Are you all invested in properties?

remorseless

we moved to a new place and the itch of buying is back on my mind...
Are you all invested with some property or is it possible to prepare for the future without being a landlord or mortgaging and owning bricks?

Any success (or positive) stories about being without properties?

Thanks!

Mistermeaner

I own approx 50% of my home and am working toward 100%.

My pension is approx 15% property through direct ownership funds and my med term s+s approx 5%.

THats enough property for me and no desire what so ever to tie capital into something so illiquid , hassle ridden and subject to whim of policy makers as BTL

redbuzzard

With hindsight of course BTL has been good for many people but I wouldn't do it now.

The main reason I never did it is the hassle factor and the fact that I am temperamentally unsuited to it!

I started chucking money (and pension tax relief) at the equity markets after the crash and that has worked well with very little skill required from me - I have now de-risked considerably and I am happy with where I have got to, though I hope not complacent.

chucknorris

redbuzzard wrote: »

With hindsight of course BTL has been good for many people but I wouldn't do it now.

When I invested I never doubted it (no hindsight involved), it was a 'no brainer', property prices were low (during the late 80's early 90's crash), the rents covered the mortgage and maintenance costs, so it was a free ride on future capital gains and more importantly rental profit as time passed and rents increased with inflation.

Broken_Biscuits

i own about 30% of my home and invest in property funds too. A lot less hassle than btl in my opinion. Most of the funds available are in commercial property to diversify. Double figure percent returns are available and its not all locked into one btl.

masonic

Zero residential property here, but I do invest in a commercial property fund for diversification.

remorseless

Broken_Biscuits wrote: »

i own about 30% of my home and invest in property funds too.

Say you had 100K invested in property funds or 100K invested in a property through BTL. Which one would you feel is better?

I am trying to get my head around about property funds rather than a tangible property!

remorseless

masonic wrote: »

Zero residential property here, but I do invest in a commercial property fund for diversification.

are you happy renting and investing instead?

Broken_Biscuits

remorseless wrote: »

Say you had 100K invested in property funds or 100K invested in a property through BTL. Which one would you feel is better?

I am trying to get my head around about property funds rather than a tangible property!

neither are perfect as limited diversity, but i personally would pick the funds.

there are global funds where you could be profiting from something like office space in Tokyo. UK only funds. Out of London you are more likely to get higher yields as achievable rent to price of something like the shopping centers they are invested in is greater than their London counterparts.

you could also invest in the companies that actually build residential houses to diversify away from commercial.

further diversification could be achieved by investing with the property focused peer to peer sites.


so s+s in my opinion would be better, but still a little eggs in one basket if its all property related.

masonic

remorseless wrote: »

are you happy renting and investing instead?

At the moment I am. Property prices in my area are pretty static and were falling around the time I moved here. Rent here is also comparatively cheap, so I've done quite well by investing the capital in S&S instead. Buying a property is part of my retirement plan if I don't do so beforehand.

ognum

It is important to have a spread of investments, being all in property or on the stock market makes you very vulnerable.

Different people want different things so dont worry about others do what's right for you.