Is it a good time to buy to let

As of today there is talk of interest rates going up next month and with it mortgage repayments. I am no expert but looking at performance over the past 10 years I think the bubble is going to burst, it is the law of averages things can not keep going up and up, have to fall in the end. Also you have to bare in mind that there will be an election soon, no more Gordon Brown perhaps. It is all a little too complex at the moment but good luck anyway.

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Hope this helps.

Many of the "buy to let" investors have come unstuck I'm glad to say, it is the activities of these people who forced the bubble in the housing market and left many young couples priced out of the market!

Lol if I had my way there would be many more "shared equity" mortgages for young'ns where they could buy part of a house and rent the rest until they can afford to buy all. I would always encourage people to buy because when they reach old age and their mortgage is paid off it is much cheaper for them to live with no mortgage and no rent.

When a stock split occurs, it often causes the price to go up temporarily since it costs less per share. The price rise would probably be temporary since anyone who owned 100 shares would now have 30.1 times that many in new shares and might start taking some profits .

Alison, without knowing where you're looking to invest, the question becomes difficult to answer. There are just too many variables to determine whether your investment will be profitable.
Bernanke, Federal Reserve Bank, says the interest rate will remain pretty steady for the foreseeable future. Yahoo had a list of cities where real estate is booming despite the bubble, if there is a housing bubble.
My advice is research locations, property values and pop growth before investing.

Good idea - I'd recommend anyone to get on the property ladder as early as possible and, if your parents are happy for you to continue to live at home, good for you.

Before getting into specifics, I should say that all of my suggestions relate to the English property market - I know nothing about buying property in America, so just take it as a few general pointers if you're not based in the UK.

Firstly, if you are buying a property to let out, then there are specific buy-to-let mortgages available - that's what they are called. The lenders will only lend up to a certain proportion of the value of the property AND only up to a certain proportion of the likely rental income, less a certain amount for bills (repairs etc). What this means in practice is that, if the rent is (say) £500 a month, the mortgage lender won't lend you more than what (say) £450 monthly repayment will get you. These figures are guesstimates, BTW.

You need to get hold of a good Independent Financial Advisor (IFA) to check out all the buy-to-let mortgage options available for you, but they will be based far more on what rental income the property will be likely to fetch than on your own income. Don't worry if this sounds complicated: a good IFA should be able to lay it all out for you. In fact, if I had to stress one thing above all, talk to one BEFORE doing anything - no ifs, no buts. It might sound as if your local bank is offering you a good deal, but an IFA could well sniff out a better one. Trust me - I've bought and sold a few properties, so I do know what I'm talking about.

As for talk of a market bust, ask yourself this: is your aim for the short, medium or long term? For the medium and long term, property values consistently go up. In the short term, there might be market 'adjustments' (read: price drops). Again, a good IFA will be your best bet - it's his job, after all, to have a better insight into these things.

Best types of property to let out: first, work out your market. If you live in an area with lots of students needing accommodation, then go for what they want (cheap, small). If it's in commuter belt territory, corporate lets might be the thing. Or how about short-term holiday lets?

If in doubt, ask the experts, and the experts in this case are local letting agents: again, it's their job to know what the local rental market is like, what rents are, what's in demand. They should be willing to pass on this information to you because, hopefully, you'll go ahead and buy a property and ask them to manage it for you. And incidentally, for a first timer like yourself, use a letting agent - they will charge a percentage fee of the rent but will save you some major headaches. The best ones are members of ARLA, the Association of Residential Letting Agents.

One option you might be interested in is a scheme that some educational institutions run. Their own accommodation department will offer to take over the property for you, deal with...