Seeking the opinions of retired people with investment properties

[moneymakeover]

There are many questions to AAM I notice by people asking if they should sell their investment properties.

Some have 90% of mortgage paid off.

Some less so. Maybe slightly positive equity but the place is doing okay and not costing anything even after tax.

Frequently the advice is to sell and focus on pension.

I would like to ask people who have retired, who have investment properties. Maybe mortgage free maybe not: this question: are you glad you kept the property?

In retrospect, what would you do differently?

Is it easy to access the wealth sitting in the asset ?

Do you enjoy managing the property even now years later?

Is tax the worst aspect of the investment?

 

[Ravima]

Tax is not the worst aspect. Paying tax is the price we pay for living in Ireland and benefiting from all the services. It is only paid from profit as well, leaving aside the basic property tax, based on value.

I would think that the worst thing is maintaining good reliable tenants and cost, both money and time of maintenance.

Managing can be left to an agent, but you still have the cost of maintenance.

If you need to access the wealth and you price it correctly, you should be able to sell quickly and the delays thereafter are down to the closing of the paperwork. That should take 8/10 weeks assuming all is in order on both sides.

 

[DK123]

1 built the 5 bedroomed detached house 40 years ago.Yes i am glad that i kept the property.The morgage is paid off.I would say a little longer perhaps 3 months to access the wealth sitting in it by selling it.In America and UK i believe one could remorgage at age 70 for 20 years to age 90 thus extracting the wealth [equity] from it that way but i think we are a bit behind in Ireland in this regard. There is not much management involved in one house i think .I use a letting agent to distance myself from the tenants and any maintainence probs are usually handled by one phone call to a good maintainence guy.A bit more tax to pay since the morgage was paid off but i cannot think of any worst aspects. Perhaps a little more maintainance required on a 40 year old house.The rental income is now the gravy and i dont think i would sell it.I have always been a bricks and mortar investment fan.

 

[Vanessa]

I had two apartments for many years and the rent paid the mortgage eventually.
I have sold both in the last 18 months as I am fed up with the level of tax being paid. I always had a great relationship with tenants and never a difficulty. I treated them well and vice cersa. I also after several years renting to foreign nationals made the mistake of renting to an Irish woman who caused me a lot of grief. Fortunately I was able to get rid of her.
Since the Covid I have heard of a number of instances where Irish tenants have just abandoned the lease and gone back to Mammy to work from home.
I enjoyed letting the properties and any maintenance which I could not do ( plumbing and electrical) I handed over to two great tradesmen.
I took care to check out any potential tenants and did not rely on references from other landlords

 

[moneymakeover]

I had two apartments for many years and the rent paid the mortgage eventually.
I have sold both in the last 18 months as I am fed up with the level of tax being paid. I always had a great relationship with tenants and never a difficulty. I treated them well and vice cersa. I also after several years renting to foreign nationals made the mistake of renting to an Irish woman who caused me a lot of grief. Fortunately I was able to get rid of her.
Since the Covid I have heard of a number of instances where Irish tenants have just abandoned the lease and gone back to Mammy to work from home.
I enjoyed letting the properties and any maintenance which I could not do ( plumbing and electrical) I handed over to two great tradesmen.
I took care to check out any potential tenants and did not rely on references from other landlords

In your case Vanessa it generated a big lump sum?
That will stand to you well in retirement?

The only annoyance I'm guessing was the CGT? 33% ?

 

[L_earner]

I would like to ask people who have retired, who have investment properties. Maybe mortgage free maybe not: this question: are you glad you kept the property?

When we went about investing in a pension fund I took one look at the plush offices and the high end cars in their car park, and had an immediate insight into where a chunk of our very hard earned money would end up. So, so instead of giving our money to a pension fund manager, my wife and I invested in an apartment. Our logic that since nobody is a prophet, our guess is as good as anybody's regarding what long term investments would be reliable. We had a failsafe strategy: only buy one where we would live ourselves if our circumstances changed and we had to sell our family home. It was the best financial decision we made. Not only have we had it rented solid since we bought it, which adds nicely to our monthly income even though the mortgage has some years to run, but when we die, our children will have the benefit of this income whereas a pension would die with us. Managing tenants has been relatively easy for us, because we invested a lot of time finding the right people.
We love the experience of being landlords, partly because we have been responsible for the welfare of other people and their families, giving them rent breaks and other supports when they hit a rough patch. So we are very glad we kept the property. The only thing I would do differently would be to buy when I was younger. We already access the wealth of the asset by way of monthly rent, and we have no need for a lot of ready cash so this suits us perfectly.

 

[DK123]

Hi L_earner .Nice to read some common sense for a change.Dont be afraid of a little bit of maintainance and vetting tentents,Some of my tenents have looked after my property better than i have looked after it myself, [Bricks and mortar man] ,

 

[moneymakeover]

When we went about investing in a pension fund I took one look at the plush offices and the high end cars in their car park, and had an immediate insight into where a chunk of our very hard earned money would end up. So, so instead of giving our money to a pension fund manager, my wife and I invested in an apartment. Our logic that since nobody is a prophet, our guess is as good as anybody's regarding what long term investments would be reliable. We had a failsafe strategy: only buy one where we would live ourselves if our circumstances changed and we had to sell our family home. It was the best financial decision we made. Not only have we had it rented solid since we bought it, which adds nicely to our monthly income even though the mortgage has some years to run, but when we die, our children will have the benefit of this income whereas a pension would die with us. Managing tenants has been relatively easy for us, because we invested a lot of time finding the right people.
We love the experience of being landlords, partly because we have been responsible for the welfare of other people and their families, giving them rent breaks and other supports when they hit a rough patch. So we are very glad we kept the property. The only thing I would do differently would be to buy when I was younger. We already access the wealth of the asset by way of monthly rent, and we have no need for a lot of ready cash so this suits us perfectly.

My own experience is that the
capital repayments
plus the tax
Plus the expenses
just about break even
So it's a case of waiting until the last payment is paid and then it's payback time

 

[Feemar5]

We have an investment property and are both retired. No problem with tenants and have not increased rent for a couple of years as we are happy enough to get less than the going rate but keep good tenants. A bit concerned about all the talk of having to sell with sitting tenants as we feel this would be a limited market. If our present tenants leave we will sell as we feel renting in the present climate is not for the faint hearted.

 

[Silvius]

Glad I kept the property. In retrospect would be a bit tougher in terms of increasing rents annually - I was very good to tenants, agreeing rents significantly below market rent to keep good tenants but now am stuck with low rents because of the rent pressure zones. I enjoyed having good, positive relationships with tenants but I think I should have treated it a bit more like a business. There was a time when I enjoyed looking after property, not any more and am handing it over to an agent. Tax is not the worst part, I pay a lot of tax but I never let that bother me, the hassle of maintenance and hassle from tenants is the worst part. I do think it's getting harder than it used to be and there is an awful resentful attitude towards landlords and property owners out there now which makes lettings more difficult. I'm not selling up yet but limiting my personal involvement with tenants, it's not worth the hassle and I've decided my time could be better spent. Part of the reason for staying in property is the lack of attractive alternative investment options in Ireland.

 

[L_earner]

..... I was very good to tenants, agreeing rents significantly below market rent to keep good tenants but now am stuck with low rents because of the rent pressure zones..... .

To guard against this, I never lower the official rent when tenants are in trouble. Instead I give them cash back. It is a pain paying tax on the official rent, but it keeps me safe from the RPZ trap.