RDA ESTATES SERVICES

RDA, created in 1992, still maintains it’s rare and almost unique personal & detailed services for potential & current clients as follows ...

1. Recommending properties for investment purchase and rental studiously selected from the properties advertised for sale in the city of Brighton & Hove.

2. Close co-ordination with our in house major rental agency ensuring constant detailed attention to all aspects of RDA client landlords’ property rental.

3. RDA inspects all clients’ flats every 14 weeks = 4 times annually which apart from ensuring all flats are well maintained creates a good relationship with the tenants.  


THE MARKET

The poor economic climate & resultant “credit crunch” affecting the mortgages available is holding up the improvement in the property market, although there are signs of this getting better.

British Bankers Association reports the number of mortgages agreed by banks during April, 2009 was 50% higher than six months ago, a positive sign.   With buyers having to find much bigger deposits of around 25-30% to get on the housing ladder, full recovery of the housing market will take longer.

Local estate agents in Brighton & Hove have all reported increased activity in the last 4 months.  The shortage of property on the market is causing a problem for the agents as there are presently more buyers than sellers, which has steadied prices and offers now have to be closer to the asking price, although there is still room for some negotiation.  Property prices remain about 25% below their highs in 2007 and have stayed steady.

Many sellers who had their properties on the market for several months before Christmas and who could not find buyers by the early part of the year rented out their properties, flooding the rental market.  This is beginning to ease off as properties are sold, however rental competition is still very strong and tenants have never had so much choice.  If your property becomes available for re-rental it must be in prime condition to retain the same rent.   The Brighton & Hove catchment area has about 2,000 available properties currently for rent and rental agents are reducing the asking rents to find tenants.  When those short term letting contracts run out and the properties are sold the rental market will get back to normality.

Presently, in view of lower prices & mortgage rates plus the reduced strength of sterling making it cheaper to remit funds to UK, now is a good time to buy if one can meet lenders’ criteria and afford the required deposit. Buying now and in the next few years is very likely to prove highly profitable in the medium to long term as was clearly experienced by buyers during the 70’s & 90’s. It is worth considering tracker & fixed rates for the first few years of a mortgage loan.

Present government and management investigations will hopefully create a much better disciplined financial world in the future.

Cash buyers have never had such good opportunities, with rents giving a far greater return than interest on bank deposits, with the promise of around 5% rise in property values over the next 12 months.

Buy To Let owners’ net rent contribution to mortgage payments can be up to 100% of current Interest Only Mortgage repayments and over 45% of Repayment Mortgage repayments, considering current Brighton & Hove prices, mortgage rates and rental income.

RDA website Hot Property listings at www.brightoninvestmentproperty.com  includes many properties at prices considerably less than 18 months ago and expects to continue to do so for all of this year.

HSBC’s  commercial banking report names Brighton as one of five super cities of the 21st century, a notion driven by science, technology, culture, creativity, behavioural economics and an open-source approach to innovation.

We will provide financial tables illustrating the figures if requested.  Now is a good time to Buy to Let.


FUNDING OF DEPOSITS FOR PROPERTY PURCHASES

The following has been kindly submitted by Mr. GARY CLAMP of Clamp Boxall Ltd, Accountants and Tax Consultants who are accountants for our company & personnel and, assist many RDA Estates clients on UK tax matters.

Inheritance Tax (IHT) (or Death Duties) can be an expensive tax amounting to 40% of one’s Estate after allowing for the lifetime exemption currently standing at £312,000 or £624,000 including a deceased spouse’s exemption.
However, finances permitting, it can be far more tax efficient as you will note from the following, to make lifetime gifts to intended beneficiaries of your Will rather than leaving the whole of your Estate to pass on your death and in the current economic climate with, in particular, heavy restrictions on borrowing requirements, gifts from relatives to help fund a deposit on purchase of property can be most welcome and, more importantly, can help fund property purchases in what is acknowledged as a low market, (before property prices start to increase again as borrowing becomes more available). It also means that your funds can be directly injected into property for the benefit of your intended beneficiaries rather than to Her Majesty’s Government by way of death duties.
However, individual circumstances permitting, the tax can to a certain extent be VOLUNTARY as lifetime gifts are currently free of any IHT, subject to surviving the gift for seven years.
If death takes place within seven years of the gift then IHT is chargeable on the following scale:

Years before Death:                             0-3       3-4      4-5      5-6       6-7
Percentage of death tax charge:           100        80       60        40        20


RDA COMMENT

Assume on the death of the remaining spouse the Estate value is £1million which not unusual these days. Considering the above £624,000 exemption the taxable amount is £376,000 at 40% = £150,400.  An estate valued at £1.624 million would pay IHT/DEATH DUTY on net of £1million =£400,000!!
These figures should encourage adults to consider making lifetime gifts rather than pay such huge death tax and, these days for young relatives to pass on the above stated concept and encourage such action.
If further details are required contact Mr. Gary Clamp at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it


NEW BUILD-OFF PLAN PROPERTY…… RDA ESTATES NEW CONCEPT

INVESTMENT MADE EASY

We are pleased to advise we are now working with a company who have identified London developments which major construction companies are building.  Such properties can be bought off plan without making a cash deposit but by the purchase of a bond.  Considering completion will be several years off, profits can be made without undue risk.   We will be delighted to introduce clients to these associates if so interested.   As these properties are not in our immediate area we unfortunately will not be involved in their hands on management. 

Contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it to enable our associates to explain this interesting concept in greater detail.

Kind regards & best wishes for the future
All at RDA Estates