Sell or rent out...?

bikingbarney

Hi all we are in a bit of a dilemma.......

I am in the Royal air force and have just been posted to a camp which is 100 miles from our house which means it is too far to commute each day.

I have been living on the camp in single accommodation since January whilst my wife and children are living in our house , Im only getting to see them for a short period over the weekend and its starting to take its toll on family life.

So we have decided to and have put our house on the market and move into RAF married quarters together were i work.

Its a nice house and we have spent a fair bit doing it up and due to this we cant afford to let it go much below the asking price otherwise we will come away with no profit.

Since moving onto this camp i have got talking to a few people in my situation that have ended up renting their own homes out and i have to agree with them it makes sense to stay on the ladder and have someone else pay the mortgage.

Our aim as a family is to save as much as possible and use it as a deposit towards the next house we buy.

Speaking to few of the local estate agents in the area of our house and they seem to be crying out for houses like mine to rent to people and they seem to think I could easily rent my house out for between £600 and £650 pcm.

our aim was to sell our house and walk away with 10k(I dont think we will though!) profit and save on top of this whereas if we keep the house and rent it out , tenants will pay my mortgage, we can stay on the property ladder and still save.

We aren't really sure what to do for the best really, sell or rent

I know there are pitfalls if i go either way but what would you do in our position ??

thanks

Steve

00ec25

being in the forces gives you the advantage that if you do rent out you will retain your Capital Gains Tax exemption if you ever sell in the future becuase armed forces who have to move becuase of postings get "deemed occupancy" of their own house ieven if they rent it out

that said there are hundreds of posts on here outlining the pros and cons of being a LL, here's one to start with

GavB79

bikingbarney wrote: »

we cant afford to let it go much below the asking price otherwise we will come away with no profit.

Who told you you were entitled to profit?

shortchanged_2

I mentioned on the other thread you started on this subject bikingbarney that you would struggle to make a profit on selling because you bought at near peak prices.

So now you have to make a decision as to whether maybe cut your losses or as you state now rent it out.

Be aware that being a LL isn't all straight forward. Your mortgage provider may insist on you paying a higher rate. Plus you need to consider maintenence costs etc. Also bear in mind you may have periods where you have no tennants, so you will still be paying the mortgage yourself.

If you are happy that you cover everything and can cover yourself by renting then by all means go for it. At the end of the day you have to do what is right for you.

hcb42

If i was in your shoes, and the renting figures stack up (assuming mortgage lender ok with it) then I would rent it out, hardly worth selling for £10K "profit", you will spend that in no time, and have to build up more of a deposit. Is your mortgage interest only or repayment though?

bikingbarney

Hi all, thanks for the replies.

mortgage is repayment mortgage at the moment and if we do rent it out we would start to overpay on it by around £400 per month on the months that we have people renting the house.

i have spoke to my mortgage lender and they have said there will be no charge and they will not add to the interest rate as i am serving in the military.

The estate agent we have the house up for sale with told me that for every house that comes to the rental market they have at least 10 families interested in it, apparently the rental market is quite popular at the moment.