General Chat

It was my Deletion, it put it in twice, the boards are playing silly Bees today.**M**.

Letting agent Rose and they were B useless,Had to go to Court myself and get them Evicted,during which time they wrecked the place.Then the agent went Bankrupt. Cost a lot to sort it out ,Luckily I can turn my hand to most things So the labour costs were minimal. Suggest you make the Acquaintance of a Couple of Heavies just in case. **M**.

Thanks Liz :)

Not particularly a student area here , so it is more likely to be a family home than individuals sharing .

I am going to keep to as tight a budget as possible and go with the same carpet and paint ( magnolia /cream throughout ) so it can be easily re-done.
As I have here there will be a clause in the agreement that the garden must be kept in reasonable order and I have insurance to cover me for missed rent if the property can't be let due to damage . The good thing is that I don't live far so can always take a quick look round the outside at least .

Rose xx

I used to think buy to let was a good idea but after being a Student house manager for 15 years, finishing two years ago, I realised the stresses and hassle were huge and was sort of glad I never did get involved with it. My friend/boss said she wouldn't have carried on as long as she did with the houses, had she not had me to carry a lot of the load, and she sold them as soon as I retired. She made a good price and sold them to her son in law and daughter. I saw some of the neighbours from one of them recently and they said things have gone badly downhill since then, with one set of neighbours trying to sell up because of the awful behaviour of tenants there and they said the Police had had to go round often because of drug taking problems and noise. My friend's s.i.l. wouldn't keep me on as manager - I would have got someone I know to take over the cleaning - and he has not had regular cleaners or anyone checking the property since then. My friend and I kept the house in good repair by seeing what was necessary each visit, if anything needed doing, and doing a full clean and repair etc every summer at change over time. I feel sad the house is so neglected now.

I hope you have lots more luck with your tenants Rose and that the venture is a good one. You have certainly bought at the right time and at least the house can only go up in value.
Good luck, keep us posted.

Lizxxx

Thanks for all replies , having trouble with PC tonight so taking time to get back on ( raising eyes to heaven lol)

xx

I've got a house in Morecambe that is rented out. It is with an agent and he is brilliant. He checks it regularly and sometimes takes interior photos and sends me. He deals with everything, boiler repair, fence down in winds,inside emulsioned etc. and all this is included in his fee. The current tenant paid a bond plus a month up front. The one and only tenant that got into trouble with the rent was receiving some sort of income/rent allowance and the agent got this paid directly to him and by the time the tenants left I had only lost 69.00 GBP.

I have had it over 6 years and only had 3 tenants all long term. One left to buy their own house, the next was the one who got financial problems but left the house clean and in order and the present tenant.

To me the agent is worth his weight in gold and takes all the stress out of owning a property in a different country to the one I live in.

The agents are a small company - man, wife, son and one employee and they take 15% commission. Previous agent, who WAS useless only took 10% but didn't charge as much rent so I am better off now

Wendy

I have pm'd you Rose.

Don't worry, you can set your own bond (that insures you to some extent). Get references (including employers), run a credit check, do all the usual things to safeguard yourself as much as possible.

Of course there are some horror stories but common sense (of which you have loads) will play a huge part in your choice of tenant.

Sue

Good luck!
OH's brother let his flat through an agent to a single woman. After 6 months or so she got pregnant, lost her job and stopped paying the rent. Social gave her money to pay rent with and guess what, she didn't. The agents were a waste of space.

It eventually ended with OH's brother having to get the bailiffs in and change the locks but not before she'd moved the boyfriend in and had the baby.

All in all he lost a large some of money. Thankfully the market was bouyant enough at the time so he did recoup some of his losses when he eventually sold but not sure if that made up for year of stress.

Hi Rose, will be interested in future happenings !!!!!!!!!!!
My daughter has a house she rents out, she has no agents does it her self, touch wood the family in there are good tenants but she does do a 3 monthly check on the house and also the family want to rent for as long as she lets them so no 6 monthly tenants who wouldn't look after the house, she also made sure that in the tenancy that they kept the garden in good order as a lot of time and money had gone into it.
Right now for the bad news.............another friend of ours lets out also but has had a awful time with one tenant, stopped paying the rent and let the house go to rack and ruin, in the end a eviction notice was served on them to get them out but he was thousands out of pocket.
So there are good and bad, hope yours works out ok and good luck, x

Hi Rose :-)

Will look forward to reading this.

Out of interest Sheila, and Merlin did you use a letting agent or do it yourself?

Rose xx

Like Merlin - been there, beware! I didn't do buy to let, but rented out my house when I was abroad. It was a nightmare!

TOR, havn't heard from you for a while now. I hope you are well.
Julia in Derbyshire

Hi TOR , no I thought the same about the wood panelling, it is pine so will paint it white or magnolia :) did that where I used to live and it made a real difference .

xx

Rose

just a word of warning regarding the wood panelling - don't pull it off unless you have to.

My experience :- thought about painting it a light colour but decided to go the whole hog and get rid at outset - ended up having to replaster the walls T * G had been put up to hide crumbling plaster.

Good luck and have fun doing it up.

TOR xx

And then it added twice!!!!!!
Ann
Glos

Hope all goes well with it Rose. Shall watch your 'diary' with interest.

Ann
Glos

Thanks Sue, glad it has paid off so far, encouraging! :))

I will Julia, it is something I have thought about for a long time , watched all the programmes lol

funnily enough i won a competition a few weeks back, the prize was a Sarah Beeny Property Ladder book lol

xx

Good luck Rose :-)

Youngest did it about 3 years ago and it has paid for itself so far *fingers crossed*

Sue x

Keep posting for us to read Rambling Rose, as it will be of interest to those others who have thought of doing this. Your experience will be a useful guide line.
Good Luck
Julia in Derbyshire