Cash House buying for BLT

Shaps

First time poster but long time reader .
Just came into some cash (plus have savings ) and would like to get onto the property ladder before it becomes out of reach .
I work away most of the year so can get away with basing myself in my parents house for the next couple of years , so have been looking into a Buy to Let property .
I have no experience with Buy to lets and have heard some horror stories but seeing my money depreciate is more scary .
Looking to spend upto £150k in the Birmingham are but not too sure where or what type of property would be best ( flat - house - area ) .
Any advice and information would be much appreciated

G_M

Is £150 you available cash, or does that include borrowing?

How much actual cash do you have?
How old are you?
Married? Kids?
Other investments?
Pension?
Job security?

I ask, because BTL may not be the best way to go. If it ties up all your money in one egg-box (you know the expression....) and you have nothing else, then not a good idea.

There are many ways to invest, and diversification matters.

Plus the makets have dropped so it's a good time to buy.

You might post on the savings/investment board for suggestions - if the guys over there recommend property, so be it!

Debtslayer

I may be completely wrong but I didn't think you could get a BTL mortgage if you didn't actually own your own property

AnotherJoe

Consider buying property related investments instead. Builders, retirement property companies, companies that manage commercial properties, there are many areas.
Then you don't need to worry about the day to day hassles, the risks of bad tenants, possibly dumping some issue with tenants on your parents because you are out of the country, and so on.

Shaps

Thanks for the respons , the 150k is cash .

I am 35 years old

I have no children or dependants

Self employed - selling vintage musical instruments

Have around 30k invested in old guitars - around another 30k in cash .

No other properties

I am just panicking at the moment as house prices seem to be rising and ( i feel that i may have missed the boat ) but also do not want to tie up most of my money in a house that I will just be living in part time .

I will try the other board and see what comes up ,

bigfreddiel

Buy to let is obviously long term, so you may as well just build up s nice portfolio of shares.

How long do you see yourself doing this for, 10+ years?

Do you see yourself eventually living in the buy to let?

And do you know that running a buy to let isn't easy, and unless you're prepared to do some of the work yourself the return will be reduced considerably. Have you actually worked out the return you will get?

I think you need to answer these questions before you do anything.

Cheers fj

thestens

We have had 2 properties BTL bought for cash, for about 12 yrs. Here's our story, may be of use to you!
House 1 - bought in a run down area, £38,000 cash, 3 beds, basically sound, did some decorating ourselves, let via agent, some big up and downs with tenants, paid for refurbs twice approx £2000 a time, 2 new boilers, £1000+ a time, voids of approx 9 mths in total I suppose, rent £450 a month, just sold for £41 000 (now needs a lot of work done on it). Probably would'nt do that again, although we had reasonable return via the rent.
House 2 - better area, £79 000 cash, 3 bed ex council, rented to same family since we got it, managed via same agent, rent £450 month, 2 new boilers, no other major expenses. Much better!
Moral being, I suppose, take care with area (advice from agents, people who live there, etc), don't buy something too cheap, be prepared for problems, if you use an agent that obviously reduces your rent but also reduces the hassle, and don't expect to sell straight away when you want to, so as previous posters have said, your cash is tied up. But we think we've done better overall that we would have done in savings account and we're not really keen on shares, etc. Good luck!

G_M

Interesting story but....

thestens wrote: »

We have had 2 properties BTL bought for cash, ......

....as previous posters have said, your cash is tied up. But we think we've done better overall that we would have done in savings account and we're not really keen on shares, etc. Good luck!

Of course just leaving that kind of cash long-term in a savings account is going to be bad news (though some readily accessible cash is wise).

But 'not keen on shares' ??? Medium/to long term (5 years plus) they

* are as good a prospect as property
*are much quicker to sell than property (so you can easily sell at top of market)
* require minimal management/work compared to property
* yes, some risk as markets can drop as well as rise, but property has that risk as well as the nightmare tenant risk, and the dreaded 'void' periods.
* share prices have dropped this year so you could edit your earlier statement:

just panicking at the moment as [STRIKE]house[/STRIKE]share prices [STRIKE]seem[/STRIKE]likely to be rising soon and ( i feel that i may have missed the boat )