Accidental landlady, or "How I made £200k"

shellsuit

Good for you OP!

You had a bit of cash, you used your brain and now you can reap the benefits.

If I'd had that £3K you started off with, I would have blew it on a holiday lol

super.landlady

quintwins wrote: »

i guess it depends on how you want to live as couple

atleast you can thank your ex for giving you that wee push (and loan) to get on the property ladder

Hello Quin! Well my b/f and I don't want to live together full time so it works out perfectly for us.

My ex indeed has a special place in my heart for lending me that £9k and pushing me back into property owning by giving up his flat. (I had previously been an owner-occupier, but lost everything in my 30s ... very long story!)

SuzieSue

super.landlady wrote: »

I will henceforth totally ignore people who come on here purely to flaunt their jealousy with nastiness towards someone who has managed to get herself off state benefits.

Of course you should ignore them - why would you consider doing anything else?

Anyway, congratulations on becoming self sufficient. I wouldn't want to share my house with lodgers, but everyone is different.

A lot of what you have achieved has a lot to do with timing and that has been the case for what I have achieved too - I was born at the right time and I do feel sorry for today's youngsters.

super.landlady

prosaver wrote: »

why do they only last a year?

They only do in your imagination. What I said was, the current ones have ALL been here for more than a year.

Lodgers stay for different terms, from a few months to several years. My longest stayed almost five years, my shortest was four months (short term work contract with the local council - who, incidentally, paid me his entire rent in advance). People's lives change, nearly all mine left owing to either getting a job elsewhere, deciding to move in with (or marry) their romantic partner, or to return to their native country after living and working in the UK for a while.

It's the flexibility of being able to move fairly quickly that makes people choose a house-share in the first place rather than taking on a tenancy and getting encumbered with having to buy furniture etc.

onehitwonder

Ignore all the negative comments. Well done.
:beer:

flecker

super.landlady wrote: »

Someone sent me a PM to say that, when people are happy in their own lives, they are able to be empathetically happy when other people are able to find similar contentment.

And, conversely, when people hate their lives they cannot bear to see others happy, and will out of sheer jealousy and resentment always jeer at the happy and successful people.

I will henceforth totally ignore people who come on here purely to flaunt their jealousy with nastiness towards someone who has managed to get herself off state benefits.

That was a conveniently timed PM...

Assuming you're referring to me as one of the jealous ones, I am also lucky enough to own my home outright, be self-employed and generally be fairly happy. I just don't want to start a thread flaunting the fact on a forum where many are finding themselves unable to buy, largely because us lucky ones have cumulatively done well at their expense.

Each to their own I spose.

simpywimpy

I also commend your success. Well done - would love to be able to say I did the same thing. Ive just bought two houses locally in the hope of providing a nice retirement income.

super.landlady

SuzieSue wrote: »

Of course you should ignore them - why would you consider doing anything else?

Anyway, congratulations on becoming self sufficient. I wouldn't want to share my house with lodgers, but everyone is different.

A lot of what you have achieved has a lot to do with timing and that has been the case for what I have achieved too - I was born at the right time and I do feel sorry for today's youngsters.

Thanks for the thumbs up Suzie.

I suppose I was brought up to face my critics, take on board what they say and respond. However, some of the comments on here are so plain stupid that I am wasting my time trying to give reasonable responses to idiotic comments.

Probably everyone's success in anything is to do with timing and chance -- bringing out the right product at just the right time, buying the paper that contained the advert for a job that lead to higher things...

My story is called Accidental Landlady. I am not claiming to have been "clever" or to have plotted and planned out the way things transpired. It was all circumstantial and accidental. Even the timing was chosen by my ex going to uni. I just blundered along, making a few decisions that at the time didn't seem THAT lifechanging, but only were in hindsight. Buying this big house drew criticism from friends and family who thought I was mad taking on such a huge place just for myself. Sustaining a serious injury at work (proved in court to have been the employer's fault) that resulted in months of physical incapacity then in losing a job I'd held for 20 years could not possibly have been predicted.

I also feel sorry for today's youngsters. When I left school in the early seventies, despite having no qualifications I had my pick of hundreds of jobs and I walked straight into a good job with prospects, where on-the-job training was given while on full pay. My elder sister used to casually chuck in job one day and walk into another the very next day. These were the golden years for the workforce, now it is utter misery for everyone and the bosses have got the upper hand.

SuzieSue

super.landlady wrote: »

TEven the timing was chosen by my ex going to uni.

Yes, I've done ok out of property (but not as well as you), but again, it was due to my ex changing jobs at the right time, so nothing to do with my judgement whatsoever.

NEH

Whilst this is an inspring story and all that, some people can't live on 10K a year without struggling and without giving up all holidays, social life and everything else and your story would have remained inspriring until you got to the bit about how everyone who is struggling must be smoking or drinking their money away that's what really put me off, that sort of smug attitude, well i've done well and anyone else who say they are struggling is a drinker or a smoker...We've struggled with the recession, been hit very badly from all sides and after a crushing budget last week we face more uncertainty, we don't drink very much at all and we don't smoke.......

I may have read your post wrong and if i have i apologise but i think you should have finished your story (which could have given others hope) and then left it without criticising others....