Melton Mowbray Landlord’s mortgages top £85 million!

The Brits can’t stop talking about property. The hot topic of discussion at the posh dinner parties of Kirby Bellars, Burton Lazars and Thorpe Arnold’s movers and shakers is the subject of the Melton Mowbray Property market, but in particular, buy to let. 

People are buying up buy to let properties quicker than an ace Monopoly player .. or so it would seem if you read the Sunday papers. So is the buy to let market a sure fire way to make money?  Is it something everyone should be jumping into?  The answer is Yes and No to all those questions!

A landlord only has to flick through Rightmove or Zoopla, pick any property at random and agree a price. Then, find a modest deposit of 25% (often by remortgaging their own home) which for an average Melton Mowbray terraced house, would mean finding £27,032 for the deposit (as the average Melton Mowbray terraced house is currently worth £108,129) and borrow the rest with a low interest rate buy to let mortgage.  Finally, the landlord would rent out the property in a matter of hours for top dollar and live happily ever after, with the rent then covering the mortgage payments, with loads of money to spare and come retirement have a portfolio of property that would have quadrupled in value in fifteen years. Sounds wonderful – doesn’t it? Or does it???

Let us not forgot that the half of one per cent Bank of England base rate is artificially low. The international money markets can be fickle and if interest rates do rise quicker and higher than expected because of some unforeseen global economic situation, that monthly profit will soon turn into a loss as the mortgage will be more than the rent. 

Even though tenants are staying longer in their rental property, tenants still come and go and my guidance to landlords is they should allow for void periods, plus the maintenance costs of a rental property and of course, agents fees. .. all things that eat into that profit.

Interestingly, by my calculations, there are approximately 459 Melton Mowbray landlords owing in excess of £85 million in mortgages on those Melton Mowbray buy to let properties.  An impressive amount when you consider Melton Mowbray only has 0.043% of all the rental properties in the Country. It really does come down to a number of important factors going forward to ensure you are water tight for the future. A lot of my existing landlords are fixing their mortgage rates. One told me that the Metro Bank are currently offering a 5 year fixed BTL remortgage rate at 3.79% for 5 years (based on a 75% loan). I don’t give financial advice, so you must speak with a qualified mortgage advisor.. but that sounds very fair!

However, one thing I do know is that buy to let is a long term investment, it’s a ten, fifteen, twenty year plan and property prices will go down as well as up. You wouldn’t dream of investing in the stock market without advice, so why invest in the Melton Mowbray Property Market without advice?  

For example, did you know that detached properties are selling for around 19% lower than 12 months ago in Melton Mowbray yet semis are selling for 22% more (with every other type in between). This means we can advise on which properties will go up in value better (or lose less if property prices drop), we can also advise which have lower voids and which properties have higher maintenance issues.  

Information on the local property market and ability to process it is the strongest asset we can give you. As Lois Horowitz, the famous author says, ”Not having the information you need when you need it leaves you wanting. Not knowing where to look for that information leaves you powerless. In a society where information is king, none of us can afford that”. 

If you are considering investing in a buy to let property please give me a call for honest, impartial advice on the potential rental returns for properties.