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

Angela_D_3

super.landlady wrote: »

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!)

Of course you don't it will affect your benefits for a start

smerch1468

super.landlady wrote: »

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.

What I want to know is where in the UK can you buy a 6 bedroom house for £175k! In that case I want to upsize from my overpriced property in London and live of the fat of the land!

flecker

OK, this thread is now officially hilarious, in the same way that the "Buyers are camped in our garden over Christmas" thread was. Only with less self-awareness.

The_Drama_Llama

Just what is the point of this thread? To tell us we're all mugs for not buying however many years ago? To let us know you can ease your financial situation by taking lodgers? I'm sure most people know that, but they either don't have the extra room or don't want to share their house with strangers.

I could easily start a thread about how I managed to avoid having to pay rent or a mortgage for 10 years by living in a property owned by my family...but really...what would be the point?

SuzieSue

super.landlady wrote: »

Some questions for all the nice, decent people on here:

1. Do you think I would have received more or less venom if I lived on state benefits instead of taking in lodgers?

2. As the critics attack people on benefits (on other threads) AND people who take in lodgers to make a living, they must have a blueprint of how we all ought to be making a living, so they can attack anyone who lives any other way. What exactly is that blueprint?

I really don't know and I don't really care, but I can't believe the negative comments you have received to your posting. Some people have just got enormous chips on their shoulders and can't be happy for anyone who is doing better than they are. As you said, you just need to ignore them - you only need to answer to yourself and not to them, so as long as you are happy and living decently, that is all that matters.

You made some choices in life which worked out well for you and suit your lifestyle and personality and if other people don't like that, then it's their problem.

There is nothing you have said in any of your posts which makes me thing that you are anything other than a decent person, so don't dwell on the negative comments as you are giving these people too much power just by answering their comments.

LandyAndy

super.landlady wrote: »

Some questions for all the nice, decent people on here:

1. Do you think I would have received more or less venom if I lived on state benefits instead of taking in lodgers?

2. As the critics attack people on benefits (on other threads) AND people who take in lodgers to make a living, they must have a blueprint of how we all ought to be making a living, so they can attack anyone who lives any other way. What exactly is that blueprint?

You are quite well informed for someone who joined this forum yesterday.

Gwhiz

The_Drama_Llama wrote: »

Just what is the point of this thread? To tell us we're all mugs for not buying however many years ago? To let us know you can ease your financial situation by taking lodgers? I'm sure most people know that, but they either don't have the extra room or don't want to share their house with strangers.

I could easily start a thread about how I managed to avoid having to pay rent or a mortgage for 10 years by living in a property owned by my family...but really...what would be the point?

It's all about attention seeking. Surely it's obvious

super.landlady

smerch1468 wrote: »

What I want to know is where in the UK can you buy a 6 bedroom house for £175k! In that case I want to upsize from my overpriced property in London and live of the fat of the land!

I don't know about six. My house has four bedrooms and is in a small town on the south coast, if that is any help. I just looked quickly on rightmove and saw 4-bed houses for £175k in Sheerness, Ashford, Folkestone, Cliftonville, Southend, Clacton, Chatham, Rochester, Deal, Ramsgate, Harwich and Hythe.

Mine might be worth more now, I haven't had it valued for a few years. Mind you prices went up then down again, didn't they? I just checked my own town on rightmove and there are loads of 4 bed places for £160-180k.

super.landlady

LandyAndy wrote: »

You are quite well informed for someone who joined this forum yesterday.

Thank you. It is not necessary to JOIN this forum in order to read the threads on it, which I have been doing for a few days before signing up.

The_Blue_Hatter

Well if you're happy earning the amount you're earning, living in effectively a one bedroom bedsit where you share the majority of amenities then all power to you.

I have a 100k mortgage, work full time as does my wife and have a child of 3. I enjoy going to the pub and I enjoy spending my time and money on my little girl. (would loved to have bought a house in 1996 however I dont think my teacher would have let me out of school for the viewings and my paper round money would take a while to save for a decent deposit!).

I dont find either way to live "right" or "wrong", just different.

I dont find your story in any way inspirational and you seem, imho to have a very inflated sense of your own "achievements". Im happy in my life as you are in your own but I imagine you dont socialise too much because you are (to most people) a little boring and plenty annoying.

I might be wrong but its only my opinion, just like it was only your opinion that your story might be inspirational.