Extending Your Home: A Step-by-Step Guide to Adding More Space, Value, and Style
By The Vesta Team on 11th Sep 2024Whether you’re extending your home to sell or extending to stay, adding more space can transform how you live and boost your sale price when it’s time to move. Research by Nationwide found that a loft conversion with a double...
Autumn Kerb Appeal: Top Seasonal Tips for Dazzling Photos and First Impressions
By Rachel Ollington on 4th Sep 2024Autumn is the season of magic and mayhem for selling your home. On the one hand, the light is lovely at this time of year, and when the sun hits the leaves on the trees, they take on a golden glow that gives your photos a...
Full House to Empty Nest: What’s Next for Your Family Home after Your Children Move Out?
By The Vesta Team on 23rd Aug 2024At the last count, 8-10% of the UK were thought to be empty nesters (parents whose children have all left), and the initial change brings up mixed emotions. Everything from grief to relief. Wherever you sit on that spectrum,...
High Price, Low Stress: How to Time Your Sale Perfectly For a Worry-Free Move
By Rachel Ollington on 16th Aug 2024The phrase “timing is everything” can be applied to every major decision in life, but how is it relevant to your move? Well, from advance preparations to meeting your deadlines to choosing an agent, the magic ingredient is...
Staycation Bliss: Spend a Super Summer at Home With Our Fun-Filled Tips for Grown-Ups
By The Vesta Team on 9th Aug 2024With so much happening in the UK over the summer, there’s really no need to fly overseas for a change of scenery or a refreshing break. And even if you are heading off for a couple of weeks abroad, that still gives you a couple...
What do Tenants Want? Five Insider Tips to Maximise Your Rental Home’s Appeal and Profit
By Phillippa Baillie-White on 2nd Aug 2024When times are good, it’s easy to think tenants will rent anything at any price. But when the market changes and there's more competition from other rental homes, a property can quickly lose its appeal. Outdated homes also mean...
Selling for the First Time: Our Guide to Getting it Right and Avoiding Beginner’s Mistakes
By Rachel Ollington on 26th Jul 2024Whether you’re going upmarket to a bigger place, relocating for work or schools, or even downsizing from a longtime family home, selling for the first time is an exciting prospect in your life’s next chapter. Even so, the idea...
The Rules of Buy-to-Let: Five Universal Principles that Every Landlord Needs to Know
By The Vesta Team on 17th Jul 2024Whatever kind of landlord you are or wherever you own a rental property, some universal principles apply to keep your investments profitable, sustainable, and enjoyable. Private landlords are effectively small business owners, and...
Housemate Headaches: How to Calm Conflicts Between Sharers at Your Rental Property
By Phillippa Baillie-White on 12th Jul 2024More people than ever are sharing a rental home as rents keep rising and supply continually falls short of demand. Shared homes and HMOs (Houses in Multiple Occupation) have been highly profitable for landlords, but they also come...
Moving Checklist: Everything You Need to Do Before, During, and After Selling Your Home
By Rachel Ollington on 6th Jul 2024If moving home is anything, it's a massive to-do list! Jobs to do right now, others in the future, and plenty of opportunity to wonder what you've missed. In short, there’s a lot going on, and the best way to avoid overwhelm is...
Viewings Feedback: Using Negative Buyer Comments to Boost Your Home’s Saleability
By The Vesta TeamYou’ve been on the market for a while, followed your agent’s advice on price, and had plenty of viewings, but nothing ever comes of them. Where do you go from here? It can be a frustrating experience when all you want to do is...
Summer Renovations: Project Inspiration for the Perfect Season to Upgrade Your Home
By Rachel OllingtonThere’s no better season for improving your home than the summer. With long and sunny evenings from up to 17 hours of daylight, there's so much more time to get things done before it gets dark, which means you can enjoy the...
Landlord Profit Boost: Smart and Smooth Financial Management for Your Buy-to-Let
By Phillippa Baillie-White“Look after the pennies, and the pounds will look after themselves.” It might be an old saying, but keeping a keen eye on the day-to-day finances of your rental property can pay huge dividends. But we’re not talking about...
Tenant Moving Out? Some Words of Advice Before Reletting Your Property too Fast
By Phillippa Baillie-WhiteTenants move out for all manner of reasons, whether they're getting married, needing more space, relocating, or going their separate ways. But before rushing to replace them for a same-day changeover, it's worth stepping back to...
Selling to Your Tenant: Everything You Need to Know to Cut the Best Deal
By The Vesta TeamWhen opportunity knocks, it’s not always clear whether to say yes or no, particularly when it’s unexpected or means changing your plans. Selling to your tenant could be one of those times, and even if you’re planning to be a...
Single Let or HMO? Could Your Profits Jump 50% with Multi-Occupancy Lettings?
By Phillippa Baillie-WhiteIf you’re looking for ways to boost your buy-to-let profits, converting your rental home to a House in Multiple Occupation (HMO for short) could be the answer. HMOs have exploded in popularity as an option for landlords to...
