Renting with emotional ties

[sayerville]

I have done this for the last year and whilst it's been reasonably trouble free I have found it hard going back and now the tenants have moved I am unsure if I want to do this any more.
I have always wanted to property develop and thinking if I don't do it now I never will but have no clue how to start. This would give me that capital to follow that dream before I am too decrepit.
Would I be doing the right thing, I am undecided but have found it emotional being back in the house again.

[RunRabbitRunRabbit]

If you don't even know how to start how can you decide if you are doing the right thing?

Research and plan. Then decide.

[whois]

I have always wanted to property develop and thinking if I don't do it now I never will but have no clue how to start.

Ah, sounds like that would make good TV watching!

Do you understand the property market in your area and know what you can buy and flip for a profit?

What work can you do yourself?

Can you get materials at trade prices?

So you have good trade contacts?

[W8woman]

I've been a landlord and developer since the early 90s. I, too, started out as an accidental landlord when I lost my job and needed to find some way of paying the mortgage on the flat I had just bought the previous year.

I was incredibly lucky that my parents already owned a couple of buy-to-let student flats in Manchester and Leeds. My mum let me live in one of these and do it up in lieu of rent. I did a fairly good job and moved on to the next flat, which I also renovated. My parents were then able to sell the flats at a significant profit and I sold my own flat (at a barely break-even price), and together we bought a very substantial house, which they intended to let out to student sharers. I persuaded them to divide the house into flats, and joined forces financially with my parents' builder as we didn't have the money to develop them and he didn't have the capital to buy them. We then sold that building to an investor, complete with tenants in situ. That builder and I still work together, (although I've learnt the hard way that there's no loyalty in this game) and my parents and I, together with others, are now partners in a property development company. We are not the Candys; most of our investors are small business owners wanting flexible pensions. But I love my job (most of the time), and it's flexible enough for me to work around toddler DD. It's not as well-paid as you'd think: DH is a property lawyer and earns considerably more than me. If I had my time again, I'd be an estate agent.

I could write a book about the last twenty years, but in short: you have to have family money to start because no-one else will trust you with no track record (and often not even then). You have to work night and day in the early years and sacrifice all personal and most social life. The costs of entry are now very high, and there are too many people chasing too few opportunities. The risks are considerable. We had DD when I was 42 after 4 rounds of IVF because we were floored by the credit crunch of 2007; it savaged the business and our own personal finances, and nearly broke our marriage. Not being able to have the big family I always wanted will be a deathbed regret of mine. Finally, it's nothing like the Sarah Beeney or Phil and Kirstie programmes - most of my day is spent studying leases and financing and managing people and budgets, not playing with paint samples. If it's something you can and want to do, go for it, but as I've said above, best bang for the buck in property is probably being an estate agent.

[whois]

Interesting post W8

[citychick]

DH and I are accidental landlords. We have rented out our family home for a few years to live abroad.

I have managed to be quite cool headed regarding going back to the house. But I do miss it. Terribly.

You have to learn to shut off your emotions from it. Think in terms of cash. Which is hard, because it is very difficult making any money.
We have broken even, despite the rent being double our mortgage. We still have outgoings and the house needs things done from time to time (although we left it immaculate and totally rentable).

There is a misconception that landlords make a lot of money from having property. It takes years and years before you might start to turn a profit. And we only rent out our home because we have to. We are not running a business.

I do enjoy the looking after our home from a distance. I know we will be going back. I do find it frustrating when tenants declare they have been "locked out of the house" because the lock is broken ( how did that happen, I cannot imagine) or see photos DH took of the garden on his last trip to the UK . Like a jungle, despite the fact they took on the house and garden, yet let it fall into a state. Such is the life of a landlord.

You need to get your business head on and do your research. Or would you move back in if you didn't develop it?

I agree with w8 's post.

Good luck.

[PigletJohn]

I have no idea about sheep farming and no experience.

Should I invest all my savings and become a sheep farmer?