The Leeds Student Rental Market Property Blog

This blog follows the student buy-to-let market in Leeds from the LANDLORDS point of view. You'll find tips, guidance, and analysis that relates specifically to Leeds and you'll also find student properties from all the estate agents in the town on here that may make decent investments. I operate Springwell Easylet in Leeds and if you're thinking of buying a property to let in Leeds to students, as I don’t sell property (just rent them) I'm happy to offer a second unbiased opinion

Monday 1 December 2014

Potential 11.5% yield in Pearson Terrace, Hyde Park




Great house in a fantastic location.  It looks like it’s a repossession and when I last spoke with Mannings it sounded like they'd already had offers around £185,000, so if you want it you’d probably need to go somewhere near the asking price.  They may even end up inviting final offers.

It looks like it's an ex Morris property and currently doesn't have a great lay out so needs quite a lot of re-planning, and I'd suggest making it into a 6 bed en-suite.

I'd remove the bathroom and kitchen in the basement, and replace them with en-suite bathrooms for the two basement bedrooms.  Install a new kitchen on the ground floor, and remove both the chimney breasts up to the attic to make the upstairs bedrooms bigger, and open up the living room.

I'd also alter the layout between the first floor bedroom and bathroom to change into an en-suite bedroom, and put an en-suite in the other 1st floor bedroom, and on the top floor alter the landing and entrance to both bedrooms to allow us to install en-suites in both bedrooms. 

With new carpets, decorating, blinds etc the cost of all this would be around £40,000.  

It’s in a great location and with the en-suites and re-furbished to a high standard, should command rent in the region of £85 per person per week (we have a 4 bed en-suite on Welton Place which we let for £85), so a gross rent of around £26,500 per annum.  If the total cost is around £230,000 (by paying asking price and including the re-furb) and we achieve a gross rent of £26,500 then you’re looking at a gross yield of 11.5% which in anyone's world is excellent.  

If you were then to remortgage and get a valuation of somewhere in the region of £260,000, a 75% mortgage would free up £195,000, leaving you only around £35,000 left in the property.