Thinking of buying a house

[Safrolette]

Thinking of buying a house...And renting it out..

Do you already own your place...? If not why would you buy your first house to rent it out?

I bought a little 2up 2 down terrace last week 50 odd K euro...Good bargains over here for cash buyers.

You must be loaded! Ireland I assume? Probably a good investment, a friend of mine who lives in Dublin was recently telling me that rents have gone up so much in the last 12-18 months that he and his partner can only afford to rent a room together at the moment.

 

[mydrugbuddy]

They used to say that in N Ireland you could make a killing on properties, if you weren't the killing yourself.

I'd love to have the skills to be able to renovate run down houses. That really would suit me very well as a means of earning a living and making a few bob. If you cant do the work yourself its far less profitable when you have to pay someone else to do it. That ship has definately sailed now anyway i think, i dont think i can ever see myself taking on another mortgage or just happening to have a spare €50,00 lying around.

I could have bought a second property when the houses round here were going for ~35-40K about 15 years ago. Hindsight is a wonderfull thing, but i would only have needed to keep up the payments for 5 years, and could then have sold, and it would have trippled in value just due to the 'property bubble' thing that happened at that time.

 

[Safrolette]

They used to say that in N Ireland you could make a killing on properties, if you weren't the killing yourself.
I could have bought a second property when the houses round here were going for ~35-40K about 15 years ago. Hindsight is a wonderfull thing, but i would only have needed to keep up the payments for 5 years, and could then have sold, and it would have trippled in value just due to the 'property bubble' thing that happened at that time.

15 years is a very long time in 'property bubble' terms!
Even London locations such as Shoreditch, Hackney, Bow, Kings Cross or Brixton were cheap, and now have became eye-wateringly expensive.

 

[mydrugbuddy]

The main boom period was just 5 years or so, when all property values literally trippled. 10 years after that the values have remained at the increased levels, though they did slip by a percent or 2 for a year or 2. The most 'done up' houses on this street were going for ~£125,000 at one point at the height of the boom. The average price seems to be about £105,000 currently.

I paid just over £30,000 for mine. Even at the time before the boom the survey said that the property represented excellent value for money. Buying this house was one of the best and luckiest decisions i have ever made. I hated being at the mercy of landlords, who at any time could give you a notice of eviction. Not that i was a bad tennant, just the landlords wanted the property back to either sell it, or live in it themsleves.

 

[gannetsarewe]

You must be loaded! Ireland I assume? Probably a good investment, a friend of mine who lives in Dublin was recently telling me that rents have gone up so much in the last 12-18 months that he and his partner can only afford to rent a room together at the moment.

Ireland yes, the vendor paid 175K for it at the height of the boom. I am not loaded, but that is relative. I have one friend who bought and (badly renovated a house himself), and moved in his wife and born babe, within a month all the floorboards were popping up, where the flooring nails and penetrated the plastic water pipes underneath, herself flounced home to her mother and he (according to a friend who was staying at the same time) picked up the phone and bought something else nearby for 175K, like he was ordering a pizza.

 

[Safrolette]

Ireland yes, the vendor paid 175K for it at the height of the boom. I am not loaded, but that is relative. I have one friend who bought and (badly renovated a house himself), and moved in his wife and born babe, within a month all the floorboards were popping up, where the flooring nails and penetrated the plastic water pipes underneath, herself flounced home to her mother and he (according to a friend who was staying at the same time) picked up the phone and bought something else nearby for 175K, like he was ordering a pizza.

Do you know the Dublin market at all? My friend is considering buying his own place, but prices have gone up nearly 23% in the past year and I wonder if there are still bargains around.
The nail in the underfloor water pipe, argh. It's a common renovation mistake, easy to make, damaging, extremely annoying, costly, time consuming and stressful to get right

 

[gannetsarewe]

Yeah, I know the Dublin market a little, I was looking at stuff there a couple of years back, esp a wee terrace in the legal district, lovely little set up, green area the lot, 10 mins from O' Connell bridge, but sat on me hands. The boom in Dublin is mostly driven by demand for good renters in desirable/central areas and/or with good transport links. Dublin is undergoing a boom in tech employment and geeks are able to throw silly money at landlords, there is virtually no residential construction activity in Dublin at the moment bit this may change. On the other hand my sis in law is trying to unload her place way out in Citywest for 3 year. There are bargains, I am sure but you have to know your area, 2 minutes walk can make a huge difference There is one tip, never buy a house without slipping the postman a score and asking him would he buy there.

 

[Safrolette]

Yeah, I know the Dublin market a little...There are bargains, I am sure but you have to know your area, 2 minutes walk can make a huge difference There is one tip, never buy a house without slipping the postman a score and asking him would he buy there.

