is it wise to invest in buy to let now?

poppysarah

nembot wrote: »

There is no housing shortage, only people with a vested interest in the property market are saying this, try a search on rightmove.

There is a shortage of affordable housing both to buy and rent.

mlz1413

colinbloke wrote: »

mixed responses between don't bother with buy to let to go for it if you have plenty of spare cash for different, issues that could crop up.

a couple of questions then

When are property prices likely fall again if at all and if so what % Buy a Crystal Ball. Some think prices will fall further next year, some think they will level out / stagnant, some that the green shots of recovery are growing (not sure how long they will be in power though!)

are stocks and shares and other investments likely to work out better than over paying my own mortgage. You can play the stock market for much smaller sums of money than housing, buy the FT and follow the markets for a while before investing and see if it floats your boat. As with all high risk investments you need to be able to lose the capital put in without it affecting your every day life.

i still feel that there could be something in buy to let, if i start with small property (you will own the most common rental along with many other B2L investors) that i can cover mortgage if it is vacant (from own monthly salary), can cover most repairs up to £5,000 as for problem tennant i would use rental company management service that covers this sort of thing) (check your LA out throughly) if i think longer term investment (min 10 yrs) this surely would be worth a punt (its your money you can spend it how you like) (my jobs going nowhere at present) lots to think about??

It seems from the above your main problem is a dead end job, so why not look into evening classes or distant learning to maximize your earnings or change direction?

Or take on some part time work doing something you do enjoy.

Thrugelmir

colinbloke wrote: »

good point bermuda john about house prices being up to 20% cheaper now than a year or so ago ..... of course they could drop again as the rcession could go w shape ect however what about the housing shortage i keep hearing about even though alot of new houses are being/ have been built aparently it will not be enough or future demand. hence surely property prices will recover 5 years plus any comments?

A common misconception about supply and demand controlling house prices. House prices are driven by the availability of credit. Credit is contracting now and will contract for some years to come. So lenders will be able to cherry pick their risk. Rash lending has had its day. The property market has fundamentally changed.

Thrugelmir

Bermuda_John wrote: »

put it this way, i wouldnt listen to any experts

in 2006 and 2007 nobody predicted a massive recession!!

Housing is a basic need, once the banks get back in shape house prices will rise.

I thihnk it will take around 5 -10 years to recover and then 5 years of boom.

So what do you expect the banks to do differently from today to the future?

Katie-Kat-Kins

edgex wrote: »

student housing:
dont go there
ever

not only are there now some pretty tough regulations to deal with, as well as those laid down by university accommodation offices, there has been, & continues to be built, a lot more purpose-built student accommodation.
these are either built by uni's themselves, or major players in the market.
there is no way that you could ever compete with what they can offer.

That really depends upon your city and the local uni, some unis have very little student accomodation at all. The one I attended could only house foreign student and those with special housing needs, everyone else even first years had to find private rented accomodation. Now it was a few years ago, but I doubt that they have increased the numbers of halls of residence that much! I know the uni in my nearest city has built a lot of halls due to a serious shortage of suitable student housing a few years ago, so if I did decide to look at student housing I would look at a neighbouring city that has two universities.

Katie-Kat-Kins

toby3000 wrote: »

i know it's prying somewhat, but are you still with your husband? In which case you DO have one house already...

Yes I am still with my husband, but we live in a house that he bought outright before we met. The money used to purchase it was his not mine, my name is not on the deeds. Whilst we are very happy and have no intention of splitting up I would have a tough time convincing any court that I had any entitlement to the property if we split up.

mlz1413

KatP wrote: »

That really depends upon your city and the local uni, some unis have very little student accomodation at all. The one I attended could only house foreign student and those with special housing needs, everyone else even first years had to find private rented accomodation. Now it was a few years ago, but I doubt that they have increased the numbers of halls of residence that much! I know the uni in my nearest city has built a lot of halls due to a serious shortage of suitable student housing a few years ago, so if I did decide to look at student housing I would look at a neighbouring city that has two universities.

Do check if the uni's have plans submitted for extra accomodation, I live in a part of town that has all the students and when the Uni built a huge new block of halls last year it had a serious impact on the rentals, quite a few ex-students houses were put up for sale and many others stood empty.

Also remember students who have freshly moved out of home believe their LL to be replacement parents when it comes to things in the house, ie 10pm phone calls that the bulb has gone and they are revising or how do you work the heating.

I'd try and get post-grad students as these have rented and studied before.

colinbloke

Harry Powells example gives me some optimism in the idea of buy to let. yes i have an offset mortgage and would like to be debt free, i also have an enjoyable job but prospects for decent pay increase are limited, i do not have the flexibilty to train for a new job at present thats why im looking for a additional income even if i dont see returns for several years

mlz1413

colinbloke wrote: »

. i also have an enjoyable job but prospects for decent pay increase are limited, i do not have the flexibilty to train for a new job at present thats why im looking for a additional income even if i dont see returns for several years

Have a look at Zopa, might be a way to get additional income for less capital risk. Could help you to an ultimate goal.

If you do go into B2L ensure you have a knowledge of the rules of letting, using a LA is not a get out clause and currently anyone can open a LA business.

mewbie_2

Thermidor wrote: »

In 10 years from now all properties will be worth at least double (or even treble) what they're worth now.

Absolute crap.

What do you think UK wages will be in ten years? Double or treble?

You are in cloud cuckoo land.