THINKING OF INVESTING? WHY BEING A LANDLORD IS A SOLID PLAN FOR YOUR FUTURE

How do you feel about becoming a landlord? If you’re planning your long-term financial security, you...

How do you feel about becoming a landlord?

If you’re planning your long-term financial security, you have plenty of options to choose from. Savings, shares, pensions, property… they all have their pros and cons, and people choose one or more for multiple reasons.

We have many different types of landlords as clients. Some of them own just one property, while some have large portfolios. But regardless of whether they’re private individuals or limited companies, they share some common motivations for owning rental homes.

Freedom, stability, feeling in charge, retirement planning and financial security for their families are all in there, and so is the feelgood factor in nurturing their passion for property and providing comfortable homes that people to live in for many years.

So in this week’s blog, we’re diving deeper into how our clients choose to become landlords and why they enjoy it, so you can decide if you’d like to start and grow your own lettings portfolio.

A PHYSICAL, VISIBLE ASSET

For many of our landlords, the fact that property is something they can see and touch is enough to make it their investment of choice. As well as taking comfort in that physical quality, they also feel that being a landlord is one of the safest investment options, for a number of reasons:

• Homes can’t be wiped out overnight like companies can – buildings stay where they are.

• House prices aren’t as prone to wild fluctuations like the stock market and crypto.

• Having a home is everyone’s top priority and will never go out of fashion.

With more rental homes needed and never enough being built, it’s hard to see the private rented sector and landlords having anything other than a very assured future.

THE JOY OF FEELING IN CHARGE

When many of our landlords bought their first investment property, they already had an existing career, often working for someone else. For them, buying a rental home was a first-step in feeling in charge of their own destiny without being answerable to anyone else.

Some of the things they recommend about being a landlord include:

• having a business that’s all about their passion for property, which makes it genuinely interesting and rewarding

• getting all the legwork and legalwork done by a managing agent to find the best tenants, keep their property in line with the law, and deal with maintenance and repairs
  
• being able to start landlord life as a non-time-consuming side hustle, then having the choice of turning it into an active role or simply receiving a passive income.

There are very few investment strategies that give you such direct control over how your assets are managed and perform, and it’s this freedom that appeals so much to our clients.

FINANCIAL & FUTURE FLEXIBILITY

Unless you’re a substantial shareholder, you don’t have much immediate sway over how a company operates. As a landlord it’s a very different story, and you can future-proof your income by follwing market trends and putting the equity in your rental homes to work.

Among the many ways our landlords leverage their properties, you can:

• seek out homes with future potential to convert a loft space or extend the building
  
• reconfigure or renovate an interior to take advantage of changing local demographics
  
• refinance to get a more competitive mortgage deal or to release equity for improvements, business expansion or lifestyle purchases.

If you’d like to make the most of the rental market in Mid Devon, we’re here to help you stay on top of changing tenant demand so you can create popular and profitable lettings.

INCOME & SECURITY INTO RETIREMENT

There are no two ways about it: later life is coming for us all, and even a small lettings portfolio can give you a valuable feeling of security in retirement. For our clients, being a landlord has some of the following advantages to build financial security after they stop working:

• A buy-to-let business can still run, expand and produce income into your retirement with very little work or managing of people.
  
• Rental homes can become a source of pure income long before you stop working, unlike private pensions.
  
• Property prices and rents consistently out-perform savings accounts and ISAs, and you can build substantial equity to release even after you retire while the capital value continues to increase.

According to the English Private Landlord Survey 2021, planning for retirement is the main reason why people become landlords, with more than half saying that owning rental property was mainly about a pension investment. So why not join them?

A LEGACY FOR YOUR FAMILY

Like many of our landlord clients, you might want to ensure a solid financial future, increased opportunities and an easier life for your children when they become adults.

There are many ways that owning rental homes can help you provide your family with financial security and give your children a head start, including:

• buying property as a limited company, then making family members shareholders so they’re not faced with a huge inheritance tax bill later on

• giving your children or other family members a valuable vocation and useful business experience to set them up for life
  
• having ready-made properties for your children to move into when they leave home.

What’s your next step?

If you’d like to know more about becoming a landlord or you’d like to buy a rental home in Mid Devon, why not get in touch?

We’d love to help get off to a flying start and build a successful portfolio, so call us on 01363 777 999 or property@helmores.com. Everything starts with a friendly chat!