Thinking of buying some property for letting...advice please.

[Richard1974]

Thinking of selling our house, renting and then buying some cheap property in N.Ireland to rent.
My brother has 2 houses and says the numbers are good.
Any advice recommended please..

DM let's out two houses, and makes more than her mortgage on both of them. She uses an estate agent to manage them for her, but if you have time you could do this yourself and make more on the deal.

I was amazed at how much a bog standard 3 bed link detached rents out for these days.

*lets.

Wash my mouth out with soap and water

Why are you selling your own house?

Dont do it.

Me and DH have two of our rentals for sale. They’re costing us short term and they’re better investments to be had!

Would sell to invest in buy to let. Buy the property in cash then remortgage in 6 months to release funds to buy another BTL.

Success in rentals is all about return, and there's alot more to it than initial cost and rent. Do your research and work out the figures carefully. Not sure selling your own home is a good idea though.

If you have the cash to buy, why do you need to sell? I have one BTL and looking to buy another soon. I wouldn't sell my own home though...I used equity in my house to buy a flat. The current yield is about 9% on that. I wouldn't consider a yield of less than 7% personally.

I don’t. The cash would come from the sale of the house.

They've tried to make it less appealing in recent years so make sure you do your sums and understand the tax rules around it before you make a decision. (Tax in purchase of a BTL as well as taxes on incomes from property)

Can’t you just stick to hoarding property in your own country? Leave the cheap properties here in NI for those of us trying to get out of expensive rentals and into our own first homes.

Can you see yourself living in NI?

I ask as i think selling your own home to fund a BTL is a risky move. You have a secure property to live in at the moment. Whats to say you buy a property in NI then the market there tanks whilst where you live rockets. What happens when you can no longer afford to live where you want? What's your plan for retirement?

We're accidental landlords but are selling due to uneconomic returns (SE) and we're still in the period to reclaim our additional stamp duty. But our rental and own home are in pretty similar locations so subject to the same peaks and troughs.

Make sure you are aware of the tax rules on BTL - esp the mortgage payments not being allowable, mortgage interest not being allowable and the changes in CGT

Not a good idea to sell your own house to do this

It makes no sense at all to own a buy to let property if it means you have to rent yourselves. Even if the rent you get in is a little higher than what you pay, you have to pay tax on the rental income so don't get to keep it all, And you also have to pay capital gains tax when you sell the house which you don't if you sell the one you were living in.

What if though let’s say for example you sold your own house then bought a buy to let and rented it to yourself, surely a win win situation.

Unless you have the cash to burn, don't do it.