Monthly housing costs

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Monthly housing costs
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How much a month is your rent/mortgage

Less than ï¿½100

21%

[ 13 ]

Less than ï¿½200

[ 5 ]

Less than ï¿½400

18%

[ 11 ]

Less than ï¿½600

21%

[ 13 ]

Less than ï¿½800

11%

[ 7 ]

Less than ï¿½1000

[ 3 ]

Yikes

13%

[ 8 ]

Total Votes : 60

Author

Message

Katieowl

Joined: 01 Jun 2006
Posts: 4317
Location: West Wales

Posted: Sun Jun 24, 12 12:13 pm Post subject:

We are mortgage free, we got out by the skin of our teeth though, and it's something that means I sleep at night.

I don't think my kids will ever own property (not until we drop off our twigs) Two currently renting in town at around ï¿½400 a month.

We were also responsible for the flat upstairs in London, and sorting out the roof and stuff, we got half back, but the responsibility was dreadful. One of the reasons I insisted on detatched when we moved was that I never wanted that problem again...If the roof leaks here, and we can't afford to get it fixed there is the option of sticking a bucket under the leak until such time as we can

kate

Treacodactyl
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 25795
Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism

Posted: Sun Jun 24, 12 12:13 pm Post subject:

marigold wrote:

Rent caps and higher taxes on rental income would be a better way of sorting things out, but no government is going to suggest that. Making poor people homeless or forcing them to live in substandard accommodation is considered a much better policy than squeezing BTL landlords.

Does the average BTL landlord make huge profits then? Those I know seem to just about cover their costs and hope house prices rise.

Bebo

Joined: 21 May 2007
Posts: 12590
Location: East Sussex

Posted: Sun Jun 24, 12 12:16 pm Post subject:

Trouble is if they squeeze private landlords too much they'll stop investing in property to let and put their money somewhere else. As the govt don't want to invest in social housing anymore it'll end up with even more people without a place to live.

The money they got from selling council housing should have been pumped back in to build more council housing. It would have been a virtuous circle, resulting in areas of mixed ownership and rental and creating new properties for those on the list.

chez

Joined: 13 Aug 2006
Posts: 35935
Location: The Hive of the Uberbee, Quantock Hills, Somerset

Posted: Sun Jun 24, 12 12:26 pm Post subject:

Treacodactyl wrote:

marigold wrote:

Does the average BTL landlord make huge profits then? Those I know seem to just about cover their costs and hope house prices rise.

That's the point, though - they are essentially speculating on the housing market with money that they have borrowed rather than investing steadily, as you would do if you owned a property outright. And the housing benefit it going straight to them, to pay the mortgage and fund their retirement.

jamanda
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 22 Oct 2006
Posts: 35057
Location: Devon

Posted: Sun Jun 24, 12 12:29 pm Post subject:
If you start with nothing (or a small deposit) and finish up with a house that you own outright, the mortgage having been paid by tenents on HB, then that seems like a profit in the end to me.

marigold

Joined: 02 Sep 2005
Posts: 12458
Location: West Sussex

Posted: Sun Jun 24, 12 12:32 pm Post subject:

Treacodactyl wrote:

marigold wrote:

Does the average BTL landlord make huge profits then? Those I know seem to just about cover their costs and hope house prices rise.

If BTL landlords are scraping by it's most likely because they got into the game too late and too small. Anyone who started in the mid-90s and now has a portfolio of properties that cost next to nothing to buy should be doing very nicely indeed if they've managed it sensibly. Even now if you have cash to invest, a well-positioned property will give you a much better ROI than having the money in the bank at 2-3%.

Treacodactyl
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 25795
Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism

Posted: Sun Jun 24, 12 12:37 pm Post subject:

Chez wrote:

Treacodactyl wrote:

marigold wrote:

Does the average BTL landlord make huge profits then? Those I know seem to just about cover their costs and hope house prices rise.

