People who let out houses. Quick question.

[Old Hack]

Yep - this is the reason why I won't touch this racket as an investment. I have yet to have any of my shares tell me to f*** off and trash my house.

I have yet to see my shares pay for the mortgage and overpay on top, and yet still put in a paper gain of 65%

[ChimpMaster]

Yep - this is the reason why I won't touch this racket as an investment. I have yet to have any of my shares tell me to f*** off and trash my house.

Don't get me wrong because I also invest in shares (or gamble as many might see it) but properties are just another asset class and one that can be leveraged across the long term.

Yes, properties take some managing but the investment case is that you can buy a £100k asset with £20k down, and then let the rental income pay off the £80k loan for you over a number of years. Rinse and repeat and by the time you are ready to retire (or just fancy being a young guy with time & money on his hands) then hopefully you will have a number of properties all fully paid and generating income.

Or you can then sell some of them and hey presto you have a load of cash that effectively has been given to you for some maintenance work.

It could be an objective to, say, own bring in a total of £5k residual income each month. You've then got to sit down and work out how to achieve that target: perhaps some HY shares, 4 or 5 properties generating rental income, a pension () etc etc.

I'm not saying it's easy, but nothing comes without some effort, and everyone has their comfort zone for investments. And I'm no expert here, I've just read a book or two

[Old Hack]

I think thats why I have stuck to houses to be honest. I know nothing about shares, but can do the maths around home ownership. We also targetted families, rather than flats, as they tend to look after stuff more. It's worked well thus far. One tenant, in since 2008, has already paid off 23% of a mortgage, and is paying more and more of it each month.

Shares, well, it's like gambling to me and I have never been big on it.

Seen some freinds to very well though, so good luck to you.

[d000hg]

I'd quite like to be a landlord here in Durham for middle class young professionals or even for students (preferably post-grads). Sadly mine is more like ChimpMaster's... not quite as bad but it had been re-decorated (horribly) as well as having had a doorway blocked up, PAYG electricity meter fitted, everything nicked/broken and a kitchen cupboard left full of animal tulip. Plus half their old stuff dumped in the garden when they left.

Very stressful, partly because we used to live there so we're still attached to it as 'our home'.

[Old Hack]

I'd quite like to be a landlord here in Durham for middle class young professionals or even for students (preferably post-grads). Sadly mine is more like ChimpMaster's... not quite as bad but it had been re-decorated (horribly) as well as having had a doorway blocked up, PAYG electricity meter fitted, everything nicked/broken and a kitchen cupboard left full of animal tulip. Plus half their old stuff dumped in the garden when they left.

Very stressful, partly because we used to live there so we're still attached to it as 'our home'.

We let out one house that used to be our home, and yes, I'll agree with you, you think of it differently. It's also high standard inside too, which was a worry, but the people who rent it, we think will buy it, so look after it accordingly.

It is a big worry though...

[redgiant]

Not really a tenant's fault but the letting agent we use to rent my partner's flat installed a tulip lock which I promptly broke when I went round to inspect the place but didn't realise it. The tenant came back from the pub and had to spend a night in the local Hilton hotel (they wanted us to pay but we pushed back as they should have called a locksmith instead of splashing out!). That lock must of been made of cheese as I didn't force it at all.

Aside from that no other problems really just a tenant that couldn't use the immersion heater properly and kept on harassing the agent on how to use it ... shame