QE: What if...

Thrugelmir

chucknorris wrote: »

Things have changed, not just because of finances, but also once again, it has been underlined to me that we are not around forever, she was only 72, and in good health on a Friday, but she was dead the following Tuesday.

Often takes events in our personal lives to focus us. Makes one realise what a fine line we walk when it comes to life. Money isn't everything, Enjoying everyday we have left is far more important. Enjoyment can be achieved by the simplest of things.

DRFC1879

Well, this thread has taken an interesting turn. I'm an accidental landlord too. I bought a brand new flat with a mate in 2002. We re-mortgaged to pay off student debts etc. then another mate bought him out. Another re-mortgage. Then my girlfriend (now wife) bought him out at the peak of the boom. We wanted to move house a couple of years ago to get a place more suited to our family life (son was three at the time) but the flat had plummeted in value so we decided to let it until the market recovers. If there is another crash we're stuck with it and it's becoming less attractive as an investment thanks to tax.

It's easy to take a swipe at greedy, unscrupulous landlords profiteering on the back of unaffordable housing but there are plenty of people like us out there, stuck with unattractive assets.

mwpt

DRFC1879 wrote: »

Well, this thread has taken an interesting turn. I'm an accidental landlord too. I bought a brand new flat with a mate in 2002. We re-mortgaged to pay off student debts etc. then another mate bought him out. Another re-mortgage. Then my girlfriend (now wife) bought him out at the peak of the boom. We wanted to move house a couple of years ago to get a place more suited to our family life (son was three at the time) but the flat had plummeted in value so we decided to let it until the market recovers. If there is another crash we're stuck with it and it's becoming less attractive as an investment thanks to tax.

It's easy to take a swipe at greedy, unscrupulous landlords profiteering on the back of unaffordable housing but there are plenty of people like us out there, stuck with unattractive assets.

How are you stuck with it? If you sell at a loss you're in no different a position than people who have been priced out of the market trying to raise a deposit and each year seeing themselves worse off.

If you had the money to buy a new place back then, you're not an accidental landlord. You made a decision, nothing accidental about it.

DRFC1879

Ok, accidental perhaps isn't the right word. Begrudging would be better I suppose. It's a bity of a pain in the backside having a property that's worth about as much as the mortgage on it hanging around and I'd rather be rid of it but having "invested" about £60k in mortgage payments into it I'm not hugely enthusiastic about waving goodbye to that lump of money.


I'm not after sympathy, I've got a very good tenant in there and although we could get an incremental £50-75 a month if we let it at the market rate, he's a friend's son and he is paying off a repayment mortgage. This is in Doncaster where housing is quite affordable and it's a £425 pcm rental so I'm not a fat cat by any means!


Regarding having the money to buy a new place, we work bloody hard and have a reasonable joint income but still had to save like mad and take an advance on inheritance with a legal letter to that effect to buy our new home because we had no equity in the flat.

Crashy_Time

Think yourself lucky you never geared up to buy 17 flats.

wotsthat

99.99% of the population haven't geared up to buy 17 flats.

westernpromise

DRFC1879 wrote: »

Ok, accidental perhaps isn't the right word. Begrudging would be better I suppose. It's a bity of a pain in the backside having a property that's worth about as much as the mortgage on it hanging around and I'd rather be rid of it but having "invested" about £60k in mortgage payments into it I'm not hugely enthusiastic about waving goodbye to that lump of money.


I'm not after sympathy, I've got a very good tenant in there and although we could get an incremental £50-75 a month if we let it at the market rate, he's a friend's son and he is paying off a repayment mortgage. This is in Doncaster where housing is quite affordable and it's a £425 pcm rental so I'm not a fat cat by any means!


Regarding having the money to buy a new place, we work bloody hard and have a reasonable joint income but still had to save like mad and take an advance on inheritance with a legal letter to that effect to buy our new home because we had no equity in the flat.

You don't understand. Other people are more entitled to that property than you. Because they just are.

DRFC1879

I guess I don't understand. I've paid a lot of money for it and struggled for many years. I let it out to someone at below the market value because he's a nice guy and my mantra is that once you're dead you only exist in people's memories so I want to be remembered as a nice bloke myself. Does that mean I deserve to lose loads of money on an investment? I don't think so!

Thrugelmir

DRFC1879 wrote: »

It's a bity of a pain in the backside having a property that's worth about as much as the mortgage on it hanging around and I'd rather be rid of it but having "invested" about £60k in mortgage payments into it I'm not hugely enthusiastic about waving goodbye to that lump of money.

Best to bring closure to bad investments. Hanging on for recovery is human instinct. The money has gone.

Crashy_Time

OOhhooo, sacrilege , dare not offend the debt God on here!




"Out foul demon, by the power of debt I command you, by the power of DEBT I command you!"