BTLs, are you planning to sell?

chucknorris

thekashmiriking wrote: »

Hi people! Just to let you know...Mrs Rukhsana Kashmiri happens to be my mother lol and alot of what you are presuming is not true. My mum didnt try to evict them because the tenants kept giving excuses and false promises which never materialised. This went on for the most part of a year because my mum was being reasonable with them thinking they would pay up. It has now come to a point where she is fed up and wants either the rent she is owed or for them to move out. She only went on the BBC News because they said it would get them out quicker...lol. So there's the true story!!
CYA!!

That is exactly what I assumed had happened, she should have never listened to promises of payment, if someone is already 2 months behind, then it's time to instigate eviction proceedings. If payment is then forthcoming eviction proceedings can always be cancelled later.

Sorry your mother had to learn the hard way, I hope she gets over it soon, I think she will feel better as eviction proceeds and she nears closure of what must have been a very stressfull time.

the_ash_and_the_oak

Agree it can be a good idea to go into one asset class when large numbers are trying to leave it.

Except I don't think large numbers are trying to leave it. Not that many flats for sale really, low interest rates helping ensure more people are able to hold on to what they have, pretty low repossession rate (except maybe some city centre flats possibly), sentiment not really taken a knock at all. One of two major reasons why transactions are so low. Think most will hold now

Thrugelmir

julieq wrote: »

You're splitting hairs Thrugelmir, and (incidentally) you're also talking rubbish about blackjack - if you "know your odds", you know that you can't win at blackjack in a fair game because of the house edge.

No casino would let a professional player play AT ALL if they thought he was card counting, still less advance a credit line or let him play on his own, he would be shown the door with extreme prejudice because he would be changing a 2% or so edge in favour of the casino into a similar or greater margin in favour of himself; rather like lending a bank robber money to buy a facemask and a sawn off shotgun and giving him a fasttrack pass in the queue for the teller. So your story about watching a professional blackjack player is a fabrication from start to finish.

I'm not a BTL investor.

You can get into a lot of cause and effect arguments on interest rates, but you're putting words into my mouth. I never said that interest rates track inflation, I said that the availability of cheap money tends to drive inflation up, which therefore tends to drive BOE rates up as a control mechanism.

[EDIT on rereading my original post: the comment on the relationship between interest rates and currency values wasn't really developed in my arguments, but that was hooking back into a discussion by DD on 15% interest rates, which was a peak rate for a very short period of time at a time of high and rising inflation when sterling was being shoehorned into the ERM. As I deleted the original comments I didn't develop the argument and it wasn't central to what I was saying anyway].

Interest rates are adjusted to control inflation up or down: as we near deflation BOE interest rates go down. What causes inflation is excessive demand in the economy (i.e. spending), what causes deflation is insufficient demand (i.e. lack of spending) therefore reduction in interest rates is explicitly to stimulate spending. Unless I've missed something?

The sorry was true with reference to gambling and happened aboard a ship out of Fort Lauderdale. The entire Casino crew were English. I was among about a dozen Brits on the ship. The Casino loved the guy being on board as he was an attraction. He may have won a little but there were plenty of over punters who lost big time.

I did make an error in my original post as I should have referred to Baccarat as opposed to Blackjack. So apologies for that. Blackjack is weighted heavily in favour of the bank.

Not that I'm a gambler myself I should add first. The way that Casinos get round card counting is deal out of six or eight deck shoes, and only deal so far through the shoe before discarding. However if you can count dealt cards and have a brain trained to recalculate odds then the odds swing in your favour.

Thrugelmir

julieq wrote: »

Shares at the moment appear to be rising, and house prices are falling, so the obvious thing to do is to try to get in at "the bottom" of the share market and ride the wave up. However dividend income from shares is depressed because of the downturn, and the capital growth is fragile. There is a high risk of volatility. A little punting on well chosen shares may be worth looking at, but investing in indexes would be hugely risky. On the other hand occupancy rates in housing are high and capital costs and competition for housing stock is low. Looks a reasonable bet to me. But if you're trying to win the big bet and calling the bottom of the market then you may well miss the opportunity.

You made a number of valid points earlier in your post. (Which I deleted for the sake of repetition).

However you made a few points in the last paragragh which I found interesting.

With regards to shares. A considerable number of companies have maintained or increased their dividends despite a fall in share prices. By buying shares in smaller parcels the risk of buying at the wrong point of time is reduced. As a share investor investor myself, I buy for the longer term. The market fluctuates daily so pointless in trying to surf the waves. Also having mutliple holdings allows me to sell out a particular stock depending on my view of it. Shares may be risky but as you aware it is possible to mitigate risk. My collective holdings in Investment Trusts had zero exposure to financial stocks with high exposure to the UK mortgage market. So their were investment managers who were concerned even prior to the demise of Northern Rock. I read their views, concurred with them so let them look after some of my investments. I don't take any credit for this other than taking time out to read a wide spectrum of analysis.

With regard to BTL, by which I assume you mean leveraged investment as opposed to outright capital purchase. By leveraging alone you are increasing risk. As the capital value of the asset will rise or fall significantly more. The risks of BTL property can be summarised as (a) capital risk (b) interest rate flutuations (c) void rental periods (d) defaulting tenants. The BTL property market was the place to be over the past 10 years. Now the bull market has run its course. The conditions for which will unlikely ever return again.

For individuals with capital, property is a sound investment in a balanced portfolio. My share portfolio is within a pension plan and and ISA so at least is tax efficient also.