The BTL explosion - was it all just about money?

dandy-candy

I know a couple of people who have btl a second house as an investment which they felt would be a better bet than paying into a pension, but likewise I know a really nasty piece who has loads of bloody awful houses in terrible areas which he turned into bedsits for DHSS (or whatever it's called now) - he's totally in it for raking in the money; so I guess you get all sorts.

Generali

stevetodd wrote: »

Fully agree, if I had my time over again I would probably be an RSPCA inspector (although a vet would be another alternative)

AIUI, it's harder to become a vet than a doctor in the UK.

dandy-candy

FungusFighter wrote: »

Sorry mate but that's botox and you know it

We all do it, how soon do you work into the conversation with someone, er, what do you do mate? and then judge the poor sod acordingly?:beer:

Oh and just to add on this subject I was at a wedding once and sat with strangers, the guy next to me asked what I did and when I said I was a stay at home mum he literally curled his nose and turned away - he didn't talk to me again the whole time and I just thought "How pathetic". In that instant I knew I was worth 10 of him regardless of money/job.

stevetodd

Generali wrote: »

AIUI, it's harder to become a vet than a doctor in the UK.

Yes I know, I even consider it when I was 40, but too many years studying for too little years qualified afterwards. Not to mention it might have been a bit more difficult to get that first placement (as some more senior younger vets might not have thought it was ideal to have an older understudy), although as it would have been a labour of love it's always possible to price yourself in.

Generali

dandy-candy wrote: »

Oh and just to add on this subject I was at a wedding once and sat with strangers, the guy next to me asked what I did and when I said I was a stay at home mum he literally curled his nose and turned away - he didn't talk to me again the whole time and I just thought "How pathetic". In that instant I knew I was worth 10 of him regardless of money/job.

When I was asked that once I became more senior I used to 'lie'. Not in a big way but give an ambiguous description of my job that could most easily be interpreted as me being a 'nobody'.

It was interesting to watch reactions, especially at 'smart' do's (does?)

PS !!!!!! is the plural of a 'do' as in Party?

stevetodd

Generali wrote: »

When I was asked that once I became more senior I used to 'lie'. Not in a big way but give an ambiguous description of my job that could most easily be interpreted as me being a 'nobody'.

It was interesting to watch reactions, especially at 'smart' do's (does?)

PS !!!!!! is the plural of a 'do' as in Party?

I know what you mean when people ask me 'what car do you drive' I used to love saying a 10 year old Mondeo. As to me cars are just to get me from a to b (definitely not a status symbol). So I usually buy a one year old car and drive it into the ground (usually 9-10 years). It's suprising how many people make assumptions about you just based on your car.

PasturesNew

It's about braggability, so money.

Braggability is: how little one has to do to make the most money. It doesn't matter what you do so long as you are making good money for little apparent effort. BTL landlording was just easier as they didn't need particular skills/eye (it seemed to them) and they could do it on borrowed money.

Imagine trying to borrow money from the bank to: "go to auction, buy some old plates, shine them up then sell them on again for a profit". Not possible, so if you wanted to make money flogging antiques, you'd give up and go buy a BTL. No money down. Free ride.

Easy money. Free money. Money for nothing. Do nothing and earn a fortune.

It was all about bragging and the money.

PasturesNew

Generali wrote: »

AIUI, it's harder to become a vet than a doctor in the UK.

Vets and Doctors are doing the same job - but vets are having to do it without being able to ask the patient where it hurts. A Doctor can get more feedback from a human and then send them off to a specialist more easily. A vet's got to work out what's wrong from the clues only - and there will be less specialists to go to so they will need to diagnose a bit closer in the first attempt themselves.

Also, humans are all the same. Animals have different physiologies, so a vet treating a bird for a broken leg will need different knowledge than treating a pig for a broken leg. So you have to learn all those differences.

Vets also have to learn to put animals down ... unfortunately Doctors can't do the same service Except at the Shipman practice.

Cleaver

PasturesNew wrote: »

It's about braggability, so money.

Braggability is: how little one has to do to make the most money. It doesn't matter what you do so long as you are making good money for little apparent effort. BTL landlording was just easier as they didn't need particular skills/eye (it seemed to them) and they could do it on borrowed money.

Imagine trying to borrow money from the bank to: "go to auction, buy some old plates, shine them up then sell them on again for a profit". Not possible, so if you wanted to make money flogging antiques, you'd give up and go buy a BTL. No money down. Free ride.

Easy money. Free money. Money for nothing. Do nothing and earn a fortune.

It was all about bragging and the money.

Well, for some, possibly.

Very few of my friends and certainly no one I work with, or meet anywhere else, has a clue that I rent a house out. I stay very quiet about it because I think talking about it makes me sound like some sort of flash tw*t (which I'm not).

I think there's a lot of truth in what you say, but is that really an issue? You're basically saying that people saw an opportunity to make money from not doing a lot. Like investing in the stock market, gold, the lottery, being a computer programmer...

And banks do fund people to go and buy antiques at auction and resell them - they are called antiques dealers.

stevetodd

Cleaver wrote: »

Well, for some, possibly.

Very few of my friends and certainly no one I work with, or meet anywhere else, has a clue that I rent a house out. I stay very quiet about it because I think talking about it makes me sound like some sort of flash tw*t (which I'm not).

I think there's a lot of truth in what you say, but is that really an issue? You're basically saying that people saw an opportunity to make money from not doing a lot. Like investing in the stock market, gold, the lottery, being a computer programmer...

And banks do fund people to go and buy antiques at auction and resell them - they are called antiques dealers.

I didn't tell them at work too as some people get jealous and it creates problems, word soon gets out though when your mobile rings about a maintenance item or in response to an advert.