Landlord Junk I Want To Achieve In 2010
04 Jan 2010Happy New Year, folks! I hope you all had a great transition.
So, it’s a New Year and people are beginning their journeys to fulfil their resolutions. Great!
I never really set New Year resolutions because they don’t make any practical sense to me. If I need to change something in my life, I’ll change it there and then. I’m too impatient to wait until a new year starts, and more importantly, I don’t need something significant like a new year to encourage me to make a change in my life. But hey, that’s just me.
Even though I don’t have a New Year’s Resolution per’se, I still have a relatively small and realistic list of landlording duties I’d like to tackle in 2010.
1] Remortgage
I have a feeling interest rates may start to creep up at some point during the later end of this year. Before that happens, there’s one particular mortgage policy I’d like to renew, because while it’s an OKAY deal right now, as soon as the base rate increases, it will be a nose-bleeder. It’s a bit of an Achilles heel policy, to be honest.
As it stands, I’m paying a rate of 5.29% (or something along those lines), and I suspect that when the base rate rises it may rise steadily for a few months, by potentially 3-5% in total. Since the policy is variable, i’ll feel every last jump.
So, I definitely need to arrange a new fixed rate deal, in case “shit happens” (which it generally does).
I’d just like to clarify that I’m only speculating here- I’m not giving financial advice to anyone, nor am I advising anyone to remortgage, and I’m not saying interest rates will change!!
2] Accountant
I need to get a good accountant that isn’t extortionate, and can organise my finances, especially in the “tax efficiency” department. At the minute I handle it all myself. I’m shit with numbers and I don’t know of any clever loopholes to save myself any doe. So yeah, I’m going to hunt down a local accountant this year.
3] Overgrown hedge
I’ve noticed that a hedge has wildly overgrown outside one of my properties. It’s my tenant’s responsibility to maintain the hedge, and I’ve been meaning to tell him, but for some reason I’ve just let it slide for months. But enough is enough, at some point this year I’ll be telling the guy to chop that baby up. It’s looking hideous, and irritates me everytime my sweet eyes have to look at it. Additionally, if he suddenly decides to vacate the property, I’ll have to do the manual labour to handle the situation. Manual labour..urgh…GROSS!
4] Reduce mortgage debt
As always, I’d like to reduce my mortgage debt. At the moment all my mortgages are repayment, so I’m naturally reducing debt each month. However, I’d like to pay off a small chunk at the end of the year for one particular mortgage (the one I referred to in my “remortgage” point). I’m not talking large amounts here, literally just 2k.
That probably sounds like a small amount, but shaving off 2k from a mortgage makes a massive difference in regards to the amount of interest I’ll pay over a 20yr period.
5] Expand portfolio by 1 property
Yes, I want to buy one small 1 or 2 bedroom house this year. I wouldn’t be too irritated if this goal doesn’t surface, because I’d only be interested if I find an exceptional deal. I’ll be looking for something local, extremely cheap, and ready-to-let. When I say “extremely cheap”, I mean something along the lines of “daylight robbery”. I’m not aggressively looking to expand my portfolio, merely window shopping. But if an absolute bargain came along, I wouldn’t say no. I guess that’s the ideal buying mentality, because I have no incentive to rush, but I have the means to purchase.
All very small and simple tasks, right? Right.
So, do any of you Landlords have any resolutions for 2010, or tasks you’d like to get done E.g. buy another X amount of properties, be a better landlord?
Attention! If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed so you're notified of all new blog entries.
Talk / 19 Comments left so far
2
I'm working on other online landlord related projects this year :)
3
Good luck. I personally think now's a gooda' time as any to purchase. Just be patient and snap up a bargain!
4
5
Anyway, we started buying last spring - all in West Germany, where I live and work as an expat. By the end of the year, we (my pa and I) had accumulated over 30 flats and appartments, all rented out. Five minutes before I read this article, I had just popped an email to our bank to accompany us on a project for another 4. So there you have it. - Strike while the iron is hot! Low interest rates, low prices. And not many people with the bollxx to jump in anticyclic and take advantage. Interests rates will be going up again soon everywhere... as will be prices. So thats my plan for the new year...
Regards from Germany
6
I have 4 flats in one block and the freehold but one shit wont sell they are all on interest only and they are all expired, low rates , one follows libor the rest follow base so happy days , but my house is northern rock Standard variable and those tossers are screwing me , I used the house to buy the flats so need to sell the flats to pay off the rock, plus my tenants are all arsholes and I need every hour sent just to drive the lorry to bring in regular money into the family.
It all looked so promising but things change and i just need to get out. Im thinking of putting them up for Auction after the winter. Love the blog .
