Great idea Carl as I'm sure there are many of us struggling and fearful with what is currently happening even if they aren't saying it publicly
I have read this forum since Clottie was making her first posts. I have periodicly come back to catch up and in the mean time have gone off and done my own thing and built a portfolio of 32 properties over several years. I have friends who have done the same thing and we probably have about 207 properties between us mostly all with tenants in them and none of us bought off-plan or bought any new-builds.
I fully intend(ed?) to create a pension through my property acquisitions. I have lovingly refurbished, added value, remortgaged, used M/ex bridge/mortgage to help me along on some of them and I am leveraged to 85% (some are at 90%)
I make very little money after inevitable maintenance, boiler repairs, letting agent fees, gas safeties etc but have been ticking along nicely building my dreams for the future.
I now find myself waking up each morning sick with fear and with a sinking feeling in my stomach that is difficult to keep at bay. I have capital stuck in a property that I bought outright and have just had my mortgage offer withdrawn along with several others that I was hoping to remortgage to support my cash-flow. I don’t know why they have been withdrawn yet as so far I have no missed payments. (I am actively seeking an alternative lender)
I don’t want anyone’s sympathy as I have made my own decisions and will have to live with them come what may. (Nor do I want a host of BMVers offering to buy my portfolio for 60 -70% BMV, as I’m sure you will appreciate it won’t help) Neither do I understand the public perception of “greedy buy-to-let landlords” buying up all the first time buyer property and making their fortunes (??) Neither do I understand the government/lender perception of fly-by-night land-lords. Neither do I understand the apparent “glee” of some who are positively foaming at the mouth at the thought of all the repossessions that are becoming more and more imminent daily…?? Not just for residential customers but for buy to let investors too.
My friends and I are ordinary people with families of our own to support. I am actually sick with fear also that I may soon have to tell my children that I have lost our own house too, that despite all of the hard work and effort that I’ve put into our business that I have now hit a dead-end. That I’m sorry for all the nights they had to make do with beans on toast and I’m sorry for all the times I didn’t help with their homework as I was too exhausted getting a property ready for a new tenant. The thought of telling them I failed when I actively encourage them to dream big dreams for themselves is killing me inside.
The reason for my sickening fear is that when my portfolio starts to come off its fixed rates that I will be facing much higher and possibly unmanageable mortgage costs than I face at the moment. My tenants will be unable to absorb that cost and even if they could many of them are mid-contract.
Its all very well people taking the moral high ground and saying well we warned you that you should only be leveraged at 70% - here come on my course and we’ll show you how you SHOULD have done it. That’s not going to help the many ordinary people who have invested in 1, 2, 10, 30, 50 properties over the course of the last 2, 3 or 4 years whilst the lenders have been happy to lend and many smaller niche lenders had great products for us
If me and my friends are in danger of losing 207 properties and also our own homes then that’s another 207 tenants/families who are also about to lose theirs too. And I know that we aren’t the only ones.
You see Mr Lender, Mr Government, Mr Banker, most of us have seen what you are doing to our pension prospects, to our savings and investments and we’ve seen whats happening to our elderly and we decided that we didn’t want that for ourselves. We decided to use property as our own pensions and our own futures and you have been more than happy to lend to us on that basis. Many of us have 5 year plans, 10 year plans, 25 year plans, inheritance plans but by changing your own rules at such short notice and with no warnings you re making law-breakers out of most of us and making a mockery of our own planning.
How many of us are truthfully rich enough to remortgage to 70% or 75% when we are geared at 85% and 90%...?? How many of us are truthfully worried about going onto SVR..??
If the government, lenders, banks, investors don’t start working together very very soon and I mean SOON – like right NOW - then there is going to be the most catastrophic housing crisis this country has ever witnessed. Its already well underway with the astonishing collapse of the big new home builders. Councils won’t be able to cope, housing associations won’t be able to cope, the benefits system won’t be able to cope, with the influx of the newly homeless.
What I think is needed Carl is for someone in authority to put the case of the average buy-to-let investor forward to the lenders and tell them that when we come off our fixed rates then surely the short term answer is to allow us to continue on the same rate rather than having to suffer the diabolical SVR they will be forcing us on to…?? After all most of us have managed to keep up our payments so far
I’m sure most of us could manage then to tick over until the situation improves, or until a pro-active lender who understands can be sought out to throw us a life-line.
The alternative in my eyes is impending disaster for the UK housing market and all associated businesses.
The way we are being treated is nothing short of criminal itself.
So come on Carl, come on everyone lets come up with a way to fight back! We haven't come this far for nothing