Cut your losses says landlord: Why this month’s mortgage rates are causing landlords to sell

If you were looking for a sign on whether or not to downsize or expand your property portfolio, this weeks’ news provided mixed messages on how landlords might be affected by Buy-to-let (BTL) mortgage rates.

Despite the possibility of some light at the end of the tunnel, overall the picture is understandably causing concern. After dropping to 5.5% this February, ‘Which’ reported that rates have been rising over the last few months, averaging 5.55% at the start of July.

They went on to say that this is much higher than the 4.31% recorded two years ago, meaning landlords remortgaging at the end of a two-year deal will see their repayments go up. Why does this matter? Because many of us are in this boat: either get hit by the spike in repayments, or downsize and sell up our lowest-performing properties to avoid this, leaving a much cleaner, profitable portfolio and avoiding the financial loss.

“The stark reality is that a lot of people have yet to come off ultra-low rates [and move] on to the higher rates available today. When they do, there is going to be a lot of payment shock,” said mortgage broker Emma Jones in a BBC report.

In fact, for around 400,000 properties, monthly payments could jump by 50% or more, the report said.

So where do landlords turn for solutions? Selling might well indeed provide the answer. And whilst landlords don’t need to think about selling their entire portfolios, many might be forgiven for considering trimming them down and reinvesting elsewhere.

That’s precisely why Darren, a landlord with properties in Liverpool, contacted us to sell:

“I’ve been a landlord for over 20 years and the truth is I’m sick of it. I just wanted to get rid of all my debt and headaches and of course with everything that’s happening with tax, licenses, councils going around looking at properties saying you can’t do this and that when tenants are wrecking the properties, I’d just had enough.” Darren originally contacted us in November looking to sell 20 properties in Liverpool. “I spoke to a couple of other companies, and they didn’t feel right. I spoke to Sales Agency after seeing them on Property118. I said, I’ll send you a few properties over, and you tell me what prices you reckon you can get.”

After a zoom meeting with both our CEO David Coughlin and top sales consultant, Ian Holmes, Darren was convinced Landlord Sales Agency was the right company to trust with his portfolio sale as David Coughlin discussed the challenges and solutions selling his own portfolio and how his team and business replicate these solutions for clients.  Darren decided to go ahead: “The prices they came back with were great, and they weren’t overselling. I was very upfront with them, told them I was busy and wanted to work with one agent who could do the whole thing.”

Darren agreed to do a trial on 14 properties to see what happened, and Landlord Sales Agency started the listings in January. The first batch sold straight after the first viewing, others sold in less than 27 days. The remaining ones that took a little longer were where we did what we do best: overcame every single issue they could throw at us. Some of the properties had tenants in, some had repairs that we needed to carry out and in one the tenants were illegally subletting. All of the issues that could possibly have come up, came up, and we overcame every single one in order to sell quick and complete quick. We did deals that were win-win for the tenant and the landlord. “At the start of the sale the tenants weren’t letting us in, a few weeks later, they were happy to chat directly to us, keen to help us find a new landlord, and were doing up to 6 viewings per day,” said Ian from Landlord Sales Agency.

“The service has been fantastic and their system has been great” said Darren. He couldn’t be more pleased, in fact, shortly after sale he revealed that he had another 40 properties owned with his brother, that he was happy to send to us. “He said if we do a good job, he’ll get those over to us via his brother in batches of 10. He’s sent over the first 10 and we’ve already agreed prices on 6 of them, with viewings this week and buyers already lined up ready to buy” said Ian.

Not just that, he’s already recommended friends to Landlord Sales Agency.

Darren is just one of the many Property118 portfolio landlords we’re helping to sell, and we’re clearly delivering. Our database of buyer-contacts generates a bidding war that’s pushing up prices, and our highly experienced team, led by David Coughlin, works relentlessly to get those sales over the line, which is why we’re selling landlords’ portfolios fast for the best possible prices, allowing landlords to financially thrive. The proof is in the results, and our quality of service is unrivalled.

We’re getting properties sold fast, for high prices, and our highly experienced sales team proactively resolves every issue to get sales over the line. We’re seeing landlords finally being able to get out of the market. If you don’t like the prices you get, you don’t have to sell, so there’s every reason to get in touch and let us help you. That’s why so many landlords are coming to us. And we’re delivering.

So if you’re interested, get in touch with Landlord Sales Agency today, and let us handle the rest. We’re here to help.

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