Viewing 9 posts - 1 through 9 (of 9 total)
  • Any property investment adviser type folk on here? All advice welcomed! :-)
  • psychle
    Free Member

    Thinking about heading home to Oz later this year, lucky us. We currently have a reasonable amount of pounds saved up over the past 6 years, plan for it was to be a house deposit back home… but, with the woeful exchange rate at the moment, the thought has occurred to me that perhaps we should ‘park’ this money in a ‘cheap’ 1 bed flat/studio somewhere in the UK (no idea where, not in London I’d guess!) and let it out with a view to sell at some point once the exchange rate starts to improve (maybe a long game!).

    We’re first time buyers, so really no idea about this malarkey, shouldn’t have a problem (I think?) getting a mortgage as we’ve both been in the same jobs for 5+ years and have a decent deposit, could be up to 40% depending on what value property we went for (I’m thinking in the £50-£70k range btw…)

    So, any thoughts on good areas to look at? I’m thinking close to some of the regional Uni’s would be a good start? Any other ideas/areas that we could consider?

    As a random example of what I’m kind of thinking of, here’s a 1 bedroom flat I spotted in Paisley (Glasgow, right?) for £48k – Gumtree ad

    TheBrick
    Free Member

    uni houses / flats get trashed and have a high turnover so usually need redecorating at a minimum at the end of the year. This is expensive if you are instructing and agent to organise the work for you from abroad.

    CaptainFlashheart
    Free Member

    IIRC, Stoner’s the resident property guru. He’s probably pissed on a train, though.

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    turin
    Free Member

    Try this little studio out in the center of Edinburgh. Perfect for prof or students.

    No idea about the financial side of things, Im sure there will be plenty who do though

    edit: im a plum and cannot do the linky thing, sorry

    totalshell
    Full Member

    the exchange is woeful, i am currently managing 3 properties for a family who moved to Perth this winter, they decided to rent in Aus and not to sell here. that gives them location flexability in Aus and a base and income from the UK.
    location of your Uk property is no.1 priority, you ll need someone you can trust to manage it very close to property and be able to purchase something that can be resold easily/ quickly for your very close to your initial investment.
    dont go for new build( less than 3 yrs old) invest in terraced property with a decent roof/ windows and electrics/ ch in good condition, everything else is jus window dressing. strip it out and paint it white/ magnolia. NO STUDENTS, east european families are normally excellent tenants ( although discrimination is illegal!!)

    5lab
    Full Member

    putting all your money into a single property is a fairly risky investment, and as well as being risky it (at that price) doesn’t have the advantages of leveraging credit to improve the investment.

    Why are you thinking of putting it all into one pot, rather than just a fund? if you were thinking of moving into the property at some point, I think it’d make sense, but if you just want to sell it when the exchange rate picks up, something which is less hassle (ie just a managed fund) would be where my cash went

    its also worth noting that the rate is ‘woeful’ compared to 5 years ago – however there’s nothing to stop the rate going further down this path over the next 5 years (some people would suggest the aus economy is in a much better position to survive a double dip compared to the UK). if general concensus was that the rate would improve in 5 years, the rate would be better now. Playing the exchange rate with life savings is a brave move

    psychle
    Free Member

    That looks sweet turin, thanks for the link 🙂

    Totalshell, that’s pretty much our thinking as well, we’re not going to be in a position to buy in Oz for 1-2 years, so may as well put our deposit to work over here, a flat should get a better return than sitting in the bank (perhaps?).

    We’re totally not fussed where we buy, more interested in getting something good for the right price with a decent rental potential…

    psychle
    Free Member

    a managed property fund… hadn’t thought about that, thanks for the tip.

    baldSpot
    Free Member

    totalshell is back on the money. listen to his advice: buy a terrace and rent to working Eastern Europeans.

    I would avoid flats/apartments/studios as the management fees for the building can significantly eat into your profit from renting out.

Viewing 9 posts - 1 through 9 (of 9 total)

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