"As long as it washes it's face" - do you remember the days when that was a landlords mantra?"Things can only get better!" playing on the radio, Tony Blair happy and smiling, the only way was up.
Well that was then, and this is now, and landlords can't afford to just keep washing their faces. They really need to be scrubbing behind ears, mopping pits and freshening up their nether regions.
Landlords are watching rising inflation and all the talk of interest rate hikes with real concern.
The harsh reality of managing property is the additional costs of maintenance and letting fees on top of mortgage repayments. Rental properties get tired very quickly and sorting them out is costly, letting agents fees eat another 7 percent plus out of the rental revenues and landlord insurance and licences bite further.
With no sign of 'capital growth' happening for a long time to come and lending criteria frosty the old remortgage saviour is not an option.
Rent increases have eased the stress, but with rising unemployment and wage freezes coming on stream from the austerity measures these will be pushed to keep growing at any real rate.
Let's not mention the increasing number of tenants failing to meet their rental payments.
So those landlords who continued to wash their face whilst Blair lost his smile and D:ream became a nightmare are going to need to build a war chest and keep back as much rental profits now whist interest rate stay low to prepare for harsher time to come......
and harsher times are coming, that's a certainty, if you can't see that you need to wash that sleep from your eyes and stop dreaming.
Search BTL mortgages for best fixed rates
No comments:
Post a Comment