Burnley investments

[Claymore]

I think we are talking slightly at crossed purposes - I'm on the edge of London so suburbs really - trust me the crash happened here in 2008. I picked up some amazing bargains at auction (about 40% below the peak prices), and all decent stock. I get a very decent return on the rents and have managed to take the majority of my own money back out of the properties.

What I worry about in places like Burnley - house prices are very cheap - yields high, but I think you are only likely to attract non-working tenants - and if they trash the place, your profits would be quickly wiped out bringing the property back to standard.

[Claymore]

Hech, just looked at your figures again. I think I will start buying up north after-all!

[Gordon999]

Burnley was one of the main towns of the Lancashire Cotton Industry which started in 1780.
But the cotton industry has gone now but I don't if the cheap houses you talk about now were those built 200-300 years ago.


" Burnley probably existed as a small hamlet as early as 800 AD, but not until 1122 is it first officially mentioned, in a charter by which one Hugh de la Val granted the church of St Peters to the monks at Pontefract Priory. Sometime around 1200 Geoffrey married the daughter of Roger de Lacy and was granted land to maintain a dwelling in the area. Thereafter the name of Towneley has closely connected with the Burnley district. (See Towneley Hall). Burnley was one of the possessions of the Lacys, a powerful family who were Lords of Blackburnshire for several generations up to the end of the 13th century. In 1294, Henry de Lacy obtained a charter from King Edward I granting the right to hold a weekly market at his house in the manor of 'Bruneley' and to have a three day fair once every year, on the "...eve and morrow of the feast of the Apostle Peter and Paul".
In 1559 Burnley Grammar School was founded by Gilbert Fairbank. The town was once known as the greatest cotton-manufacturing place in Britain and during its heyday at the end of the 19th century boasted over 100,000 looms operating within the borough. With 20th century decline in the textile industry, saw the town fall on hard times, but now it seems to have fully recovered and to have replaced its old industries with light engineering and other commercial ventures."

[Pony]

Hi Hech123,

As our company owns and manages alot of properties in the Burnley area, i would always recommend 3 bedroom properties. The area does have a lot of 2 bedroom's available. The area is very strong for the LHA market.

One bedroom rate: £75.00 per week
Two bedroom rate: £85.00 per week
Three bedroom rate: £95.00 per week
Four Bedroom rate: £137.31 per week

A few street i would recommend keeping away from would be:

Sandhurst Street, Holbart Street, Hunslet Street and Thurston street


Hope that helps.

[hech123]

Gordon, thanks for the history lesson, very interesting. Pony, great news thanks, what do you pay for properties in Burnley and what are the returns? Claymore, you ever want any advice or are interested in joint venture feel free to message me.

My update on Burnley is currently - I spoke to the manager of 500+ units there, he said yes you can get houses for £15,000 but most of these are in bad areas and tenants will be constantly moving and trashing the place. His advice was to buy at possibly £40k-£50k in much better areas, this I may look at but I was hoping for lower prices and higher returns to be honest.

One idea would to be to try and buy a full street in a bad area or the outskirts of one and refurb the full lot changing the name etc... Obviously we may need a few investors working together in this. I do not mind LHA tenants but understand there seems to be an over supply in Burnley and the local population has been in decline.

Pony is it possible to get things for £20k-£30k that would rent out ok? Let me know your thoughts and I may be interested in meeting up/talking

[jimcarver]

Hi all this is my first time posting here, coincidently I signed up to ask pretty much the same thing as Hech123.
In general I have been looking at properties in the £30K region, when I’ve searched for rental prices for similar properties they tend to be around £300 per month. I guess the question is how long do these stay vacant? Presumably there is also a large risk of getting non-desirable tenants at this end of the market.
Hech123 if you find out any more useful information I would be interested to hear it, I have mailed a few agents to so I will be happy to pass on anything of use.

[Pony]

Gordon, thanks for the history lesson, very interesting. Pony, great news thanks, what do you pay for properties in Burnley and what are the returns? Claymore, you ever want any advice or are interested in joint venture feel free to message me.

My update on Burnley is currently - I spoke to the manager of 500+ units there, he said yes you can get houses for £15,000 but most of these are in bad areas and tenants will be constantly moving and trashing the place. His advice was to buy at possibly £40k-£50k in much better areas, this I may look at but I was hoping for lower prices and higher returns to be honest.

One idea would to be to try and buy a full street in a bad area or the outskirts of one and refurb the full lot changing the name etc... Obviously we may need a few investors working together in this. I do not mind LHA tenants but understand there seems to be an over supply in Burnley and the local population has been in decline.

Pony is it possible to get things for £20k-£30k that would rent out ok? Let me know your thoughts and I may be interested in meeting up/talking

It is possible, the problem is finding the right area. It's not unusual to drive down a street of 50 houses and 40 of them are "To Let", and have been for the past two months.

An area I would recommend looking at would be Bacup (10 minute drive from burnley) you won't find as many house for sale in that price range, but a few do pop up (I am planning on buying a few this year). The demand is a lot higher in this area, it's not unusual for us to let a 3 bedroom property within hours of the landlord signing our contract.

Feel free to send me a message if you need any more help.

[hech123]

Hi Pony, any further?

[Claymore]

I was up north this past weekend. Burnley definitely not for me. Have spoken to some local people who feel Darwin could be up and coming. You can pick places up at auction for about 40K. I think Darwin has a good train link to Manchester (for working tenants).