The Bear Minimum

A house that we’d let out, of course.

I ask because it is something my wife and I are considering for our future. We both have good jobs, earning rather well, and we’ve often thought about semi-retirement earlier than is typically the norm. Something else we’ve thought about is buying small houses to let, as a means of perpetuating income without having to do much.

When my wife and I first moved in together, some twelve years ago now, we moved into a very snug little unit. It was one of six little snug units, and one of a handful of unit blocks our landlord owned throughout the town. You see, the man owned a business, and during his life he’d bought up unit after unit in order to have a very, very substantial income after retirement.

Now that my wife and I are in a position to think about such things, it’s an interesting idea. We’re in a position where mortgage lending issues wouldn’t exist, as we’d be able to buy a small house or unit outright with money we’d put away, so no remortgages from Nationwide or some such, either. There’s also still a fair bit of people doing the “selling your property or home quickly for cash”, thing, which is dreadful, but if one knows someone going down that path they can offer to take the house off their hands for more than those horrid companies would have given them which works out better for all involved, in my opinion.

Of course, that doesn’t mean I didn’t peruse a mortgage forum or two, as they’re invaluable for getting first-hand perspectives from people who’ve done just what we’re considering doing. I suppose I’m leery of being stuck with bad tenants who’ll damage the house, and that it will become a source of irritation, expense, and drama when it’s supposed to be a nice, neat little nest egg.