Are Buy to Let nightmares keeping you awake at night?

A recent study reported in The Daily Mail has found that stress is affecting 1/3 of landlords’ health and wellbeing.

From finding, it is more and more difficult to generate a profitable rental income, to worrying whether the abolition of S21 will make it difficult to sell their properties and access the equity many have planned for their retirement to the new threats resulting from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, we take a look at what landlords can do to sleep soundly at night:

1) Do nothing / take sleeping pills

Most people worry and most time our worst fears don’t materialise so is worry a waste of time? Not in our opinion – we believe the reason worst-case scenarios (losing the equity you have gained over a career of property investment, for example, or suffering stress-related ill health) don’t often materialise is that we make plans and prepare for the worst so when the signs are there or the time is right we know exactly what do next.

We think doing nothing is just too risky because of the seriousness of the problem and the likelihood things will get worse, not better.

2) Sell everything

We’re not big fans of this idea either – it’s just one more extreme. We believe the key is taking reasonable measures for the here and now while making contingency plans for the future.

It’s far easier to manage a handful of your best-performing properties and far less risky than keeping all your eggs in one basket. We think scaling back makes the most sense right now.

3) Research your options / test the water / scale back

The only solution we know of if things get too much or the market drops (other than to wait it out until the market picks up again which could take another 10 years) to limit risk is to sell some of your investments – either now or later.

The most important thing we think landlords should be doing now, whether you sell or not, is to work out how to sell, who with and what conditions need to be met. Do your research:

• Work out what you need from a sale, whether that is speed, certainty, convenience or maximum return.
• Should you wait months for a sale to be agreed and legally binding, or would you prefer more commitment from a buyer?
• Do you want to organise vacant possession before you sell or sell with tenants in situ?
• Would you prefer to sell properties individually or sell together as a portfolio for 80 – 90% of the value, compared to selling each individually.
• Make sure you have everything in place to sell and complete quickly.

Alasdair is one such landlord who has chosen to downsize due to the stresses and strains of managing a large portfolio. After deciding to sell and encountering many failed promises from estate agents promising him everything they knew he wanted to hear, he discovered the Landlord Sales Agency and now has a clear plan for any properties he might want to sell in the near future. Watch the video below to hear about his experiences in his own words.

If you would like to prepare for any eventuality, contact the Landlord Sales Agency today. We promise we will answer your questions about what we do differently. We won’t make false promises about what we can achieve, and we will be more than happy to sell a handful of properties, so you know exactly how good we are.

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