Would you be a landlord?

Mossfarr

I have been a landlord since taking early retirement six years ago, I have never used an agent and manage the lettings and property management myself. Its often hard work and not very profitable but for me it was more about keeping me occupied as I wasn't sure how I would cope with retirement!
My first tenants were a steep learning experience, a young couple of first time renters who would call any time night or day for the most ridiculous reasons. They even called at 10.30pm on Boxing Day as two bulbs had blown. Seriously, they expected us to go straight out and replace the lightbulbs! I think they thought landlords were actually surrogate 'Mums & Dads' who are permanently on call! Fortunately they left after 18 months - but the property was filthy - believe me its no fun cleaning stinking toilets & bathrooms after strangers!
I was much more careful with our second lot of tenants (more detached and businesslike) they have stayed for 4 years and are fabulous tenants who pay on time and rarely bother us. Had a nightmare this year though when we were on a long holiday in Canada. There was a broken roof tile and the bedroom ceiling caved in and water was pouring in. Simply impossible to manage from a distance and a time zone 8 hours behind the UK, very very stressful!
Would I do it again? Probably not. There isn't enough profit in it and keeping up to date with the ever-tightening legislation is a pain.
I'd rather spend my time with my grandchildren to be honest.

FBaby

It's amazing how problems seem to occur when LL are away on holidays? We had the exact same issue, not hear a thing for months, and only a couple of days away and we could expect a phone call, preferably on a Sunday! Not the fault of the tenants, just bad luck. We always told tenants if we were going away for more than a couple of days abroad and how to best contact us, and we informed a family members who was prepared to step in if an urgency occurred.

I do think that the more expert you becoming (learning from mistakes) and the easier it gets as indeed, you learn to be more detached and also feel more confident with the knowledge of what it entails. In a way, I quite enjoyed the management side of it, what I hated was the unpredictability of it and the emotional stress when you know you are being taken for a ride by tenants who have no sense of morals.

I also hated how I was perceived as a Landlord. I became one purely because I moved in with my partner and after a bad experience trying to sell it then, we decided to rent. I never went about it looking to be a landlord, and certainly not a way to make profit out of it (I didn't). I considered myself to be a good LL, always responded immediately to requests, carried out repairs as required and never once raised the rent, yet somehow, I was put into that category of horrible LL making a profit out of vulnerable people. That very British attitude did wind me up!

GwylimT

We were until recently, my wife became disabled and her home was in negative equity so it made more financial sense to rent the property out and for me to sell my home and buy somewhere more suitable.

We vetted all tenants as much as we could, in the years we rented the house out we had no problems with damage etc, rent was late once but the tenant told us in advance and was able to pay a week after the rent was due.

We have sold up as we are moving abroad, however we will be then renting out our current home, so we'll be landlords again fairly soon. We sold the house the current tenants.

havingaball74

flashg67 wrote: »

Yes, but I take the 'easier' option and pay 10% to an agent to manage everything. I have mortgages, so after they're paid I only yield 5-6% but am really looking at the long term for capital growth. Just wish I'd done it sooner!

How do you calculate the rental yield?

System

How do you calculate the rental yield?

For net figures (what matters):
1 years net profit/value of the deposit tied up

There are different versions depending on whether you're including capital gains in that and whether you simply want to compare properties before expenses (not sure why you would). Be realistic about expected vacant periods, damage, service charges, etc

You'll probably find the vest yield in the cheapest properties, as people will pay over the odds just for a roof over their heads, that's why you get HMOs

And better yield the more you leverage since property outperforms mortgages

Yield will allow you to make a comparison to, say, the FTSE

I really wouldn't recommend this, but owning the freeholds of leasehold properties can be lucrative, but heavy responsibility, too much like work

System

Or consider running a B&B, perhaps taking in students, then you can cram lots of people in paying premium prices

Crashy_Time

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/investing/buy-to-let/one-in-four-buy-to-let-investors-sell-up-due-to-new-tax/

pawlala

Is that the property equivalent of selling off stocks during a market crash?

Crashy_Time

pawlala wrote: »

Is that the property equivalent of selling off stocks during a market crash?

No, it is the equivalent of not being able to make the sums add up I think.

System

A sell up because the rules changed, and therefore the product changed

The shares equivalent would be like if a tax of some sort was whacked on
Not a crash as crashes are part of the deal