Landlord Mistakes: Five Major Buy-to-Let Bloopers and How to Avoid Them
By Phillippa Baillie-WhiteMaking mistakes is a part of life: many can be laughed off, but others are more serious. And for landlords, there can be legal and financial consequences for getting things wrong. When we're asked to take over a rental home by...
Buy-to-Let Rate Hikes: Expert Options if You're a Landlord Facing Higher Mortgage Costs
By Phillippa Baillie-WhiteIf you’re a landlord with a fixed-rate mortgage nearing the end of its initial term, you’ll only be too aware of the coming increase in your monthly repayments. Back in October 2021 and 2018, two and five-year buy-to-let fixed...
Buy-to-Let Booster: Five Ways to Raise the Return on Your Rental Homes
By Phillippa Baillie-WhiteIs your buy-to-let as profitable as it could be? Many aren’t. There’s often more mileage in a rental home than many landlords realise, and some of the checks you can make to determine whether your property is a peak performer...
Accurate Valuations: How Do You Know You’re Getting the Right Price?
By Rachel OllingtonPrice is everything when selling your home. It doesn’t matter where you live, what you live in or what condition it’s in - if the price is wrong, you’ll be out of pocket or stuck where you are. Accurate valuations are...
Grand Designs: How to Use Planning Permission to Boost Your Home’s Value
By Rachel OllingtonHow do you feel about adding thousands to your home without making a single improvement? One of the magic words in property is ‘potential’, and getting planning permission to increase the amount of accommodation is a great way...
Millennial Landlords: How to Help Your Child Build Their Own Buy-to-Let Business
By Phillippa Baillie-WhiteImagine if your child was already financially independent by the age of 25. How proud would that make you feel? With the UK’s massive housing shortage, rents are being pushed higher and higher. This means more private landlords...
Gaining Extra Pounds: Fine Tune the Most Valuable and Saleable Parts of Your Home
By Rachel OllingtonNot every part of your home is created equal, and some have a quantifiably higher value than others. At the same time, there are those unique and saleable qualities that are less easy to put a figure on, but nonetheless play a...
Buy-to-Let Tax Update: Your No-Nonsense Guide to the Current Rates and Allowances
By Phillippa Baillie-WhiteThere have been lots of changes to the way landlords are taxed over the last few years, creating plenty of confusion and leaving some questioning whether buy-to-let is a worthwhile investment. The answer is very much a personal...
Rental Recovery: What Can You Do when Your Tenant Pays the Rent Late or Leaves with Arrears?
By Phillippa Baillie-WhiteArrears - a dreaded word among landlords and, for anyone with even a mildly British temperament, an often uncomfortable situation to discuss and resolve. We’re fortunate enough to have very few tenants behind with their rent,...
Selling Your Rental Home: Plan the Perfect Exit Without Losing Your Tenant or Income
By The Vesta TeamAlthough rents are going through the roof, yields are getting higher, and there’s massive demand from tenants, many landlords are selling their rental homes. For some, it’s part of their long-term plan, but for others, it’s...
Landlord Expenses: Use our Expert Guide to Claim Back Every Cost You’re Entitled to
By Phillippa Baillie-WhiteHow many tax allowances do you think you can claim from owning a rental property? The truth might pleasantly surprise you. Being a landlord is a business, but from our experience, not every landlord knows what they’re entitled...
Boost Your Sale Price: The Best Upgrades to Bowl Over Buyers and Sell Your Home for More
By Rachel OllingtonPushing your home's value to its full potential can make your next move bigger and better. That could mean more space, a larger garden, or a swisher location than you thought was possible. But where do you start? Well, we talk to...
Show Your Home's Heart: Instantly Unlock the Hidden Extra Value by Shining a Light on all the Existing Features
By Rachel OllingtonNot every home sells for its full potential value, and that’s often because the finest features are either hidden or under-presented. But you can add many thousands to your sale price simply by showing off what’s already...
Kill Your Bills: Turn a Period Property into a High-Performance Eco Home
By The Vesta TeamHave you ever known the costs of utility bills to be such a massive conversation? As well as being a hot topic at home and at work, the news is full of stories about soaring energy prices, future supply questions and the...
Buy-to-let or pensions: which has the profit, freedom, and security that’s right for you?
By Phillippa Baillie-White“Being a landlord might still pay better than a pension” - that was the arresting headline in The Telegraph that caught our attention recently. Pensions have certainly been squeezed, with workplace pension pots shrinking and...
Changing Estate Agents: Could a Fresh Start be the Key to Getting Your Home Sold?
By Rachel OllingtonIt doesn't always work out with your first choice of estate agent. Perhaps things went well at first, but viewings are now thin on the ground. Maybe you sense your agent’s initial enthusiasm has begun to cool. Or you could be...
Letting Up: Could Rising Inflation Spell Good News for Landlords?
By Phillippa Baillie-WhiteEveryone's talking about inflation right now, and usually in negative terms. The current climate of rising prices is affecting us all, from filling up the car to doing the weekly shop. There’s also plenty of news about tenants...
