The House 'Will Rent' and 'Easily'.

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So I had an estate agent round to view the house last Monday, to give me an idea of whether the house was in a rentable condition or not.

I was kind of worried about a couple of things that might have made it unmarketable - namely the kitchen cupboard doors having a bit of a crap finish on them (despite a lot of effort painting them on my part) and a slightly loose set of bricks on a plant border in the back garden (again my own not-at-all-handy work).

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Dodgy Bricks.

Turns out that the estate agent didn't even notice the finish on the cupboards, in fact he did the opposite and pointed out the colour being a perfect fit (I knew I'd got that right at least), and apparently if the prospective tenants have young children and they're concerned about the loose bricks and a child-neck-break-death incident, they can always request me to get the bricks sorted before they move in.

I was also concerned about the washing machine - it's been vibrating like a bastard (that's a bastard that vibrates quite vigorously) ever since I installed it, shortly after moving in almost two years ago now. Even a £20 anti-vibration mat hasn't stilled it - I daren't put it above 800 spin - in my old flat it was silent on 1200 - whether this is the difference in floors, or something gone wrong during transport I don't know, but whatever - apparently I can 'gift' the washing machine to the tenants, which solves a hassle.

With it vibrating as much as it does, there's no way I wouldn't get complaints about it, but if I gift it, it's their problem - it is six years old, which is no where near as long as I would have liked to have kept it, but it's a reasonable compromise.

It seems that today the approach with letting a house is to communicate with the prospective tenants about what they want and what they might want changed before they move in - which seems kind of sensible, but I don't ever remember too much of that happening when I was renting 15 years ago.

Perhaps that's just this particular agent, they do get some great reviews and I liked the guy who came round - his clothes fitted him, usually estate agents wear suits a size too tight and look a bit ridiculous, but this wasn't the case with this particular guy, which I take as a positive sign.

Turns out I might get £50 more a month than I was hoping for too, apparently rentals are just flying off the books ATM, which is great news.

Now I just need to get my mortgage company to agree the let, sort out all the paper work and stuff for renting the house out, do a final feasibility check on heading out to Portugal, i.e. double check whether I can actually get in and sort out what I need (Euro driving stuff for starters), get rid of all my stuff (not as much work as it may sound), book the ferry, book a rental for when I arrive, give myself a couple of weeks to settle in, and then look at buying some land.

In my head it all feels pretty simple, I mean what could possibly go wrong?

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Dodgy finish.



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15 comments
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Oh my - I'm not sure anyone wouldn't rent a house because of dodgy finish. Good news. You'll be in Portugal before you know it!!

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That all sounds very promising and an extra £50 a month will soon recover the cost of the washing machine. Six years sounds about right - not that I agree with it, but my last three machines have lasted about that amount of time: unlike the first, which was still going strong at 15 years when I replaced it.

Funny what we worry about when renting ... until you see the state of some of the places on offer!

How easy/difficult is it to buy land in Portugal? I think I've missed a chapter: did you decide not to buy/convert a van? So exciting, I'm looking forward to reading about the next stages.

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My Dad's last machine lasted him at least 30 years. I think he might have had it fixed a couple of times, that's the only one I've got to make a comparison to. I was hoping for 15.

Lost income due to Covid-19 put paid to the van conversion - besides, I quite like my car - I'm not there to travel anyway, I'm there to settle, hopefully.

There's a couple of sites where there's plenty of land listed for cheap, under £10K and @eco-alex made it sound even easier to buy land.

I'm gonna get there first, and not rush into anything.

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There's a couple of sites where there's plenty of land listed for cheap, under £10K and @eco-alex made it sound even easier to buy land.

Fascinating place to be, at another margin of Europe.

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I was also concerned about the washing machine - it's been vibrating like a bastard

The weight brick thingy could have got dislodged/unbalanced in transit. Youtube and an afternoon at it could be the solution?

So, it's happening then? Good luck!

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I opened it up 18 months ago - I remember I had to buy some specialist screws for the hex heads - it's solid in there.

think it's the wooden flooring TBH. It does seem better when I put it on some weights I've got - I think if I had the floor concreted where it stands it would be fine, but that's more expensive than just giving it away.

I did contemplate buying some concrete paving slabs, the problem is there's a cupboard area where it sits, and there's no way I can get in there - even two people couldn't -to adjust it once it's in.

I'm left with one solution. Give it away.

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Fair enough. Let them have a go at keeping it still, or buy another :)

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Precisely!

If I get the off-grid set up I want going, designing an off-grid washing machine is one of the projects I'm looking forwards to most - I'm thinking an old bike, connected to an old washing machine, and with that and carrying water backwards and forwards and a few press ups thrown in, you've probably got yourself a decent wash-work-out a couple of days a week.

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Renting is prone to issues. Have to hope for a good tenant and they will expect a fair deal from you. We are just helping daughter sort out renting a place during her PhD. Looks like she is sorted with a flat and it's the one she preferred. Moving in about a month from now.

We have rented a house to a tenant who has been a pain. Need to get her out now, but things are on hold due to lockdown.

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I'm relying on the estate agent to sort out a decent tenant for me, I guess I just have to hope I get an OK one!

I don't want to rip anyone off, the house is in decent nick, cheap bills, well insulated, nice location (in Hereford's so called 'Muesli belt'.)

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It's always a gamble as people are unpredictable. Most of them are okay though.

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I probably wouldn't even notice the dodgy bricks if not mentioned. Kind of like the look, by the way. Also would remain unbothered by the cupboard doors and the washing machine (we had an old and loud one for a very long time). Are people that picky when renting?

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Are people that picky

Probably not, I'm probably worrying unnecessarily.

Come to think of it, having a not-perfect house might help - If I got really fussy people they could just be really demanding.

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Wow, you folks have to get permission from your mortgage bank to rent out your own house? That's so different from here. We have complete control over our houses even while paying off the mortgage. Well except for government permits being needed for some renovations anyway.

Well good luck getting it rented out (let) at a good price, and soon.

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I do need permission, and I have to pay an additional 1% on the mortgage for the privilege!

And that's with the house being worth 3 times more than the outstanding mortgage!

It's hardly a risk on their part.

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