Professional letting – The Bradleys Way!
Establishing what is important to you with your investment will determine what type of property you may choose to buy. Some look for capital growth, others want the maximum rental yield and there are those just want a specific location, whatever your needs, we can help.
All our staff are trained in both sales and lettings and therefore we are best placed to give you the right advice to suit your requirements. We are aware there are many letting agencies offering their services but we offer professional letting – the Bradleys way, contact your local office for more details, or simply read on. As well as our lettings knowledge, we have our Land, New Homes and Corporate departments to ensure we can assist you in choosing the right investment as well as our Mortgage Advisers to find you the best buy- to- let mortgage product for you.
If you would like to find out more about professional letting – the Bradleys way, then visit our Lettings pages here.
Where to start with your investment purchase?
With more new landlords coming to the marketplace now than ever before, we have produced a step by step guide as to what you should do and when. This is not going to be the same for every investor but should give you a feel for the process.
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STEP 1
Establishing the best financial route for you
Some investors like to own their investment outright whilst others would like to spread their capital across many investments. There are advantages of both routes but with specialist buy- to- let mortgage products aplenty, meet with a whole of the market Mortgage Adviser to see which may be the best option for you.
In order to know the full options available to you when buying an investment property, you are best to meet with a mortgage adviser. Some investors are unaware that there are specialist ‘buy- to- let’ mortgages available and that they work slightly differently from a standard residential mortgage.
You will be able to look at the advantages of having a specialist mortgage and then if applicable, the level of deposit to use on a purchase to ensure you achieve your goals. You may find that you wish to spread your capital over two or three investment purchases and therefore it is really important to establish this early and before you look at properties. There is the possibility of tax benefits when having a mortgage on an investment property but this would be an area for the specialists when looking at your overall position.
You can gain further information about our Mortgage Advisers on our mortgage pages or perhaps arrange a free consultation with one of our advisors.
Speak to a mortgage adviser -
STEP 2
Research the market place
In order to know where best to buy an investment property you will need to do some research. The best people to provide you with this information are us, the agents that deal with both sales and lettings, as we will know what is in demand and the approximate rental yields you can expect to achieve.
Of course you can gain information online as to what is available and rental property asking prices but there is no substitute for speaking with specialists in the market. By registering with us we will be able to inform you of up to the minute demand, local developments that can affect areas short and long term and of course, the established areas that will always prove popular with tenants.
Many estate agencies will have separate departments for both sales and lettings but when dealing with an agency that trains their staff in both areas, you will gain invaluable knowledge on both sides of the process and it will advantageous for you to instruct us to manage the property rental for you. You will also gain information on the rental yields of properties that are being suggested and this may help you move towards a particular type of property e.g modern housing estates or older terraced houses.
The other aspect of any investment will be the potential capital growth. Of course this is never exact or guaranteed but we would hope to be able to give you an informed idea of which properties/locations are likely to increase in value should that be important to you.
Visit our branch pages or alternatively you can call our customer services department on 0333 0146 140.
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STEP 3
Investigate the Lettings Services
At Bradleys, we offer two services for our landlords; tenant find service or a fully managed service. The difference between the two seem fairly obvious but it will be worth checking these out in detail to understand which would best suit you.
We like to be very clear in our lettings services but our competitors services may be structured differently and therefore are not always directly comparable and by investigating them at an early stage you will get an idea of which service is right for you and also some of your responsibilities as a landlord. An example of this could be that one agents ‘fully managed’ service may not include regular inspections or creating a schedule of condition and are payable separately whereas our service will include this within our managed service fee.
The legislation for landlords has changed more in recent years than ever before and so it is essential that a letting agent will take care of this for you should you be wishing them to manage your investment in the future. Tenancy deposits, redress schemes, fee disclosure are just a few areas of legislation that have been introduced and so a good guide to knowing which companies are up to date with the latest legislation are those firms that are members of trade bodies. These trade bodies include the Property Ombudsman scheme (TPO), National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) and the Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA), whose stringent rules of membership are strictly adhered to.
If you would like to find out more about our lettings service you can read our company brochure or find your local branch information and contact your local branch directly.
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STEP 4
Using the specialists
Another advantage of building a rapport with Bradleys staff, (or other award winning agencies that train staff on both sales and lettings), will be the ability to contact them about their competitors properties to gain information about yields, capital growth and re-saleability.
