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How to Buy to Let Successfully

  • 3 years ago
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Whether you’re new to buy-to-let or whether you’re expanding your portfolio, you need to look at these five factors in order to BTL successfully.

Look outside your immediate postcode

You don’t need to buy a property in your local area, especially if your annual yield won’t be that great. There are lots of areas in the UK in which purchase prices are relatively low but which have fairly buoyant rental prices. Think about the difference. If a nearby town has an average purchase price that’s 20% lower than your hometown but has average rents that are only 10% lower, you’re onto a winner.

Make sure tenants want to rent in the location you’re looking at

If you buy a property in a popular area then you’ll have no shortage of prospective tenants and few, if any, void periods. Look at properties with lots of amenities – shops, cafes, bars, schools, transport links and soon – nearby so that you can appeal to tenants.

Look at properties with low maintenance costs

Your yield shouldn’t be eaten up by maintaining a period property or a property that needs a lot of work to meet safety standards.

While a period property might attract tenants due to its age or uniqueness, you might end up spending a lot of their rent on fixing the plumbing or sorting out damp. 

Think about the properties that are the most popular with tenants

While that one-bedroom flat in a popular school catchment area might be cheap and handy, how many families are going to want it? How many single people or childless couples are going to want to live in Motherland?

Two-bedroom flats and houses are immensely popular – both with smaller families and with singles and couples – so focus on these rather than on one-bedroom dwellings.

Find a great letting agent

If you’re not living near to your BTL property, then a good letting agent is essential. You don’t have to do much – or any – of the work involved and you know your property and tenants are in safe hands.

In addition to this, a decent letting agent will always have prospective tenants on its books so will be able to keep your property occupied, as well as taking care of any maintenance issues that may arise during or between tenancies. 

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