Debbie Crampin owns two buy-to-let properties, one in Chichester and one just outside Liverpool. What advice would she give to would-be landlords?
Debbie bought her first flat in 2007 with a friend who owns a number of homes for rent. At the time, the housing market was bouyant and prices rising. Buy-to-let looked like a quick and easy way to make some money. “My aim was to let the flat in the short term, wait for the price to rise and then sell it quickly,” she explains. However, the global financial crisis hit a year later and changed all that. She now regards the flat as a long-term investment which has remained affordable due to lower mortgage rates and has never been short of tenants because the rental market in the North West is growing. “The idea now is to keep the flat until I retire, by which time hopefully the market will have improved and I should be able to sell it at a decent profit,” she says.
Despite not making the quick and easy money she had hoped out of her first property, Debbie has been bitten by the buy-to-let bug. She bought her second property – a show flat on a new build development – in 2010, when mortgage finance was harder to find and the housing market was looking distinctly lacklustre. However, Debbie now appreciates that she is in it for what she describes as “the long haul” and is considering moving into her Chichester flat when her children leave home and she and her husband are looking to downsize.
With two further properties that she uses as holiday lets, Debbie is slowly building her property portfolio. She uses an agent to find her tenants for her but manages the Chichester property herself. The only reason for using a managing agent in Liverpool is distance. “I don’t feel I get real value for money from the 10% commission they charge,” she says.
So what are Debbie’s top tips for anyone thinking of going down the buy-to-let route? “It’s simple,” she says. “Use your common sense. Don’t over spend your budget, pick your location carefully by working out what your potential tenants are likely to want and don’t get emotionally attached to the property – regard it as a business investment not a home”. With house prices still beyond the reach of many first time buyers, the rental market is growing. “If the sums add up and you are willing to put in the time and energy required, you can make it work for you,” says Debbie.
