Here I go again....

I am doing this now as DD has just finished Uni. I was paying about 12k a year when she was at it (ended up being 4 years).

My first plan is to insure this house! In doing this I realised it lapsed 2 years ago.

Then get rid of my silly expensive Jeep. I'm not even a car person. I have had it 18 months and still not sold my old jeep (6 years old) which has been sitting on the drive/driven by eldest son (hangs head in shame). Our youngest is off to secondary school so now we only really need 1 car and my husband has a very lovely one (bought cash a few years ago). Its 4 years old now so we might just get rid of all and get 1 nice car for all of us. To be pondered... I like jeeps, he likes saloons...

I have told him we are on a serious cut down on shopping. We can get our shopping down to about 150-200 a week when we budget.

I need to kit the house out, I intend to make it a luxurious rental so won't skimp on the finish. I've looked at the market and the local village is full of two types of renters. The Hen/Stag weekends and the middle class/retired walkers. I am to go for the latter as more all week rental and less damage. Stag weekends will be an absolute no but will accept hens for weekends. Again they tend to pay more if it's fitted out nicely and luxurious. Thankfully we sell home furnishings so everything will be at trade and from stock so that will help!

Well, I logged into LinkedFinance (P2B lending) and had 160 euro cash there available so I resent it on 36 month loan at 10.5% fixed. My main issue with them is it has become so popular the loans are getting filled in seconds, literally! Everyone appears to be on auto-bid but I prefer to go through the company personally rather than auto-bid. I live in ROI so can't lend on UK ones.

I have had 73 loans, only 1 50eur one defaulted and is paying back over 10 years.

I'm averaging about 10% return on these and really should up and put in about 500 a month. I think I will just play for year or so whilst I focus on investment property, then once I have 1-2 up and running put spare cash into this. My priority is to get 2 rentals up and going. Then pump money into P2B and clear down their mortgages. My target is all mortgages to be cleared by 60 (15 years - this could be a long diary lol), then just live on the income.

Hi Tropically

Thanks for stopping by and your thoughts.

