Residential Property Investment

Top Property Investment Tips

Investing in property can be a tricky business especially in present economic conditions. However, there are indicators and things you can do to ensure you make the best possible decision. Below are some property investment tips that should help you on your way.

As they say location is one of the most important factors when investing in property.

The first tip is to consider the area or country that is likely to provide you with the best return. Many would be investors fail to look beyond their local areas. This means they are potentially losing thousands by ignoring other opportunities.
If you are considering other countries look at their economies. Are they growing fast, is there lots of national or foreign investment or are they perhaps about enter the EU. All of these positive indicators will have an affect on the property market.
The same applies to areas with in your own country. You should look for local regeneration initiatives. For example, the East London train line is going to be extended, this will increase demand in the areas along this extension and increase local property prices.
You should also look for large businesses moving into an area. This normally means more jobs and more jobs means greater demand for housing.
When buying to let you need to consider the cost of letting the property and the likely return on your investment. If after your calculations you find that you are making a loss, you need to move on or find more money for your deposit in order to reduce your mortgage repayments. It’s likely that you will have to factor in letting agent management fees, mortgage repayments, maintenance costs (about 10-15% of the yearly rent) and the possibility that the property may be empty for 1 month every year.
When purchasing a property make sure it will be easy to maintain and has no major defects. Low maintenance properties mean fewer headaches for you.
Buy in a safe area, look at local crime rates. It’s possible to find out how many youths have ASBO’s in an area this is a good indicator of local crime levels. Upmystreet is an excellent resource to find   information about an area with out even leaving your home. Simply type a post code in and you can find out local crime rates and much more. Here’s a link Upmystreet
If you are intending on buying a family home try to buy in an area with good schools. Here is a good website for researching public sector primary and secondary schools in the UK Government Performance Tables.

The amount of money you make from a property investment is largely determined by the quality and suitability of the property in terms of your target market and the location of that property. Even in these hard times there are still viable investment options for the savvy property investor.