Buying a house - sensible?

Ader1

I'm thinking of buying a house which is on the market for around 80 k. I've had a builder look at it and it needs 20 k work done on it to sort out the roof, rising damp and electricity and a couple of other things. I'm thinking of renting it out.....at least for the medium term. I'll be a cash buyer. No mortgage. I'm not employed at the moment and finding it quite difficult to find work. I'm therefore thinking of moving abroad to work for a little while. I hardly have any pension at all and I'm 48. I already own a house which will also be rented. (I hope I don't seem selfish.) I will likely live in this new house once I return because it's in a more populous location and better job opportunities and transport links. Looking at Zoopla, I should be able to get around £500 - £550 per month rent from it. I get £400 per month from the other which is very cheap but the guy who lives there now looks after it so well etc etc The long and the short is......does it make sense for me to purchase this new property using my hard earned money to do so? Thank you for any replies.

00ec25

you are unemployed with 100k in cash - if you put all of that into property what other savings have you got left?

6% gross yield = minimum return you should expect so just OK. Allowing for rental costs the net return could be <5% at which point, for income purposes only (ie ignoring capital growth) , there are still cash based investments which return 5%+ (but may risk the capital)

no one can legally give you investment advice or tell you which to select on an open forum

BTW - as you are already a LL but now intend living abroad - are you familiar with the HMRC rules for non resident LL?http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/international/nr-landlords.htm

Ader1

I'll have around 20 k savings which are in various investments left. Thanks for your reply.