irishhombre

i am from the north of Ireland, .....i left Ireland in my mid 20's to work in South Africa....... ...Belfast was is a kids party compared to Johannesburg..... Durban held the title as murder capital of the world, that year and retained the title for several years since i was there... ...anyone who tells you different is talking c**p......and is probably just trying to sell you property there...... since the "new" government took over crime has shot (excuse that word) through the roof...in fact, when i was there the prisions were full and the brainwave they come up with was to release everyone and start again......the place went mad...stories of the previous days deaths in one of the local newspapers when from 1 page to 3 pages...in the space of a month.... Capetown has a very dangerous area just outside the city called the "cape flats"......prob one of the worst places in the whole country..... dont be buying a place there when you can buy somewhere much safer and closer to home..if you have kids then there is no way you would relax out there..... thailand or somewhere would be a much nicer place to buy in....once the politics is sorted out... ps. belfast is a great place now, actually very like disneyland with alcohol...*hic

Would like to hear any news, stories on property news from Twickenham and Richmond area..........anyone buying, selling or renting here....maybe thinking about it? Twickenham is looking good now with the rugby ground being developed, new gym opening up, should be good for renters/BTL'ers. Any thoghts on the market. regards IH

It sounds like you want to live in a communist country, where everyone has a home and equal incomes. We live in a country where we have the opportunity to be well educated and we are taught to try and better ourselves....and this is what has a knock on effect to bettering the rest of the country. Also your post is not well researched..... Why is there a loop hole for multi-millionaires who own ten properties and have their office registered with 20,000 others in a bed sit in the Virgin Islands so that the rents they get aren't taxable? any money ( profit) earned in the UK is taxable.....so rents are not tax free just because the property is owned off shore......however the capital gain is tax free ONLY if the owner or director of the off shore company is not resident in the UK....this applies to most countries. Everyone should aspire to own property, more then one if possible.....and well done to those who have managed to aquire more than that....they have probably worked hard to do so.....and they dont need some moaning git whining because they dont have one..........this country is full of people from other countries, who only arrived here in the last ten years, that have made themselves millionaires.....and well done to them....there is alot of people born here that just did not use the opportunities that were available to them....... I find this whole forum is full of moaners ( not all) who are just sitting rubbing their hands and talking of the day when they will be able to see the market drop......and the irony is.....so they can then jump on the ladder themselves and become what they seem to hate........ the simple fact ius that encouraging people to own second homoes just fuels the market for more homes to be built and therefore not only provide more accommodation but also provigind more homes to the point that the prices do stop going up so much.....forward thinking..... get a life....get a job...and get a house...... what a load of BS. Long live the capitalist society.....those who work hard and take risks will always be better off. Happy Renting IH

Hi Bateman, First off, you are on the wrong forum if you want supporting advice for BTL, it called HousePriceCrash for a reason. But i like to read all the comments about area prices and overseas investment property....not bad reading if starting out. A few simple facts; You dont get taxed on the interest payment of a mortgage, only on profits after the interest payment (but hard to find a property anywhere where you can make profit on rent) If you are going to be BTL'er then you don't ever take a repayment mortgage on a BTL. If you dont understand why then your not ready to BTL. Lastly, you can still buy properties where the rent does pay the mortgage (interest only) just down to doing the homework A bit of advice..the best way to ease your way into BTL's is to live in the property and just rent out a room, you get really good tax relief for this too....about £4500 ish, not sure on the exact figure.....an accountant/taxman or someone else will be able to tell you the figure. Good Luck and if your math adds up then do it, dont listen to to 99% of the negative comments on here as you will never buy if you do.....but do read them to hear how others think....but be your own person.....research, research, research. Good Luck IH

i am in two minds about the whole NI property market....one side of me is kicking myself for not getting into it at the start and the other side of me is glad i was not sucked into it......the greed thing would have set in and eventually i would have gotten my fingers burnt....like many others now. i am from tyrone, and really, i am so glad i have kept my investments in london, the math was easy at the time of my decision "to buy or not to buy, that is the question"....my rents pay my mortgage, in london, they don't in ireland......not rocket science, just easy adding and subtracting. really when you think about it, there are no real BTL's in NI, just BT equityers..(have i just coined a new word?) when the BTL's dont add up, then the market is always destined to collapse. ps. you should know i have a degree from queens........... in 'stating the bloody obvious'.

