Buying and selling property

This one is about buying, renovating and selling property for a profit, and some tips to help do that easily.
You have a budget and you want to purchase a property to renovate and either rent or sell it for profit.
If you want to rent then a buy to let mortgage may be best enabling you to keep your own money for the renovation. It means though that you won’t be able to live in the house. Under the terms of the buy to let mortgage it has to be rented, and of course you could keep doing this until you have amassed a great deal of properties so long as you can satisfy your lender’s demands.

Over time this could prove to be very lucrative, at least on paper, as it is subject to the property market price fluctuations, but in the UK at least the price of houses seems to keep going up year after year, perhaps because there are always more buyers than properties to buy, and with the UK not getting any bigger and the huge influx of people coming here to live this will remain so for the foreseeable future, so buy to let could be a viable option.
Banks are reluctant to lend money on a mortgage for properties that needs a lot of repair, although some in the past have given payments as the work progresses with the final payment given when the work has finished.
When you buy a property with your own money you are free to choose the how and when of it all as you go and if funds are not a problem then so much the better.

Estate agents are the main source to begin your search, although you will have a lot of competition unless you are lucky to buy at just the right time when the property market is stalled or prices have that seasonal fall.
When there is a glut of houses you can put in a low bid on all of the ones you like and hope one comes back at the price you want to pay.
Estate agents know all the tricks of their trade for keeping the price high but sometimes if you’re willing to wait the owners lose faith and reduce the price to sell quickly and that is when you can get a good deal.
It is prudent upon you to make sure the property is in an area where it can be resold. Do your homework, check the area out at different times of the day; are there gangs of kids that gather nearby? Do they play football outside the property and break the windows? Is it noisy when the pubs close? These kinds of nuisances should be investigated; if they influence you in buying then your prospective future buyers may be too.

When you find a property it should come with a house seller’s pack, in this you can find out such things as, are there electric pylons nearby? Are there mineshafts underneath the property? And are there future works in the planning like planned roads to be built close by?
If all checks out then you go ahead to buy which can take from a week but most usually will take up to six weeks depending on the seller and your solicitor. If you buy privately then you can cut out the estate agent and their inflated fees.
A good solicitor will make things go smoothly and iron out any problems, but watch out they don’t invent problems to iron out to inflate the price. Also their fees can vary so it is worth shopping around.
It is the solicitor that registers your property with the land registry.

If a property is your main residence for a year then you are not liable for property tax when you sell it and you get to keep all the potential profits. If you live elsewhere and buy it to sell in a short time then you are liable to pay property tax. On very cheap properties where the profit is small or even non-existent then property tax becomes a gray area and can be argued over. An accountant can inform you of your legal rights as to this.
Auctions are another way to find cheap and run down properties to buy to renovate but there is stiff competition for these. Again, do your homework before putting in a bid. Once you have put in your bid then the property is yours subject to payment and signing.
Images from Pixabay
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