Any Buy to Let Experts? Good and Bad Experiences Sought

[Garage_Doors]

Not sure if its been mentioned but you can only use 25% of the equity of your existing owned property, the rest has to come from funds or based on current earning

 

[Garage_Doors]

Thanks. I also have a 2 hour Radio 6 Lemmy special to listen to.

When i was in Germany i was told that generally the vast majority of housing was owned buy large business and very few homes were occupier owned.
Aren't German already a nation of renters?

 

[Dick Head]

The thing to do is get a van round, see if there's any nice furniture or white goods or belongings, take out all the fireplaces and copper/lead pipes and then put the plaster in and take out all the cables and do one quick.

 

[The Spanish]

We did have plenty of social housing but someone sold a lot of it off incredibly cheap….

And people bought it incredibly cheap. Didn't see many people turn it down.

 

[Westdene Seagull]

Happy New Year All

I've thought about going down the buy-to-let route for some time now and, if brave enough, will make 2015 the year I commit!

Throughout the normal course of life, I've bought and sold properties (sole residences that I've lived in) and am now in the fortunate position of having a sizable amount of equity.

Rather than ploughing it all back into another residential property, I'm considering downsizing my residential property and using most of the equity to purchase a flat to rent out. (I'd still need some of the equity as a deposit on the residential property which would have to be mortgaged.)

As a beginner landlord, I would use a letting agency to manage the tenants etc. How astronomical are their fees?

I don't have a very high risk appetite; I've worked too hard for too long to risk losing it all now, so I'd want to play it as safe as possible, i.e. flat near Brighton station. But I'm petrified that tenants will trash the place and I'll end up spending any profit on repairs, or worse, end up in debt.

I'd still be working so looking to do this as a sideline to boost my woefully inadequate pension fund!

I do have an appointment with an IFA next week to discuss financials, but just thought I'd try and get some personal experiences, both good and bad, from the wise owls of NSC. Would you recommend it? Have you done and wished you hadn't?

So please share your thoughts, by PM if preferred. I would appreciate it.

Many thanks in advance.

You imply the equity available to you is quite big. In which case buy a number of properties via BTL mortgages rather than owning a single one out right. This spreads your risk slightly - i.e. when you have one property unrented the others can help cover the loss of rent.

Try and buy flats with a share of the freehold - remember that once a lease gets to 70 years or less re-mortgaging ( and you will want to remortgage regularly ) can become a little more troublesome. The other benefit of a share of the freehold is that you will get a say

Don't pay a management fee to Letting Agents - manage properties yourself. Make sure you have a good plumber, electrician and builder on speed dial and always pay them quickly so they are more likely to make themselves available to you at short notice. It's sometimes worth using an agent to find a tenant but only ever agree a finding fee - no extras. Gumtree has always worked for me though. Word of warning - get a cheap pay as you go mobile to use in the Gumtree adverts and to give your tenants. You can be overwhelmed with calls from Gumtree.

Always take photos of the property before anyone moves in and detail any damage however small and get the new tenants to sign that they agree with the state of the property.

A good way to get tenants is via council housing services. They will pay deposits and advance rent to you and will often agree to pay the monthly rent to you. Best thing is that they never argue about getting damage repaired.

The best bit of advice I can give you though is make sure you see this as a long term investment - you're not going to earn much from the rent !!!! In fact with kitchen upgrades, boiler servicing, gas certificates etc etc you will do well to break even which, if you do, will provide a rather nice tax perk.

 

[DumLum]

The young will have to wait a bit until they're older before they get richer then, instead of having instant gratification.

I always thought thats how it worked, you work hard through your life , by working, investing, taking the odd gamble here and there ( some you win, some you lose).
I always thought you did this , so you could retire and have a relatively comfortable standard of living and maybe, just maybe leave something for your kids and grandkids when you leave this earth.

Apparently, this is criminal to some w@nkers on here, who either are hypocritical just to suit their own political views or just simply don't like to see other people succeed.

Trust me. You did not work harder or have more intelligence than today's younger generation, you just got lucky when you were born.

 

[e77]

Trust me. You did not work harder or have more intelligence than today's younger generation, you just got lucky when you were born.

Which gave:

Job security most people now can only dream of
Final Salary Pensions
Relatively cheap house prices
Free university education

 

[Notters]

Which gave:

Job security most people now can only dream of
Final Salary Pensions
Relatively cheap house prices
Free university education

Not to mention being able to afford to live in Brighton.

 

[Mr Bridger]

Trust me. You did not work harder or have more intelligence than today's younger generation, you just got lucky when you were born.

 

[Vegas Seagull]

Trust me. You did not work harder or have more intelligence than today's younger generation, you just got lucky when you were born.

I guess I got lucky in 87 buying my 1st flat for £33k paying the mortgage for 5 years and selling it for £29k.
What did i do after this unimpressive first go, moan and go renting? No, I jumped up to £90k level, sold for £290k later & bought higher

 

[bardo]

Happy New Year All

I've thought about going down the buy-to-let route for some time now and, if brave enough, will make 2015 the year I commit!

