Rented normally, it costs you £148 a month. That is £1,776 a year, every year you hold it.

Will it pay?Calculator

You top up £148 a month — the mortgage takes 50p of every pound of rent

Borrowing £28,409 less would close that shortfall — which is £28,409 more cash at the start, on top of the deposit.

£352 mortgage

£467 running

£697 rent in£148 short

£25 of that is a guess — no service charge published.

□ service charge not published2 empty weeks a year assumed

What if I change my assumptions?The dials

At the asking price, 25% deposit, 6.25% charged

Change any of these 16 and every card on this page changes with it. The 6.25% is the 5.50% quoted plus a company premium.

◧ worked out from local rents

What will it cost me to buy?Breakdown

£31,350 + refurb costs

And about £8,878 more over five years, because it loses £148 every month you hold it — before any repair. That already assumes the rent never falls.

£31,350 to buy it

deposit · stamp duty · solicitor · fees~£6,417, unseen

□ works not inspected

What would have to be true?

We cannot price this without a postcode

Which purchase tax applies — stamp duty, LBTT or land transaction tax — is decided by the nation the address sits in, and this listing carries no postcode to resolve it. Rather than assume England and then price to the pound off it, this card does not answer. The agent can give you the postcode.

□ no postcode on the listing

Can we trust the rent?Rent evidence

Nearby lettings, but only by searching 1.5 km

We widened the search to find them, so these are not next-door comparisons.

+119 more

our bar: 10 within 500 m

our own middle half£641–£758/mo

■ 129 lettings within 1.5 km□ searched wider than our barAdvertised rents, not signed tenancies

What will the rent borrow?Lender test

The rent carries the whole loan — it could fall 9% and still cover it

Your deposit is what limits this one, not the rent. Lenders test the rent at 7.5% and need it to cover 145% of the payment.

£612 needed

of £670 rent

stressed at 7.5%, 145% cover

◧ rent after empty weeks £670PRA-style test

How big is it, really?The plan

Measured off the plan, not by a surveyor 446 sq ft

The area comes off the plan, not a survey. Open for what that means.

□ area off the floorplan — not a survey

Is it a good location?Open the map

Wolverhampton

No schools in this postcode area and flood risk checking… — open for the map, the schools and the rest.

Article 4Planning permission required to let by the room

■ mapped to a point, not an address

What could kill thisThe checks

£1,693 a year in charges for the building, owed even when nobody is living there

The contract the property is sold under sets these charges, and they can go up over the years.

2 problems found · 2 came back clear · 3 we could not check · 2 do not apply to this property

■ from the listinglisting last seen 17 Sep 2026

Which strategy wins?The ways to run it

Every way loses money — Standard rental loses least, at £148 a month

Standard rental also ties up the least cash, £37,767.

Standard rental−£148 · £37,767 in

Housing-benefit rent−£343 · £37,767 in

Each row: money kept a month, then the cash it ties up. Not compared: Rent by the room (only 1 bedroom) · Do it up, then remortgage (pays back at the remortgage) · Short-stay let (no local short-let data) · Guaranteed council rent (no scheme in this borough) · Buy, improve & sell (pays out on sale)

◧ 2 ways, one measureranked on money kept each month, at the asking price

What would you walk away with?The five-year sums

−£13,511 after five years on the cash you put in, before tax on the sale

Less than the same cash would have made in a savings account, after tax on the interest. The savings account’s capital is not at risk; the property’s is. A fall of about 26% in the price would leave nothing from a sale after selling costs, and you would still owe the lender any shortfall. That is the £37,767 you put in. The 5-year fix runs past this 5-year hold, so the rate reset comes after it.

◧ 2.0%/yr growth assumed