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Accidental landlady, or "How I made £200k"
super.landlady
Posts: 38 Forumite
So many problems and failures on this board, thought everyone might like to be cheered, entertained or maybe even inspired by my story. So grab a coffee and hear how I fell into a career as a professional landlady by complete accident.
In 1996 I owned no property. I had been living with my boyfriend in his flat, which he sold in order to release himself from having to pay the mortgage, so he could go to university. This left us both homeless and, as he had given me a free home for three years, I intended to repay the favour by housing him for three years.
All I had was £3k in savings and a blue collar job. I found the cheapest possible flat, which was £12k, and applied for a 100% mortgage. This was refused as, owing to some law, mortgages had to be for £15,001 or more. So I offered the vendor £3k more for the flat but to my utter amazement they turned it down. The vendor was a building society that had repo'd the place, and the sale price was to be £12k, no more no less. So I borrowed £9k from my boyfriend and, together with my £3k savings, bought the flat for cash. I repaid him at £300pm for three years and also put £2k a year away in savings.
In 1999 I bought a six-roomed, three storey terraced house for £58k on a £52k mortgage. The house needed quite a bit of work, which I planned to enjoy doing (mostly by myself) at a leisurely pace in my free time. I moved into the house and let the flat for £350pm, which covered the mortgage payments on the house.
At this point, I had a serious accident at work and lost my job because I was no longer able to carry out the required tasks. No matter how many vacancies I applied for, I could not get another job. Eventually they sent me to be assessed by the DSS doctor and he decided that my injury qualified me for Incapacity Benefit, so I no longer had to sign on and go through the soul-destroying process of repeatedly being rejected by employers.
The court warded me £12k industrial injury compensation and I spent it making the whole house habitable. Rather than scraping by on IB, as each of the three spare bedrooms became finished and furnished, I let them (and use of the house) to lodgers. By 2001 I had three rooms let and over ten years I have made over £100k from letting rooms to lodgers.
In 2007, after trouble with a tenant, I sold the flat (bought for £12k) for £70k, and used the profit to pay off the mortgage on the house, and invested the remainder in ISAs, bonds, etc. I add to that by putting all my spare money away and my nestegg has grown to £75k.
The house I spent £58k buying and £12k improving is now worth £175k.
I currently get £230 pw from rents. I pay tax by self assessment and offset many of the household expenses against the income. I no longer claim IB.
And so that is how I fell into a career as a landlady by accident.
The three most wonderful things about my new life are, firstly, I am protected from the terrible things going on in the employment market: I cannot lose my job due to the recession, be made redundant or sacked. I don't have to go on endless, pointless and soul destroying interviews, "sell" myself to some crappy employer, or suck up to some horrible boss telling me what to do for 40 hours a week. I don't have to retire at 65 and suddenly have a huge reduction in my income; I can keep this up so long as I am able to climb stairs. People will always need somewhere to live cheaply. Secondly, I no longer have to waste my life in the daily blue collar shiftwork that I used to do. Each day I get up and can please myself what I do, seven days a week. Released from the routine, tedious daily grind, I am instead able to pursue my hobbies and interests full time, and have written (and published) five books. Thirdly, I can go on days out, trips away, and holidays as often as I like, and there is always someone here to feed the cat. My lodgers are lovely and help me to carry heavy things or get them down from high shelves. It's a comfort when I hear a noise in the middle of the night to know I'm not alone in the house.
If anyone has any questions I'd be happy to answer them.
In 1996 I owned no property. I had been living with my boyfriend in his flat, which he sold in order to release himself from having to pay the mortgage, so he could go to university. This left us both homeless and, as he had given me a free home for three years, I intended to repay the favour by housing him for three years.
All I had was £3k in savings and a blue collar job. I found the cheapest possible flat, which was £12k, and applied for a 100% mortgage. This was refused as, owing to some law, mortgages had to be for £15,001 or more. So I offered the vendor £3k more for the flat but to my utter amazement they turned it down. The vendor was a building society that had repo'd the place, and the sale price was to be £12k, no more no less. So I borrowed £9k from my boyfriend and, together with my £3k savings, bought the flat for cash. I repaid him at £300pm for three years and also put £2k a year away in savings.
In 1999 I bought a six-roomed, three storey terraced house for £58k on a £52k mortgage. The house needed quite a bit of work, which I planned to enjoy doing (mostly by myself) at a leisurely pace in my free time. I moved into the house and let the flat for £350pm, which covered the mortgage payments on the house.
