Thinking of investing in property, but hopeless at DIY!! Please advice

[geek84]

Hi Folks

I am thinking of investing in a property by letting it out. However, I am hopeless at DIY. e.g. repairs & maintenance. Do you advice I go ahead with this plan and get a management agent involved? If so, the fees would be high (won't they?), and so would it be worth investing?

The only reason why I am thinking of this way of investing is because as you know, interest rates for savings are quite low at the moment.

Please advice.

[revdev]

Welcome to PT.
Being a non-DIY person does not exclude you from property investment - just ask Bluekiwi
It just means your strategy needs to take this into account (e.g buying new or near new houses, or outsourcing all repairs and maintenance etc)
A property manager would normally be used for the day-to-day running of a property if you didn't wish to deal directly with tenants or chose to spend your time differently. It doesn't have so much to do with the DIY/non-DIY question.

[geek84]

Welcome to PT.
Being a non-DIY person does not exclude you from property investment - just ask Bluekiwi
It just means your strategy needs to take this into account (e.g buying new or near new houses, or outsourcing all repairs and maintenance etc)
A property manager would normally be used for the day-to-day running of a property if you didn't wish to deal directly with tenants or chose to spend your time differently. It doesn't have so much to do with the DIY/non-DIY question.

Hi revdev

Many thanks for your reply. However, outsourcing all repairs would take a large chunk of my rental income. Don't you think that would be the case? And if so, would it worth my while going into this business?

By the way, who is Bluekiwi and how do I get in touch with him/her?

Thanks in advance

[NovInvestor]

You can learn a lot from watching DIY tips on youtube.

[jimO]

usually just enough to be dangerous

[PC]

Mostly it's cleaning.
Toilets, rubbish, ovens, etc...

Share investing starting to look good yet??

[jimO]

Share investing starting to look good yet??

you could ask the people who lost everything in the finance company shares

[speights boy]

you could ask the people who lost everything in the finance company shares

Well, that's a total of 3 companies

[revdev]

Hi revdev

Many thanks for your reply. However, outsourcing all repairs would take a large chunk of my rental income. Don't you think that would be the case? And if so, would it worth my while going into this business?

By the way, who is Bluekiwi and how do I get in touch with him/her?

Thanks in advance

If you buy new or near-new, R&M will be minimal anyway.
Of course it's worthwhile, you just have to want to do it and have the correct strategies in place.
If you outsource R&M, you just have to make sure you buy very well in the first place, so some margin remains.
No-one said it would be easy - apart from the masses who think being a LL is easy street and journo's who like to sell their stories.

[ED_P]

I've always thought that property management services are quite expensive, I suppose you have to think how much work you're willing to put in. Even if you were a DIY expert there will still be a lot of time and energy expended on your part.

That being said, you could just use services for the bigger jobs and do the more manual stuff yourself - like cleaning and fixing basic problems. I think RevDev hit the nail on the head when he siad it won't be easy, you have to decide how involved you want to be regardless of your DIY ability.

[geek84]

Good afternoon folks
Just to give you an update on my situation -
I've spent most of this morning going round estate agents & letting agents trying to identify the type of properties and areas which would be profitable as a buy to let.
Having identified my target areas / properties, the next problem is the mortgage. I am not working at the moment!! My wife works part time., so we are severely restricted to the mortgage providers' that would let us take out a mortgage. However, our home is mortgage free.
So, I guess the next thing to do is go round all the mortgage brokers in my area trying to identify the right mortgage to take out.
Would you agree with that? I suppose it is best to find out what we can borrow before selecting a property?
Thanks.

[Gladdynook]

Most if not all banks will look at your ability to repay the loan. So if your wife is the only one working, then they will look at her income alone.

Banks will calculate what the repayments will be on the new purchase, and deduct typically 70% of the rent that is proposed. It is the difference that you will need to show that you can afford. So even if the property pays for itself from day one, you'll still need to find 30% in the banks eyes.

It is a frustrating situation to be in. i know i could buy a house tomorrow and get great tenants that would cover all costs, but the bank still needs to know what my income is. They are just ensuring that should interest rates rise, or rents fall, then you can still afford the property. Regardless of the fact you have 100% equity in your own house.