Best flat for a buy to let?

[mckenzie]

We Are planning on investing in a buy to let flat as a start for the DCs when they are older.
Is there a known 'best renters' type of property or does it depend on where you live.
For example, do two bedroom flats tent to rent better than one bedrooms? Or vice versa? Or is there no 'best'! Or are we better with a small house so we don't have residence associations etc to worry about?
TIA

Don't buy a flat, you will be stung on "maintenance fee's" you would be better off with a house or freehold property. Some maisonettes don't incur maintenance fee's. A two bed will rent better as it increases the potentional. A one bed would be a couple or single person. A two bed, a couple, a single person, two sharers, a single plus child, a couple plus child.

Thanks for the advice havetowearheels.

The most impt thing is location tbh.

Hi, sorry to hijack your post.
Location is very important. I heard that small flats up north produce the highest rental yield.
How would you rank this:

1. studio in London zone 3-6
2. 3-4 bed House in Birmingham
3. 2-3 bed House in Cardiff
4. 2 bed House/Flat in Colchester (student let)

I live in London so I can manage property in London and Colchester myself.

Any thoughts?
Thank you!

without doing research it is very difficult to say, research is key.
You need to work out the yield. We have BTL's in Liverpool, Hull and Berkshire. DH does weeks of research when we are buying out of the area we live. We make a higher yield down here, but we have a higher turnover. We know the market down here very well, but still do our sums for each property, for instance we have just purchased a three bed family home for 250k (spent 6k getting it in shape), 2 beds were going for 235k, but we will get £350 a month more for the three bed.

On the list you have given I would say
Studio on London - high turnover (=more agents fee's) but huge rents.
3-4 bed Birmingham - Family home, likely to stay.
2-3 bed Cardiff - again Family home, likely to stay.
2 bed student let - high turnover, vacant in the summer, will need a lot of maintenance between each tenant.

Flats aren't too bad if yield is high and in highly desirable location. I agree with maintenance fees being a pain but the upshot is if you get a very high yield then it is not a huge problem and they can be offset against tax.

For what it's worth, a Foxtons fellow told me that ideally you want 2 double bedrooms, 10 minute walk to tube, zone 2 (in London, I'm talking). Apparently this is the most popular flat renters are after.....

Hi
As the others don't buy a flat, yield is not great plus maintenance fees. I manage a fee properties in solihull near birmingham and 2 beds are def the way forward!
I've also posted looking for investors in a holiday let if you're interested.
Hayley