Owning your own home

That's not entirely fair. It's a three bed IIRC and there is a smallish roof terrace.

diable kindly let me have a more detailed look at the spec etc and I think it's very attractive compared to some of the crap that gets put up for £900k - £1m in that area.

What would you spend that budget on instead?

Just need to get rid of my flat mate / sister then I'd bite your hand off ;)

has anyone ever sold a buy to let property ?
or is there a accountant who specialises in property who could advise on what calculations need to be made and taxes paid when disposing of said property

for example :-
initial purchase price
sale price
costs involved in purchase
costs involved during ownership

would moving into the property for a period of time prior to selling decrease cgt paid on said property

any tips and things to look at when selling ?

would moving into the property for a period of time prior to selling decrease cgt paid on said property

No. You pay CGT on the rise in value that occurred whilst it wasn't your main residence.

This. That actually seems pretty reasonable compared to a lot of properties I have viewed in that neck of the woods. It is quite easy to pay £££ for a pile of shit in Sands End. Not even mentioning the new builds...

Fewer piles of shit left round Sands End now, the street I live in has had constant building work for 10 years with every property that's available changing hands and increasingly wholesale refurbishment taking place.

4 years ago next door to us sold for £1m in habitable but partially shoddy condition. 2 years later it had been stripped to a shell and renovated into a 3 bed (!). Completely extended to the maximum permitted and on the market for £2.3m. Of course it didn't sell at that ridiculous price, the whole thing was a local developers vanity project.

There are quite a few whole houses in the street that the council has owned since the 70's, if they ever come up for sale there will be plenty of developers ready to cash in.

The new builds on the Thames are mental though. Tiny flats for stupid money with no doubt massive service charges.

no gains to you

Other than the increase in the value of the property...

although the government is taking asymmetric risk - they don't compensate you if your property goes down in value (ok, there is some potential for offset)

Bugger all indeed. Other than supporting underlying infrastructure and services...

Next up - why taxation is theft etc...

Yeah. All they do for the money is maintain a functioning state, educate children, provide universal healthcare, protect the borders, offer foreign aid, back scientific research, run the courts system and maintain rule of law, keep the Queen in luxurious lodgings etc...

We should all stop paying tax. We'd have slightly more disposable income but there'd be anarchy in the streets and we'd all be murdered for a bottle of water or a loaf of bread when society totally crumbles.

sounds like 2017

You're a contractor, and therefore banned from discussions about taxation.

;)

But apart from all that, what have the Romans ever done for us?

So Mum's become enamoured with the idea of me living on a houseboat. She's heard good things and wants to do the Rosie and Jim thing when she comes to visit.

On a scale of 1-10, how nuts is the following plan?
1) Buy a houseboat instead of a 1-bed flat, for a fraction of the price, while I'm young, single and foolish.
2) Have more of a fraction of my income to save, rather than paying a large mortgage.
3) In 5 years time have a bunch of cash/investments/whatever the boat sells for to spend on a nice place, but not as much equity.

Do houseboats appreciate or depreciate in value? What are the other costs? How the fuck do you finance a houseboat - surely you can't get a regular mortgage.

Just considering this feels nuts...

I see you've reached the full-bonkers stage of house hunting. A boat would be great but I don't think they're as simple as they were: Jacqui on here used to live on one and could probably fill you in.

Anyone know if she's still "on here"?

It's not that foolish.

But.

Houseboats typically decrease in value over time. You can turn £70k in to £30k quite easily.

You have to keep moving the thing around, or cough up for a mooring which is super spendy

People offer finance for houseboats but as you can imagine it's like a loan for most purchases of things that don't really increase in value - expensive as there's no security.

I think @ioreka lives on one?

yes hello. i fully advocate The Boat Life IF (and these are serious caveats) you have some degree of common sense. examples of this could be:

• relish the opportunity to get into the engine bay if something stops working, work it out, fix it, or know when to ask for help

• not minding a creative approach to energy and water conservation. i shower at work or at the gym (which i would do in a house anyway), i have solar panels, being as sensible with water consumption as if you were eg camping but had a tap nearby (well, it depends what kind of boat you have, my water tank is massive so i don't have to be ultra frugal)

etc. please don't just hop on a boat because you're a millennial looking to save money - you won't enjoy it. my husband and i come from a shared background of touring, squatting, renting, and everything in between so its no hassle at all for us, but if you like your mod cons it's not for you. i mean, woe betide anyone who crushes your dreams, but i'm just speaking from experience.

also, there is a huge spectrum of boats available. please do not be fooled. if you think you can buy a cheap one and "do it up", you will literally sink money into it, and if it's that cheap it should definitely be scrapped. do the research, get informed. this will not only be your only asset but also contain all your worldly possessions so do not put your life in a tin can. get a survey, ah... just realised i'm about to launch into the full shabang. basically - moving once a fortnight is brilliant, you just turn the engine on and go for a cruise, suddenly you're in a different part of town (again there are stipulations to this but i can expand on that another time), that's really the joy of boating. if you don't want to move it, don't live on a boat, at least not for the first year at least. permanent moorings are rare as well as usually expensive, there are some exceptions. also, imo boats definitely do not depreciate like howard has said. i'll be selling mine for a profit, but that was never the intention. every single day there's more of a market for them so until that bubble pops you are unlikely to lose money unless you really fuck the boat up.

let me know if you have any specific questions. you can take out loans and there are marine finance places but if you can scrape or borrow the money together that'd be a better option

also, i will add, and i don't mean to further put you off - living on your own is lonely, there is a fair amount of crime on the towpaths, moving a boat (depending on weather) (and other boaters - the London contingent of which are especially but unsurprisingly rude compared to elsewhere i've boated (up to Daventry)) on your own can be a true ballache. you would also need to factor in your commute which would change every 2 weeks. join the London Boaters facebook page and lurk for a bit.

.... i mean, i bloody love it, i save money, my lurcher has somewhere new to sprint around every couple of weeks, i love having a new commute, it's incredibly peaceful 95% of the time, i have a good network of other boaters for support, i have escaped the rat race of renting, my outgoings are minimal. just to... sort of... end on a positive note after that deluge of dire warnings

imo boats definitely do not depreciate like howard has said.

Interesting. Are you saying if I bought a new houseboat for £100k (for arguments sake) are you saying I can expect to sell it on for £100k + inflation in 3,4,5, years time, having not invested any money in renovating or improving it?

Like I can with a property in a 'normal' market.

(appreciate this depends on the state of the market, but I guess I'm in all things equal mode)

Cars? Depreciation? You're buying the wrong ones ;-)

Thanks so much this is really useful. I wouldn't do this lightly - I was the voice of caution against Mum's Rosie and Jim idealism. If I do end up doing it it'll be after some serious research.

Will read and digest today. :)