Property Investment

Al_Ross

Property prices are on the up again , would an outright purchase of a property for my son at university be a wise investment ?

Linton

I dont see why the prices going up now makes it more of a wise investment than it would otherwise be.

As to whether it is a wise investment some questions come to mind.

1) Is this a significant amount of money to you? Would you be badly hit if it didnt prove to be a wise investment? If so I think you would be making a mistake to put all your eggs in one basket.

2) Do you have plenty of cash to cover emergencies, not just for the property but also in the rest of your life? Because you couldnt get the money you paid back quickly.

3) Is a property suitable for Al jnr near the university in whatever town/city the university is located somewhere desirable that you would in other circumstances want to invest in?

4) What happens after Al jnr leaves university? Would you sell or rent it out? Would you want to rent it out to other students?

Minrich

Houses should be for Homes , not investments , if they were just for homes they would still be priced reasonanbly and first time buyers would be able to afford them . Buy a painting , not a house as someone else might want it to live in and you would be takin g it away from them

marathonic

Minrich wrote: »

someone else might want it to live in and you would be takin g it away from them

The OP is talking about a student property near a university. In other words, he's talking about giving people the chance to live in the house, not taking it away from them.

Do you think that students like to buy the house to be used for their university accommodation or do you just have the narrow-minded view that all landlords are the evil of this world?

I personally like the idea of buying a house near a childs university. Then, instead of having to give them money weekly to assist with their costs of university, you can have them let the rooms to make their own way.

atush

Students cant get a mtg, so they need someplace to live. Think on that one a awhile

Buy a University house for your son to live in (and rent out the other rooms) can save you cash on his rent ( I pay up to 400/month ea for my boys who are there now) and earn you rental income as well.

But all the Q's in post 2 need to be considered.

Then there are time scales, students are looking now for next years accommodation. So you'd need to buy and get it fixed up quicly if you want next Sept/Oct students.

kidmugsy

Who is to own it, Old Al or Young Al?

atush

Both should own it, as there would be principle residence expemption for one, and a full CGT allowance for half the house with another on an eventual sale.

Well, that's what I would do.

Middle_Class_Angst

atush wrote: »

Students cant get a mtg, so they need someplace to live. Think on that one a awhile

Buy a University house for your son to live in (and rent out the other rooms) can save you cash on his rent ( I pay up to 400/month ea for my boys who are there now) and earn you rental income as well.

But all the Q's in post 2 need to be considered.

Then there are time scales, students are looking now for next years accommodation. So you'd need to buy and get it fixed up quicly if you want next Sept/Oct students.

Investment decisions can never be disentangled from matters of morality and considerations of wider society. Personally, I am fine with people owning second homes, though dubious about their investment value given that the tax system is increasingly against it.

I am more dismayed at the desire to infantilise children and use money to protect them from the realities of life once they have left home. Once they go to university, it is a time to learn about the world, to make financial decisions and even to learn what it is to be poor. Is it really in Al Jr’s long term interests to be bought a property?

Of course if this is just a tax avoidance wheeze, then I understand and I hope that Al Jr is happy to go along with it.

Minrich

Narrow minded view of Landlords - No

Too many people buying "Houses" and pushing their price ever upwards is my problem , i'm not one of those i'm alright jack people .

I want the youngsters in our country to be able to afford their own house , if it was only people who lived in the houses buying them the prices wouldn't be so high - Would they ?

Normal people in London cannot afford their own homes , this is spreading to the home counties and it will spread elsewhere .

We live in Suffolk and prices are ok in some places and stupidly high in others , as i say its spreading and most normal people don't like it

Minrich

I can't see in the original post that AL Jnr will be living in it , it just gave an idea of his age ?? Or did it say something else ?

grey_gym_sock

Minrich wrote: »

Too many people buying "Houses" and pushing their price ever upwards is my problem , i'm not one of those i'm alright jack people .

I want the youngsters in our country to be able to afford their own house , if it was only people who lived in the houses buying them the prices wouldn't be so high - Would they ?

you need to think this through ... appealing to "nice" ppl to refrain from becoming landlords is futile, because if they all agree, that will let the "nasty" landlords buy up all (non-owner-occupied) the houses, and then they will presumably treat the tenants worse. there are always plenty of "nasty" rich ppl. and there are always many ppl who are nowhere near being able to buy a house.

if you want to change the balance of power between tenants and landlords, you need legislation. such as rent controls. or higher taxation of non-owner-occupied property. or more security for tenants.

these sorts of things would tend to reduce house prices a bit (by making letting less profitable), so perhaps a few more ppl could afford to buy their own house. but they would also improve the position of the large number of ppl who would still be renting.

(you could alternatively argue for legislation to completely ban tenancies, but that would be a pretty extreme measure. a lot of ppl might end up as lodgers or living in hostels, unless you were going to ban them, too.)