The Key to Buy to Let Mortgage Success
The key to staying on top in the buy to let game is being comfortable and in control. You have obviously become accustomed to having more than one mortgage, juggling two homes and probably two jobs and you have to keep it that way. Firstly, your refinance mortgage has to work just as well, if not better than your current deal. This does not necessarily mean price alone. I own a few properties which return a great profit at the moment. This means I can be more selective on my loan based on other criteria which may be important. I personally find payment holidays are a key consideration. For example, say my boiler blows up and I need to find a hasty 5K to refit the entire heating system (heaven forbid).. I may have the money up front, but it could leave me very exposed should another nightmare occur.. A payment holiday would allow me maybe a month or 2 of pure profit to allow me to rebuild my emergency fund. Its all about adding to that comfort layer using these other options. That means finding one that works with your income, your rentals and your workload. So before you begin making any decisions regarding refinance mortgages, decide what are the most important facets of your current buy to let mortgages.
And once you have decided what is important to you, consider the parts of your deal that you don’t want to see in your next mortgage deal. What has been limiting you? Now you have the experience under your belt, you are sure to know what parts of your buy to let mortgage holds you back. If you want to stay on top you have to make sure those prickly parts are not a part of future rental property refinance mortgages. If you want to grow as a landlord, possibly branching out with further, bigger rental properties, you need to know how to really set yourself free. I often consider predictability is a factor. I would rather have a fixed interest rate looking forward to plan cashflow and options for future investment based on a reliable forecast of money in the bank. I find a few extra quid spent in this respect will help you ride out the interest rate spikes and be much better positioned to take advantage of opportunities presented by unexpected financial changes.
Don’t forget – to get the best refinance mortgage you still need to include an adviser in your investigations. A wise landlord is one who keeps listening even after years of successful mortgage management. Times change as do mortgage products and lead to new challenges, new plans and new limitations – so talk to a mortgage adviser to get an idea of what you can do and what you can’t with your next buy to let mortgage.