Investment Advise

ChineseGypsy

The surveyor did do a great job and you're right it could have been way worse with us paying £60k to fix the subsidence. (the seller filled in the cracked with sealant to cover up the cracks, I was pretty annoyed at that)

I guess it's just left us a bit scared of the property game.

BananaRepublic

A house to live in is in my view the best investment one can make, assuming there is no good reason why you can't buy such as moving around for work. It is tax free, apart from stamp duty and council tax, but you pay the latter on rented accommodation anyway. And you get a nice house to live in which you can modify as you see fit. The mortgage payments in large part effectively go into your pocket, rather than into a landlords.

As for buying, subsidence is rare, but you used a surveyor so you did well. Almost everyone buys house insurance which covers you against most issues. And I suspect you can sue someone if they sell you a house without disclosing an issue such as subsidence, not sure, doubtless someone here will know.

ChineseGypsy

Sorry Banana, I think you've got the wrong end of the stick.

I have a house to live in and it's mortgage free, the second house was as a buy to let investment and use my wife's tax allowance to collect the rent.