Buyer's Guide (3) : "The Buy-To-Let Guru"

As for buy-to-let, David Lawrenson, author of the best-selling Successful Property Letting: How to Make Money in Buy-to-Let, is not slipping on the black armband just yet.

Quite the opposite, though he urges investors to do their research:

"It's an extremely good time to buy investment property. Vendors are willing to take offers and you can generally get very good deals, depending on the area.

"First-time buyers are getting scared by the headlines and they're choosing to rent. Rents are going up very strongly and will continue to do so. I'm buying, and the other investors I know are very excited about the opportunities available now, especially from the auction houses.

"One problem for both first-time buyers and buy-to-let is that though the base rate may be coming down, the margins charged over the base rate have increased and the fees are going higher.

"And there is an oversupply in the landlord market of one- and two-bed flats in the cities. Look for properties anywhere where the transport infrastructure is improving and buy two- and three-bed houses in areas with strong economies. Avoid the oversupplied one- and two-bed identikit flats.

"If I was a first-time buyer I'd get on with buying now. Come the end of the year the opportunity may be gone."

- www.findaproperty.com -