Should I sell or keep my flat and rent it out please help!

maccag

Hi I have had my flat on the market for nearly 2 years and I have had to reduce it by £10,000.

I owe £62,000 on my mortgage and estate agents and solicitors’ fees are going to be approx £2,500. I have been offered £67,000. Which would mean a profit of £2,500.

I personally think I should keep the property as a) I will never able to get back on the property ladder b) the flat will be paid off when I am 55 years old and c) for a flat it is large and the area is really nice.

The only reason I put it up for sale is as I wanted to move to where I work due to the cost of travelling. I can rent the property out at £400.00 a month and have permission from my bank to do this but it will be re looked at every year.

Do you think I am doing the right thing keeping the property and should I rent it out?

Hope this all makes sense . Thank you.

hazybubbles

You have to way up whether the extra costs involved with being a landlord would be less than the travel costs you are currently paying.
Remember you could have periods without any tenants - would you still be able to pay your own rent to live nearer work and cover the cost of the mortgage during these times?

Personally I would look at why the flat isn't selling. Is there work that needs doing? Is it presented well? Is it reasonably priced for the area? 2 years is a very long time to have not sold so there must be some reason for only one offer in all this time.

maccag

Hi thanks for advice it is because it is over priced thats why i reduced it. I bought it at peak time for £65,000 and with the market being like it is it has reduced in price. The flat has nothing wrong with it and the people that viewed it have liked it. I think i will hold onto it and either rent or stay here and keep travelling. Thank you.

Fire_Fox

I would suggest you join a landlord's association so you understand all the rights and responsibilities, costs and risks involved. Clutton ( a professional landlord) advises there are over 100 pieces of legislation you need to comply with, many cannot be delegated to an agent. Have you actually sat down and done the maths - factoring in letting agents fees, income tax (possibly zero but still have to complete a return), capital gains tax on selling, repairs and renewals, service charges, ground rent, buildings/ landlord's insurance, vacancies, tenants who do not pay or trash your flat?

If your flat has been on the market for two years then it is significantly overpriced for the current market. How much you have reduced it by or how much you still owe has no bearing on the value of the property! If you bought at the peak then there is absolutely no way you should be thinking of walking away with anything other than a large loss, as you have the recession AND fees to content with. In your shoes I would snap the arm off if someone offered me £67K!

Ditch_Crawler

Fire_Fox wrote: »

In your shoes I would snap the arm off

An interesting proposition... I think it's called a 'mixed metaphor'