people who are looking to buy such letting agents – they have the resource (both £££ and people) to complete a quick deal. 

www.thekeyplace.co.uk

Modern 1 bed flat buy to let opportunity in Falkirk

Today’s buy to let opportunity from The Falkirk Property Blog is a fairly new upper flat in Kerse Place, Falkirk.... so all mod cons and easy to deal with but at a price!

The flat has a lounge with dining area, modern kitchen, double bedroom and bathroom with a shower over the bath.  The house has an electric wet central heating system, triple glazing and an allocated parking space.

Double click here to see more details of this property

It has been on the market for a couple of weeks with Clyde Properties with an asking price of offers over £68,000 so let’s say it goes for in the region of £75,000.  I would expect this property to achieve rent of in the region of £450 pcm, so when we work out the annual yield you could be looking at a gross return of 7.2% which reflect that the property is new and therefore maintenance costs are likely to be lower.

I hope you find our posts useful.  If you would like some advice with your potential investment, please come and see me in our offices (6 Vicar Street, Falkirk), call me (01324 469840) or email me (news@thekeyplace.co.uk).

www.thekeyplace.co.uk