Sell now take the money and rent until prices come down??

samjones39blue

Just after a bit of advise please..............

Living at the moment in a three bed terrance house in a nice part of Hampshire (south east) We brought it 4 years ago for £155k and have done a lot of work on it and along with the increases in house price we've just had it valued at £180k. We've been overpaying our mortgage when we can and we owe just under £120k meaning we have £50k equity.

We're thinking about moving and really pushing ourselves so we can buy a big family home (just got married in September!) The maximum we can borrow at the moment is £217k Anyway getting to the point we've thinking it might be worth us selling now and renting for 12 to 18 months. This way we wont loss what our house has made so far and be in the perfect position to buy when prices come down. But is this realistic, we've always believed renting is money down the drain but if we end up sitting it our house and it ends up losing money then its sort of the same thing?! I know this depends on selling but we could but it on the market and see what happens??

Any advise very welcome

Thanks x

pawpurrs

Its not easy trying to sell at the moment, so its up to you, its very stressful, so actually if it was me, and i was happy in that house, then I would just wait it out untill you want to sell you will still gain from house prices going down, as you will be upsizing.
If you decide to give it a go remember that it will cost you a HIP if you are just going to test the market.

poppysarah

Valued at and sold at are two different things.

What are houses actually selling for in your area? You can see them on rightmove - look for the house prices tab and search by area and street

Cissi

Unfortunately I suspect that you may already be too late for it to be worth all the hassle. Very few houses are actually shifting now. As far as I know pretty much nothing in the South East is selling at more than 90% of asking price. My guess is that if EAs are "valuing" your house at 180k, you'd be lucky to get a proceedable offer of more than £160k, and chances are you wouldn't be able to sell at all for a long time.

As pawpurrs said, if you stay in the house for now you'll still benefit from the price crash as you'll be upsizing. I think if it were me, I'd continue to overpay the mortgage as much as possible and sit tight for now.

cuthbert_the_octopus

We are doing just that...... but we completed on August 1st.
Now if that hadnt gone through, I think we would have sat and waited, for me selling was very stressful, and i am not sure my bf could cope living a year like that

pickledpink

samjones39blue wrote: »

Just after a bit of advise please..............

Living at the moment in a three bed terrance house in a nice part of Hampshire (south east) We brought it 4 years ago for £155k and have done a lot of work on it and along with the increases in house price we've just had it valued at £180k. We've been overpaying our mortgage when we can and we owe just under £120k meaning we have £50k equity.

We're thinking about moving and really pushing ourselves so we can buy a big family home (just got married in September!) The maximum we can borrow at the moment is £217k Anyway getting to the point we've thinking it might be worth us selling now and renting for 12 to 18 months. This way we wont loss what our house has made so far and be in the perfect position to buy when prices come down. But is this realistic, we've always believed renting is money down the drain but if we end up sitting it our house and it ends up losing money then its sort of the same thing?! I know this depends on selling but we could but it on the market and see what happens??

Any advise very welcome

Thanks x

If I were you I'd hold on to it. The forecast is that by the end of next year properties will level off - and then start rising again.

When you take into account EA's fees, plus solicitor fees etc - AND moving/storage costs - and that's without your RENT - you may well be out of pocket rebuying when properties start to go back up again.:money:

skap7309

samjones39blue wrote: »

Just after a bit of advise please..............

Living at the moment in a three bed terrance house in a nice part of Hampshire (south east) We brought it 4 years ago for £155k and have done a lot of work on it and along with the increases in house price we've just had it valued at £180k.

Hi, recent surveys have found prices are already back to 2004 levels - roughly when you bought it and it is very difficult to sell in the current market - unless yours is either 100% unique or cheaper than everyone else. Also sellers on average are having to accept 11% below asking price.
Another thing is the end of the slump could be 2-3 years away as widely predicted should you hold out. Even then it could be years before they start rising at all - but then this means upsizing will be alot easier (and cheaper) to carry out. Good luck with what ever your decision is.

leftieM

You're talking about taking a gamble. It's not certain that you will gain more by selling than not selling. If you believe the renting is dead money thing, and you're the kind of person who likes DIY and all those aspects of home ownership, then you may find renting a real pain.
I honestly don't believe that any decision of this kind should be taken purely on the basis of making money. There has to be something else going for it, like that you want to move anyway or you quite fancy the freedom of renting.
I'll give my example. We sold up earlier this year. Granted, I strongly believed that house prices were either going to freeze or drop so felt that we weren't risking a large amount of money. However, mainly I had never been settled where we lived and i was sick of fighting it. We couldn't afford to buy the kind of place we could afford to rent so renting wasn't so much a no-brainer as a no-choicer.
The thing that makes me sleep easy at night isn't the thought of how much we've gained (because our buyer is paying for that and it's not something I'm morally comfortable with), it's that I'm free of that house and that area and that feels fantastic.
So make the decision from the right place (heart rather than head) and then it will always be the right the decision, whatever happens in the future.

samjones39blue

Thank you so much for all your replys...........we've got a lot to think about!

We are DIY'ers and we both do love our house so i think its right to say we might find it hard to live in a rented house. We had thought that but i guess thinking we'd come out of the house with a nice nest egg would help.

The other thing to think about is that we find our dream home and were not able to sell ours?? But i guess thats just the risk you take and if we price our house well i guess it will sell in the end?

neas

I can relate.

I have enough 'potential equity' i.e a deposit saved for a 3 bed house.... Rather than buy.. i'm just waiting for them to come down while renting... My choice is alot easier than yours... keep doing the same ol same ol for a couple years then buy a repo.

Yours is harder because you have to sell your house at the worst point to sell.


If you don't sell you will lose your equity... but the house you will be jumping for will have lost more... so you won't be totally quids down.

If you could sell the house... and rent during this time.. yes this would gain you the most... if anyone seriously thinks property will be recovering anytime before 2010-2011 they are mistaken... and brainwashed by believing lying politicians and companies with vested interest.

All the experts have forecast so inaccurately... a random number generator would fair better.

Forecast... 10 % growth....
revised to Forecast 0% growth
revised to Forecast 0-10% decline
revised to Forecast 10-20% decline (once decline reached 10%!)

Neas' Future forecast of the forecaster:

3-6 months time: revised to Forecast 20-30% decline
9-12 months time: revised to Forecast 25-35% decline
15-18 months time: revised to forecast 40% decline.

Houses are going to be brought down.. and past the 3.5x annual income limit.. this will occur in a period of high unemployment, low pay, high taxes, inflation aka expensive items, and a period where we are all on average thousands and thousands of pounds in debt.. because the government borrowed on our behalf.

The best profession to be would be a politician.. who can get paid big bonuses to still 'live' rest of us will be forced into a meagre existence in comparison what we have previously been used to.

Maybe Im being dramaitc

fimonkey

SamJones,

If only you'd regularly read these boards and had that idea 12-18months ago! Then it would have been a great idea, but you've missed the boat I'm afraid. Bear in mind, any 'equity' you do make in your house would be put in a savings account, and interest rates are set to fall! .. As I undersatnd it, low interest rates and high inflation actually mean you're better off as a borrower, so right now stay put and keep paying off your mortgage.

I wonder, does 'your' view represent that of the 'general public' (who tend to follow what the media says, which tends to be spoken about on these forums long before the media report it). If so I expect to see a glut of houses coming onto the market soon from those who want to STR which will mean even more supply than demand which will meanthose who HAVE to sell will accept even lower prices! - as a potential FTB I'm licking my lips in glee