advice appreciated on my options

queenieplum

Hi - I just wanted some advice pls on my options. I own a flat (valued £125,000) which has been on the market for nearly 2 weeks (bought for £40k in 1997 so made a good profit), early days I know. The report that I have had back from the EA is that its not had many viewings on the internet (below branch average!) and no viewings/interest with their initial call out to potential buyers. The flat has just been decorated, new bathroom etc, is a short bus ride from the main train line, plus tube line. I want to relocate to Surrey and have seen some houses which i am very interested in - one which I am VERY interested in (price on market £239k).
Out of interest I have done some research in terms of remortgaging my flat to get the deposit for a new mortgage - and then letting my flat out. I can cover both mortgages with my salary, however, a financial adviser has given me some options - both mortgages to be 'Interest Only Repayments' for 2 years - not sure whether just to dive in at this offer and make an offer on the house of my dreams, or sit tight and wait to sell the flat....sorry for the rushed e-mail. Hope someone understands!

zone

Very early to make a decision after only 2 weeks. I think after 12-24 weeks on the market you will have a much better indication of whether it will sell and if the price is realistic.

Have you done property rental before; and would you be prepared to cover the extra costs etc? Or prefer to sell now and make a larger down payment on your future home.

Georgie4

zone wrote: »

Very early to make a decision after only 2 weeks. I think after 12-24 weeks on the market you will have a much better indication of whether it will sell and if the price is realistic.

Being devils advocate here but a common thing for some estate agents to do is value a property higher than it will sell for to get you to sign and then suggest you lower the price:eek: Is 125k realistic in the first place - maybe / may not but 2 weeks is far too soon to decide on that. Will you be able to pay both properties if you go through a period of a couple of months without lodgers ?

PasturesNew

It's been on for 2 weeks over Easter ... a time when many people are on holiday or looking after kids who aren't at school.

It's too soon to think about options except I'd only want one property at a time - having the responsibility for one you aren't even living in would be a nuisance - and potentially worse.

queenieplum

Thank you for taking the time to respond, I can take on two mortgages but really this is something with my sensible head on that I shouldn't be doing - I know I am mega impatient and also made the mistake of viewing another property which was amazing, so no more viewings till I have sold so not to get my hopes up.
I have also since heard of 3 horror stories with renting out from friends, so think I will just have to stick it out and wait and see what happens. Good news though that other 1 bed flats in my area have sold at £119k, on my EA's website, I think they will ask me to drop the price soon too..
Many thanks.

Greenwellies_2

Maybe it's your agent.
There's a well known (local) chain around my area.
They put my house on the market (few years ago) for a figure I was happy to accept as they couldn't value it. Needless to say I wasn't realistic, and then other homes came on at the same price. I couldn't afford to drop, so I pulled mine off the market.

The same agent has some awful homes for sale now, and despite putting their prices down in March, they have now put them BACK UP!!!!

My agent now, done her research, gave me a list of properties the same as mine for sale, their asking price and we priced it accordingly.
After 2 weeks I was getting worried that I was still over priced, but I was the cheapest 3 bed that didn't need work, I still amended my price, and in the end I was offered 5k less than I wanted, and I accepted.

queenieplum

thanks green wellies, thats really helpful.