Throughout the normal course of life, I've bought and sold properties (sole residences that I've lived in) and am now in the fortunate position of having a sizable amount of equity.

Rather than ploughing it all back into another residential property, I'm considering downsizing my residential property and using most of the equity to purchase a flat to rent out. (I'd still need some of the equity as a deposit on the residential property which would have to be mortgaged.)

As a beginner landlord, I would use a letting agency to manage the tenants etc. How astronomical are their fees?

I don't have a very high risk appetite; I've worked too hard for too long to risk losing it all now, so I'd want to play it as safe as possible, i.e. flat near Brighton station. But I'm petrified that tenants will trash the place and I'll end up spending any profit on repairs, or worse, end up in debt.

I'd still be working so looking to do this as a sideline to boost my woefully inadequate pension fund!

I do have an appointment with an IFA next week to discuss financials, but just thought I'd try and get some personal experiences, both good and bad, from the wise owls of NSC. Would you recommend it? Have you done and wished you hadn't?

So please share your thoughts, by PM if preferred. I would appreciate it.

Many thanks in advance.

No-brainer in Brighton really. Property predicted to rise by 45% here in next 5 years, the third highest in the country. So plenty of capital gain as well as the rental income (though there is CGT to pay if you sell of course). I do have an agent as I live half an hour away so it's a bit more convenient but they do all the vetting and follow-up on maintenance issues and late rents so suits me. We have student properties rather than residential as you can more or less rely having your property back within a couple of years but in Brighton all central HMO's are licensed at a cost so not been especially lucrative the last couple of years. Never regretted taking it on, especially in Brighton, but plenty of competition for property now even from those who have invested in London property in the past but who can now see the higher gains down this way.

 

[Bozza]

It is a market that massively favours buy to let investors now. You can't blame people for taking advantage. The problem is with the situation as it is now literally every property on the market down here will now be purchased by btl landlords especially at the £ 250k and under level, shutting out ftb's and ftm's.

Yet, the Halifax have said today that more FTBs are jumping aboard the property ladder than any time since 2007 - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-30684286

 

[LamieRobertson]

Yet, the Halifax have said today that more FTBs are jumping aboard the property ladder than any time since 2007 - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-30684286

Hmm...i'm not sure if you are being cryptic or not..that article generally refers to the whole of the country and we know that the housing market can produce varying results depending where you live...take London for example...US was referring to 'down here' which i presume to be Brighton...have a look at that article again and there is a map of the country with a big red splodge referring to unaffordable. Although i wouldn't agree with his assessment of ''literally every property'', i'd say its pretty darn hard.
FTB's down here...best of luck!

 

[e77]

I guess I got lucky in 87 buying my 1st flat for £33k paying the mortgage for 5 years and selling it for £29k.
What did i do after this unimpressive first go, moan and go renting? No, I jumped up to £90k level, sold for £290k later & bought higher

Good on you for doing that but the real value of property is getting on for twice as much now (admittedly nationally that has cooled in the last decade but the south east and London have gone crazy).

 

[Jules]

Personally I would get a BTL in central Hove not Brighton. Renters are.becoming more discerning and want to live in nice quiet areas with good resturants, shops, parks etc not noisy and difficult to park like near.brighton station. Hove is the clear winner for me for likely capital appreciation over next few years. I mean central hove not west hove its poor neighbour.

 

[Jules]

Personally I would get a BTL in central Hove not Brighton. Renters are.becoming more discerning and want to live in nice quiet areas with good resturants, shops, parks etc not noisy and difficult to park like near.brighton station. Hove is the clear winner for me for likely capital appreciation over next few years. I mean central hove not west hove its poor neighbour.

 

[Tesco in Disguise]

To invest in a buy-to-let you have to be a particular type of outrageous ****.

Houses are unusual commodities: everyone needs one, whether they rent or buy. By adding to demand for houses (which you don't need if you already own a home) you drive the price up for those who are trying to buy their only home, and are making houses less affordable for those who only want one.

But then you might make a bit of money out of it, so why would you give a ****.

 

[Lower West Stander]

To invest in a buy-to-let you have to be a particular type of outrageous ****.

Houses are unusual commodities: everyone needs one, whether they rent or buy. By adding to demand for houses (which you don't need if you already own a home) you drive the price up for those who are trying to buy their only home, and are making houses less affordable for those who only want one.

But then you might make a bit of money out of it, so why would you give a ****.

So you wouldn't allow anyone in the country to buy more then one property?

 

[Tesco in Disguise]

So you wouldn't allow anyone in the country to buy more then one property?

Correct.

 

[Ernest]

So you wouldn't allow anyone in the country to buy more then one property?

Why does someone need more than one property ? A house is a home not something to make money out of