7
8
1st Post on here so suck up time but in a genuine fashion. Brilliant Site, Well Done! I'm an investor and Internet geek/god too, not that I'm calling you an internet geek. Well maybe I'm saying you're a little bit internet geeky ;-).....but in a subtle online mastery kind of way!
I like your achievable 2010 List too. I'm a 'I'm gonna figure out a way of raising £15 billion to launch a energy collecting space station ' kind of guy myself and it gets me out my depth sometimes so I like to practise reeling in the meglomaniacal tendencies.
My 3 property outcomes for 2010 are to have remortgaged my 3 HMOs (trickier than it sounds), Bought 'some' more properties with my cousin and have our property investment business all ironed out and running like some kind of smooth, purring machine. We've also been working on a property website/service since august and I'm excited about our imminent launch, the outcome here is by year end to have our property site launched and ranking #2 biting at your heels ;-)
Charly
9
how is the banking industry in Germany?
Are interest rates good and more importantly are they lending?
Mit freundliche grussen!
Jools
10
2. keep overpaying mortgage
3. fit central heating and redo kitchen/bathroom in one of the current properties
4. maybe take on another property by the end of the year
5. join local landlord group
Landlord - can you diary a date and remind us all mid year, see how we and you are getting on and give us a kick up the arse?
11
Firstly this is my first post on this site and I must say I've been reading all the discussions and blogs posted on here and they are top notch! So helpful!
a little bit about me... I am currently in the process of buying my first property, I have to say so far things are going smoothly but I have had to resort to teaming up with my folks to use and abuse the gross income. I am 20 years old and really want to get in to property investing as a long term project, I have a few questions and was wondering if there was anyone out there who may have some answers or advice.
So, first of all I am self employed and have found when researching that its bloody hard to get a mortgage alone, plus on paper my income doesn't look like much. Does anyone know a way around this income bollocks that banks base their lending on?
Also if there is a property investor out there who is self employed and is ploughing forward please let me know your story.
Once again great site!
Cheers
Steve V
12
I'm not too much older than you and I've got two BTL properties, one mortgage free.
I could probably have more, but I don't really take many risks.
What are you self employed as?
13
I am a professional Dancer. It's a fun job but it is a bit hit and miss financially which is why I would like to become a property investor.
Wow! you have two properties with one thats mortgage free! Thats quite an achievement congrats!
Do you have any advice or tips you could let me in on to help me.
Cheers.
14
The thing banks base their assesment on is risk - yes I know they did not follow their own criteria and were the cause of all this but they still hold the strings at the moment!
There are self assesment mortgages where you do not have to prove your income but they are getting fewer and fewer and more expensive as the fees are very high - ie the greater the risk the more you will pay for the privalage.
I would suggest you have a chat with an independant mortgage advisor and then another and then another. Get as much info as you can - knowledge is power. The more you know the better you will be prepared.
Your big problem(s) are your age, your income and your occupation. On paper you do not represent a good or even better than average risk to the financial institutions. If you had a large deposit (you need at least 25% for a buy to ley now) this may help but it is the banks who control the criteria.
It also depends on where you live - london is very expensive as opposed to the more regional areas. Investigate your area and don't listen to property investment experts who organise seminars on make your fortune in 6 moves etc!
Let us know how you get on and good luck!
Jools
15
Jools gives some good advice.
My advice is pretty general, but make sure you only buy when you are getting a good deal, I've got too emotionally attached to some properties I've viewed, thankfully I didn't revise my bid for them to be any higher than I first calculated - don't talk yourself into it.
I've funded mine by working loads, full time job and a part time job. I've reduced lots of my outgoings - moneysavingexpert.com - and try to save every month towards having a bigger deposit or overpaying the mortgage. I also took the basic steps to improve my credit rating - got on voting register, cleared some old credits cards, didn't make any credit applications etc
Would you consider getting a part time job doing something along side your dancing?
I can't dance, thankfully I know it, but I've got a friend who's applying to the various London schools to take him on.
Good luck.
16
Great advice and Tips. I have often wondered about those seminars and questioned if they actually delivered key tips and essential advice for property developers.
But I am very happy to save and create a nice deposit for the next property that I purchase.
I would definitely consider getting a part time job along side dancing although I travel a lot with the job so it can be difficult at times, however where there is a will theres a way!
I am about 3 weeks away from exchanging contracts for my 1st property and then it's full steam ahead to save a deposit for the next.
I really appreciate your advice and i'm definitely going to take it onboard.
cheers and I'll keep you guys up to date!
17
18
19
Please leave a comment
I initially started this website because I wanted to document my every step from property idiot to property landlord,
in hope that people would find my site and help me along the way. I literally didn't have a clue about being a landlord
when I started this website.
1