Horses or house?

Sanolly

Sanolly

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I currently rent, and keep 2 ponies on DIY livery. I reckon that I spend about £450 pcm on the ponies.
I am looking at buying a house, partly for stability so I know that I have my own roof over my head and partly as a retirement pot.
I currently have one property that was left to me as inheritance. The person who left me the flat also had life insurance which has subsequently paid off the mortgage so it is mine outright. I am looking at using about £75k equity of the flat to purchase 2 houses on a buy to let basis. The idea being that the tenants in the future houses will pay the mortgages on them. The problem being is that effectively I will then have 3 mortgages all of which would be paid by the tenants in the properties.
However I am currently using the rental income from the flat to pay the ponies livery, therefore to do this I would either have to sell or loan the ponies. Currently wondering which I would rather have - a property portfolio or my ponies!

Has anyone else given up horses to buy a house? How did you find it? How long before you were able to get another horse?
 
We rent 2 houses out and I would say be cautious! We have recently had tenant changes in both properties, which has led to them being unoccupied for a couple of months each. Furthermore, we were running the heating on low on one of them as it was during the icy patch and we didn't want frozen/burst pipes! You do need some money in the bank to cover these instances. Receiving rent to cover the mortgage is great, but you do need a "plan B". In my experience and opinion I wouldn't get further houses unless you are able to cover at least 6 months mortgage payments yourself in case of changes of tenants or non-paying tenants.
 
juliette said:
We rent 2 houses out and I would say be cautious! We have recently had tenant changes in both properties, which has led to them being unoccupied for a couple of months each. Furthermore, we were running the heating on low on one of them as it was during the icy patch and we didn't want frozen/burst pipes! You do need some money in the bank to cover these instances. Receiving rent to cover the mortgage is great, but you do need a "plan B". In my experience and opinion I wouldn't get further houses unless you are able to cover at least 6 months mortgage payments yourself in case of changes of tenants or non-paying tenants.
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Agree with this. Renting out properties can be great while it works, but a nichtmare, and expensive, when it goes wrong or when the property is empty. Its also difficult to get buy to let mortgages nowadays too.

I'd get one property to live in, that you could rent a room out in, or with a small granny flat to let out. I'd get my house and life sorted before having horses, but that could just be me!
 
Horses. Am I a thrill-seeker? Probably. Horses can break. But then so too can houses. Both can be out of action for a significant period of time and eat up money in the meantime. But only one puts a smile on my face that stretches from ear to ear - and it doesn't get cleaned with Mr Sheen.
 
juliette said:
We rent 2 houses out and I would say be cautious! We have recently had tenant changes in both properties, which has led to them being unoccupied for a couple of months each. Furthermore, we were running the heating on low on one of them as it was during the icy patch and we didn't want frozen/burst pipes! You do need some money in the bank to cover these instances. Receiving rent to cover the mortgage is great, but you do need a "plan B". In my experience and opinion I wouldn't get further houses unless you are able to cover at least 6 months mortgage payments yourself in case of changes of tenants or non-paying tenants.
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Thanks for this.
My flat is in Aberdeen, and because of it's type and location never seems to be empty (Oil industry), plus I have fab estate agents who keep everything ticking over nicely. I would probably aim to get properties in locations where demand is high. Possibly student houses?
ETA: I am hoping (as is the case now) that I would get a little extra in rent than I need for the mortgage, for example if the mortgage is £400pcm then I would aim to rent the property for at least £600pcm, the extra would then go in a pot for that particular property as a cushion for any problems.
 
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Well me and OH bought our first house in October last year. I still have my one pony, she costs on average £250pcm. Its tight but I keep spreadsheets of everything! Sad, but it helps massively. We do have a fair mortgage as well as the house was a much higher value then we were originally looking at...
 
Well, I 'gave up' having my own horse a little over 10 years ago to buy property. In the meantime I have shared other's horses, oh, and had two children!

I am now ready to buy my own horse again, and am planning to later this year.

Although I have missed having my own horse, I am very glad to now have a house which is over twice the value I bought it for, so I would say long term this has been a good plan for me, and the sharing has meant that I have not let go of the horses.
 
I would be very carefull there are a lot of BTL landlords in a negative equity nightmare and will house prices fall further ???? then you have maintance and the chance of getting bad tenants that wreck the place , and breaks in rent when people move out I think you would need to be made of very strong stuff so to speak to make things work , sorry to sound negative ...
 
Thanks perfect11s, I need both positive and negative advice as being relatively young (25) I know nothing about buying houses! I really don't want to be renting for my whole life and would really love to be in a position that when I retire I have at least £2000 in income from properties as I don't put much faith in a public pension scheme!
 
House with land would be great! You could even buy just a field and put up a shelter/stables if you couldn't buy a house with land...

I'd speak to an independant financial advisor about what kind of mortgage you could get etc, then go from there. We can only speculate, they would look at your salary and outgoing, then work out what would be best for you (and they don't charge you. They get a fee from the mortgage companies if you do take out a mortgage..)
 
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