About to start work over in London but like most property investors rent is a big NO NO! and i will be buying within a few months.
I’m only on a 2 Year Working Visa but intend to extend with my line of work this be a problem. I guess the question i am asking is can i buy in london with that sort of Visa?
Cheers.
sorry cant answer your question on buying with only a working visa – but I was interested as to why you say renting is a no no to most investors? I have always been of the mind that you are better off renting as you probably want to live in an area where a mortgage costs far more than renting the same house …. therefore freeing up capital for investing and spending less of your income on mortgage/rent giving you more disposable income??
i.e. a $500,000 house in Auckland might only cost $500 pw to rent where as an 80% mortgage will set you back about $730 per week. Therefore you keep your $100,000 deposit and $230 per week to invest with in positive cashflow areas.
Hi There, and welcome to London! (when you get here)
I’m also on a working holiday visa, and even though you may have the impression getting work over here will be easy, think again. I came over with visions of working for a large corporate bank earning rediculous amount of money and setting myself up for a life in property.
How wrong I was. Because the working holiday visa only allows you to work for 1 year (and you need to keep records if you start temping by the way) the recruitment consultants wouldnt even pass along my resume – and It’s good! The big companies here simply will not take on anyone on that type of visa, so, before you leave try and get a highly skilled migrant visa, OR if thats not an option try looking for a job before you get here, it takes at least 1-2 weeks for your first interview, 4-8 weeks to get your first perminent job, and another month before you get paid so make sure you have enough money to live on. Renting here requires 1 month deposit up front, 1 month rent up front.
Anyway, onto the buying option… You need to be a tax resident here to buy. This means you will not be looked kindly on if you do start temping and use a limited company to get away with not paying much tax. If you are temping its unlikely you will get a mortgage because you will not be able to prove stable income. London is expensive. There are a number of first home buyer schemes out there, such as asset sharing where you only buy half the property asset and rent the other half asset until you can afford to buy that too. this of course means you need less deposit up front, but a high income to cover mortgage and rent payments.
So its likely you will need to rent to begin with, usually you can not get credit here until you’ve had three years in the UK, but some places may be more lenient. Try and work for a company as good as mine who are willing to sponsor you for a Work Permit.
London really is a place to come and experience, so most of all enjoy it while your here.
Dohicky
Originally posted by dohicky:Anyway, onto the buying option… You need to be a tax resident here to buy.
Sorry this may have confused some people, if you are living in the UK you have to be a tax resident to buy property, this is not the same for non-residents.
I’m sorry if this confused some non-residents about their ability to purchase here, I was just commenting on Carl Alexanders particular situation.Dohicky
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