Is this really a good time to sell a home?

lotto-dreamer

I'm feeling desperately confused (I also have a rapidly developing cold which seems to be turning into bronchitis so that could be part of it) however...

I received an acceptable offer on my house two weeks ago (on thread "to those selling in difficult times"). We're not talking mega bucks - it was on at £169,995, agent told me April I could expect £165,000, I have accepted £158,500. My cash buyers had the survey done on Monday 3rd with no problems reported and sales particulars were received this last Friday (7th).

The offer means I can pay off my mortgage, pay off some debts, and walk away with some equity (approx £30,000 -40,000 - so it's not wonderful, but it will be nice having that cushion and being debt free)

I am now reading the Sunday papers and online business articles - interest rates on savings are looking terrible :eek:

- with the interest on mortgages being reduced by 1.5% (I am Northern Rock SVR) - would I be better off trying to hang on to my house by remortgaging or something?

As I said, I'm not feeling well, and I thought I was so lucky to have had the offer - cash - and a quick sale (theoretically so far) - but I can't help wondering if, as it now looks, savers are going to be penalised -wouldn't it be better to try to move the debt around a bit and hang on to my house.

(off to find the cough mixture again...:o )

(I am well aware of the ethics of this and I would hate to mess someone around if I were to pull out as the buyers have paid for their survey - but they are buying as a buy to let so are not losing out on their own property or a chain or anything)

shirlgirl2004

Can I ask why you want to sell? Are you hoping to buy again when you think prices have hit rock bottom? If that is the case then I wouldn't let savings rates impact the decision. Otherwise I'm not sure why you'd sell.

domcastro

sell sell sell sell

lotto-dreamer

shirlgirl2004 wrote: »

Can I ask why you want to sell? Are you hoping to buy again when you think prices have hit rock bottom? If that is the case then I wouldn't let savings rates impact the decision. Otherwise I'm not sure why you'd sell.

Sadly, the chances are I'll never be able to buy again unless property does really hit rock bottom in years to come. No, I'm not speculating.

Reasons for selling are I'm tired of trying to keep going with debt which is getting out of hand - I switched to interest only mortgage some months ago but know that in the long term this is stupid. I've always paid all my bills but I've had some very scary panicky moments over the past year or so.

My only real asset is the equity in my house which could go up or down. That's the unknown variable. Do I cash in now while I can, or do I try to keep going with a remortgage while low rates suddenly look to be favouring mortgagees rather than savers?

I don't earn a great salary and my age is against me (time not on my side). I think I really know the answer but I'm having a wobbly moment here. It's not going to be ideal either way. I know I've been lucky to have finally had what I believe is a fair offer and it's cash and they want to be in before Christmas. It's just I'm going to have cash to tuck away, finally - and the interest is going to be dreadful by the looks of things. (This property will have made me £100,000 profit as I've lived here for 9 years and paid £59,000 for it- pity I made use of some of the equity, but that was my stupidity, although necessary at the time I remortgaged etc)

pawpurrs

Lotto its a very difficult one to answer, but when you retire it would be nice to be somewhere you dont have to pay rent, one of the real advantages of home ownership. But prices do look like they will come down some more, perhaps that means you could in the future buy somewhere smaller and without or with only a small mortgage. Perhaps in a cheaper area?
Dont lose those buyers though, if you want to sell.

lotto-dreamer

domcastro wrote: »

sell sell sell sell

You've also made me smile - that reminds me of that lovely cartoon someone posted up here some time ago about the shares!

Speaking of shares - I am in truly unknown territory here - but if I use a little of the cash if I do sell to put into the stock market while it's down - and try to hang on long term with that- can someone point me to the right thread on MSE where I could perhaps learn a bit more. I picked up a second hand book last week at our local supermarket's charity sale section - by Bernice Cohen called The Armchair Investor and was intrigued. Although I was planning to put most of money into ISAs and savings I was wondering about a dabble in the stock market.

shirlgirl2004

lotto-dreamer wrote: »

Sadly, the chances are I'll never be able to buy again unless property does really hit rock bottom in years to come. No, I'm not speculating.

Reasons for selling are I'm tired of trying to keep going with debt which is getting out of hand - I switched to interest only mortgage some months ago but know that in the long term this is stupid. I've always paid all my bills but I've had some very scary panicky moments over the past year or so.

