Experience 3: The Willenhall Property

Index

• Experience 1: The apartment
• Experience 2: The Weoley Castle Property
• Experience 3: The Willenhall Property
• Experience 4: The Crewe Property
• Analysis of the Property Market 2010 
• Analysis Update  
• The one that got away
• Repossession Report 2010: 36,400 
• The Dangers of Investing Abroad  

In December 2009, I put an offer for a 3bed terraced house in Willenhall. Although this was also a repossession, it didn't need as much refurbishment as the Weoley Castle one. The agreed price £59,000 with a mortgage of £45,000. Because I had exhausted all my cash, I had to remortgage my main residence which was unencumbered.

The refurb cost only £8,000 but it took another 5 months from the completion in February 2010. Then I gave the keys to the estat agent who sold it to me to let it for me. Four months later, there was no tenant. Early in November, I found a flyer from a couple of specialist letting agents who noticed that my house hadn't been let all this time. So I took a chance on them and with 2 weeks they found a tenant for me for £475 pcm. This was the net figure as they were DSS tenants and they've negotiated their management fee with the Council.

I should get professional builders who will do a top notch job fairly quickly and with receipts that you can set against CGT. I should've been wiser because I made the same mistake with the Weoley Castle property.

Another lesson to be learnt is that you must place your property with a letting agent who specilises in lettings and nothing else. Furthermore, if your property is still on the market after 2 weeks then change the agent. If it's still not tenanted after a further 2 weeks then drop the price. Researching the market for property prices helps when determining if a purchase is a bargain or not. The research should include information about rental values so that you can set a realistic rent and get it rented quickly.