Home Ownership Is Completely Overrated

Reply to the comment left by "Mark Alexander" at "20/08/2016 - 11:47":

Point taken. I think in my case it comes from working in the S++t holes of the planet for extended periods and knowing there is a place for me to come back to that doesn't change.
Boring old world if we were all the same, eh?

Reply to the comment left by "Paul H" at "20/08/2016 - 12:18":

Hi Paul

I feel your pain, it was that de-cluttering exercise that prevented me from doing what I have done for years.

It made me feel sick to think about it because I hadn't a clue where to start.

In the end, I made the decision, booked the flights, told everybody I was off and even arranged the leaving party. Having a big ego I knew that losing face by backing out would be worse for me than getting on with what had to be done.

You hit the nail on the head when you used the worth "ruthless", you have to be!

However, once you have committed and you start getting rid of all the crap you have accumulated it really does get easier. In fact, I'd go so far as to say it is liberating!

We got to the stage that we filled every local charity shop. We hired a van and two guys to take a load of stuff to the local auction sale rooms and sold everything without a reserve.

We got a local scrap merchant to collect all the metal we had accumulated. The deal was that he had to take the old broken fridges we had accumulated even though he didn't want them. I didn't tell him there were nine of them until he had half filled his lorry and he realised he was onto a winner. You think you've collected a lot of crap? We had 21 rooms and several outbuildings on five acres of land full of it. It all went.

The last thing I got around to were bedside drawers and cabinets. I had two boxes and a plastic bag. I could only keep what fitted into the plastic bag. The boxes were bin or charity. We needed a lot of boxes!

There were still some things we could have been more ruthless about. I decided we would not hire a container and that if it didn't go in a case we wouldn't take it. We ended up with 13 suitcases LOL, many of them full of my wife's shoes and handbags as you might have guessed.

What I can assure you of is that if the logistics of the move are your main concern now then you are so so close. That said, it still took me years to make the move having got to that point and during those wasted years I invented many more excuses for my lack of action. I now regret that, don't make the same mistake, "just do it" as the famous slogan goes!

Now I am truly free 😀

Hi Mark,

Just one quick question-if I was to incorporate abroad,say Malta or Cyprus, would I be able to escape CG tax and take a dividend through the company at 5%,depending on the tax regime in the selected country? Any idea on incorporation costs?

Craig

Reply to the comment left by "Craig Rennolds" at "20/08/2016 - 14:43":

Hi Craig

If you get your timings right then you could certainly save a huge chunk of CGT on incorporation by becoming resident in one of those Countries.

Remember that CGT would be payable on gains since April 2015 though and that SDLT would be unavoidable unless you are incorporating a partnership.

You then need to consider your mortgages. Whether you refinance or use a BICT at the point of incorporation there will be a cost.

What you will need is professional advice before you commit to anything. It is vital that your team of advisers have somebody to help create a holistic overview of potential strategies and for you to understand all costs, options, timings etc. before you can make a commercial decision.

Also remember that for at least five years you will be restricted to visiting the UK to somewhere between 14 and 90 days in any rolling 365 day period in order to maintain your tax exile status and any benefit you have gained from it.

I don't know how UK dividend income is taxes in Cyprus, the 5% I've quoted is the rate in Malta.

Hi Mark,

Thanks very much for the advice, I will speak to Pacific Group and get more insight into these issues. I know Pacific accountants were your accountants, and they seem to be pretty good.

Enjoy Malta -I'm sure you will!