Interest Rate Rises: How to Keep Your Sale or Remortgaging Plans on Track
By Rachel OllingtonEven though many lenders lowered their mortgage rates after Rishi Sunak became Prime Minister, we all face a bumpy road ahead. The media is battling it out to write the scariest headlines of an imminent price crash and soaring...
Buy, Revamp, Rent, Repeat: For Sustainable Lettings Success
By Phillippa Baillie-WhiteThere are many different models of buy-to-let, but a proven winning formula is buying a property in need of renovation, upgrading the specification, then releasing the increased equity to fund another buy-to-let project. Homes in...
Landlord Tax Tips: Allowances to Claim, Efficient Expenditure & Easier Accounting
By Phillippa Baillie-WhiteWith the annual tax return deadline a couple of months off, what better time to explore preparing in advance to avoid all that late-night uploading on January 31st? Using the tips in our handy guide, you can make a start right...
A Quick Guide to Purchasing a Buy To Let Property in Benfleet
By Phillippa Baillie-WhiteIf you’re considering becoming a landlord, there are many elements to consider and understand before you purchase a property. The process of buying a buy-to-let property differs compared to buying a residential property that you...
Remortgaging your rental property
As a landlord, you might own your property outright or you may have a buy to let mortgage. If you do currently have borrowing, that could be because you didn’t have enough capital available to buy without a mortgage, or perhaps...
Pensions vs Property: Should You Save For Retirement Or Invest In Property?
Whether you want to invest in property or save for retirement, there are plenty of pros and cons for each. If you’re unsure what’s best for you, this guide should help to give you a few handy tips to fit your circumstances....
How to Avoid Losing your Rental Deposit
When you first begin renting a property, your new landlord is highly likely to ask for a deposit before letting you move in. Typically, this is one month’s rent payable upfront, although it can be more in some cases. Your...
Unfurnished vs. furnished rentals: pros and cons
If you’re currently deciding whether to let your rental property unfurnished or furnished, you might be weighing up the pros and cons of each. But have you thought of everything? Here’s our handy round up of some of the main...
3 Ways to protect your rental income
Rental income is an important part of being a successful landlord. Whether you need it to cover mortgage payments and expenses, or you’re taking rental profits as valuable extra income, you might want to check whether you’re...
Landlords - how to protect your rental income
For many landlords, rental income provides a valuable boost to their other earnings or pension. For some, it may even be their only income, while others might mainly use it to cover the cost of the mortgage and other expenses, as...
Should I Sell or Let my Second Property?
If you’ve ended up with a ‘spare’ property – perhaps because you’ve inherited one or moved in with your partner – you might be wondering whether to sell it or hang on to it and become a landlord. There are pros and...
Five Ways Landlords can increase their Rental Yields
You’ll probably know this already if you are a landlord, but if you don’t yet, you should get to know it – because rental yield is important! But, what is rental yield and what do you, as a landlord in Benfleet need to know...
Accidental landlord? What you need to know
Some people are landlords because they’ve made a deliberate decision to buy property and rent it out. They’re part of the buy-to-let crowd, who’ve chosen to use property as an investment vehicle to grow their wealth....
Invest more in your Benfleet rental for better returns
Refurbishing a rental property can be a big project. And when you’ve already had to invest a fair amount to buy it, the big question is: how much more do you need to spend doing it up? Is it worth putting in a high-end kitchen...
What are the Benefits of Owning a Property in Basildon?
Homing in on the future as a property owner Are you renting in Basildon at the moment? Perhaps you are a tenant in a lovely property but you have aspirations of buying your own place? Renting is great, and can be the right...
Funding Your Rental Purchase: Step by Step
Whether you’ve got lots of capital and are a cash buyer or you need to borrow money to finance your rental property purchase, there’s a lot to think about. The right financing can make the difference between a good rental...
Financing your rental property – how to work out what’s right for you
When it comes to property, the best thing can be to own it outright – either buying with 100% cash, if that’s possible, or taking out a mortgage and paying it off as soon as you can. And when it’s your own home, that’s...
Choosing a Letting Agent in Basildon
Congratulations on your rental property in Basildon, whether this is an exciting journey into Buy to Let, or as a result of a home move or inheritance. This is an exciting time for you, and now is the right moment to consider two...
The end of the Furlough Scheme: What next for Essex renters and landlords?
The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, better known as the furlough scheme, was introduced by the chancellor Rishi Sunak in March to help employers deal with the financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Official estimates suggest...
Essex Landlord Confidence Review - Q2 2020
With so much in the media at the moment relating to the housing market and private rented sector prices, it can be hard to decipher what is really happening in the rental market in Benfleet and the rest of Essex. I have spent some...
Time vs. Money: Where do you stand?
I read an interesting article in Scientific journal Cosmos recently. Apparently, research suggests that paying people to help out with odd jobs that you don't enjoy doing could lead to a happier life. A research team from Canada,...