House Hunting
All week we’ve been excited about today! We going on a day trip to Brixham, Devon to look at properties we could buy to rent out to help fund our new lifestyle. We decided earlier in the week that we had made enough progress on clearing the house to take a day out to go house-hunting in Brixham.
7 Viewings arranged with three estate agents throughout the day, should be good! Full of excited anticipation we get up at 5:30 am to tackle the 3+ hour drive to beautiful Brixham.
After a smooth journey with a lovely coffee break in Honiton, we arrive in Brixham by half past 9. Our first viewing isn’t until 11 am so we have time for a quick wander around the harbour, another coffee and some breakfast.
We have never owned a property to let before, so we are newbies and not entirely sure what we’re letting ourselves in for or what we should look out for. Luckily, a close friend works in the property industry and has given us good advice.
As we start viewing the properties, the first one is our favourite on paper. It looks cute and it has a log burner. The rooms are tiny and the bathroom is off the lounge but hey, we like it anyway… It’s the sort of place we might live (although really it’s too small for me for a house). Must Remember It’s Not Our House.
As we go through the viewings we see several houses with potential. There isn’t one that ticks all the boxes but I think that’s likely, especially with our budget restriction. Some houses appeal to us as we would live in them, but they probably don’t appeal to a wide range of tenants and Brixham is a very different place to what’s normal for us, so our perspective really doesn’t count for much.
Other properties have great numbers, with a good return on investment, but they have so little appeal that it is difficult to really consider them as options.
Luckily, there is one house that stands out as ticking the majority of boxes although we wouldn’t live there ourselves necessarily, and another one as a close second where we would live in a heartbeat. Must Remember It’s Not Our House! This is the hardest thing to do.
Feeling optimistic and hopeful, we decide to sleep on it, find out more information about the rental market in Brixham, research the different areas and get more advice. It certainly seems property moves slow in Brixham and it’s a buyers’ market so that works well for us; there’s no need to rush in.
We decide to come back in two weeks time, and we’re quietly hopeful that we will be able to put in an offer before then.
So following a successful day of house-hunting, we decided to go visit some friends on the North Devon coast and give ourselves the weekend off further preparation work. Time for a burger and beer instead!