Thanks - will report back to my friend, suppose the secret is to try and buy close to a good area then, without overstretching the budget.
The house I bought ten years ago is in bad area and has slightly gone down in value since. Must be the only place in the UK, lol :D

 

[mydrugbuddy]

One way to check an area is to check the pavemenst for shattered glass and signs of smash and grab car raids. This was once at epidemic proprtions around here, especially when Manchester City used to be based at Maine Road, it was a free for all. It may only be classed as 'petty crime' but it does have a big effect on the feel of a place. Thankfully, and touching wood, this sight is becoming much rarer recently. There are now people leaving their front doors open all day etc, personally i feel that is going a bit too far and asking for trouble in an inner city area, but things do seem to be improving.

 

[masaz]

more like £160,000 for the average UK house price.

£60,000 would get you something very rough in a very rough area. Decent 2 up 2 down terraces in Manchester are going for about £100,000 in a fairly rough part of town. They are twice the price, for exactly the same thinng just in different neigbourhoods. And half that price in the very worst of areas.

In particularly deprived areas terraced houses can be bought for as little as £10,000 last time i heard. In fact terraces in a run down part of Liverpool were being sold for £1, on the condition that the new owner had to complete renovation work on the properties to make them fir for human habitation, and fully compliant with all building regulations and health and safety stipulations.

Is pretty much the same where I live. I bought this house for 57k, all done out nicely, minimal work to be done. Seen a lot of houses down near city centre going for 15k that, yeah, you could probably do up but effort. Thing is, this is a nice area, close to uni, and quiet.

My mother buys to let, is going well so far but in a nice area, three bedroom semi-detached going for £600 a month. They bought it outright and that's as I said, fairly big house, nice area. House opposite mine, two bed end terrace is being let for £500 a month. It's mad. Same place near my parents would go for £200k. Fucking crazy

 

[Safrolette]

I bought this house for 57k, all done out nicely, minimal work to be done. Seen a lot of houses down near city centre going for 15k that, yeah, you could probably do up but effort. Thing is, this is a nice area, close to uni, and quiet.

How weird that often the houses near the city centre are cheap.
Sounds like you bought well Snolly! I paid a sum close to your 57k for my place but I had to do a lot of work on it. I was an inexperienced first buyer and discovered a lot of niggles afterwards.
Over the years I also went over the top with the renovation work, I'd never recover what I spent on it, but for me my house is a place to live at the moment and I'm not planning to sell or move anytime soon.

 

[mydrugbuddy]

you've done very well Snolly to get a nicely done up house in a nice area for 57K. I didnt think that was possible in 2014. Where do you live ? (of course you dont have to answer either publically or PM, im just curious)

I dont know if you live in the UK Saflorette but over here many inner city areas are classed as deprived areas, high crime rates, and all the rest. A lot of young people seem to want to live in the city centre itself here, but the developers got a bit carried away during the boom and built far too many flats for singles/young couples and then during the recession they were struggling to let their shiny new trendy buildings. I dont know if things have improved a bit over the past couple of years, as things are meant to be back on the up again.

 

[Safrolette]

I dont know if you live in the UK Saflorette but over here many inner city areas are classed as deprived areas, high crime rates, and all the rest.

Yes, I've been living in the UK for well over a decade. PM me if you want to know the location. Suppose you are talking about cities other than London, where property prices are sky-high Zone 1.
I live in an inner city area, but then I don't have a family, it would be very, very different if I had to worry about my kids growing up in a nice neighborhood and getting them into the best schools.

 

[rickolasnice]

To the people that know a lot more about it that me;

Do you have any predictions as to whether house prices will continue to rise or do you think they are going to take a nose dive?

With the housing shortage, immigration and the ever increasing population due to more people being born than there are dying - I'd assume they will continue to rise.

 

[gannetsarewe]

I would be very chary about UK property particularly in the SE, where many properties are unoccupied and exist as investment vehicles.

 

[masaz]

you've done very well Snolly to get a nicely done up house in a nice area for 57K. I didnt think that was possible in 2014. Where do you live ? (of course you dont have to answer either publically or PM, im just curious)

I live in Hull, go to uni here and decided to stay. Can always rent it out if I change my mind. But yeah, MDB is right, Safrolette, around here in particular a lot of the houses are beyond repair or undesirable due to crime etc. The city centre is also pretty dead as a means of socialising, though there are some nice places (there's a house called 'The Land of Green Ginger ) but yeah all the action is up near the uni so yeah not sure how I got this place cheap but I think it has something to do with a new law coming in disallowing any more student housing to be created around the area I live so people are selling off cheap cos they can't gouge on rent.