As I am sure you are aware, one the best things about my job as an agent is helping Hounslow landlords with their strategic portfolio management. Gone are the days of making money by buying any old Hounslow property to rent out or sell on. Nowadays, property investment is both an art and science. The art is your gut reaction to a property, but with the power of the internet and the way the Hounslow property market has gone in the last 11 years, science must also play its part on a property’s future viability for investment. Many metrics most property professionals (including myself) us ..read more

It’s now been a good 18/24 months since annual rental price inflation in Hounslow peaked at 4.3%. Since then we have seen increasingly more humble rent increases. In fact, in certain parts of the Hounslow rental market over the autumn, the rental market saw some slight falls in rents. So, could this be the earliest indication that the trend of high rent increases seen over the last few years, may now be starting to buck that trend? Well, possibly in the short term, but in the coming few years, it is my opinion Hounslow rents will regain their upward trend and continue to increase as demand for ..read more

As the winter months draw in and the temperature starts to drop, keeping one’s home warm is vital. Yet, with the price of gas and electricity rising quicker than a Saturn V rocket and gas, oil and electricity taking on average 4.4% of a typical Brit’s pay packet (and for those Brit’s with the lowest 10% of incomes, that rockets to an eye watering 9.7%), whether you are a tenant or homeowner, keeping your energy costs as low as possible is vital for the household budget and the environment as a whole. For the last 10 years, every private rental property must have an Energy-Performance-Certifica ..read more

  Moving to a bigger home is something Hounslow people with growing young families aspire to. Many people in two bedroom homes move to a three-bedroom home and some even make the jump to a four-bed home. Bigger homes, especially three-bed Hounslow homes are much in demand and it can be a costly move. If you live in Hounslow in a two-bedroom property and wish to move to a four-bedroom house in Hounslow, you would need to spend an additional £314,276 (or £1,241.39 pm in mortgage payments (based on the UK Bank average standard variable rate)). However, going straight to a four bed from a two ..read more

The mind-set and tactics you employ to buy your first Hounslow buy to let property needs to be different to the tactics and methodology of buying a home for yourself to live in. The main difference is when purchasing your own property, you may well pay a little more to get the home you (and your family) want, and are less likely to compromise. When buying for your own use, it is only human nature you will want the best, so that quite often it is at the top end of your budget (because as my parents always used to tell me – you get what you pay for in this world!). Yet with a buy to let propert ..read more

I received a very interesting call the other day from a Hounslow resident. He declared he was a Hounslow homeowner, retired and mortgage free. He stated how unaffordable Hounslow’s rising property prices were and that he worried how the younger generation of Hounslow could ever afford to buy? He went on to ask if it was right for landlords to make money on the inability of others to buy property and if, by buying a buy to let property, Hounslow landlords are denying the younger generation the ability to in fact buy their own home. Whilst doing my research for my many blog posts on the Hounslow ..read more

Should you buy or rent a house? Buying your own home can be expensive but could save you money over the years. Renting a property through a letting agent or private landlord offers less autonomy to live by your own rules, with more flexibility if you need to move. Yet, there is a third way that many people seem to forget, yet it plays an important role in the housing of Hounslow people. Collectively known as social housing, it is affordable housing, which is let by either Hounslow London Borough Council or a housing association to those considered to be in specific need, at rents below those ..read more

On several occasions over the last few months, in our Hounslow Property Blog, I predicted that the rate of rental inflation (i.e. how much rents are rising by) had eased over the last year. At the same time I felt that in some parts of the UK rents had actually dropped for the first time in over eight years. Recent research backs up this prediction. Rents in Hounslow for new tenancies fell by 1.2% in the last 12 months (i.e. not existing tenants experiencing rental increases from their existing landlord). When we compare that current rate with the historical rental inflation in Hounslow, an i ..read more

  Being a Landlord is a business and every business in whichever sector needs contacts they can call upon on in an instant. Well here’s at least 8 contacts you definitely need Letting Agent I know what you’re thinking, Letting Agents/estate agents are dishonest good for nothing %$*@?…. Well to a degree you are right…but then again this only accounts for a very small percentage. You do have letting agents that actually have passion for the business they do. They care for your property the same way they care for their own, to a degree they make it personal only to protect your interest ..read more

Every Valuation I go to, waiting outside there are a herd of Estate Agents eagerly awaiting to take on business…. Every Landlord and Vendor I meet asks me this question… Should I use more than one estate agent to sell/let my house? Well Once Upon a time – maybe around the time I was born , this strategy made perfect sense. After all, before properties were advertised on the internet, how else could you make sure that buyers/tenants across multiple towns, boroughs & cities or even countries would see your home, if you didn’t use two, three or more agents to market it? But then came t ..read more