Becoming a landlord isn’t something that everyone can do. You do need to have some investment capital behind you, or you need to already own a property that you can rent out. If you have one of these two things in place, then becoming a landlord can have many benefits, and as long as the rent you are asking for is going to exceed any mortgage payments you need to make, you can make a good profit and have a great asset for the future.
There are many things to think about before becoming a landlord, but if you think it might be a good option for you, here are some of the benefits that might help you to make your final decision.
Making Money
The biggest benefit of being a landlord is making money. Most people won’t choose to take on this role if they aren’t going to be able to make at least a partial income from it, and this is why it’s crucial to ensure you have your figures right before you begin. The first step with this is to get mortgage advice Richmond whether you already own the property or not. If you’re looking to buy a property to rent out, you can get information about specialist mortgages. If you already own a property, you can look into remortgaging to ensure you have enough capital behind you to start your new business.
Buying a property is a good idea no matter what your reason, and if you can do it you certainly should. This way you will have a great investment for the future, and when you want to retire you can either sell and use the money or continue to rent it out and have a regular income.
Work Life Balance
Something that might not be quite so obvious when thinking of the benefits of being a landlord, but that is actually something that can really make a difference to those who choose to go in this direction, is the work life balance you can achieve with this as your career or side hustle.
The work life balance is crucial for health and happiness and the emotional wellbeing of everyone in your household, including you. If you have a good property you can rent out, or more than one in some cases, you can use this as your main career. For the most part, you won’t actually be doing too much, and you’ll get a nice regular income. Or you could still have another job but work fewer hours or take more time off when you need to, because you know you are receiving an income from the rental.
New Skills
Owning a rental property may sound easy, and a lot of the time you won’t have to do anything at all, especially if you have worked hard to vet your tenants and they are taking care of the property while living in it. However, there will be times when you do need to carry out maintenance work or help your tenants out in some way. You’ll also need to understand how to market your property in the right way to ensure that there are very few times when it is empty and not bringing you an income.
Being a landlord means you will gain all kinds of useful skills including:
- Marketing
- Customer service
- Negotiating
- Bookkeeping
- Maintenance skills (although for the larger jobs it is certainly worth calling in a professional)
- Investment knowledge
It’s incredible just how many skills you can learn when you are a landlord, and the longer you do it, the more you will know.