Kind regards,
Craig

I fully agree with Mark home ownership is completely over rated.
I purchased my home 9 years ago and in the past 3 years I have regretted it deeply. I made the big mistake of buying a shared ownership property, which was not through choice, but due to the fact that I am a single parent, self employed and could not afford to purchase a property 100%
I am happy that I purchased other properties for rental income which go towards my investment portfolio and financial security.
but owning my own home has caused me no end of problems stress and expense which I did`nt have to go through before when I was renting.
I am unable to sell the property move out also I can`t rent it.
out. so basically I am trapped in a home I no longer wish to live in. This is due to the housing association accusing me of fraud, for owning other properties which I purchased one prior and another since buying my own home.
These bastards expect me to surrender the lease,give up money I paid towards mortgage payments made over the past 9 years ,including my deposit also the equity.Last but not least they even want me to pay the mortgage balance after moving out.Their attitude is oh its my lose. Unbelievable!
So this proves that not just home ownership but shared ownership is a big milestone around the neck, as well as being detrimental to your life health and piece of mind.
One more thing since ive lived in the place which was newly built when I bought, I have had to pay out for no end of repairs such as boiler repairs plumbing and windows frames.All of this would have been down to the landlord if I was renting.

Hi
I guess you are all too young, childless or what ever but home ownership can give your inheritors one million free of Inheritance tax if you are married or half a million if you are not, which is above the standard tax allowance. How anyone with the capacity to buy would want to rent with all the lack of freedoms, restricted tenancies due to tenancy laws and whims of landlords is beyond belief, if you want to stay, as I would, in this country.

Reply to the comment left by "Yvonne Francis" at "20/08/2016 - 17:38":

Hi Yvonne

I will be a grandfather later this year so I can assure you I'm no spring chicken. However, I do like to think of myself as young at heart and modern thinking, and my wife and I have given a lot of thought to the point you have raised.

It is theoretically true that you could have a £500,000 IHT allowance on your private dwelling house and double that if you are married and structure your Last Will & Testament correctly. However, everybody leaves the first £325,000 free of IHT, the £500,000 isn't extra to that, it's part of it.

Your home may not be worth £500,000 or £1 million and even if it is, you might not just drop down dead instantly one day. Most don't, they need long term care first and the family home is generally used to pay for that. Why do you think the Government want everybody to be a homeowner?

When my wife and I went though the de-cluttering exercise when leaving our home of 13 years we agreed that we wouldn't wish that on our loved ones, especially with the emotional baggage that would go with it immediately after our deaths. Not only was the de-cluttering exercise soul cleansing for us, we also prevented our loved ones having to deal with it at a later stage. We vowed never to get ourselves back into the position they would have been left in. Instead, we will leave our loved ones with memories, experiences, and to help them to build at least one viable business whilst we are still alive. All the better if that business is property investment as that's what we know most about. Between us, my wife and I also know a fair bit more than the average person about property, finance, tax, law and marketing; all of which are all skills that will come in very useful to them if we can pass on our knowledge before we eventually fall off our perches. Our new lifestyle enables us to spend far more quality time with our loved ones than ever before, and to help them out financially to a far greater extent.

We want our loved ones to live a great life whilst we are alive, not to leave them waiting for us to die before they can get their hands on money locked up in a family home we would feel trapped in.

Pacific are great, but as with any professionals, the key is knowing the right questions to ask and being very clear about your objectives. If you simply ask a question like "where is it most tax efficient for me to live" or "what is the most tax efficient way for me to structure my property portfolio" then you're likely to get two very different answers.

That's where my Consultancy can come in useful.

Imagine ringing an insurance broker and asking the question "how much will it cost to insure a car I'm thinking about buying". If you don't know what car you want, never mind the details, you're not going to get a quote.

hi Mark

Yes I do know the all about the allowances on Inheritance tax and know that this allowance only works out as a bit extra, but as the saying goes 'every little helps'. I do live in a nearly a million pound house and my Inheritance tax bill will be mostly taken up by that when I die. I made my own money myself but my children began their working life around 2008 when the depression hit hard especially architecture which is my son's profession. I think it very important to pass my wealth to my children in compensation to the difficult times they experienced than be taken by governments for god know what. To live and own my own house is no bad deal and yes we have also had skip fulls of unwanted possessions carted away. And anyway I have lived for forty years in a beautiful unique house in a wonderful parkland setting with an extensive woodland garden. Can life get better than this?