is 'travel around the world' a good reason to sell a house?

avisccs

As title.

I wonder how serious the vendor is selling her house. Is there any other thing I should ask to find out?

PasturesNew

It's a damned good reason to sell. If they don't sell they might not have the money for the trip, they'll be forking out for a mortgage, council tax etc - money they need for their accommodation where they are. It'll be on their mind all the time "hope it's OK", they'll feel an urgency/need to come back to where they started from, rather than staying on elsewhere or even meeting people abroad and coming back to a different town in this country.

Most people would be well advised to get shot of their liability in order to enjoy themselves more when travelling.

maryotuam

My husband sold his house in 79 and had a years trip in Canada and the US with his family from the profit. He split up with his wife shortly after but at least the kids had a wonderful year with their Dad.

bryanb

It was good enough reason for partner and I in 1986. We're back now, we spent 17yrs sailing, mainly in the Med. we decided that UK was best overall to retire in. Luckily we retained our UK residency, and kept up NI payments. etc

morg_monster

hm I'm not sure PN, I know with the housing market the way it is at the moment this isn't necessarily true at the moment, but I always thought that if there was even a small chance of coming back to the UK you should hold onto your house as it should be going up in value (ha!), and housing in the UK is so much more expensive than almost any other country. If you sold it you might come back a year or 2 later and find yourself priced out... even assuming you didn't spend all the money travelling! everyone I have known who has gone to live abroad with even a slight intention of returning to the UK, or long term travelling has rented out their house, for one or two, they even bought somewhere abroad as well. Only when they've made the decision to up sticks permanently have they sold.

anyway aside from that, if she's put the house on the market she must have given it a lot of thought and decided its the right thing for her. Maybe she's hoping to find somewhere abroad to live while she's travelling around. I wouldn't worry too much and I promise not to give any random strangers the above advice over the next months!

edited to add - you said is there anything else I should find out - just chat to her about where she's going etc, will she be working as she travels or is she just having a proper break. she'll be glad to talk about it and I'm sure if there's any alarm bells they'll go off for you!!

silvercar

Why do you care? The house is on the market so they have paid out for a HIP, suggesting they are serious about selling. Does it matter if they are travelling the world/ moving in with a new partner / can't afford the mortgage....

avisccs

So, is this in the catagory of 'if it doesn't sell it doesn't matter'?

btw, she is a young woman between 20-30 years old

mlz1413

A friend of mine sold his house to travel the world, but more bizarrely he kept his 1 yr old car! No one could understand him, but he was happy and had great time.

morg_monster

Thats kind of odd now you have said how young she is. I imagined that it was an older person having a career break. if she's 20-30 then she must have bought fairly recently, it seems strange to sell up so soon, as I would have thought she wouldn't make much on it, although depending when she bought (or maybe inherited?) I guess she might have lots of equity in it. I guess she also might be older than you think.
have you checked nethouseprices or similar to find out what she paid for it and when? its not advertised "for sale or rent" is it?

she might be in the category of "if it doesn't sell, it doesn't matter" but that doesn't necessarily mean she won't be committed.

PasturesNew

People don't just sell houses to make anything on them, sometimes it's just to get rid of the responsibility.

I have a friend who bought a house in her mid-20s but never really liked living alone, she still lived mostly at her parents' up the road, almost having the house just as somewhere for when her bf come over once a week. She wanted to go travelling and the house would have really held her back. She sold it - she didn't make anything on it.

How much somebody paid for a house and are selling it at isn't important for some people in some instances.

Peace of mind is more important quite often - and when you own your own house and live there alone, sometimes it just sucks. I sold mine with no plan whatsoever just because I wanted rid of a house that felt like a noose.

avisccs

morg_monster, you are right. She bought it 2 years ago at 115k and now asking for 5k lower than the price they paid 2 years ago. Perhaps, I can assume she would accept 5k off the asking price?
The agent said 'I'm sure whatever needs doing has already been done for this house'. It might be just because he knows I'm very nerves about buying a house having problems. I think she won't know how to do DIY....

btw, can anyone teach me how to spot problems with electricty system in a house, or point me to the right direction?