I managed to fit in two weeks in Umbria in August, my first break for two years and as always, I spent hours trying to work out how I could commute from Perugia to Stansted on a weekly basis and what the benefits would be – hard or soft Brexit. What passes for normal service has now resumed but in many ways it didn’t actually stop. In two weeks I have enquires from eight potential new clients, was asked to do a couple of Quick Checks, to comment for three papers and do three radio interviews (which I can do thanks to some clever technology called LuciLive that turns my iPhone into a broadcast studio.
Meanwhile the deals I had agreed before I left bubbled nicely and a three even exchanged.
A flat in N5 in a new development that was first advertised at £855,000 a year ago that my client has bought for £700k and another in Shoreditch advertised at £795,000 and exchanged contracts at £610k! Both should generate a 5% yield if let.
Elsewhere, I have agreed terms with Savills for a £1.75m house in Surrey, a 2 bed flat in a new development in Stevenage which will show a 5.4% gross yield and exchanged on a flat in Newcastle with a 6.2% yield & should exchange any day on another in the City offering a 9.8% yield. I also exchanged and completed on a family house in Teddington paying £250k less than the asking price.
There clearly is a market. Last month according to HMRC 100k homes sold which is spot on the long term average. Sure, it’s harder to sell and some agents & their clients are not yet accepting the new market prices but there are deals to be done, properties that are being repossessed & sellers in difficult circumstances looking for a White Knight. Whilst it’s not possible to guarantee big discounts on asking prices it is possible & whilst I have no better idea about what might happen after Brexit in March next year, I’m ready and in a strange way, looking forward to it.
It’s not going to be pleasant, it’s not what I would have done but from uncertainty springs opportunity and I expect that in the next two years many people will lay down the foundations of their future property fortunes. I hope that many of them will be my clients.
