Any property developers here?
Discussion
I kind of got into it without any real thought.
I bought a flat (number 1) when I was a student with my parents (They paid £5k of a £10k deposit on a £40k flat, I paid the other £5k by selling my TVR!). The 2 guys who rented rooms from me basically paid the mortgage so it never really cost me much. It was really close the uni and when I graduated, I let it to 3 more students and bought another flat (2).
When I got married, my wife and I both kept our old flats (2 and 3) and rented them out and bought a flat (4) together. We have since bought and renovated a steading and moved into that and rented our the last flat (4).
The croft that came with the steading we now rent to my in-laws (for a very low amount - nominal sum really).
So without any real effort, we've got 4 flats, a small farmhouse and a converted steading which we live in. The combined rental income pays for all the mortgages easily and a small amount of profit.
OK, I just realised this might be construed as a "look how much property I have" thread but it's NOT. Honest.
I just bought another flat (with a mortgage) because it was very, very cheap for what it was (I reckon it's at an early 2005 price level) and have already got some interest in the rental. So that's 5 flats.
It's still nowhere near enough for me to give up my day job, I'm wondering if any of you are developers, at what point did you dceide that you want and could afford to do it full time as your sole occupation?
ETA - OK I should I have called this topic "Any Landlords here?"
I bought a flat (number 1) when I was a student with my parents (They paid £5k of a £10k deposit on a £40k flat, I paid the other £5k by selling my TVR!). The 2 guys who rented rooms from me basically paid the mortgage so it never really cost me much. It was really close the uni and when I graduated, I let it to 3 more students and bought another flat (2).
When I got married, my wife and I both kept our old flats (2 and 3) and rented them out and bought a flat (4) together. We have since bought and renovated a steading and moved into that and rented our the last flat (4).
The croft that came with the steading we now rent to my in-laws (for a very low amount - nominal sum really).
So without any real effort, we've got 4 flats, a small farmhouse and a converted steading which we live in. The combined rental income pays for all the mortgages easily and a small amount of profit.
OK, I just realised this might be construed as a "look how much property I have" thread but it's NOT. Honest.
I just bought another flat (with a mortgage) because it was very, very cheap for what it was (I reckon it's at an early 2005 price level) and have already got some interest in the rental. So that's 5 flats.
It's still nowhere near enough for me to give up my day job, I'm wondering if any of you are developers, at what point did you dceide that you want and could afford to do it full time as your sole occupation?
ETA - OK I should I have called this topic "Any Landlords here?"
Edited by Lefty Guns on Monday 26th January 09:15
ky than "Land Owner" robuk said:
Lefty Guns said:
So without any real effort, we've got 4 flats, a small farmhouse and a converted steading which we live in. The combined rental income pays for all the mortgages easily and a small amount of profit.
You dont *have* them until they are paid off 
Anyway, I'm just interested to see what other people are doing.
I think that the rental market is still strong, it *should* get stronger as people seem to be struggling for credit and as house prices fall, it might be worth buying more.
Edited by Lefty Guns on Friday 30th January 16:08
shirt said:
i read an interview with a guy who had made a killing on BTL. iirc he said it was around the late teens (no. of properties) when he gave up working, and that was mainly because of the time involved sorting lettings, dealing with tenant issues etc.
Interesting, thanks. I suppose that number seems pretty reasonable.Edited by Lefty Guns on Friday 23 January 14:50
For example them, if you have 4 properties each returning £500/month, ie £2000, then you could either pay a letting agent to do all the 'managing' for you (£200 per month), leaving you free of any hassle and with time to do what you want, or you could spend hours & hours 'managing' yourself.
Personally the time is worth more to me than the saving of managing them yourself.
Unless you are properly 'developing' of physically 'building' then I can't see the reason for it being a full time occupation.
Personally the time is worth more to me than the saving of managing them yourself.
Unless you are properly 'developing' of physically 'building' then I can't see the reason for it being a full time occupation.
And the thing is - it wasn't difficult (except that when I was a skint student my folks helped me out with £5k towards the deposit)
Flat 2 was bought using a deposit of 5k that I had saved myself (Would have been hard because I only earned about £20k/year but because I was working away from home and living on expenses I wasn't spending much of my own money).
My wifes old flat (3) had a really small mortgage because she'd bought it many years previously. The 4th one (the one we bought together) we used profits from renting to pay the deposit. The Steading and croft were cheap (we paid the deposit from savings/rental profit) and I paid for the renovation work myself from my own savings/earnings from my day job. So I was skint for a year doing that.
I wish I'd taken more risk in the early 2000's and bought more but it seemed too risky...
The other thing is that my dayjob may be at risk soon. Oil industry...
So do I either look for another job doing what I'm doing but take a bit of a rate cut or do i go for it and work at the property business.
Flat 2 was bought using a deposit of 5k that I had saved myself (Would have been hard because I only earned about £20k/year but because I was working away from home and living on expenses I wasn't spending much of my own money).
My wifes old flat (3) had a really small mortgage because she'd bought it many years previously. The 4th one (the one we bought together) we used profits from renting to pay the deposit. The Steading and croft were cheap (we paid the deposit from savings/rental profit) and I paid for the renovation work myself from my own savings/earnings from my day job. So I was skint for a year doing that.
I wish I'd taken more risk in the early 2000's and bought more but it seemed too risky...
The other thing is that my dayjob may be at risk soon. Oil industry...
So do I either look for another job doing what I'm doing but take a bit of a rate cut or do i go for it and work at the property business. Edited by Lefty Guns on Friday 23 January 15:02
Lefty Guns said:
I wish I'd taken more risk in the early 2000's and bought more but it seemed too risky...
you, me, and everyone else!remember my mate buying a house in moss side for £16k when we were at uni [2001] as he couldn't believe houses could be so cheap. how we laughed at him, until he sold it at the top of the market for a 6 figure profit........
shirt said:
Lefty Guns said:
I wish I'd taken more risk in the early 2000's and bought more but it seemed too risky...
you, me, and everyone else!remember my mate buying a house in moss side for £16k when we were at uni [2001] as he couldn't believe houses could be so cheap. how we laughed at him, until he sold it at the top of the market for a 6 figure profit........
) down there and the flat's now worth about £120k. They were selling for 140-150 a year ago... It can go really bad: http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/mortgages/buy-to-let/... although from late 2007.
jshell said:
It can go really bad: http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/mortgages/buy-to-let/... although from late 2007.
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