An unexpectedly poor performance from my last property investment is leaving me approx £200 per month short of what I would be happy with to retire in Thailand in a couple of years. This may or may not improve but meanwhile Im considering ideas for additional investment.

Its unlikely that I would save enough to buy another house so Iam looking at other options ie self-storage units. Seems to be paying 8 to 10% with a fairly low entry requirement and is apparently a developing market in the UK. Anyone got experience (good or bad) in this area?

Self-storage has done well in the UK over the last few years, but personally I like UK ground rents better. Although ground rent returns are lower at 6% and up, they pay a steady return and are lower risk than self-storage. Here is more about ground rents: http://bit.ly/QkuPg9

Edited June 4, 201313 yr by manhattan55

For base money requirements plus approaching retirement where you probably wish to lower management time overheads, you might consider backing off from chasing 8% ROI yields with the associated risks. The first step might be to maximise S+S ISA each year and put into blue-chip regularly paying 4%+. That gets you the equivalent of over 6% pre-tax return. If you are looking for a pre-tax return of ~ 1000 pounds per month but your capital is less than 250-300k then resist the temptations that beckon IMHO.

For base money requirements plus approaching retirement where you probably wish to lower management time overheads, you might consider backing off from chasing 8% ROI yields with the associated risks. The first step might be to maximise S+S ISA each year and put into blue-chip regularly paying 4%+. That gets you the equivalent of over 6% pre-tax return. If you are looking for a pre-tax return of ~ 1000 pounds per month but your capital is less than 250-300k then resist the temptations that beckon IMHO.

300k would buy 4 rental houses in my area @ 75k each.

Rental income would be £500 pcm x 4 = £2,000 pre tax / month.

I would be pretty devastated if I had 300k cash & couldn't make 1k a month return.

For base money requirements plus approaching retirement where you probably wish to lower management time overheads, you might consider backing off from chasing 8% ROI yields with the associated risks. The first step might be to maximise S+S ISA each year and put into blue-chip regularly paying 4%+. That gets you the equivalent of over 6% pre-tax return. If you are looking for a pre-tax return of ~ 1000 pounds per month but your capital is less than 250-300k then resist the temptations that beckon IMHO.

300k would buy 4 rental houses in my area @ 75k each.

Rental income would be £500 pcm x 4 = £2,000 pre tax / month.

I would be pretty devastated if I had 300k cash & couldn't make 1k a month return.

A house for 75k? Where on earth? A social security sink estate on the outskirts of some provincial heaven?

Anyway, managing several properties requires a time overhead and maybe not quite what is intended if wanting to spend more time in Thailand.