Buy to Let Property

Miranda25

Grumpy_chap said:

Miranda25 said:

-need to commute from "desirable area" to london on daily basis

Which part of London do you need to get to?
Where I live is easy to Waterloo, but less easy to Canary Wharf, for example.

For now it is Central London. It may change next year. I think it is fine any of those: waterloo, london bridge, victoria, charing cross, cannon street, kings cross.

Miranda25

FirstTimeSolo said:

Have you done a search in south croydon? There are some HTB properties there that are not over priced and in line with other similar older flats on sale in the area. 

Do you think Croydon is safe? Do you live there?

Grumpy_chap

Milton Keynes to Euston is under an hour.
£200k will give you a good choice of modern two-bed flats / maisonettes.
Nice area, good safe walking, lots to do.

Miranda25

Grumpy_chap said:

Milton Keynes to Euston is under an hour.
£200k will give you a good choice of modern two-bed flats / maisonettes.
Nice area, good safe walking, lots to do.

It gives me the whole community of people which speak my language  
I even did not expect that small towns also have a lot of foreigners.

Grumpy_chap

Plus, should the unforeseen happen and you ever need to rent the property in Milton Keynes, rental yields (%) are far higher than in other parts of the SE.

seven-day-weekend

My little £85k flat brings me in £560 a month (gross) and the tenants have kept paying all through COVID.   There is no mortgage on it. I think it is a great investment. It was only built in 2014 so next to no maintenance and previous tenants have even cleaned the carpets when they have left.  I have probably spent only a couple of hundred pounds in maintenance on it at the most (excluding white goods which I put in when I first bought it.).  However, you can't protect yourself against bad tenants, that is a risk you have to take.  I have been lucky.

FirstTimeSolo

Miranda25 said:

FirstTimeSolo said:

Have you done a search in south croydon? There are some HTB properties there that are not over priced and in line with other similar older flats on sale in the area. 

Do you think Croydon is safe? Do you live there?

No I don’t live there but I have friends who do and I have considered it for buying a property myself. I have never felt unsafe when I visit. South Croydon is Residential but has lots of restaurants and close to high street shops. 

East Croydon is also close to shops, Boxpark right by the station and lots of fast trains.
If you are serious about buying then you should go visit the streets/ areas where suitable properties are located. 

Miranda25

Grumpy_chap said:

Plus, should the unforeseen happen and you ever need to rent the property in Milton Keynes, rental yields (%) are far higher than in other parts of the SE.

Do you think rental yields (%) are higher than in Kent or Surrey?
Do you know anybody who would commute from MK to London and they are fine with it?

Miranda25

FirstTimeSolo said:

Miranda25 said:

FirstTimeSolo said:

Have you done a search in south croydon? There are some HTB properties there that are not over priced and in line with other similar older flats on sale in the area. 

Do you think Croydon is safe? Do you live there?

No I don’t live there but I have friends who do and I have considered it for buying a property myself. I have never felt unsafe when I visit. South Croydon is Residential but has lots of restaurants and close to high street shops. 

East Croydon is also close to shops, Boxpark right by the station and lots of fast trains.
If you are serious about buying then you should go visit the streets/ areas where suitable properties are located. 

The cheapest house in Croydon -£240k, out of my budget. 
Until now I cannot make my mind- to go for flat in Greater London or house outside of London and travel for work :-)

jumperabv3

Miranda25 said:

hazyjo said:

How can I protect myself being a landlord to avoid such situations?

You can't.

Sorry for jumping in so late into this thread.
I'm a BTL investor and I've exchanged/completed on the 25th of June on a lovely 1 bed house in Reading.
The reasons why I like Reading is the Elizabeth Line and also you have plenty of places with budget suitable for your needs (up to £200k) - and you can get nice yields there in Reading such as 5%-6% net (after service charges etc. or after expenses) excluding letting agent fees.
I get over 4.1% with my investment excluding all possible and potential and agent fees incl. rent insurance etc.

What hazyjo said is not 100% correct, you can pay a bit extra for "rent guarantee" or "rent insurance" scheme (that would also apply during this COVID19 climate) - and this way you can "protect" yourself from tenants who cause you troubles - if they decide to maliciously destroy your property you would be covered, you would be covered for legal fees and more.

Treat it as business basically, there are lots of ways to ensure you would get a steady income from your investment.