Our staff throughout Bradleys will be only too pleased to speak with you about your purchase(s) and future letting and the more we deal with you, the greater rapport we will be able to build to fully understand your requirements.
We can accompany you around any potential properties that we are marketing or maybe take you on a tour after we have identified multiple opportunities for you. If you are keen on one of our competitor’s properties then we will only be too pleased to advise you on the achievable rental income and the other aspects that are important to you. This may seem strange but it all helps to build a rapport and hopefully provides you with some consistent advice when choosing which property to purchase.
You must remember when buying an investment that it is just that, it is not the same as buying a home to live in yourself.
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STEP 5
Making an offer
You have found a property that you like and meets your criteria, go ahead and make an offer! Remember to re-assess your objectives before doing so as this may determine what price you will pay for the property.
It is worth doing some rough calculations before making an offer to establish what price the property is worth to you in order to meet your objectives. It could be that different mortgage providers will require a minimum rental income and so if you need to check the details with the Mortgage Adviser then it is better to do so before going too far.
When placing an offer, it is often best to be upfront and explain what you are hoping for should your offer be successful, of course we would hope to know this if we have built a good rapport with you. When buying for investment you are unlikely to have a chain which may appeal to the vendor or that you can move quickly/slowly which again appeals to the seller whereas another interested party isn’t so flexible.
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STEP 6
Instructing a conveyancer
Getting a good local conveyancer is becoming more important as the process can be lengthened with increasing red tape. It will also help you avoid your investment purchase from becoming stressful and potentially costly before you even have the keys.
The conveyancing process is taking longer for many reasons and so choosing a good conveyancer will only assist in making the whole process easier and that’s where we can help. With our conveyancing offering there are many benefits including a ‘no sale, no fee’ service and the ability to use an online case tracker so that you can keep an eye on the progress 24/7.
One of the key aspects of our conveyancing service is that we use local firms that will be aware of maintaining a good reputation and therefore provide a good service. Being able to contact your conveyancer is essential and so ensure you have access to the person you will be dealing with.
We have established relationships with many local companies that we can instruct on your behalf. The advantage we also have is that we can see who has the capacity for new clients to ensure you receive the best service at any one time. To find out more you can visit our conveyancing page.
Talk to us about Conveyancing -
STEP 7
Do I need a Survey?
Of course your mortgage lender will inspect the property you have agreed to buy but they will only be checking whether it is worth the money you are paying for it. You should consider having a Homebuyers Report or Building Survey carried out which will be far more in depth.
There are two ways in which you could instruct a more detailed inspection of the property you wish to buy; the first is by upgrading your mortgage valuation to a more detailed survey. This means you will pay an increased amount of money and the lender will co-ordinate the surveyor to carry out the valuation and survey at the same time. The second would be to instruct an independent surveyor to carry out the more detailed report. The advantage of the latter choice would be that you control who visits the property ensuring it is someone local and of good repute.
For more details you can request a call from our survey team and they will confirm the most suitable type of survey for the property you are buying and provide you with details as to the varying costs. For more general information you can visit www.bradleyssurveyors.co.uk
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STEP 8
What else to arrange?
Your purchase is in the hands of your conveyancer, you’ve applied for your specialist buy to let mortgage but have you thought about specialist landlords insurance?
As part of the complete property service, we can also help you arrange specialist Landlords insurance. As a landlord, you are effectively using your property as an extra source of income which needs to be protected.
A standard residential insurance policy will not cover you as a landlord. With the correct landlords’ insurance policy in place, you can relax knowing that should damage be caused to the property, you are protected against the financial consequences. With the correct insurance in place you can take the worry out of renting your property.
If you wish to find out more you can visit our insurance pages. Should you wish to obtain a quote for your rental property then you can call our insurance department on 01395 224800.
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STEP 9
Start marketing your investment
Depending on whether your investment needs any work carried out before you start marketing the property, , we would be happy to start looking at the marketing your investment property to potential tenants once you have exchanged contracts.
The timing of the marketing will very much depend on you as a landlord but we are often asked and are happy to start arranging the marketing of an investment following an exchange of contracts with a view to having everything in place at the point of completion.
We will require a service agreement to be signed before we can initiate the marketing but marketing at the earliest stage allows us to get your investment working for you as soon as possible. We will be speaking with many potential tenants straight away which allows us to present you with a range of tenants to choose from to undergo the referencing process.
Congratulations! Hopefully the whole process has been relatively straightforward and your investment has already started working for you.
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