Buy to let in Manchester or Buying my own property around London?

[Anne-Claire D]

Hi Everyone, 

I'm currently investigating what are the possibilities to invest in property. I'm not owning any property yet, I have limited resources for the initial deposit and I'm based in London. 

I hesitate between two options for my first property investment: 

- Buying my own property outside of London with a quick commute (ie Chelmsford or Milton Keynes). The positive point is that I would only need a 5% deposit and I can use the first home buyer scheme. However, I'm concerned that the property I could buy won't increase in value and building in equity will only be based on my monthly repayment. 

- Investing in buy-to-let in the North (Liverpool or Manchester). The forecasts are planning a great increase in property value however I'm afraid that I will struggle to bring 20% deposit (I'm currently looking into getting a personal loan to not stretch too much of my finance, which is going to make it even more difficult). 

My investment goal is building wealth in the long term, I'm currently full-time employed and I'm not searching to get high profit from my investments for now (even though profit is still appreciated  ) 

What are your recommendations? 

Please let me know your thoughts, 

Many thanks for whoever read this topic  

Anne-Claire 

[Kent614]

What are your thoughts on buying a place to live in yourself and renting out a room? 

It can get you onto the property ladder, you can get some income (sometimes as much as covering the mortgage), and it is also tax efficient

[Amrit K]

Hi Claire,

Welcome to PropertyHub! We love hearing of people taking action on their Property Investment journey! It's great that you have a goal set for yourself, if you haven't already it may be worth completing the dreamline spreadsheet to really help attach a timescale and gain more clarity on your investment goals:

https://propertyhub.net/podcast/property-dreamline-revisited-free-spreadsheet/

In regards to how and where to invest, have you considered off-plan property? These usually require small initial deposits of around 10% upfront and are the perfect tool if capital growth is your priority. Rob & Rob recorded a very insightful podcast on this that you may find helpful:

 https://propertyhub.net/podcast/tpp033-how-to-win-with-off-plan-property/

If you need any further advice you can always arrange a strategy call with one of us portfolio managers here at PropertyHub.

Best of luck!

Amrit

[Matt Hall]

Hello Anne-Claire 

One question I would ask, what is your current living arrangement? If you are renting at the moment and are planning to move into the London property that might work well. I understand the point about only building equity through your mortgage repayments if you aren't expecting the price to increase, but if that's in place of paying out rent then that might be a really good way to get started as it wouldn't really be costing you anything (assuming rent is similar to the mortgage payment). You could then save further/overpay with a view to refinancing for when you are in a position to buy another property. 

Similar point for considering really if you choose to invest in Manchester/Liverpool, if you are going to have to put a bigger deposit down, whilst also increasing personal debt with a loan, and also continuing to pay rent for your current property, you might find that you are in a negative cash flow situation from the start, which isn't a great place to be. 

Many Thanks 

Matt