For many people, buying a property to let out and becoming a landlord is an attractive prospect and a great way to make some money. They are a good long-term investment when done right, but it is important to ensure you do plenty of research before you dive straight in and commit to becoming a landlord.
The first thing that you will need to look into are buy to let mortgages. These are different to a regular mortgage, and they also require a larger deposit. You will also need to be able to prove that you can afford the monthly repayments on the mortgage, as you would do with a regular mortgage.
As well as the mortgage you will need to also consider the usual costs of buying a property- you will need to pay legal fees and conveyancing – if you want ideas of costs contact somewhere like this building survey Birmingham based company Sam Con for quotes so that you can get an idea of what this will cost.
As well as this, when you become a landlord, you also need to think about the costs of maintaining a property – mending the heating, fixing the fence and repairing anything that goes wrong are all things that a good landlord needs to do. It may also be necessary to do refurbishments when you first take the property on, depending on the state that the property is in when you buy it.
Once you have the property and you are ready to let it out, most people prefer to do this through a lettings agent. This is because it is a lot easier especially if you are a new landlord. The lettings agent will be able to find tenants for you, collect fees for you, do property inspections and checks and do a lot of the property management on your behalf, which can be time consuming and sometimes complicated. However, you do need to factor in the letting agent fees if this is the route that you choose to go down.
You will also need to make sure that you have landlord insurance – there are lots of different options when it comes to landlord insurance, so it is worth looking into it and all of the options that are out there. Whether you want to cover the building only, or if you are renting the property out fully furnished you might want to take out contents insurance also.
The decision to become a landlord is a big one and it is important that before you think that’s a great source of income and dive straight in, that you do plenty of research on all of the different things that are part and parcel of being a landlord and making sure that it is the right decision for you.