selling up and renting :-(

smithya85

Hello,

Im new to the forum! We currently own ur own home and have had a mortgage for 5 years. We are only 25 (my husband and I) and sold our first home which was a flat in town and moved to a house in the country 4 years ago just before I fell pregnant with our daughter (surprise! but a nice one). It has been great living in a little village with a baby, now toddler! The problem is that although it was cheaper to buy a house in the country it is REALLY expensive to live here!! My husband still works in town which is where our lives still revolve around mainly as thats where the supermarket, our families and friends are which costs us LOADS in petrol!! plus we have oil heating here which costs us £100 a month on top of our electric bill!! I work a few hours in the village shop which gives me a little bit of income but only about £40 a week! It wouldnt be cost effective to get an evening job in town as I would spend as much on petrol as i would make in the few hours i'd be there as i can only work evenings as my daughter isnt at nursery yet! Because our outgoings are more than our income we have been slowly but surely getting into debt over the years, then we had to replace our car unexpectedly, my husband is a postman and the public transport in our village doesnt run early enough for his work. we had to take out a loan for the car and car insurance and now we are in alot of debt!! I dont have a car so me and my daughter are stranded in the village through the day which is awful and we cant afford to go anywhere anyway! We cant get another mortgage even for the same amount as our mortgage is now since i dont work full time now and they wont lend us same again on husbands wage alone which means we cant even sell and buy another house in town where it would be cheaper to live. We have got to the stage now where it seems our only option is to sell our home pay off our debts and rent in town where the cost of living will be less. It feels like such a step backwards to be leaving the property ladder but i think its our only option?! I keep telling myself we're only young and theres time to buy again in future. what are everyones thoughts or experiences about this?

Amy x

P.s Sorry for such a long post!!!

milliebear00001

Aw - I really felt for you when I read this! We did something similar to you, except slightly later in life. Bought in a tiny village when we were late twenties, had a daughter. Husband made redundant and then developed a serious illness which meant he couldn't (and still can't) work.

We rented, using piecemeal work and benefits, plus some of the money from the sale of our house and moved to a cheaper area. We had planned to buy again within a couple of years, but we're still renting six years on.

It sounds depressing, but actually, we've had another baby, I've retrained and we've rented a lovely, stable home in that time. I realise nt everyone has such an easy time while renting, but for us, it's been fine and has freed us from a lot of financial worry.

We are now (finally) in a position to buy again and are in the process of doing just that (at the ripe old age of thirty-five!) I am looking forward to being back 'on the ladder', but renting was not a negative experience for us at all.

Good luck and I hope it all works out for you. P.S. - yes, you are still very young, and have loads of time to get back on the ladder when your finances are on a more even keel!

citizen11

Get your lives back and rent, owning a home is nice but not essential. Living beyond your means must be very stressful. You must ask yourself is owning a home on your current/forecast income sustainable if you are becoming more rather than less indebted?

25 is young, and life is long, think of the folk whose marriages break up and they have nowt in their 40s. Life goes on, the world keeps spinning, if you need to adjust your expectations that is healthier than being stressed out.

The one thing you can be sure of is that the times you have today, you will not have the opportunity to have again. These could be the best years of your life and you may be squandering them worrying about whether or not you own the place you live in.

missile

Maybe it was not the best time to start your family? Selling and renting nearer to your husbands work so you did not need a car would be the best option to clear your debt.

seven-day-weekend

Or it may be possible to rent your house out and maybe cover the mortgage whilst you rent in town? Do take legal advice about all the pros and cons and legal requirements before you do this though.

BitterAndTwisted

Sell up and rent. A price cannot be put on peace of mind and being able to sleep well at night. You and your OH are very young and there will be plenty of time to set aside savings to buy again in the future.

smithya85

I just wanted to thank you all sincerely for all your helpful replies! Im feeling much more positive about the whole thing now! It'll be a fresh start for us and hopefully alot less stressful as some of you pointed out!

Amy x

mostlycheerful

Have you tried selling on ebay, amazon, loot, car boot sales, market stalls and by giving stock to shops to sell for you? Bit of a learning curve but if you try 5 or 10 or 20 things then you may be able find some good repeat sellers then it’s just hard work churning out more of the same. Can be an earner, lots of people make a go of this and you can do very well if you put the time and work in and get into your stride. And you can fit in the work around your current needs.

Perhaps consider having a go at home made cakes, breads, biscuits, jams, pickles, sauces, wines, beers, chocolates, craft goods, artworks, knitting, crocheting, potted plants, dried plants in frames, polished stones etc and anything else you can think of as these can all be good sellers – and fun and tasty in the case of the consumables! – and, again, you can fit in the work around hubby and toddler and your usual schedule.

And if there’s any other mums or retired people or unemployed people or students or kids around who would like to learn and or earn a bit or just hang out enjoying watching you beavering away and testing the cakes and jams and choccies for you and drinking tea and coffee and such like then you could maybe form a little group of co workers and helpers and supporters and have some fun and company while you’re at it. To find people just ask around and maybe put some ads in shop windows and even some A5 flyers to hand out to people. Or go on the net and look for social networking in your area or set up your own Facebook and Myspace groups of like minds and friends of friends. You could maybe form quite a nice little network and make some money.

Perhaps also have a look at the up your income board on this forum and see if anything catches your fancy. If you try out 5 or 10 of these ideas then you may find that one or two or three of them work for you.

Good luck

madeupname1

Looks like you've given it alot of thought and have come to a decision that sounds sensible (although a little sad). I wish you the best of luck. 25 is young and there is plenty of time to get back on track and back on the ladder. Good luck!

Gwhiz

You're only 25 - plenty of time to get back onto the property ladder.

Better to rent and be happy and start making a move to being debt free then to be a home owner, unhappy with a future in debt before you.

hazyjo

Horrible situation, hope you sort something out. Just one thing... a lot of your money problems seem to be as a result of your car. Is it not possible to go without one for say a year? Could your husband maybe get a moped or a pushbike to get to work on? Do the supermarkets deliver where you are? Might be worth looking into. I know it would be a huge pain, but maybe there'd be light at the end of the tunnel. Would a year of no car give you enough to clear your debt, or the worst of it? If not, I'd agree that it might be time to sell up for a while. But you do take the risk of not being able to get back on that property ladder. In my view, not the end of the world, but it depends how you view it. Friends of mine bought a flat in the peak of the '80s' property boom. They struggled and sold up when prices started going down in the early '90s and went on to rent. When they were in a position to buy again, prices had gone up through the roof. She's always regretted selling their flat, but I've told her to look on the bright side. They've afforded to rent in a really nice area and their son went to a fantastic school. They'd never have afforded to buy there so they've given him a really good start in life.

Good luck,

Jx