1. The actual potential income (if 100% booked) would be 67600. I've put in 24k which is 35.5% so I think that is fairly prudent and was accounting for their fees/cleaners in that. I have a few family members doing the same in that village and they are between 75% - 95% booked (the 95% ones have 3 properties and have it listed everywhere). The worst case scenario I long term let it for 1500 a month, which would easily cover mortgage and maintenance. I'm aiming for 90% of weekends and 1-2 days a week as a realistic target giving 32-40k so 24k was net of those fees.
2. Yes, I know I need to consider all the extra bills for that rental and you are right a separate SOA would be useful. Will work on it! It was quite confusing doing both.
3. My son currently does an airbnb in next village (where we live) so the plan is for him to manage it, do cleaning etc so I also need to negotiate with him to run it (or I have a cleaner myself who would do it - realised never put her fees in my SOA....). We live rurally and everyone knows everyone so I'm not overly worried about that aspect. Worst case scenario Mr Gaffel can do it! Just asked cleaner (she turned up mid post) and she was telling me the 'cleaning rules' for this village. You pay by house and not by hour - at least 70 euro, laundry fees on top.
4. Sorry, I should have been more specific, it's not 8 bed its sleeps 8 (possibly 10/12 but I don't want to cram it). There are two very large bedrooms and two large sitting rooms. Both bedrooms currently have 2 double beds in them. My plan is to have one as a 'master', the 2nd one keeps a double and put in bunks so a 'family' room, put a double sofa in one sitting room. If I went heavy for the 'hens' I would put 3 singles in sitting room, 3 singles in master, 4 singles in other bed and a double sofa bed in remaining sittingroom - giving me 12 - and more weekend income but losing midweek walkers. This is another option to be costed out. Some of the cramming in that goes on in the village is ludicrous! and yet, they are booked...Hens pay about £25-35 each per night for 2 nights - depending on location and fit out. Our location is beyond superb - 60 seconds walk to the main street - some are a taxi ride away.
5. My son has suggested (and I need to look into detail) at weekends offering just as 8 for the higher price. In week offering whole house or one room - by putting locks on others. This would attract the walking couples, but bring in less - but higher rental. Will work out two scenarios.
6. As for washing my son currently pays by mother to do all his, I could do this or use the local laundry. I planned to have at least 2 sets of linen so it could be 'turned' quickly. I also have a van (whoops forgot that as well) so easy enough to turn up with fresh sets, take dirty then use laundry/mom etc. I will find out laundry fees and factor in - I use a local laundry for my business and she is very reasonable and turns stuff around for me in a day. Spoke to cleaner (who will do it) and she sys 3 sets of laundry if going for mid week rental as laundry in village flat out.
7. Tax, tax tax. Need to speak to my accountant and ensure we don't get landed with 50% tax on this. We keep our wages low to avoid high personal tax.
8. The location is quite unique. Medieval village, on mountains, which becomes a hen party mecca EVERY weekend. After bidding on several houses I feel quite lucky to have this one, its RIGHT in the centre and is in immaculate condition. My weekend rentals are pretty much guaranteed. Most of the rentals in the area are 90% booked every weekend, but keep their prices high and get nothing in the week. My plan is to drop right down and attract that extra walker income.
9.Re late check in. My son is in next village (so nowhere near as popular, no hens just walkers), and he is about 75-80% booked (was 90 in June). He is quite strict on check in/out when he has guests and gives himself a 4-hour window to turn it around. I would be strict on this as well.
10. I have not set a budget for kitting out the house. I will sit down and work on that. I do have 58k cash sitting in a bank so can afford a decent kit out, and I want it to feel very John Lewisy... (but fair trade... and eco...)
11. I am contemplating putting in a jacuzzi - this would ensure I was guaranteed every weekend rental and would help with mid-week. I need to way up the costs (both initial and running) with the additional income.

I have, overnight, decided to keep the cash I have and get 100% of price as a remortgage on our personal house. For several reasons - Brexit could hit our business very hard, very very hard. Its another main driver in this alternative income search. This leaves me able to bid on another one early next year and have two on the go. Once we have two we can then focus on paying them off/P2P lending.

Got a little proactive and realised I have 42keuros sitting in my 'emergency account' earning £5 a year. Yep that is what it earned last year! Not very MSE at all! I also have 2750 in a HSBC saver about to mature (will at 3k next month), 3k in isa, 8k in a 0.1% savings account, and about 5keuro in a current account earning nowt. So time to get a little smarter! Wages about to go in so about another 1k to go into savings.

Just applied for a first direct current account, I have to put in 1k per month - but that's ok I can split my wages any which way I want. I will get a gift worth £170 (will get a Polaroid camera for my dd, she asked for one for her bday) but more importantly I will use their monthly saver's account - 5% on £300 a month. I am doing this with HSBC - 5% on £250 a month. I will then open same for mr gaffel and get another £300 a month saved. Yes, this is only 5% but it leaves me with cash should I need it (lose the extra savings but at least there for emergencies).

Will have a toot around at other accounts and see if any other decent savers about.

Tropically yes I have lots of family doing the same and its very common in that village. I'm not sure how long the good times will last in it but the house will always rent as a family home. My main intention is, once mortgages paid off, to have this as retirement income, so when we retire we might want just permanent tenants anyway rather than the work of short lets.

My main push will be to save like mad personally (mr gaffel has been warned, though I have been warned our quality of life is not to diminish too much - he's right in a way!) and save enough to get a second one on the go. Leaving us with c. 350k mortgage but owning 3 properties worth c. 770k and receiving income on them. With £600 spare on each, after tax, we should be able to pay off early (I might do a repayment calculator to see when that would happen). Though I would balance that with pushing into P2P each month. Maybe do it 50/50 so 300 on mortgage overpayment, 300 in P2P. I feel another spreadsheet coming on...