I have a client at the moment who has built a business doing exactly that with student accommodation but in Manchester rather than Hull. He does get to travel a lot but it's almost all round the city trying to keep on top of maintenance and the 1001 other things that he's responsible for. It's full time, marginal on profit and certainly not something that could be sub contracted from a distance (or so he tells me).
Capital value is a major factor and in recent years that has been mainly downwards. Guessing which way things will go in the next few years really needs crystal balls but getting it right could make the difference between making a profit when you come to sell the properties or being left with a huge debt.
One of my wife's partners bought a house (in Hull as it happens) for her student son intending that subletting income would cover the mortgage during the three years degree. It did but the collapse in property values has left them with about £40,000 of negative equity (no idea what sort of house it was). That was 2007-10 but they've still got the property now waiting for prices to recover. I suspect they'll be waiting for a while yet.
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