My 10 year property investment journey has been amazing.

There was a huge learning curve, and a lot of work finding houses, getting them ready to rent, and renting through a management agent, but the income has been good, and the property values have increased a lot.

I have chosen to use a managing agent, which should be have been a hands off experience, but there has still been a lot of work to do.

There is always tennants needing work, mortgages renewals, annual tax calculations, etc. So there has been plenty of time spent on this investment.

With changes in interest rates, and tax rates, the profit from BTL property, is now much less than when I started. As well as this, my full time job takes so much time, so I’m now looking for more passive investments.

ISAs and Shares is what I’m thinking. I havent got time to research individual shares, so index funds like NASDAQ and S&P 500

So much to learn for this different investment type, so my time will be spent researching, but once decided this will be so much more hands off investing than property.

So my plan is, once a tennant moves out of a property, I will sell the property. I’m thinking maybe 1 property sale per year, which will take 7 years. Possibly a little quicker.

Im in no rush, the house prices are going up and not losing money, but its definitely the direction I’d like to move in.

So, after 7 rental properties purchased, I took a break. I felt that rising house prices and not much on the market meant the deals were not as easy to find. But the main reason is that I had been too busy with my full time job.

In hindsight, I wish I had bought more, but I can’t change that now.

Since I started in 2014, I have bought just over 1 property per year before I stopped, and now in 2023, prices have risen considerably.

Here is the updated summary, showing the estimated rise in prices. The portfolio value is now up to £920K from £635K, giving £444K of equity.

As all of the mortgages were interest only, the mortgage is the same at £476,250, and with a value of £920,000 this means the average LTV is now 51.7%.

It wont be long before the properties have increased in value to hit the £1 Million portfolio mark.

At this stage, with approx £1700 profit each month (excluding repairs) it makes it easier to save money for another deposit.

Ive seen people talk about the snowball effect and I’m seeing it happening to my portfolio now. with 12 months of £1700 profit per month, I’m now able to save £20K per year, which is almost another deposit for a house, so that is without me adding my own cash to the table. Luckily, I have a full time job to allow all of the property profit to go straight back into the next property.

So here is the next purchase, another 2 bed house.

The rental demand in this area is good. There is a tenant in situ, which is good, but I dont feel like I can increase their rent, so when they move out, I will do some refurbishment and increase rent after.

This apartment is in a good area, so hopefully demand will be high.

Here is the updated summary

I will keep an eye out for any more like this, as the price is good, and the return is OK. Its not amazing, but a good solid buy.

I have read some people suggesting apartments are better than houses, so I had a look around to see what I could buy as a BTL apartment.

With apartment prices lower than houses, it seems appealing. Some things to note with apartments:

• Service charge can be significant, in this case £100 per month
• There should be no costs for gutters, roof, garden and other outside costs
• Purchase price is much lower than house price for a 2 bed

This apartment is in a good area, so hopefully demand will be high.

Here is the updated summary

I will keep an eye out for any more like this, as the price is good, and the return is OK. Its not amazing, but a good solid buy.

Coming soon, with before and after photos, including financial info too.

For Property 5, I wanted to try a refurb to rent, using the BRR model (Buy, Refurbish, Refinance). This is a much cheaper property than previously bought, and gives a much better yield when it is refinanced. Here are the stats of the property bought.

This is great, I will get a similar return to my previous properties, with only 6.2K invested, giving a 50% return. Problem is … finding lots of these deals is not so easy, and there is a LOT more work involved.

Work included a new kitchen, new central heating, new double glazing, and plastering throughout. Basically a full refurb. Once the refurb is complete I will give more photos.

Purchase condition

The purchase of property 4 was quite straight forward. It needed very little work apart from painting, which is what I was looking for, as I’m busy with other things.

I had chosen to try a new solicitor, and they did a great job. Much more organised and so the sale went through without any problems.

Here are the stats.

Not a bad ROI, but no forced appreciation by doing a refurb, so I can do better. Here is the updated summary

After quite a lot of searching, I found this, a 2 bed end of terrace, and is approximately 15yrs old. I think that it is in a good area, with good rental demand, which matches the sort of property I’m looking for.

Advertised for £100K, I offered £90K. They declined it at first, but when I didn’t budge, they came back within 2 days and accepted. It may seem harsh not negotiating, but I don’t offer below with the aim to negotiate, I make an offer of what I want to pay, and if it is more than this I’m willing to walk.

The purchase on property 3 took longer than I thought it would. The sale finally was completed in Jan 2017.

I chose to use the sellers estate agent as my letting agent. So the property had a tennant ready to move in straight away.

The works on the house were only small, and we managed to get it done within a week – painting 3 rooms, laminate replaced in one room, and a new cooker.

The mortgage rates have reduced since my estimation, and the rental is more than I anticipated. So that will give better returns than expected. See below for new calcs.

So here is the updated summary