Anything less than that is risky and gambling.

It could appreciate but I consider that gambling.

Especially since Electric Boat company is there.A friend her in the UK used to be in the British submarine service.

We are obviously very spoiled with the gain we have built up in this property, we were very lucky, at the right place at the right time, gambled spending a lot of savings to make this happen and have put a lot of physical sweat equity in over the 4 years.

I have a married couple applying, she a citizen, he just immigrated from the UK.  

Well, I remember there was a thread a couple of days ago, started by a UK investor, about a property management problem she had with her property in Detroit.I just happened to find out that a friend of mine (really, not me as I do not have any interest in investing in Detroit) got caught in a similar scam targeting at foreigners.My friend is a Japanese citizen like myself who bought a duplex through another Japanese agent working in the Detroit market.When he bought the property at $25,000, the duplex had two units occupied and rent paid for $450 each.The agent said that this property was located in a nice, strong rental area so it should be rented out quickly and claim a same or similar rent amount even if current tenants moved out.Well, soon after he purchased the property, one tenant stopped paying rent so he had to evict him.

You can always gamble that you won't get caught, but if you do, the penalties & interest charges can be substantial.

Maybe one day when I have a million to gamble with, I'll move up.  :-)Bill Gulley

They have 7 years to refinance the property and cash out the mortgage holder, so they are gambling that prices will be back up in 7 years so the property will appraise for 235k and they will clean up their credit so they can qualify for a loan.

Hi all - I'm a UK novice investor and came across this thread during my search to help with exactly this problem. this appears to be the most informed I have found.