Happy new year from the Medway Property News blog. I hope you had a great time and are looking forward to accomplishing all your goals for 2017.

The new year is going well for Medway property as research from Halifax show that Chatham house prices have risen 17% in 2016, with the average price standing at £237,545, surging way past the national average increase of 7.5%. This is great news for Medway property and backs up the fact that the area is a good place to invest.

Entering the Medway property market just 48 hours ago is this four-bedroom terraced property on Marlborough Rd in Gillingham. It is offered at a guide price of £170,000.

On the plus side, the property is quite close to the station and with four bedrooms plus two reception rooms, it offers the possibility that it could be turned into a five or six bedroom HMO (House of Multiple Occupation). After calling the advertising agents to enquire into the reason for the cash sale, I was told it was in such a bad state that it was unmortgageable. There is a bad leak and an ongoing safety issue with the wall.

However, for an investor looking to get their hands dirty, a five-bedroom HMO could offer between £2,000-£2,500 in gross monthly rental income, with a six-bedroom bringing even more money in. Without knowing refurbishment spend costs though, it will be hard to know for sure if it’s a good investment and you will need access to plenty of cash or investors.

So feel free to have a look and let me know how you get on. You can call me on 07944 726676 or email me at hasan@home-share.co.uk.

Wishing you all a prosperous 2017
Hasan