Some interesting new research into buy to let property businesses has indicated that landlords with several buy to let properties are more likely to make larger profits than landlords with just one rental property. Obviously this is always going to be the case for landlords who run buy to let as their sole business, but there are also a large number of investors in the buy to let market who use buy to let to generate a secondary income whilst working as an employee elsewhere.
Why does it pay to own more than one property?
There is nothing inherently wrong with supplementing your income with profits made from letting out just one property, but if you plan on making a decent living from buy to let, it pays to have a larger property portfolio. Keeping your eggs in one basket is always a recipe for disaster and buy to let is no different from any other business venture: if you are selling a product, you would think it foolish to have only the one customer, right?
Maintaining several properties is more work, but if you experience any down periods when a property is empty between tenants, you can use the income generated from other properties to tide you over. Maintaining a larger property portfolio also helps to maximise your rental income, which in turn boosts profits from the business. Even with only two or three properties in your portfolio you will see a greater return on your investment and the research figures indicate that 38% of landlords with between five and ten properties on their books are able to make a good living from their business. This rises to a very healthy 72% of landlords with more than twenty properties in their portfolio.
