clint van damme
Well-Known Member
now 50 and still don't know, think that's part of the problem!!
I've found later in life I'm a decent writer and am currently writing for two football magazines. But I wish I'd have had the oomph or confidence to be a writer or journalist years ago. But when I left school it was straight on to building sites like my dad, and if I'd have said I want to be a writer I'd have been laughed at ! Still better later than never I guess. So what profession or career would you choose now if given the chance ?
Which is what I said in my previous post.We could be a double act , obviously me being the funny one and u the straight guy
Which is what I said in my previous post.
I would be the creative writer and straight man and you could be the clown.
That's why I am passing the mantle.don't think it would work, a double act requires at least one of you to be funny :emoji_laughing:
Just watch your tyres on those farm tracks Wingy :angelic:A Farmer I reckon.
Loved spending my weekends and holidays working with the animals and getting crops in as a teenager.
Even if it did mean I was a little cruel to the baby piggies! :-o
I would just like to point out its leisure. Considering you are first to jump down someone's throat at any minor mistake
Drug dealer
That's what I'd have put If not for the farming option.I wanted to do architecture from school. Love the design and details of buildings. Didn't get the grades, best thing that's happened to me, did a mechanical engineering apprenticeship instead, this was during New Labours drive to get everyone to uni. I was told I was stupid and going to be stuck in a dead end job if I did it. Since my skills are now quite scares and required all over the world, I can literally walk out of a job and be working the next somewhere else, Amazing position to be in.
Most of those who said I was stupid still live at their parents stuck in dead end jobs, earning less then half of what I do. :happy:
That's what I'd have put If not for the farming option.
Did you say your background was as an Electrician?
You could still get there with further study, I had a crack at it back in the 80's but personal circumstances messed my head up.
For sure Nick, but the whole industry/culture has changed so much in a short space of time. People now demand much more than just being fed, it's a whole new art form.When you watch master chef, the pressure on proper chefs is unreal.
Yeah apologies Marty I responded after the first sentence without fully reading your post.I'll be honest, I'm happy with my life situation and have no desire to change that currently, maybe in years to come but not yet.
I'm only 29 years old, have a young family, decent job working for a engineering component supplier and Bought my first house at 24.
I'm so eager to start a property portfolio buy houses and rent them out. Been looking into it for ages but just need to get cash together to get a deposit
Anyone do this on here and what is your advice
I'm only 29 years old, have a young family, decent job working for a engineering component supplier and Bought my first house at 24.
I'm so eager to start a property portfolio buy houses and rent them out. Been looking into it for ages but just need to get cash together to get a deposit
Anyone do this on here and what is your advice
I learnt to play the guitar and had my own band at 11.I wish I had learnt to play the guitar, I should have been a rock god
I learnt to play the guitar and had my own band at 11.
I am not a rock god.
Close but no cigar. In fact, very close.Were you in Solid Action? They were really young when they first started gigging.
PM me of you want some advice. I have some rental houses but I waited for years for the right moment and I wouldn't do it now... I think the moment has gone,
is that because of the new tax laws that come into full effect in 2020?
I have a friend with quite a large portfolio who's selling a fair few properties,going to have a smaller portfolio but with more equity in each property.
The tax changes have been numerous and make it difficult to make a profit from buy to let now. For starters there is a stamp duty surcharge if you buy a house to let. Secondly, landlords are no longer permitted to net off all interest charges on mortgages (so effectively they pay tax on the money borrowed to buy the house - and as you say by 2020 they can claim none of the interest) and the wear and tear allowance has been removed (which is not a big issue as landlords can still claim tax relief when they buy to replace an item). I've done a similar thing to your friend - if you don't have a lot of equity I don't think you can make a profit any more.
There's also local councils bearing down on landlords. From this year I must pay an additional £5 per week for each house for them to empty the bins (in addition to rates).
It's not just that though. I bought when house prices were low and the income against the cost was reasonable. I wouldn't buy with house prices as they are today. Many people assume that house prices will just keep rising and they can make money at the end when they sell - that's a terrible assumption in my opinion.
And finally there is an ongoing risk with legislation. There are so many hoops to jump through now and if you make a mistake (even if you were not aware) then it can be very expensive. I've had one house this year where the tenants have trashed it. We found a plastic air pistol and they have shot it into all the kitchen doors, broken windows, into beds and walls/doors of bedrooms and even into the fridge. They have forced entry into four rooms and the doors have been broken (it's a student house, so all bedrooms have a lock). It has cost me more than £3k to put right the damage (so effectively it's taken all the profit from this house this year) . They are going to dispute the deposit retention claim (it's free to dispute so they have nothing to lose) and the odds are heavily in their favour: at the Deposit Protection Scheme only 19% of cases find for the landlord. I've spent 2 whole days so far writing a document to prove that the house was in good condition when they moved in and poor when they left (getting photographs, scans of receipts etc.) I reckon I need another day to complete it and even then there is no guarantee I'll even get anything from the deposits. New landlords should not believe it's easy and doesn't take time; if you are doing everything properly it will take lots of time and sometimes lots of stress.
No comments from me on whether all the changes are a good or bad thing. I can see why they have been introduced and there are some terrible landlords. However it hits the good landlords too. Landlords that are squeezed will either sell up or not maintain properties. There is no way I'm not going to maintain my properties - just from a moral standpoint if nothing else - but many would just let this trashed house in the condition that the last tenants left it, simply because they can no longer afford to do anything else. If they go one step further and introduce rent caps (as has been suggested by one political party) then it will cause more landlords to sell up and the ones that remain will become slums. I will sell.
So, all in all, not a great time to start letting houses in my opinion.
Thixotropic!Close but no cigar. In fact, very close.
We were called Solid Grease (I know, goddamn awful name).
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