Investment options

[Stephensharp1216]

Hi,
I am looking to make an investment, preferably in a property in the uk, to rent out. My situation is as follows:
Occupation - Engineer
Currently residing - Australia
Nationality - British
Return date to uk - 2015
Savings - 50000 Gbp
Weekly savings - 1100 Gbp

I have spent the past 2 months looking into options for investments and can't seem to settle on a particular area. Property is my preferred option as I will eventually move back to Scotland. I've been looking at student let's but management fees are very high.

If you were in this position would you look to purchase a flat for 50k and not deal with banks, or would you be looking at a property for say 150k and a 66 percent mortgage.

I am not looking to live in the property at any time in the future and would consider purchasing anywhere in the uk.

Has anyone had any experience purchasing a property in the uk from overseas?

Am I being too ambitious thinking I can purchase a property from overseas? Should I just accept my money will be left in the bank and make less interest, with a lower risk and save until such time until I am living in the uk and can make a more informed decision on what is a good investment.

Any help, opinions or ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,

[theartfullodger]

Welcome:

If looking to buy in Scotland you'll appreciate that landlord/tenant law (& property law..) is different there...

Just in case anyone PM's you with wonderful offers after seeing your post... treat these wonderful offers with great suspicion....

Cheers!!

[Alexlandlord]

If I was you I would probably buy cash in the uk, at auction or a repo, let it out with full management service, any thing else operating remotely is probably too risky.

Alternatively stick money in alternative investment such as blue chip investments in stock market .

[Alexlandlord]

Just to confirm, agree fully with artful, all the get rich schemes you may receive, I would file in the bin.

[doobrey]

Has anyone had any experience purchasing a property in the uk from overseas?

I bought my first property (in Scotland) while resident overseas. Was able to get a Natwest mortgage. They required evidence of earnings but didn't have a problem with me being non-resident. This was pre-crash, though, so situation could be different now.

[doobrey]

Has anyone had any experience purchasing a property in the uk from overseas?

Some further points:

1. Having a UK bank account would make things easier. I have always had one. Not all banks allow a telegraphic transfer to be done by phone so this may be worth checking on if it could be significant. It is not necessarily essential to be in the same country as the bank or the property on the completion date.

2. Bear in mind that income arising in the UK is taxable. (If resident overseas, though, British citizens do get a tax allowance so a modest property income is actually quite tax efficient.) Be prepared to submit a tax return annually.

3. Exchange of contracts requires an original signature and a witness. The only times - in my experience - that you need to send original documents by post are at the outset when instructing solicitor and when signing the contract.

4. Finding and purchasing a property obviously takes time, so there is a lot to be said for a 'no chain' scenario of one sort or another.

5. Be aware of HMRC's non-resident landlords scheme.

[midnightman]

HI

If I was in your position I would keep the 50K in the bank. It will earn you 2% interest and will be risk free. 50K is not alot of money to start investing in property. If you choose to buy a flat at 50K, thats all your money gone. Only invest in property if you have a shed load of money.

[theartfullodger]

Or Zopa: Some risks, but about 5.4%....

http://uk.zopa.com/lending/lending-at-zopa

As I've said many times, only become a landlord if you have the financial AND EMOTIONAL resources to cope with the tenant (or letting agent...) from hell when you get no rent for, say, 7 months whilst you pay the mortgage & legal fees to resolve & then tenant 'phones up (10:37pm Saturday night with a toilet leak that's been going for 3 weeks...) with repair issues & you have to fix or judge will allow tenant to stay even longer...

[matisti]

Hello stephensharp

Similar situation with me.

Living in Australia, already have one BTL in UK. Around 50K to invest. Trying to decide if to buy cheaper property outright or to look into mortgage.

I have called some of the banks that do expat mortgages. Natwest don't deal with Australia any more. HSBC wanted me to have a permanent contract with employer and Barclays wanted me to lodge 50K in an account with them as an additional. Thought about buying cheaper cash property but hard to manage this type of lower end property from overseas. There are opportunities to invest in student studio apartments in university cities but not sure of the financial side of such schemes. Hard to make decisions as its so tempting to send the dollars to UK due to the exchange rates but then it does nothing once there. Not sure about trusting the Australian property market though as their prices continue to boom and boom.....