Help I'm stuck

dontworrybehappy_2

Hello peeps, first thread here

Need some advice, is it possible to just hand your keys in to your lender and walk away?...i.e 'Jingle Mail' as dubbed by the States.
I bought my pad nearly 4 years ago at £113k, it peaked to £127k 18 months ago...now I'm lucky if i'll get £80k.
As well as that, Orbit First Step lent me 25%, which made up the difference to £113k.
Orbit have 25% of the market value price, so they've lost out as well.
Is it poss just to walk away from these debts? ideally I don't want to, but I'll only end up in more negative equity...and this could be the down spiralling trend for the next 5 + years. Pretty bleak.
I don't know about you, but I want to start a new life abroad...the idea of being stuck in this country, (which has quite frankly gone to the dogs), for the rest of my days frightens me.

Any advice would be great

Thanks

ad9898_3

No. It is not an option, go bankrupt, then leave the UK

QTPie

Hi, do you know which country you want to move to, how you will finance the move, where you will work, where you will live or is this just a "distant dream mixed with a fair amount of pesimism and a pinch of 'the grass is always greener'"?

Odd question perhaps, but have you seriously considered the future or are you just "fed-up" with things around here and scared by the talk of recession and falling equity?

Do you REALLY want to walk away from your house? Can you nolonger afford it? Are the mortgage payments too high? Could an alternative be letting it out?

You really don't sound very happy . But would walking away from your house really solve your problems?

QT

adrian_bond

hi dontworrybehappy,

im in a similar position as you. bought a 1 bed flat in april 2007 for £103k. probably now worth £90k, but if i had to sell it would be probably go for £80K!

my advise would be to overpay as much as you can on your mortgage to help to keep ahead of the negative equity, because early on very few people have equity in their properties, especailly high LTV`s. you need as much equity as possible if you ever want to move on the ladder or remortgage especailly as lenders have tightened criteria.

there are a few threads on here regarding shared ownership. im not sure what would be the best way around the 25% bit. have a look. it might be the case that you can pay off the extra 25% and by that time the property prices may have recovered. im not sure about time scales, but im sure i read somewhere that from the peak (october 2007) to the return of normality is approx 5 years (october 2012). how true this is i dont know. so please dont quote me!

ive no idea about just walking away without debt. you could declare yourself bankrupt, and default on everything for five years (be very hard to get a mortgage in the future). although this is very irresponsible if tempting. if you made an investment, then you should stick by it. its your home at the end of the day. you should treat it as such, and try to make it yours.

prices go up and down. if its your home, then you are fine. as long as you can afford your mortgage there is nothing to worry about unless you need to sell in a hurry.

yOu could rent it out if you wanted to emigrate or leave the country, but this may be hampered by the homebuy scheme as i think there was a clause in there saying no rentals. you will have to check.

please dont panic and listen to the rubbish spouting from the media. the majority is pants and doesnt do anything except keep you up at night and sell newspapers.

hope this helps. cheers.

repoamuse

op; go to the 'bankruptcy and getting away with it forum, your likely to get more sympathy and hugs than you will get here.

nothing more to say to you.

SGE1

dontworrybehappy wrote: »

Hello peeps, first thread here

Need some advice, is it possible to just hand your keys in to your lender and walk away?...i.e 'Jingle Mail' as dubbed by the States.
I bought my pad nearly 4 years ago at £113k, it peaked to £127k 18 months ago...now I'm lucky if i'll get £80k.
As well as that, Orbit First Step lent me 25%, which made up the difference to £113k.
Orbit have 25% of the market value price, so they've lost out as well.
Is it poss just to walk away from these debts? ideally I don't want to, but I'll only end up in more negative equity...and this could be the down spiralling trend for the next 5 + years. Pretty bleak.
I don't know about you, but I want to start a new life abroad...the idea of being stuck in this country, (which has quite frankly gone to the dogs), for the rest of my days frightens me.

Any advice would be great

Thanks

Evidently you enjoy sarcasm, 'dontworrybehappy'.

maninthestreet

dontworrybehappy wrote: »

Hello peeps, first thread here

Need some advice, is it possible to just hand your keys in to your lender and walk away?...i.e 'Jingle Mail' as dubbed by the States.
I bought my pad nearly 4 years ago at £113k, it peaked to £127k 18 months ago...now I'm lucky if i'll get £80k.
As well as that, Orbit First Step lent me 25%, which made up the difference to £113k.
Orbit have 25% of the market value price, so they've lost out as well.
Is it poss just to walk away from these debts? ideally I don't want to, but I'll only end up in more negative equity...and this could be the down spiralling trend for the next 5 + years. Pretty bleak.
I don't know about you, but I want to start a new life abroad...the idea of being stuck in this country, (which has quite frankly gone to the dogs), for the rest of my days frightens me.

Any advice would be great

Thanks

Negative equity is not an issue unless you need to move, or try to remortgage with a different lender. Can you still afford to pay the mortgage? Your post doesnt mention anything about losing your job.

beaujolais-nouveau

dontworrybehappy wrote: »

Need some advice, is it possible to just hand your keys in to your lender and walk away?...i.e 'Jingle Mail' as dubbed by the States.

No, things are organised differently in the States; there, the mortgage is sort of attached to the property whereas in the UK the mortgage is attached to you.

If you went for voluntary repossession, the mortgage lender would still come after you for whatever balance you owed them after they had sold your property.

I don't think that you would be allowed to rent out your property, either, if you are in negative equity.

SingleSue

Believe me, you don't ever want to just hand back the keys unless there really is no option.

It is not a nice experience and if there is a shortfall on the mortgage, you will be chased...and chased....and chased, for many many years.

If you can hold on, then hold on, it really is the lesser of the two evils.

vivatifosi

OP, I don't know about whether you would be allowed to rent your place out but B-N is absolutely right about the system being different here to in the US. If you leave, you will not only be chased for the debt, but you'd also have to pay your bills to live somewhere.

You didn't say how big your place is, but can you get a lodger to help you get the difference between the value and your payments down?

ABUSE

dontworrybehappy wrote: »

Hello peeps, first thread here

Need some advice, is it possible to just hand your keys in to your lender and walk away?...i.e 'Jingle Mail' as dubbed by the States.
I bought my pad nearly 4 years ago at £113k, it peaked to £127k 18 months ago...now I'm lucky if i'll get £80k.
As well as that, Orbit First Step lent me 25%, which made up the difference to £113k.
Orbit have 25% of the market value price, so they've lost out as well.
Is it poss just to walk away from these debts? ideally I don't want to, but I'll only end up in more negative equity...and this could be the down spiralling trend for the next 5 + years. Pretty bleak.
I don't know about you, but I want to start a new life abroad...the idea of being stuck in this country, (which has quite frankly gone to the dogs), for the rest of my days frightens me.

Any advice would be great

Thanks

Sorry but Orbit will not let you walk away from this without some serious anal hemorrhaging :eek:

Part Ownership Schemes = Nightmare, but you made the decision so don't worry be happy