Quote: (02-16-2014 05:44 PM)JJ Roberts Wrote:
Quote: (02-16-2014 01:19 PM)zatara Wrote:
One of them just bought an apartment, at 27. He had £75k saved but instead of quitting his job and traveling the world for 6 months or a year he bought a place. And now hes trapped in the one suburb, of one city, for the next 30 years.
I also bought an apartment in the UK at the age of 27. I now rent it out.
The rent both pays for my mortgage and me travelling the world + expenses (food, drink).
OK, I can't any lifestyle off the back of it that even approaches extravagant but I don't want to anyway. I don't need luxury.
Because I don't need luxury, that's why I have freedom.
Buying that flat at 27 is the best decision I even made but as a result I was able to quit the rat race at the age of 35 and I am never going back to it.
The difference between your mortgage and the rent received (minus expenses like maintenance, association fees, tax etc) is enough to live off? Like over £1500 a month in difference? If so, you did extremely well in timing your purchase - not many recently purchased properties will come anywhere close to that return.
My anecdotal friend is saving about £200 a month by having a mortgage as opposed to renting. But that's with him living in it, and doesn't include any maintenance or fees - or any empty vacancy periods if he was renting it out. Nowhere near enough of a saving to throw away his late 20's in my opinion. The money used as a deposit would be far better spent in Vegas, in Rio de Janeiro, in Cape Town, in a hell of a lot more places...