I actually went for it myself back in early 2023, picked up a three-bed terraced just a short walk from a big university campus in the Midlands. Thought I’d nailed it with decent student demand, but blimey, the mortgage underwriters really put me through the wringer. They wanted rental income to cover 125–145% of the mortgage payment depending on the lender, and with interest rates climbing, my initial numbers looked a lot shakier on paper than they did in my head. The bit that saved me wasting loads of time was sitting down months beforehand and working out proper worst-case figures—three months void a year instead of one, boiler packing up right after exchange, agency fees creeping up, that sort of thing. I ended up talking to a couple of landlords I met through a local property meet-up (one had been stung by a bad tenant the year before), and they were brutally honest about what actually happens rather than the glossy stuff online. One of them mentioned this article that cut through a lot of the nonsense 10 Tips for Purchasing an Investment Property. It’s not preachy or anything, just practical pointers on picking the right street, working out real yields once you factor in everything, and dodging the daft mistakes most first-timers make. Read it and thought “yep, that’s exactly the grief I’ve been having”. In the finish I set it up through a limited company which took some sting out of the tax side, but honestly, you’ve got to treat urban spots like a full-on side project these days—takes way more homework than it did five years ago. Still glad I did it, though the early months were stressful as hell.
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noheve5124 posted an update in the group
Navigating the Nuances of Buy-to-Let Mortgages in Urban Areas 4 days, 8 hours agoFunny how city centres always look so buzzing on paper, yet half the time the flats sit empty for weeks between tenants or get trashed quicker than you’d expect. I remember walking through one redevelopment area a couple of years ago—cranes everywhere, new bars opening—and thinking “this is it, prime spot”, but then noticed the turnover was mad…[Read more]
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kanibo3284 posted an update in the group
Navigating the Nuances of Buy-to-Let Mortgages in Urban Areas 4 days, 8 hours agoHey everyone, has anyone here actually cracked the code on buy-to-let mortgages when you’re looking at flats or houses right in the middle of big cities like Manchester or Birmingham? I’ve been toying with the idea for ages now—my cousin did it back in 2022 with a little two-bed in Leeds and swears it’s been dead easy ever since, but every time I…[Read more]
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