Pumpkins....invest in Pumpkins NOW....I have an inside tip that the price is going to peek around the end of October. Homer S

the holidays rentals are not great, but the AST periods are either 6 months or 5 years.....so good long term rentals...but no profit in it.......also a new law prohibits private apartments being put on the holiday rental market...so you cant use the local agents there to rent it..unless its an aparthotel (which is what i bought). i dont rent mine out, except to family and friends i really see it as a pension, the mortgages are repayment type....based on a 10 year plan. So in 10 years i will have a fully paid off property that has hopefully doubled in value by then and no tax to pay on it when i sell. good time to buy there now....the knock on effect of the spanish market has caused a ripple....my place has not increased anything in the last year......but its a long term thing and its a great place to go for a few days....flights to toulouse or barcelona are cheap and its a scenic drive. The info sites say it is 3/4 hours from barcelona and toulouse, 2 hours max...lots of new tunnels and motorways, i was late for a flight once and done it in an hour to barcelona and toulouse in an hour an a half....good roads ish.

On a different thread/topic another user asked me about a property I bought in Andorra, so i thought it would be better to just start a new topic/thread. ---------------------------------------------------------- Andorra is really straight forward to buy in. You see a place you like, make an offer through the agent and if accepted they will arrange all the legal work. You are suppose to put a small holding deposit down when a price is accepted, this takes the propErty off the market. The estate agent will introduce you to the local bank and they will take you through the mortgage application, its only about 2 pages long...so really easy. I took a mortgage out as it was a new country for me and i thought it was better to have a bank behind IT, maDe things feel safer. LTV is 60/70%. The bank i use is Credit Andorra, in La Masanna and the apartment i bought is in Arinsal. Arinsal is cul-de-sac type of town and is a nice place to go not only in the winter for the skiing, but also in the summer. Happy to answer more of your questions.

hi longjohn, i started a new thread for Andorra. Regards IH

been reading through this thread......as a landlord for over 7 years i thought i would give you my advice.. they dont have any right to come into YOUR home, thats what the contract is for, to make it yours. if it was a recent rental then the deposit should be in the deposit scheme, and therefore the landlord should not have it. court is messy and stressful for all and you might be better to resolve it directly.... if the deposit is paid to the landord and he decides to keep it for no reason then take him to the small claims court...but remember, he can do the same too..if he has a reason. oh someone said that ALL landlords keep deposits.....silly comment....in seven years i have only kept 1 deposit......my rule..if you break it then you have bought it...simple. ym tenants always meet me, even if its through the agents......i make it clear that i am honest and expect the same.

looked at it a few years ago....but in recent years Mr.Chavez has not given me much confidence that i will get to keep it long term... i would definetly go there for a holiday, but as for buying..i think not.....i would prefer something abit further up, with a more established rental market......although all those latino chica's is an appealing selling point...... thats just me.....others will still buy there and probaly do ok as long as they actually get to keep it......i mean if the some of the oil companies get shafted, what hope has the ordinary joe got!!!!!!

just reading the comments made from the beginning of this thread........glad i was not a member back then.... ...all that doom and gloom would have made me doubt myself and my purchases at the time.... ..i bought 2 houses in 2003, one purchase was the week after sept 11th...from a new york stockbroker who thought the whole world economy was going down...i felt different...and i got the house for 40k under the asking and refinanced 6 months later for 20k more than the original asking price....... and since 2003 they have just about doubled in value....... goes to show.....make your own judgements...... or as my dad says......if you want to be sucessful, hang around sucessful people and vise versa..

