Buying to let -- any advice please?

bundly

Thank you Firefox for your time and effort.

"if you pay a low service charge you will get a low standard of service"

The two flats I used to rent locally had no service charges at all. In both cases I and the other leaseholders just apportioned the cost of repairs as and when. Neither were in blocks but conversions. But yes, of course I would look into this very closely. When viewing, if the communal areas look shabby that would be a red light to me, and before buying I would want to know all the details of who looks after what and at what cost. The place I mentioned with the £1,500 service charge is Marine Court, a famous building on the seafront of St Leonards. THere are two flats on the market there, one at 60k the other 70k.

As I said earlier it's not just service charge "out of the rental income you will have to pay service charges and ground rent, buildings and landlords insurance, income tax, repairs and safety certificates ... voids and non-payers." Have you priced all these up?

Well of course not, it's not possible to price them up until you have a property in mind. But yes I know they exist thank you for pointing them all out. I did used to pay all these things in the flats I used to rent, of course. My boyfriend owns and lives in a flat and his service charge is £1480 pa and includes ground rent and buildings insurance as well as water rates. Presumably I could ask the tenant to pay the water rates part of it if this was the case with the place I buy?

bundly

Yes Mr Deadman, I think Mr Brock is extremely jealous of my modest 60k (believe me, it does not feel like a lot when you have no job, it's only 2 years wages for the job I used to do before the accident).

He calls me "greedy", though I currently live very frugally on less than £5k a year and don't even have a car. I think that exposes him, and explains exactly why he is so nasty to me and so against my trying to increase the measly 3% I am getting on my investment to about 7%.

Brock, your jealousy is not wanted here.

bundly

HAMISH_MCTAVISH wrote: »

This thread has been linked to from hpc.co.uk, a vehemently anti-BTL site.

What is HPC? I have never heard of it, and I have never posted to it, how can it have my thread on it?

THANKS HAMISH -- nice to have a bit of balance on this thread -- I like the warnings, and I like the thumbs-up, too.

Hamish and Deadman have nothing to gain from encouraging me.

Yes I think Brock does seem extremely envious of my very modest savings. I have savings because I am frugal, don't smoke, don't drink, lead a simple life, don't run a car etc.

ThrowingStonesAtYou

Deadman wrote: »

IMO there's never been a better time to buy property.

What about 1995?

Deadman wrote: »

Good luck. You certainly sound savvy and unlike most you're thinking outside the box. Get in there before the market booms again!

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

bundly

Brock_Landers wrote: »

One that is paid in part by the tax payer?

Partly. But two-thirds of my income I earn myself. I see you are also extremely jealous of the money I get in Incapacity Benefit. Are you also jealous of the accident I had at work? No? Sorry mate you cannot have one without the other!

I think Brock you must be in a very poor, probably desperate situation in your life if you are so eaten up with envy for a woman who is living on benefits and has only two years' wages put by as savings and cannot even afford to run a car! LOL

bundly

Please leave the thread Brock you have nothing to contribute and are like a playground bully. You will henceforth be ignored. Go and get a life instead of telling people like me not to have one!

roseland69

This has got to be a wind up!

ThrowingStonesAtYou

Sorry but I think this is a terrible idea, you stand to lose everything. If you spend all your savings on this and a tenant trashes the place how are you going to pay to fix it up? If this venture fails you appear to have nothing to fall back on (ie you don't earn much) - and BTL, as any 'get-rich-quick' scheme that comes to public knowledge, has become heavily over-subscribed and any decent money that was available isn't going to be there now, you are far too late on the scene.

granville_2

Bundly,

It sounds like you have already made your mind up. Please can you report back to this forum on your BTL progress? Why don't you prove all the naysayers wrong?

Personally I think there are many other less stressful ways of working £60k harder than having it sit in a simple savings account. But hey, ymmv.

missile

bundly wrote: »

Missile: I take your point about bad tenants, but when you say "the amount of effort" - what do you mean? Househunting or what?

I could write a book on the things which you need to know and the time you will spend on things you have not even begun to think about. The learning curve for a newbie LL can be steep :eek:

If buying to let is so terrible why do so many people do it successfully?

You seem to know your local rental market as a tennant. How much research have you done on this as a business opportunity?

Please tell us how you have estimated the return for your investment. Show us a link to a properties similar to what you have in mind which is available for sale / rent @ £X.

You should be aware that many experienced LL are making a loss. There was a spot on TV about the housing market. They commented that many BTL investers were broke and forced to sell property at any price, further depressing the housing market.

By all means disregard the advice you have been given, but please note I and others have been there done that and we are sincere in our comments. :A