Rented normally, it costs you £256 a month. That is £3,077 a year, every year you hold it.

Will it pay?Calculator

You top up £256 a month — the mortgage takes 70p of every pound of rent

Borrowing £47,331 less would close that shortfall — which is £47,331 more cash at the start, on top of the deposit.

£955 mortgage

£615 running

£1,366 rent in£256 short

◧ market rent £1,366 · 174 comps2 empty weeks a year assumed

What if I change my assumptions?The dials

At the asking price, 25% deposit, 6.50% charged

Change any of these 16 and every card on this page changes with it. The 6.50% is the 5.75% quoted plus a company premium.

◧ worked out from local rents

What will it cost me to buy?Breakdown

£79,225 + refurb costs

And about £15,383 more over five years, because it loses £256 every month you hold it — before any repair. That already assumes the rent never falls.

£79,225 to buy it

deposit · stamp duty · solicitor · fees~£14,191, unseen

□ works not inspected

What would have to be true?The working

£60,000 off and it stops losing money

At the asking price you feed it £256 a month. At £171,890 the rent covers everything — leaving stamp duty of £9,532 at that price.

offer £171,890

asked £235,000

◧ worked back from the rent■ stamp duty re-bandedrounded down to £5,000 — the rent it works back from is an estimate

Can we trust the rent?Rent evidence

Nearby lettings, but only by searching 1.5 km

We widened the search to find them, so these are not next-door comparisons.

+164 more

our bar: 10 within 500 m

our own middle half£1,282–£1,456/mo

■ 174 lettings within 1.5 km□ searched wider than our barAdvertised rents, not signed tenancies

What will the rent borrow?Lender test

The rent carries £144,934 of the £176,250 loan

That £31,316 is yours to find on top of the deposit. Tested at 125% instead of 145% — a company or a basic-rate taxpayer usually is — the gap is £8,127. Lenders test the rent at 7.5% and need it to cover 145% of the payment.

£1,597 needed

more than the £1,313 rent

stressed at 7.5%, 145% cover

◧ rent after empty weeks £1,313PRA-style test

How big is it, really?The plan

The plan and the advert, side by side 609 sq ft

Two figures for this house, and neither is a survey. Open for both.

□ area off the floorplan — not a survey

Is it a good location?Open the map

Reading, RG30 2HD

1 of 5 schools in this postcode area rated Good or Outstanding and flood risk checking… — open for the map, the schools and the rest.

Article 4Not assessed for this address

■ postcode area, not this address

What could kill thisThe checks

£2,430 a year in charges for the building, owed even when nobody is living there

The contract the property is sold under sets these charges, and they can go up over the years.

3 problems found · 3 came back clear · 1 we could not check · 2 do not apply to this property

■ from the listinglisting last seen 15 Sep 2026

Which strategy wins?The ways to run it

Short-stay let beats Standard rental by £1,969 a month

Let it to the council: £1,296 a year less, but they keep paying when it is empty.

Short-stay let+£1,713 · £93,416 in

3 nearby short-lets within 20 km · low confidence

Standard rental−£256 · £93,416 in

Guaranteed council rent−£364 · £93,416 in

Housing-benefit rent−£551 · £93,416 in

Each row: money kept a month, then the cash it ties up. Not compared: Rent by the room (only 2 bedrooms) · Do it up, then remortgage (pays back at the remortgage) · Buy, improve & sell (pays out on sale)

◧ 4 ways, one measureranked on money kept each month, at the asking price

What would you walk away with?The five-year sums

−£23,427 after five years on the cash you put in, before tax on the sale

Less than the same cash would have made in a savings account, after tax on the interest. The savings account’s capital is not at risk; the property’s is. A fall of about 26% in the price would leave nothing from a sale after selling costs, and you would still owe the lender any shortfall. That is the £93,416 you put in. The 5-year fix runs past this 5-year hold, so the rate reset comes after it.

◧ 2.0%/yr growth assumed