You are here: Home / Investing in Property

Renting out your property

January 19, 2012 By ABarnes

If you’ve decided to let your property, and you’ve chosen to offer it as furnished, then you need to make sure your property is as good as the next one on the rental agent’s listing – or as good as any other property being rented out in the vicinity (the competition).

At the moment, there are so many places for tenants to choose between that tired old furnishings and tatty paintwork can lose you potential income.

Clean the whole property really thoroughly, and air the place well if it has been left unoccupied for any more than a few days. Places can quickly get a musty smell if they’re not being lived in.

If you have time, it may be worth spending a couple of days in overalls, painting the place throughout in fresh, neutral tones.

Take a good long look at the furniture pieces you have in the property. Do they encourage you to spend time there and will it have the same effect on a potential tenant? If your old furniture makes you feel like turning round and leaving, then it’s time to refresh and replace items.  Of course, you don’t want to spend too much on this process – you’re renting out the property to make money after all. But sometimes you have to spend a little to make a lot.  An empty property will earn you nothing.

These days cheap furniture is in abundance. And it’s reasonable quality, too. For a rental property, you’ll need to choose items that can stand a bit of heavy handling – you don’t know who will be living in your place and how they will treat it. Choose items for practicality first, looks second.

Choosing a sofa shouldn’t be too hard, especially if you go along to a sofas sale or find a good one online.  A sofa bed may not be the best idea if you don’t want your one-bedroom flat being home to more than a single person or a couple.  It’s best to stick to a straightforward sofa, and with fewer parts than a sofa bed, it’s less likely to get broken.

Pick all the furniture you buy with practicality and function foremost in your mind, and without spending too much money you should be able to refresh your property and make it eminently lettable.

Filed Under: Investing in Property Tagged With: , , , , ,

Instead of selling, why not stay put?

December 5, 2011 By ABarnes

Here’s a novel idea, instead of selling your house, why not stay put?

During the recent property slump, when borrowing money seems to have shifted from being a question of “how much would you like – and why not borrow a bit more?” to one of “do you have a 50% deposit and ten year’s proof of earnings?” moving house has become much more bothersome than it was.

There’s evidence to suggest that an increasing number of people are taking the opposite decision and deciding to stay put.

They’re taking the positive conscious decision to stay where they are and trying to fall in love with their houses all over again. This is quite a different mental position than staying because you can’t sell or can’t afford a new place. And it has a number of advantages.

The first, of course, is financial. Most people can afford to stay in the houses they’re in more easily than buying a new one as the tendency is generally to trade up. This isn’t the case for everyone, of course, and if you have to sell, you have to sell. But if you don’t –why not stay put?

You can usually borrow a relatively small amount of money to make those changes to your existing property you’ve often thought of. The process of completely renovating the old place from top to bottom also has an amazing psychological effect. Just starting the work makes you feel more positive towards your existing abode. And the money freed up by your decision not to move allows you to indulge your existing place a lot more – with new beds, or one of the new sofas UK retailers have on sale.

So stay put, do it up and treat yourself at your favourite furniture store – or at least have a think about it and see how it makes you feel.

Filed Under: Investing in Property Tagged With: , , , ,

PROPERTY INVESTMENT

March 21, 2011 By admin

Many people have now become disillusioned with traditional pension plans based on stock market investment returns. People are looking at buy-to-let property investment.

An important consideration is where demand for housing with outstrip supply, leading to property price increases and rental prices and where there is a strong demand for tenants. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Investing in Property Tagged With: , ,