At this point, I had a serious accident at work and lost my job because I was no longer able to carry out the required tasks. No matter how many vacancies I applied for, I could not get another job. Eventually they sent me to be assessed by the DSS doctor and he decided that my injury qualified me for Incapacity Benefit, so I no longer had to sign on and go through the soul-destroying process of repeatedly being rejected by employers.
The court warded me £12k industrial injury compensation and I spent it making the whole house habitable. Rather than scraping by on IB, as each of the three spare bedrooms became finished and furnished, I let them (and use of the house) to lodgers. By 2001 I had three rooms let and over ten years I have made over £100k from letting rooms to lodgers.
In 2007, after trouble with a tenant, I sold the flat (bought for £12k) for £70k, and used the profit to pay off the mortgage on the house, and invested the remainder in ISAs, bonds, etc. I add to that by putting all my spare money away and my nestegg has grown to £75k.
The house I spent £58k buying and £12k improving is now worth £175k.
I currently get £230 pw from rents. I pay tax by self assessment and offset many of the household expenses against the income. I no longer claim IB.
And so that is how I fell into a career as a landlady by accident.
The three most wonderful things about my new life are, firstly, I am protected from the terrible things going on in the employment market: I cannot lose my job due to the recession, be made redundant or sacked. I don't have to go on endless, pointless and soul destroying interviews, "sell" myself to some crappy employer, or suck up to some horrible boss telling me what to do for 40 hours a week. I don't have to retire at 65 and suddenly have a huge reduction in my income; I can keep this up so long as I am able to climb stairs. People will always need somewhere to live cheaply. Secondly, I no longer have to waste my life in the daily blue collar shiftwork that I used to do. Each day I get up and can please myself what I do, seven days a week. Released from the routine, tedious daily grind, I am instead able to pursue my hobbies and interests full time, and have written (and published) five books. Thirdly, I can go on days out, trips away, and holidays as often as I like, and there is always someone here to feed the cat. My lodgers are lovely and help me to carry heavy things or get them down from high shelves. It's a comfort when I hear a noise in the middle of the night to know I'm not alone in the house.
If anyone has any questions I'd be happy to answer them.
0
Comments
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Oh god you're going to get crucified run now !0
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All that for about a grand a month? I'll stick to having a proper job, ta...0
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Oh well I suppose if you are happy good for you
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The_Drama_Llama wrote: »All that for about a grand a month? I'll stick to having a proper job, ta...
Firstly, not sure what you mean by "all that for a grand a month". All what? The only "work" I have to do is advertise for and interview new lodgers, that takes me a couple of hour once a year on average. I think £10k a year is pretty good money for a couple of hours work.
The lodgers do their own cooking and laundry etc. I employ a cleaner so I don't even do housework any more.
Where I live, there are about 300 people chasing every blue collar job. Even if I could land one at my advanced age, I'd be lucky to get £7 an houror £13k a year, for which I would have to attend 5 days a week and give up 7 hours of every day, all the while putting on a false smile and putting up with the General Public again. No thanks!0 -
good for you having taken the risk and now reaping the rewards,
not being blue collar myself however I could not live on that money if I had nothing to do all day but spend it, my pension will be bigger than that when I retire and I'll also have rental income to supplement it
each to their own and each from their own perspective0 -
"however I could not live on that money if I had nothing to do all day but spend it"
I've spent most of my time the last few years studying a certain subject and have written books about it. I published them myself and they have all made a profit, so my daytimes are busy AND make me money. I also make a bit giving talks on the same subject to societies and universities.
What do you spend so much money on?
After all household expenses I have over £150pw to spend just on myself. I feel like a millionairess!0 -
You're brave!
(Or perhaps you don't know that you've just put your head in the lion's mouth!)0 -
You came on here, with a very upbeat, inspiring story. And some of the replies, I think, are supposed to make you feel like what you have is in some way less than enough. If you're happy with your life (and it really comes across as though you are!), then good for you!! It's difficult for others who want more, to understand how you can possibly be happy with what you have. Happiness and self satisfaction scares some folks (and probably brings out the green eyed monster a little too, if truth be told). Let them chase more, you sound very content, good for you.0
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Well done you - It's always nice to hear someone talking about being content with what they have. You have achieved a level of freedom that many people would envy. I certainly would like not to have to go to work every day. There are plenty of other things I would prefer to do with my time! ( I am working on it). You take satisfaction from studying and writing about something you like, and even make some money from it. I wish you well.Sealed pot Challenge 2011 member No 1241 - Final total £154.21
Sealed Pot Challenge 2012 - No.0 -
Yawn, yawn, yawn!0
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