yes, i see what you mean......but looking at the submission form, you can add a location if it is not there...pretty handy My friend in reigate also uses rooms-to-let.com, he has rented 2 rooms so far through it.....its free (my favourite kind of payment) so nothing to lose. IH

i lived in the middle east and i would never put a penny into the property market there.....with all the trouble in the world right now it would only take 1 nutcase to walk into a busy shopping centre, in Dubai, full of westerners, and pull the rip cord and (excuse the pund) bang goes the whole foreign investment in property.....try selling an apartment after that... I watched that programme Dubai Dreams, and when they asked the head guy if it was true that there had been 'problems', he would not comment......so i suspect that there have been little crazy guys doing naughty things, but the government has been covering it up.....otherwise they will be in the desert with out a camel (middle east version of - up the creek without a paddle)...so to speak. it still baffles me how anywhere in the middle east could be a holiday destination thats just my opinion....each to their own i say. ih

also, if you sell a holiday home that you have owned for more than 3 years and it has been fully available on the rental market for that period, then you can sell it under the business taper (10%CGT) thats what i have been told, but confirm it with your accountant...my head gets sore when i talk to mine and i may have misunderstood it. on the site they write about how much certain conversions/works can increase your properties vales.....and that loft conversions can be 50m/70m3..this is not true.....your total PD (Permitted Development) is 50m/70m3, of which only 40m3 can be used on a roof/loft conversion, any more will need planning.

hello, i am looking for a law firm to that can deal with a purchase in the Turks and Caicos.....anyone?

i loved the 'Highlights' section...Germany's highest internet cafe.......and of course....W*nk did make me laugh

does anyone know of UK based law firms that covers property purchases in the Czech Republic...i would like to buy something here as a long term....the CGT is a bit high i think, has anyone been throught the selling/tax system in CR.

i sold a flat in Andorra and a house in Ireland on www.PrivatePropertyMart.com, ...it was a free ad too......give it a go..nothing to lose....you could also try gumtree or daltons weekly

i spent 2 years travelling to spain and driving up and down the east coast looking for the perfect spot...had a great time y mucho cervesa's.....but it just did not feel right...too much on offer..one agent had about 400 places on the books....scary. i ended up buying a place in Andorra, as a long term investment for when i get older....almost no taxes on income etc. and decent rentals...also if they build the new airport in the north of spain (le'segul, i think) then things should rocket. Like Spain, Andorra has not been doing well, prices have not dropped nearly as much as spain, but as its a smaller market it seems to have just taken a break for a while (strange place). I would still love to have a place on the south coast of spain, but between all the news about landgraps, dodgy planning officials and people taking years to sell a place, its not very tempting....i think i will stick to the 5 star hotels. ih

on the renting side of things......(is this what the thread is about?) i recently started using a website called www.rooms-to-let.com to rent out some rooms I have in twickenham....placed an ad about 3 weeks ago and have now filled the 3 rooms.... the ads are free.... do you know of any other sites that I can place free ads for room rentals? (i also use gumtree) be good IH

I see someone used the word 'pyramid'.....thats exactly what I think the NI property market is and has been for the last 5 years. I am from Tyrone and have been in the property game for about 7 years, but not in NI. Being from there i have always looked at buying.....but the figures never stacked up....rents dont come anywhere near the mortgage payments and wages dont come anywhere near the levels to sustain a mortgage of current times. (needs to be 2 wages coming in to meet costs and live) I know of so many people in NI who are paying about 30%-50% of their rented properties mortgage out of their own wages and expecting to profit from the capital gain.....thats not good....rents must always meet the mortgages or be close to it inorder for the market to stand on its own feet. So, its really a pyramid system and we are starting to see the bottom of it now....i predicted this to my family at home at xmas and they laughed at me.......thankfully they are not heavily invested in the NI market. Simple rule. if rents dont pay the mortgage then dont buy. London and New York are the best bets now..the rents just about pay the mortgages and there is good capital growth ahead. good luck all gm ps Someone asked about Fermanagh, its a lovely area with loads of lakes around, it was always popular with tourist/fishing and boating holidays etc.