Buy-to-let
Buy-to-let properties are often great investments, but you must look at it as a medium to long-term investment and not the means to a quick-buck.
We love it!
Buying a property to rent out is a very popular income-generator for us Brits. There are the prolific investors with their massive portfolios, who make a living out of buy-to-let and there are those of us who invest in a single property as a sideline, or canny pension.
It's really important to research the area you're thinking of buying in and the type of tenants you're likely to attract. We'll help you with that and advise you on the rental income you can expect, assessing whether that balances out with the investment you could be about to make.
Do your sums
As you would with any business, you need to plan and figure out what kind of money you could make from the property before committing.
To calculate the percentage gross rental yield on your investment
(total income per year ÷ the value of the property) x 100 = % gross yield
To calculate the percentage net yield
([total income – total costs] ÷ the value of the property) x 100 = % net yield
To calculate annual running costs
mortgage repayments + estimated refurb costs + vacant time (estimate 30 days per year) + service charge and ground rent (if the property is leasehold)
And our last piece of advice...
Set a realistic rent. Setting a high rental value will put off tenants and could well increase the amount of time your property is vacant. This means you'll be forking out money, but there'll be none coming in.
This is our super-quick guide to buy-to-let. Of course, there is so much more to the process and every single case is different. So, we recommend you speak to your local Winkworth lettings team and seek independent advice.
