Do you enjoy playing Monopoly?

marathonic

chucknorris wrote: »

Well if you are happy you might as well be happy and rich, and if you are miserable you might as well be rich too. Don't see where the money enters into it from a happiness point of view?

Exactly.... a lot of people seem to look down on the rich and say "I'd rather be happy"... Since when did the two become mutually exclusive?

padington

I've got a friend who's farther maxed out his BTL empire to the point he 's got 30 properties, however lots out of London and to cut a long story short he's now a crumbling wreck, he evicted his own daughter on news years eve this year and is in the position of maybe getting sent to jail because he's not been banking the deposits in the right way and has effectively been committing mortgage Fraud in other ways to try to keep the empire together and its all come undone. His family have fallen apart over all of it and some of his kids don't speak to him. It was all caused from greediness of trying to play monopoly too 'cleverly' rather caring about the game of life.

He was a talented lawyer and had all he needed before he started on the BTL mission - a nice house and a happy family ...

chucknorris

padington wrote: »

I've got a friend who's farther maxed out his BTL empire to the point he 's got 30 properties, however lots out of London and to cut a long story short he's now a crumbling wreck, he evicted his own daughter on news years eve this year and is in the position of maybe getting sent to jail because he's not been banking the deposits in the right way and has effectively been committing mortgage Fraud in other ways to try to keep the empire together and its all come undone. His family have fallen apart over all of it and some of his kids don't speak to him. It was all caused from greediness of trying to play monopoly too 'cleverly' rather caring about the game of life.

He was a talented lawyer and had all he needed before he started on the BTL mission - a nice house and a happy family ...

You make it sound like he was seduced by BTL investments, but in reality it was his own personal failings that got him into trouble. He was greedy and dishonest, hardly the qualities of a good solicitor (or a decent man).

james_toney

padington wrote: »

I've got a friend who's farther maxed out his BTL empire to the point he 's got 30 properties, however lots out of London and to cut a long story short he's now a crumbling wreck, he evicted his own daughter on news years eve this year and is in the position of maybe getting sent to jail because he's not been banking the deposits in the right way and has effectively been committing mortgage Fraud in other ways to try to keep the empire together and its all come undone. His family have fallen apart over all of it and some of his kids don't speak to him. It was all caused from greediness of trying to play monopoly too 'cleverly' rather caring about the game of life.

He was a talented lawyer and had all he needed before he started on the BTL mission - a nice house and a happy family ...

just pure greed that is the problem. I have a friend who had about 5 properties BTL and he was doing just great. did not matter that there was the odd empty one he could cover it no problem, would have been sitting pretty in about 10 years.

But no he went and bought more and more. has ended up with about 18 houses. and is now falling all apart. if he had just stuck with his 5 and his job, it would have been a super investment,

Greed is what is the downfall for most people

marathonic

james_toney wrote: »

just pure greed that is the problem. I have a friend who had about 5 properties BTL and he was doing just great. did not matter that there was the odd empty one he could cover it no problem, would have been sitting pretty in about 10 years.

But no he went and bought more and more. has ended up with about 18 houses. and is now falling all apart. if he had just stuck with his 5 and his job, it would have been a super investment,

Greed is what is the downfall for most people

Yeah, with BTL, I think four is the magic number.

In simplistic terms, they reckon you should spend 30% of your income on housing.

If four BTL's is your retirement portfolio and you've your home mortgage paid off, your income will be sufficient, even during times when one is empty.

YoungBusinessman

My research for getting into Btl does also suggest 4 is a magic number, only to go higher if 2 are mortgage free completely. Obviously depends on income and borrowings etc.

Thrugelmir

YoungBusinessman wrote: »

My research for getting into Btl does also suggest 4 is a magic number, only to go higher if 2 are mortgage free completely. Obviously depends on income and borrowings etc.

I've known one investor with 65 units around the Doncaster\Rotherham area.

The other a late father of one of my friends. Built a property empire of 117 properties in Bristol. Though this was a mix of residential, light industrial, office and retail.

Both built their portfolios by actively trading properties. If there was a better return to be made elsewhere or an area came into vogue.

marathonic

Yeah, my figure of four was just the number you'd need to have mortgage free at retirement if you want a comfortable lifestyle (assuming no other pension provisions).

Obviously, you could continue building your portfolio but I think taking the big risks should be reserved for when you've less than four.

To build a portfolio of up to, and over, 100 properties, you'd need to be continuously remortgaging for new deposits. Obviously it can be done but you'd rarely have more than 10% equity in your overall portfolio.

Get the timing wrong on that final batch of remortgages and things could go downhill very quickly.

Obviously, the above may not apply to some - but I'd imagine it does to most.