First Investment Property

[Mindy]

I was sat thinking what advice I could give on property investment when I cast my mind back to the first investment property we bought. We had our dream home in the Peak district, full of original features, and suddenly because of work we found ourselves staying in Reading during the working week.To start off with we stayed in hotels as we had a young child and wanted to stay together as a family. We soon found that hotels were not only expensive but you had to book them well in advance such as the demand for them. The short term contract was extended so we decided to look at rented accomodation the first place we looked at although lovely had some old floral seatee in which you wouldnt have fancied sitting on. We got chatting to the letting agent who said that it would be cheaper to buy than rent. We basically seriously looked a two properties, the first a modern ground floor flat with parking outside, it was little more than a large hotel suite. However it was well designed there was french doors from the bedroom to a small paved yard. The kitchen was in the lounge butit was well fitted with a washing machine, the bedroom had fitted wardrobes and in general the flat had good storage. Why then were we drawn to a first floor Victorian flat, it had lovely high ceilings, a large bay window, coving wooden floors, a huge bedroom again with impressive French doors to quite a large grassed walled garden, the bathroom was tiny but I think it had a rolled top bath, the kitchen was more like a cupboard with no fitted units, who knows what heating there was and there was no allocated parking. We absolutely adored the place, fortunately it was in a semi dettached building and the flat that mirrored ours was also for sale we went to view it even though we had kind of made up our minds. The other flat was scruffy you could see plaster hanging off the wall , dodgey wiring it was like having your rose tinted glasses smashed and it was about 20K cheaper. What a reality check, fortunately we went for the much more sensible modern flat, it was perfect we used it ourselves for about 18 months and then had no problems renting it out, we had no maintenance issues.
The big lesson to learn is be realistic with your expectations dont let your heart rule your decision and do look at what else is available.

[Bob]

What good advice, years ago when I was buying my first home I was so close to buying a house that was like my grandmas just because it reminded me of my childhood down to the homemade jam in the pantry to the coal shed outside. Fortunately for me someone else had already made an offer and theirs was accepted, I was gutted at the time, but looking back now it needed a new kitchen and bathroom and at the time I didnt even have a kitchen table so I had enough expensive without having to find money for costly improvements.

[pragueproperty]

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