The Nice People Thread, No.16: A Universe of Niceness.

Jackmydad

Pyxis wrote: »

It just seems to me that after just four months, and at the slowest time of the year, there might be more to it than just making a profit.
One other thing....... I know that Capital Gains Tax doesn't kick in on profits made when selling your place of residence, but I've got a feeling they clamped down on people buying a property, moving in, doing it up and then selling, all in just a few months, repeatedly. Don't you now have to have lived in it for two years or something?
I may be wrong...but a little bell is ringing.
If so, though, CGT on any profit might make it worth while staying put!

Yes it certainly raises doubts. What is that family of 20 next door with a garden full of large speaker cabinets really like?

I don't know about the tax, but as you say if it never "came in" I'm fairly sure I remember there being talk about something similar.

Personally I'd be looking for something where I could have the value myself, rather than an unknown "do up"

GDB2222

Out of interest, possibly, I'm a big fan of OpenRent. They are an online agent for rented property. I put MIL's property on with them for rental, and they stuck it on Rightmove, Zoopla and Gumtree. Within 4 days, I've had several enquiries. I've shown it to two, and both offered the full asking rent.

The first one is proceeding, and I'll sign her up tomorrow, all being well.

I've had an agent working on it since Christmas, and he got no offers. Another agent took two weeks NOT to even get it advertised. And, of course, they want a substantial %age of the rent as commission. One of them strongly recommended a lower asking rental figure.

OpenRent even put up a board - although I suppose the main purpose was to advertise themselves.

For all this, they charged nothing at all. If we had needed to continue the advert on Rightmove and Zoopla beyond 5 days, OpenRent would have charged £25, but that has not proved necessary.

PasturesNew

GDB2222 wrote: »

....

My personal experience of agents is you see something and you phone, they're not in the office, nobody calls you back; you phone again, they're not in ... nobody calls you back. If you do get hold of somebody they want you to view in "working hours" - trouble is, you're at work and can't get time off....

Or, by the time you do get through, it's gone.

Agents are, on the whole, pretty useless in the main

They aren't really interested in renting out any one/particular property - what they want to do is rent out anything to the first person that can view when it's convenient for them.

They also don't tell you important stuff until you've viewed. e.g. my last rental I viewed, I said "yes" and only THEN did they hit me with the affordability.... luckily I could "afford it" by their criteria, but they could save people a lot of trouble if they simply asked on the phone before you booked a viewing how much you earnt. The maths wasn't hard ... the monthly rent was £600 or so and to be able to afford it you had to earn £18k. They could have a lookup chart on their wall easily enough if they're too dim to work it out.

Pyxis

PasturesNew wrote: »

They also don't tell you important stuff until you've viewed. e.g. my last rental I viewed, I said "yes" and only THEN did they hit me with the affordability.... luckily I could "afford it" by their criteria, but they could save people a lot of trouble if they simply asked on the phone before you booked a viewing how much you earnt. The maths wasn't hard ... the monthly rent was £600 or so and to be able to afford it you had to earn £18k. They could have a lookup chart on their wall easily enough if they're too dim to work it out.

Surely you know what the rent is before you view, though?

GDB2222

Out of interest, have you considered using an online EA, Pastures? They seem to charge in the £hundreds, rather than the £thousands the traditional agents charge.

silvercar

GDB2222 wrote: »

Out of interest, possibly, I'm a big fan of OpenRent. They are an online agent for rented property. I put MIL's property on with them for rental, and they stuck it on Rightmove, Zoopla and Gumtree. Within 4 days, I've had several enquiries. I've shown it to two, and both offered the full asking rent.

The first one is proceeding, and I'll sign her up tomorrow, all being well.

I've had an agent working on it since Christmas, and he got no offers. Another agent took two weeks NOT to even get it advertised. And, of course, they want a substantial %age of the rent as commission. One of them strongly recommended a lower asking rental figure.

OpenRent even put up a board - although I suppose the main purpose was to advertise themselves.

For all this, they charged nothing at all. If we had needed to continue the advert on Rightmove and Zoopla beyond 5 days, OpenRent would have charged £25, but that has not proved necessary.

Do they sort out the tenant checking etc?

Pyxis

silvercar wrote: »

Do they sort out the tenant checking etc?

It doesn't sound like it. It seems to be a notice-board.

However, it sounds like it's a really good way to find tenants if you don't mind doing all the other stuff yourself.

GDB2222

They'll do referencing, if you want, but I did all the paperwork myself. I don't trust the agents to do it correctly, anyway. You need to provide:

The tenancy agreement
Copy of the gas safety certificate.
Copy of the energy performance certificate.
Copy of the government booklet How To Rent, July 18 edition.
A completed inventory, including checking the smoke alarms.
Prescribed information about the Deposit Protection Scheme, plus their terms and conditions.

I have never found an agent who has got it right first time.

PasturesNew

Pyxis wrote: »

Surely you know what the rent is before you view, though?

Yes, but the whole concept of a formula for "affordability" existing is unknown to most/many.

I had no idea. I was viewing it because I believed I could afford it.... didn't know I had to earn a certain amount.

Pyxis

Heads up on the ISS.......as most of GB will have clear skies tonight, there is a good chance of seeing it, and at a very civilised time.


Sightings for STEVENAGE:

18:10 tonight
It will appear in the southwest, (22degrees), then rise to 53degrees as it crosses the sky to disappear in the east (at 27degrees).

The whole trajectory will only be for 3 minutes, so don't be late!


There is another sighting tonight as well!
At 19:46.....
But for less than one minute, at 18degrees above west, so very low and very brief.


The whole of this week there are some very sociable timings...all in the early evening.....have a look here:


https://spotthestation.nasa.gov/sightings/view.cfm?country=United_Kingdom&region=England&city=Stevenage#.XE6_-tGnyf0



NB..... NPs who are a lot further north might have slightly different times and trajectories.
Here are the times and positions for CARLISLE:

https://spotthestation.nasa.gov/sightings/view.cfm?country=United_Kingdom&region=England&city=Carlisle#.XE7AYdGnyf0



Pastures, for the Southwest, face towards where the sea is then turn 90 degrees to the right. It might be better to move away from any tall buildings that might obscure your view of the SW.