Musings of a London Property Finder

Allsops have announced an additonal auction to their published schedule, in view of the high number of lots they have been asked to sell this month.  The new sale will be held on the 12th and 13th of November and we have added a link to the bottom of the blog.  Most entries are repossessions and so there are a number of bargains available for buyers who don’t want to do the renovation work normally associated with properties offered at auction.

Property bargains include lot 702, a 2 bedroom flat currently on sale through Hamptons with a list price of £325,000 which appears to be neutrally decorated with wooden floors and It would suit someone looking for a buy-to-let or a noise-tolerant owner occupier as it is situated on busy Finborough Road, which is one of the main routes out of West London to the M4.

Other London property bargains are likely to include Appartment 42, 2 Point Wharf Lane in Brentford, although the guide wasn’t published as we went to press.  Convenient for anyone working in West London, this 1 bedroom new-build 2nd floor appartment is 10-15 minutes walk from Brentford or Kew overland stations and was sold in 2004 for £249,999 according to Our Property.co.uk.  There is 117 years remaining on the lease and the ground rent is £175 per annum.  Prospective buyers should definitely check out the service charge prior to purchase, as these can add a few thousand pounds to your annual living costs.

For buyers without deep pockets, one of the lowest price lots is a 1 bedroom flat with a guide between £10,000 and £20,000 in Port Glasgow, 20 minutes max from Glasgow Airport.  Clearly, we haven’t viewed it, but a flat was sold there in April for £45,000 and a rough guide for 1 beds in the area is £30,000 to £55,000, so as a first step on the investment ladder, it might turn out to be a good investment.  We think this particular flat may have sold for £19,500 in 2004, hence the guide.  Interested parties should download the deeds from the land registry which would resolve the matter once and for all.  It was offered for rental at £325 pcm but even allowing for 6 weeks void each year and having to lower rental expectations, within 10 years an investor would have paid off the flat and it would become a nice little earner.  The London Property Finder casts a wide net and has lanf standing connections  with the Scottish Property Market

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Tags: bargain flats, Glasgow respossessions, greenock investment property, london auction property, London investment property, london property bargains, London Property Finder, London repossessions, low price investment property, low priced investment property, low-priced London property, property auctions, Repossessions, Scotland property bargains, Scottish auction property, Scottish investment property, Scottish repossessions, West London bargain properties

Musings of a London Property Search Agent

A plethora of stories about repossessions have emerged in recent days with Shelter quoted liberally in The Times about those with a second charge mortgage amid news that the FSA has urged lenders to treat customers sympathetically and avoid moving too quickly to repossess. In an interview in The Times yesterday, Shelter insisted that the predicted 45,000 repossessions this year is a long way short of the actual figure since it doesn’t take into account those who go into arrears because of second charges which can be for second homes, buy-to-lets, cars or more loans. However according to The Times,

“The Finance and Leasing Association, which represents 75 per cent of second-charge lenders, said its members did repossess hundreds of homes last year, but on a more modest scale than that suggested by Shelter. It said its members repossessed nearly 800 properties that were not included in the CML’s (Council of Mortgage Lenders) figures. ”
 

Although repossessions forecast this year will be 2/3 that of the worst years of the early 90s, anecdotally, a significant proportion of those will be second homes or buy to lets, whereas in the 90s most repossessions involved people losing their main home.  To buy a new home now contact this London Property Search Agent
 

As for heavy-handed banks, it seems the culprits are predominantly specialist lenders, ie those dealing with buy to lets, mortgagees with adverse credit, self-certification lenders etc. By their very nature, many borrowers falling into this group would have been unable to borrow through a high street lender, which should at the very least give comfort to the masses with high street mortgages.
 

It is always sad going into a repossessed home. But they do provide opportunities particularly for first time buyers and those wanting to move to an area where they couldn’t afford a place on the open market. And if you are our client, we will have considered repossessed property as part of our search for you.
 

For nervous buyers - here are a few tips which shouldn’t be ignored.

• Take out mortgage protection and income protection insurance
• Don’t buy it from your lender
• Don’t overstretch
• Think about how your dream home could work for you if everything goes wrong

Technorati Tags: London Property Search Agent, London repossessions, Repossessions

Tags: London Property Search Agent, London repossessions, Repossessions