Maidenhead Property Articles

The recent figures announced by the Land Registry is backing up the recent claims of a housing market slow down. According to the published data, the annual inflation rate for residential properties fell in September to 8.7%, down from 9.4% in August.

Although the Bank of England has kept the base interest rates unchanged this month, many analysts are predicting some cuts before the end of the year.

The slow down in the residential sales market traditionally increases the rental demand as more first time buyers tend to keep hold on to their money until everything settles down. The managing director of Appleton Lettings in Maidenhead, Sarah Akkus said “this is certainly in-line with the increase we have experienced in our rental and management division”.

According to the Islamic law, Sharia, the Muslims are forbidden to pay or receive interest. Most of the mortgage products on the market thus were unsuitable for Muslim borrowers as these mortgages are mainly based on interest.

As a result of the increasing demand by the Muslim borrowers, Appleton Estate Agents Maidenhead say the lenders have in the recent years expanded their product ranges with Sharia compliant mortgages. Under Sharia law, two mortgage types are available to potential homeowners: Ljara (Lease To Own) and Murabaha (Deferred Sale Finance) loans.

The Ijara Loan

By this method, the mortgage lender would buy the property from the vendor; becoming the owner. The lender then leases the property to the over 20 to 25 years with a monthly lease payment. The lease payments would take all of the lender’s costs into account.

Now the Muslim borrower’s payment would now be treated as rent instead of “interes”. And the payments would fluctuate with the interest rate changes.

The lease agreement would also specify that the occupier can buy the property off the lender for a very small sum, usually £1, at the end of the lease period.

The Murabaha Loan

By the Murabaha method, the mortgage lender purchases the property and immediately resells it to the Muslim borrower at a higher price, according to Appleton Estate Agents Maidenhead.

The profit that the lender essentially makes out of this transaction is the equivalent of all the interest on a fixed interest loan as well as any costs incurred. The borrower then buys the property from the lender at that gross figure, which is then repaid to the lender in equal installments for a period, typically of 15 to 20 years.

Estate Agents Maidenhead

If you are searching for Cookham Estate Agents, then you have come to the right place. We are one of the best estate agents Cookham area with an exceptional reputation for outstanding residential property services.

You can find find a selection of our fantastic reviews here. At Appleton Estates, we take pride in our customer-friendly agents and trust our long-time landlords have placed in us.
We cover Cookham Village, Cookham Dean and Cookham Rise areas. At Appleton Estates we have an extensive knowledge of the Cookham, Maidenhead and the surrounding areas at a personal and professional level.

Our vast range of residential property services includes the sales, rentals and management as well as house staging. We have been successfully dealing with town houses, cottages, flats as well as new developments.

If you are a landlord or tenant or an investor, please contact us for advice on purchasing, lettings, management, rent reviews, general maintenance, rent collections and sales market appraisals.

When beginning to invest in residential property, a big question that will have to be addressed is “Should you let it or fix it up and sell it?” There are advantages and disadvantages associated with each choice. While the best answer depends on many different factors, in many cases there is a long-term advantage to letting the property versus flipping it for a profit.

Owning rental property can generate a good level of income if the property is located in the right area. If the property is in a transitional area, one where individuals tend to move within about five years, then a rental property at the right price is a great commodity. In these cases, the investor will have no trouble finding a renter who will be interested in the property.

Letting the property can result in a greater profit for the investor over time because the investor is obtaining money from the property each month for a number of years instead of one lump sum payment. The money can quickly add up and the cost of the mortgage on the property can be built into the monthly rental payments.

Buying suitable properties cheaply enough, however, to generate a profit generally means that there are things that will need to be fixed with the property before it is ready for renting. This may take a great deal of additional money and recouping the initial investment will take longer because of the money spent to renovate the product, not to mention the time the property remains vacant during renovation.

If the investor cannot find a tenant or the tenant has to be evicted for any reason, the investor will lose money until another renter can be found. If you never understood the expression “Time is money” before, it will be your mantra if you find yourself in this situation. Routine maintenance becomes a one-sided drag on your finances without a rental income, and if the property becomes damaged the list of people to pay for it begins — and ends — with the investor. However, using property specialists, such as Appleton Estate Agents in Maidenhead will help the investor deal with these types of potential issues before they start costing time and money.
There are many advantages for an investor to rent out a property instead of selling it for a quick profit. The prospect of regular payments over an extended period of time is typically enough for many investors to decide to rent out the property, but all investors must remember that there is a downside to hanging on to the property as well. Each decision must be made depending on the situation at hand, but in many cases, after a careful analysis of the risks involved, the investor will go with the advantages of lettings.

Article contributed by Colorado’s Fort Collins real estate service, Automated Homefinder.

The Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, has announced today that the long awaited Crossrail project will go ahead and the Government will supply the final third of the required funding. The £16 billion project will start in 2010 and become operational from 2015.

The news has been welcomed with eagerness by the property agents and investors alike. The line will start in Maidenhead, expectedly boosting the local property market as well as the businesses. It will almost halve the travel into the City of London and the Maidenodians do not need to even change trains.

The Crossrail will not only help modernise the rail travel into London from Maidenhead but will also create a lot of jobs into the Maidenhead area; with a very significant impact on the local housing market. Already there is a big build up of office headquarters in and around Maidenhead, most of which is currently vacant at the moment.

The BBC website reports almost a train every few minutes from Maidenhead. This is going to make some of the areas around Maidenhead property hot-spots.

However, there is still a long time to the launch of Crossrail and it would be safer to be cautious until all the specific details are published.