Wow - some excellent advice on here alongside the stampede of stupid money heading in the wrong direction.
Couple of episodes of any landlord nightmare programme is enough to put me off BTL and I don't care how many people you know who have 'no problems'.
I understand the temptation, property works due to leverage, you only kick over a deposit but take all the gains. Good luck to anyone doing this, I know many have done well but defo not for me or an easy life, especially now the squeeze is on and the 'accidental landlords' tell me it doesn't just go up. I don't want to fix stuff on my own house let alone a BTL.
So, want property exposure ? Chuck some at a REIT, it will kick you a dividend and never call you to fix a leaky shower tray AND you can sell in 10 seconds for a tenner. My house is a massive commitment to property, why would I commit any more ?
I would get a global shares fund/etf ISA or SIPP (incidentally, your family dont lose the lot if you carc it after 5 years, that is only if you buy an annuity), drip feed (use PCA or Value cost averaging) and forget about it.
It's a slow start but once the snowball starts rolling, you won't believe how big it gets.
Crypto - PLEASE don't commit anything more than chuck away money you can shrug off if it disappears.
Another shout for Malkiels - A randon walk down wall st, makes it all clear...
GLA
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Property vs pension
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Originally posted by Lance View PostWhoooaa there.
Are you not nervous that Drei will steal all your coins now?

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Whoooaa there.Originally posted by scooterscot View PostBitcoin donations gladly received!
18BZ2ojk64NqKkJmTmrPrA8z4syJTVAb86
Are you not nervous that Drei will steal all your coins now?
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Point taken. On the other hand, you are providing affordable, decent housing for people. I rented for 10 years, and didn't feel bad towards the landladys/lords. The last 5 years in a flat where I paid 17k rent. I got a place, they got their income, win-win.Originally posted by SeededLoaf View PostI guess it's just me but I find the idea of owning houses for profit slightly immoral. Yes, fine for business/student rents but generally making a few quid where really the tenants would rather own the house than pay you but have no choice. I've looked into BTLs and for the sake for a few grand a year (where I can invoice this in less than a week) hardly seems worth the ball ache.
Just wish I had accepted the landlady's offer to buy for 31k, circa 1999.Leave a comment:
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I'm not sure this is a fair representation of house building.Originally posted by scooterscot View PostEvery country has seen population growth, Germany 1m+ and is coping.
Truth be told UK government is building far less houses than ever before. If companies were scrambling over themselves these statistics would look a lot different.

Being the average, it's likely that some massing housing undertaking bled into (or out of) one government to the next. My guess would be that the conservative averages listed benefit from previous legislation leading to it appearing that the conservatives build a reasonable volume of housing, averaged over their terms, particularly the longer terms. The labour builds bleed into the tory terms, whereas during labour governments they inherited low house building. The average doesn't show this. A yearly breakdown does.Leave a comment:
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I see where you're coming from, but look at it this way. If you become a landlord, you have the chance to do it fairly and the family who live there will not be renting of someone potentially far worse.Originally posted by SeededLoaf View PostI guess it's just me but I find the idea of owning houses for profit slightly immoral. Yes, fine for business/student rents but generally making a few quid where really the tenants would rather own the house than pay you but have no choice. I've looked into BTLs and for the sake for a few grand a year (where I can invoice this in less than a week) hardly seems worth the ball ache.
I'm one of many 'accidental landlords'. I couldn't sell my house without a big loss, but we needed/wanted to move somewhere bigger/in a nicer area, so we rent out ours while renting ourselves. I'm happy as long as the mortgage/insurance is covered, with a little extra to go towards any unexpected costs. I'm getting that now and consider it a fair rate compared to the market. I don't plan on putting it up any time soon, perhaps if base rate (and therefore my mortgage) goes up considerably, I will do, but I'll have the conversation with my Tennant first.
I make sure any problems are dealt with quickly. I have boiler cover to make sure someone will be round within 24 hours if it breaks, etc.
There are landlords out there who will up the rent every year/renewal without fail and won't fix problems for weeks. I'm glad my tennant isn't with one of them.Leave a comment:
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Bitcoin donations gladly received!Originally posted by FrontEnder View Post
No offence to scooter, but make sure you look into what your buying. I've bought some zencash on scooters tip, but only after looking into it myself first.
18BZ2ojk64NqKkJmTmrPrA8z4syJTVAb86
I have the zencash report. If you knew what I knew about this one you'd plunge every penny into it. PM me your e-mail address if you'd like. I paid £2k for it, so not going to hand it out willy nilly. Suffice to say, our privacy is under attack and this crypto makes bitcoin, dash, xmr look like a public library.Leave a comment:
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Exactly this. If you've got disposable cash, I think you're a fool not to put some into cryptocurrency. Don't put all your life savings in it. Don't put all your disposable income into it. Just what your comfortable with. I bought £100 worth at first and payed around one the exchanges just to get a feel for things.Originally posted by scooterscot View PostStake only what you can afford to loose. You're probably loosing more just holding it in the bank account against inflation with each passing day. Get smart, not Drei grumpy.
I've just bought another day rates worth, bringing my total buy in to day rate * 2.2. I could afford to more than this, but this amount doesn't make me squirm. There's a very real chance that some of the coins I've invested in could increase by a huge amount. I've had some losses, some gains, but I'm up about 20% so far and the "losses" could still turn into "wins".
No offence to scooter, but don't take his advice blindly. Make sure you look into what your buying . I've bought some zencash on scooters tip, but only after looking into it myself first.Originally posted by scooterscot View PostI've told you, Zencash, will explode in the coming 12 months. A good 6-12 months before the bubble bursts.Leave a comment:
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why you are providing somebody with a homeOriginally posted by SeededLoaf View PostI guess it's just me but I find the idea of owning houses for profit slightly immoral. Yes, fine for business/student rents but generally making a few quid where really the tenants would rather own the house than pay you but have no choice. I've looked into BTLs and for the sake for a few grand a year (where I can invoice this in less than a week) hardly seems worth the ball ache.
it's a service to the public you should be commended not feel guilty
Milan.Leave a comment:
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I guess it's just me but I find the idea of owning houses for profit slightly immoral. Yes, fine for business/student rents but generally making a few quid where really the tenants would rather own the house than pay you but have no choice. I've looked into BTLs and for the sake for a few grand a year (where I can invoice this in less than a week) hardly seems worth the ball ache.Leave a comment:
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