You've got about £28k a year, with no rent or mortgage to pay. That income will, barring economic or meltdown, broadly keep pace with inflation and your asset will also appreciate .........Let's also say that you take out a 40k mortgage across the 4 houses to cover stamp duty, fees and set-up costs. That will cost you a couple of grand a year, but if you put your mind to it, you can pay it off sharpish. Stay in work for an extra year or two and blitz it that way, if you want
So you have £28k minus 2k for your mortgage. Remember you can’t charge your mortgage costs as an expense now . And your new kitchens and bathrooms might also have to come off your capital and not as revenue. Which is no use if you don’t plan to sell them .
So thats £26k, minus £4K to the letting agent ( which you forgot ), that’s almost exact the same figure of £21 K that I came up with.
And you have then doing all the repairs and maintenance themselves. How does that work when the tenant phones you at midnight to say there’s a burst pipe and you are on holiday? Or the neighbours complain of noise ?
Can you really get landlords insurance for a house worth £260k for £200pa? I pay more that for a small flat .
If you don’t pay a letting agent and manage the properties and do repairs / maintenance yourself - that’s a job, not retirement.
That’s a lot of work and hassle for £11k a year each income .
And surely if all you care about is income , you get no benefit from the asset appreciating. Yes the rents will go up over time but so will your costs.