hastings, ramsgate, folkestone etc

theGrinch

do you have any first hand experience of these towns to live and from an investment point of view?

can you recommend any south coast or kent towns will good investment potential over the next 10 years?

thanks for reading?

Running_Horse

Be careful where you buy in Hastings. Very careful.

As for Kent towns, anything well established near the overpriced and overcrowded Thames Gateway*.

*Thames Gateway being a euphemism for giving greedy developers a green light to build endless ugly boxes across the south east regardless of how they blend in with existing communites, transport links, and local architecture.

theGrinch

why must I be careful buying in hastings? please advise. thanks

Running_Horse

This makes interesting reading.

http://www.upmystreet.com/news-views/conversations/thread/l/hastings-4835.html?cnvTId=7921023

Our weekend there confirmed a lot of what we had heard. Especially the druggies hanging around outside those flats on the sea-front. Are you seriously planning to invest so much money in an area you know so little about?

Buy in Rye.

Canucklehead

Good evening: We live in Thanet, East Kent...lots of DFLs (aka Down From London) having been buying down here for a couple of years...prices have risen considerably in all 3 towns and lots of new developments (flats and houses) have gone in with more planned. You must be very careful about where you buy (example: 2 dimwits on latest series of How to Be A Property Developer bought in the skankiest part of Margate...the property is still listed on Rightmove a year later! http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-13564046.rsp?pa_n=1&tr_t=buy)
Agents are pushing Ramsgate bigtime because of the high speed rail link due in 2009...the town is flooded with new build flats which are sitting empty. High unemployment and serious social problems persist...BUT we do like to live beside the seaside, we do like to live beside the sea;)
Will Ramsgate become the new Brighton? :think:

HTH

Canucklehead

theGrinch

ramsgate has some really nice period housing. not seen the how to be a property developer, but margate has a lot of housing stock for sale compared to other towns.

thanks for the links.

I was looking at something in the alexandra park area.

katepnlo

Ahh a local
i am in Deal which is a lovely quiet seaside town, i like it here very family orientated. spent all but 2 years of my life here.
Sandwich is luuuuurvely but for the style house we will buy next it is out of our price range unfortunatly, Thanet is quite good on what you get for your money, when ever i look at houses we can afford they are huge:j alot of it is tatty and rough but there is also alot of Thanet that is not. I would live in the nice parts for sure.Some stunning properties
Hubby won't even entertain my suggestion.
Similar to folkstone. Dover,Folkstone,Thanet do have a very HIGH population of imigrants.
But all have stunning properties..it depends on what you are looking for in a town..if it is simply areas of re generation Thanet is supposed to be on the up.
Right now if i sold my 3 bed victorian house in Deal i could get alot larger similar style in Thanet..so a chance for equity maybe

Generali

If I was looking to a BTL in the UK (which I'm definitely not) then I'd be looking at doing an HMO that can be sold on as either an investment place or done up as a family home when I'm done with it.

Lots of work. Lots of red tape. Plenty of research to be done. As a result other investors will avoid them.

Just a hunch.

DYOR of course.

Canucklehead

katepnlo wrote: »

Ahh a local
i am in Deal which is a lovely quiet seaside town, i like it here very family orientated. spent all but 2 years of my life here.
Sandwich is luuuuurvely but for the style house we will buy next it is out of our price range unfortunatly, Thanet is quite good on what you get for your money, when ever i look at houses we can afford they are huge:j alot of it is tatty and rough but there is also alot of Thanet that is not. I would live in the nice parts for sure.Some stunning properties
Hubby won't even entertain my suggestion.
Similar to folkstone. Dover,Folkstone,Thanet do have a very HIGH population of imigrants.
But all have stunning properties..it depends on what you are looking for in a town..if it is simply areas of re generation Thanet is supposed to be on the up.
Right now if i sold my 3 bed victorian house in Deal i could get alot larger similar style in Thanet..so a chance for equity maybe

Good morning: Yes, another local but also an immigrant;) Broadstairs has some lovely properties and the price differential compared to Margate and, to a lesser extent, Ramsgate is significant...regeneration is an issue thoughout East Kent, especially the impact on house prices...for example the 2 bed Victorian terrace I sold in a nice part of Ramsgate for 47,000 in 2000 sold a year ago for 135,000...a typical first-time buyer property now beyond reach if I had to start again and the average Thanet resident has an annual income lower than mine:eek: Lower unemployment and higher wages haven't followed suit yet.

Re: My reference to Channel 5's 'How To Be A Property Developer' I found the Margate property (one of the 2 flats) on Nethouseprices..sold at just under £88,000...planning application on the TDC website for the conversion was made in the name of RDF Media not the 2 blokes...it will be interesting to see how the whole scenario will be presented over the series.

Canucklehead

Becks045

Hi, we have a couple of properties in the Westbrook area (Margate) that we have owned and rented out for a few years.

As an area it seems like Margate has been promised a lot - The Turner Centre, a fast train link to London, development of Dreamland and general regeneration but the council are very slow to act and do anything!

There is high unemployment in the area and not the best class of area but that said we have always managed to rent out our properties easily to nice, decent people.

Until the area gets the fast train link and the council start making things happen with the area, personally, I can't see the house prices increasing much more.

However there is a huge rental market but be careful which area you buy in. Where those guys bought on the channel 5 show is horrible and I wouldn't touch with a bargepole! I'd be looking at any properties with sea-views (thats what people will pay for when you re-sell at a later date), the old town of Margate has improved lot and Westbrook is a nice area particulary with the development of the Sea Bathing. I wouldn't touch various areas of Cliftonville, very DSS and a bit rough. Up as far as where the Winter Gardens is, would be ok though.

Ems*Honie

We have a property in margate that we rent out (but to family) It is holding it's own at the moment value wise, but if we bought it at market value now it wouldn't be putting food on the table.

We live just outside Thanet, Its very differant to the bigger towns (margate, ramsgate, broadstairs) we live in a village but we still have very easy drives back to all the bigger places inc Canterbury.