I am buying my first buy to let property. I live in the south east. My and my partner have decided to buy in the north east (northumberland) because this is where the yields are best as property is very cheap. The property is two bed and was around 100k
I want your help because I need to know if it is sensible to do a buy to let when you live so far away. Is approx 6 hours drive from our house to the property. We are using a big local letting agent (who we also bought the house with tho this is a coincidence) to manage but you hear some bad stories of this?
I am part retired (early 60’s) and we have paid off the morgage so I have some time and we have no mortgage payments so can handle a void period for a few months. But we also need to start having the rental income to fund our retirement.
Yvonne I am myself in a similar situation but have gone through with the property. Living in west Yorkshire but with property in South for higher rents. I do work so less time to travel to house if needed.
14 months and no problems so far… would recommend vetting the tenants thoroughly. Mine are very good so no problems but if they were not then it could be a nightmare.
I also did not use a local agent but used Open Rent. I have family in the area so know they would be able to attent to emergencies. lost key did happen last year…
Just be sensible check the tenants strongly and make sure you have a plan if things do go wrong! Best of luck though because it is a lot of worry and only one bad tenant away from things turning sour. Fortune favors the brave as they say !
Baz thankyou that sets my mind at east a bit. Yes I will certainly be doing tenant referencing. The agent says this is for the tenant to pay for, so I will get the most stringant referencing I can.
Yvonne, you definitely should get the maximim insurance for your property if you are not visiting / checking up. I inspect every three months and that is in all my contracts. The tenants dont mind and it is a good way. Tell your agent to do these checks and even send you the photos so you can see they’re done. That’s just good service.
We are 2.5 hours from a property we own. One of the most important things for us on top of trustworthy tenants are find good local reliable tradespeople that you can call on to get maintenance jobs done. Letting agents or check a trade are often good place to contact/review for this.
I am a builder/landlord .50 years always in work, never been on trust a trader, you will have heard of fake reviews, no website, never had to advertise, worked withthe same mate for 49 years. Now do work for some of the children of the people I first worked for. You dont have to be on T a T to be a good builder. Near your property if you see a good job going on ask the householder what the builder is like. Recomendations in person!!
Tony. I am on Merseyside as a builder and landlord and live in North wales. Jayne2 could ask her local building inspector who the best builders are. As a builder they have helped me a lot and I have known a lot of them over the years. they see a great number of jobs. They may be reluctant tho as this is not really their remit
When you do visit take along stuff do do your own work as" Just In Case" job I always have paint, silicone and gun , Smoke alarm , step ladder, batteries , torch. Etc things from my experiece I may need … I keep my gear in the basement of one of my places along with tools in a tool box.