What makes the perfect location for an investment property?

Doing your homework on your investment property location will make such a difference in your success so I thought I would share some of the things we look for and some of the due diligence we do to assess the quality of the location.

1. Near good transport links - motorways, ring roads, train links, key bus routes are all attractions for commuters.
2. Near the water - seaside, lakeside, riverside or dockside properties always fetch a premium in rentals and resale value as they are prime location - you can't build any nearer the water so they will always hold their value.
3. Near centres of commerce - its essential that there is a good micro-economy in the the area and large offices, business centres, shopping malls will always bring more demand for your property
4. Near tourist attractions - for obvious reasons the demand will increase again if you have tourist attractions in the area.
5. Near good universities, colleges or schools - families choose their rental properties with their children's education central in their decision making process so if you can find a location close to a good school this will be really good for rental demand and capital growth.

Things to watch out for:
Here are a few things we would recommend to look out for in your location.

1. No eye sores- we have heard of investors buying property without even viewing the site - this is obviously a mistake - what if there is a dirty great viaduct in front of it?!

2. Go to the pubs and restaurants during the day and the night and ask the people there - what is it like to live here - ask them about the development you are interested in and if they know anything about them.

3. Go to the schools and ask the parents what it the school is like.

4. Lastly we would recommend you do some research into the area for any investment into the infrastructure. For instance we did some research into Hayes Harlington see below 

which is going to be at the inception of the Crossrail 2018 project route - there is also over £450 million being spent on developing the town centre - (the old EMI vinyl factory is being converted into flats, there'll be a new leisure centre and restaurants and coffee shops. 

So a growth story emerging. Getting in early will definitely bring capital growth and increased rental demand.

So those are just some of the things we look for in a property location ; we hope you found this useful.

Until next time

Robin

www.midasestates.com