Not really, they just making an educated judgement. At the moment for example 'investing steadily' can mean you're loosing money in real terms due to the artificially low interest rates to support mortgage owners and the high inflation rates. Buying-to-let could well be the more steady investment. With everything being so interconnected you can't say one thing is right and another wrong; one thing I wouldn't particularly like is even more government interference in the market.

gardening-girl

Joined: 25 Feb 2009
Posts: 6024
Location: Somerset.

Posted: Sun Jun 24, 12 12:44 pm Post subject:
We are mortgage free,but at cost. BTL was very ill,so we downsized.Sold large house,lost mortgage,bought very small house,to let out,and, took a job with housing provided. We earn diddly,so the rent boosts our wages.

chez

Joined: 13 Aug 2006
Posts: 35935
Location: The Hive of the Uberbee, Quantock Hills, Somerset

Posted: Sun Jun 24, 12 12:48 pm Post subject:

Treacodactyl wrote:

one thing I wouldn't particularly like is even more government interference in the market.

It shouldn't really BE 'a market' in my opinion. Housing should be about people having somewhere to live. Bringing back rent controls would be the best way to do that - then the whole artificially inflated bubble would collapse back on itself, BTL would not become the scam it has become, that drives house-prices up and everything would even out.

Treacodactyl
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 25795
Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism

Posted: Sun Jun 24, 12 12:58 pm Post subject:

Chez wrote:

Treacodactyl wrote:

one thing I wouldn't particularly like is even more government interference in the market.

Is it an artificially inflated bubble? Bring back rent controls would just make matters worse unless you bring in all sorts of other measures. Then people will just complain about the new problems that will be created.

Shane

Joined: 31 Oct 2005
Posts: 3467
Location: Doha. Is hot.

Posted: Sun Jun 24, 12 1:17 pm Post subject:

If you burst what you consider to be an artificially-inflated bubble and house prices and rents dropped considerable, a lot of BTL landlords would not only go into negative equity but they'd be unable to service their mortgages, so they'd be forced to sell at a loss. There's plenty of people overseas that would eagerly snap up the resultant glut of cheap property whilst the British population dusted itself off. You'd end up with the BTL income leaching out of the country every month instead of being reinvested in the UK economy.

Mr O

Joined: 13 Feb 2005
Posts: 5512
Location: Nova Scotia, Canada

Posted: Sun Jun 24, 12 1:24 pm Post subject:
I know I don't really count because of my location, but we are mortgage and debt free here. ( no loans and no credit card debt )

DawnMK

Joined: 01 Dec 2008
Posts: 895
Location: Buckinghamshire

Posted: Sun Jun 24, 12 1:34 pm Post subject:

we have two propertys that are BTL, the council rent them from us long term and take 10% for collecting rents, we made the initial investment in the properties and spent money renovating them and bringing them up to standard, they are basicaly our pension fund for the future and the return we get on them at the moment covers the mortgage and we have to pay tax on them as it is classed as part of our income, we are considering getting a third property and doing the same, on BTL if you let out yourself and take tennents on housing benifit you are taking a considerable finacial risk and not all landlords will do that, we have been at times out of pocket that is why we now place them with the council to house tennents, it ties the propertys up long term our mortgage is intrest only so at the end of term we still have to find money for the final payment, and if we sell we will have to pay capital gains, as well as paying tax all these years, so you dont go into to ake a quick buck, we have no plans to off load the properties and plan that when we retire and they reach the end of there term the rent will greatly subsidse our pension, if you take on tennents on benifits your rentable income is capped so no matter how you look at it landlords are not making millions on the back of poverty there is finacial risk and you could lose it all, or get only small returns on it, you can make money but only in the long term then not vast sums.

Katieowl

Joined: 01 Jun 2006
Posts: 4317
Location: West Wales

Posted: Sun Jun 24, 12 1:38 pm Post subject:
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/pms-plan-axe-housing-benefit-young-051600694.html Just wait for the shanty towns for the young and homeless to start springing up... Kate

sean
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 42219
Location: North Devon

Posted: Sun Jun 24, 12 1:39 pm Post subject:

Bebo wrote:

Talking of the cost of housing, it ain't going down, but housing benefit is.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-18567855

Ooh look, a Mobius thread.

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