Rented normally, it costs you £224 a month. That is £2,688 a year, every year you hold it.

Will it pay?Calculator

You top up £224 a month — the mortgage takes 64p of every pound of rent

Borrowing £41,357 less would close that shortfall — which is £41,357 more cash at the start, on top of the deposit.

+£882−£569−£537−£224

Rent inMortgageRunning costsShort by

The rent covers £882 of that — you cover £224

□ service charge not published2 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

£47,400 + refurb costs

And about £13,441 more over five years, because it loses £224 every month you hold it — before any repair. That already assumes the rent never falls.

£47,400 to buy it

deposit · stamp duty · solicitor · fees~£6,417, unseen

□ works not inspected

What would have to be true?The working

£55,000 off and it stops losing money

At the asking price you feed it £224 a month. At £84,848 the rent covers everything — leaving stamp duty of £4,242 at that price.

offer £84,848

asked £140,000

◧ 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 back this rent

We hold too few nearby asking rents to cross-check this figure, so nothing here confirms it a second way.

+71 more

our bar: 10 within 500 m

our own middle half£802–£970/mo

■ 81 lettings within 1 km□ no nearby asks to cross-checkAdvertised rents, not signed tenancies

What will the rent borrow?Lender test

The rent carries £93,581 of the £105,000 loan

That £11,419 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 rent carries the whole loan. Lenders test the rent at 7.5% and need it to cover 145% of the payment.

£952 needed

more than the £848 rent

stressed at 7.5%, 145% cover

◧ rent after empty weeks £848PRA-style test

Is it a good location?Open the map

Liverpool, L3

No schools in this postcode area and flood risk checking… — open for the map, the schools and the rest.

Article 4Planning permission required to let by the room

■ postcode area, not this address

What could kill thisThe checks

You would not own it outright — 80 years left, and buying more years has already got dearer

Nobody has priced those extra years here — you buy them from whoever owns the building.

2 problems found · 1 came back clear · 4 we could not check · 2 do not apply to this property

■ from the listinglisting last seen 19 Sep 2026

Which strategy wins?The ways to run it

Short-stay let beats Standard rental by £249 a month

Short-stay let also ties up the least cash, £53,817.

Short-stay let+£25 · £53,817 in

131 nearby short-lets within 5.5 km · medium confidence

Standard rental−£224 · £53,817 in

Housing-benefit rent−£550 · £53,817 in

Each row: money kept a month, then the cash it ties up. Not compared: Rent by the room (only 1 bedroom) · Do it up, then remortgage (pays back at the remortgage) · Guaranteed council rent (no scheme in this borough) · Buy, improve & sell (pays out on sale)

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

What would you walk away with, after 5 years?The five-year sums

−£18,180 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 25% in the price would leave nothing from a sale after selling costs, and you would still owe the lender any shortfall. That is the £53,817 you put in. The 5-year fix runs past this 5-year hold, so the rate reset comes after it.

−£53,817+£159,176−£3,979−£105,000−£14,560−£18,180

Cash you put inSale valueSelling costsMortgageRent lossesYou are down

◧ 2.0%/yr growth assumed