Thinking of Buying a Second Property? Here’s my story:
Last year I wrote about developing my family home with the idea of increasing its value. I was fortunate to be able to add value to my property and now that the building work is all but over (it never really stops does it!) we are ready to embark on another journey.
Every year we holiday as a family in the beautiful Lake District, my wife and I have always said we would love to own a property there but have never really been in a position to do anything other than dream, until now.
It seems that the stars are lined up in our favour at the moment as the house has increased in value and we are now looking to release equity and use that to go towards a second home.
We don’t have a big stash of cash anywhere so we are borrowing money to buy somewhere. It is a risky approach but due to the mortgage offerings in the marketplace I feel it is a calculated risk.
If you are thinking this might be something you want to do then read on. Firstly you need to aim for at least a 25% deposit, in my case this is coming from the equity being released from a remortgage. Yo will also need to account for stamp duty and this carries an extra 3% tag on it as it is not going to be a main residence.
Have a think about what you are going to use the property for. If it is solely for personal use then you may be able to get a standard residential mortgage, these are subject to affordability and the lender will assess your income to ensure you can afford to run two properties. There is an interesting product available from Metro Bank at the moment that allows you to let the property for up to 90 days a year. This could help you making the mortgage payments. Also you will only need a maximum of 15% deposit so you can leverage a little here.
Do you want to let the property? If so there are a couple of approaches you could take. Income from the property will be taxed at your highest tax rate so you need to take advice from an accountant in this regard. Inland revenue rules state that if the property is a furnished holiday let and is let for 105 days per year or more the new income tax rules for rental income do not apply and mortgage interest can be a tax deductible expense. If you are taking up a holiday let product the Furness Building Society have a good product but you need a 25% deposit and the rates are not as competitive as a standard residential mortgage. The good thing about Furness though is that they allow you to use the property yourself as well whereas other holiday let providers do not.
This is not the property I have in mind!
At the moment I’m still looking for the right property so have yet to take the plunge. However whether it is the Lake District, Scotland, Cornwall or Blackpool if you are in the position of having a decent amount of equity to leverage then you don’t necessarily need cash in the bank to get that second property.