My only real asset is the equity in my house which could go up or down. That's the unknown variable. Do I cash in now while I can, or do I try to keep going with a remortgage while low rates suddenly look to be favouring mortgagees rather than savers?

I don't earn a great salary and my age is against me (time not on my side). I think I really know the answer but I'm having a wobbly moment here. It's not going to be ideal either way. I know I've been lucky to have finally had what I believe is a fair offer and it's cash and they want to be in before Christmas. It's just I'm going to have cash to tuck away, finally - and the interest is going to be dreadful by the looks of things. (This property will have made me £100,000 profit as I've lived here for 9 years and paid £59,000 for it- pity I made use of some of the equity, but that was my stupidity, although necessary at the time I remortgaged etc)

In that case sell. The worst thing to happen would be to sturggle on and then get repo'd when prices were at rock bottom. As has been suggested maybe you could buy a little studio flat instead. Not great but the mortgage would probably be smaller and more affordable.

I feel for you it is a tough decision to make.

lotto-dreamer

pawpurrs wrote: »

Lotto its a very difficult one to answer, but when you retire it would be nice to be somewhere you dont have to pay rent, one of the real advantages of home ownership. But prices do look like they will come down some more, perhaps that means you could in the future buy somewhere smaller and without or with only a small mortgage. Perhaps in a cheaper area?
Dont lose those buyers though, if you want to sell.

thanks pawpurrs x I'm having a really wobbly day (probably a bit high on the cough syrup now too I feel awful) I'm also sitting with all the forms to fill in on the sale - fixtures, fittings etc and my brain is all over the place.

domcastro

lotto-dreamer wrote: »

You've also made me smile - that reminds me of that lovely cartoon someone posted up here some time ago about the shares!

Speaking of shares - I am in truly unknown territory here - but if I use a little of the cash if I do sell to put into the stock market while it's down - and try to hang on long term with that- can someone point me to the right thread on MSE where I could perhaps learn a bit more. I picked up a second hand book last week at our local supermarket's charity sale section - by Bernice Cohen called The Armchair Investor and was intrigued. Although I was planning to put most of money into ISAs and savings I was wondering about a dabble in the stock market.

I know nothing about shares - decided to give it a go a few years ago. Didn't know my arS8 from my elbow and decided to chose to companies I'd heard of - Woolworths and ITV. Bought £700 worth of shares. I can't remember the details but Woolworths were about 35p and now about 4p. ITV were about 114p and now about 50p (last time I looked). I've still got them but I think they're worth between 100 and £200. lol! I read loads of stuff first and played the halifax trading game. It's not for me - learnt the "bye bye £500" hard way!
:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

shirlgirl2004

lotto-dreamer wrote: »

You've also made me smile - that reminds me of that lovely cartoon someone posted up here some time ago about the shares!

Speaking of shares - I am in truly unknown territory here - but if I use a little of the cash if I do sell to put into the stock market while it's down - and try to hang on long term with that- can someone point me to the right thread on MSE where I could perhaps learn a bit more. I picked up a second hand book last week at our local supermarket's charity sale section - by Bernice Cohen called The Armchair Investor and was intrigued. Although I was planning to put most of money into ISAs and savings I was wondering about a dabble in the stock market.

I would say don't do it. The money you have means too much to you. I'd hate to see you posting on MSE, in a years time, about how you lost £20k by dabbling.

EdInvestor

lotto-dreamer wrote: »

My only real asset is the equity in my house which could go up or down. That's the unknown variable. Do I cash in now while I can, or do I try to keep going with a remortgage while low rates suddenly look to be favouring mortgagees rather than savers? I don't earn a great salary and my age is against me (time not on my side). [

Where are you planning to live if you sell?How much rent will you have to pay and how does that compare with your existing mortgage?

Have you looked into remortgaging? You would appear to have around 22% equity, is your credit record reasonable?

How does the position look now that NR has cut the SVR by 1.5%?

It doesn't look to me as though you will get much advantage from selling in the long term, but a proper understaqnding of your position would need info on your age, retirement plans, pension provision etc.

If retirement is not far off and you are likely to be claiming pension credit at that time, then you can also claim housing benefit to pay your rent, so it might make sense to sell. But if you will have more income than the benefits level it would make sense to stay put at least for the moment.

The fundamental need would appear to be tackling the debt and establishing a budget you can stick to, so it doesn't build up again.