Becoming a Landlord - is it worth the hassle?

Yorkie1

OP, you have posted that your mortgage payments are £300 per month. You will doubtless be on a residential mortgage. Have you checked whether your current lender will give consent to let and, if so, whether there is any 'loading' on the interest rate?

dimbo61

Its about38 miles and about 1 hour to travel from stockport to chesterfield.
I would buy a cat basket and put the 2 moggies in the back of the car.
Let them out at lunch time on a lead if you think they will run off.
Or set up a cat litter box at home ( how many hours a day will you be working 8/10/12 hour shifts) or a normal working day.
Put the house on the market after xmas at a price to sell and look what's available in Chesterfield

whalster

Being a landlord for me is a great job however in your situation as hasbeen said above I thnk I would try and sell, infact I think I woud part ex it for a new build but drive a hard deal with them .
Today I have had 5 calls five different tenants its all part of the job and if you were not at hand then its not for you .As has been said above stay away from agents landlords hate them tenants hate them .

sghughes42

dimbo61 wrote: »

Its about38 miles and about 1 hour to travel from stockport to chesterfield.
I would buy a cat basket and put the 2 moggies in the back of the car.
Let them out at lunch time on a lead if you think they will run off.
Or set up a cat litter box at home ( how many hours a day will you be working 8/10/12 hour shifts) or a normal working day.
Put the house on the market after xmas at a price to sell and look what's available in Chesterfield

38 miles it may be, but that is across the top of the Peak District on roads that can be difficult at times. The fastest I've driven it so far is 1h15 and that was really getting a shift on with no traffic. I'd estimate I'd need to allow 1h45 in the morning to be sure of being on time and 1h30 in the evening to get home. Over 16 hours a week, not to mention over £250 a month in petrol.

If it were summer I may do it. If there was a motorway or even a decent A road between the two I'd be very tempted. As it is, I've ruled that option out for anything other than a week or two if I can't locate anything in time.

You also seem to be assuming I can find a buyer and get out of the chain within a few months. If I do struggle to sell - and being in a chain could make the process longer - I certainly would not want to be doing that commute long term.

The best bet seems to be to rent in Chesterfield and be chain-free for once I've got to know the area and know where to look to buy.

sghughes42

Thanks all, I think I'll put the house on the market as a first step, and if I'm struggling to get any buyers by the summer then I'll look more seriously in to renting it out. If I were in a better situation with the mortgage I'd be more tempted to keep it on, as it stands it would be too long before I started seeing decent returns and as I'm not really in a position to plan long-term at the moment I think it best not to go down that route unless I have no option.

missile

Being a newbie LL is hard work and there are serious risks which can impact not only on your wealth. Managing a property in Stockport whilst living in Chesterfield will be difficult.

I would suggest you should be devoting your energies to that new career.

Turnbull2000

Get it right and get decent tenants, it's essentially money for very little effort. That property could provide you with a good income later in life - an equivalent income through a pension would cost you tens of thousands of pounds. Keep it.

Road_Hog

Turnbull2000 wrote: »

Get it right and get decent tenants, it's essentially money for very little effort. That property could provide you with a good income later in life - an equivalent income through a pension would cost you tens of thousands of pounds. Keep it.

^
What he said.

nembot

I became a first time landlord approximately 4 years ago, during that time I've had two sets of tenants with no real difficulties even when the boiler packed in last xmas. This is one of the caveats many will use as an unknown costs when renting property, however this situation was resolved with a years repair contract with British Gas at a cost of £20 per month and apparently there are even cheaper options now available.

The most important aspect of renting property is to vet your potential tenants, i.e. credit check (with consent) previous landlord references and where necessary character references from suitable persons. I heard so many scare stories about renting property which put me off initially, but I bit the bullet and haven't looked back.

In essence, fail to prepare or prepare to fail - don't go into it blindly, get the rights tenants, mitigate the common risks and it will give you the freedom to move closer to work without selling up.

Good luck!

theartfullodger

Is it worth the hassle???

You & we won't know until, say, 5-10 years time and/or when you flog the property(s) as only then will you know what happened with house prices (up/down.,.) interest rates.. (stayed-same - unlikely / go up a couple of %% - probable / go up a lot - arrrgggghhhhh!!!!!), and if you get tenants and/or agents that actually pay you and/or is you get much damage and/or repairs to be done...

It's like any other investment: You won't know if it was a good idea until you come to sell/assess your profit/loss...

Bit you knew (must have known..) that when you asked eh???

Cheers!