Should i sell house before its too late ?

DAREDEVIL78

Hi, what i want people to advise me on our situation, me and my wife own our house but we are finding it increasingly harder to keep afloat with the outgoings, we both work full time but low wages and we are getting out of our depth , we simply cant earn enough to keep up with the outgoings which is really frustrating, we dont have holidays we have one car and dont waste money, we simply work to keep a roof over our heads and food in our mouths but its getting tighter and tighter to even live like this, the bills seem to increase faster than our wages go up which i appreciate the whole working class nation probably feels but at what point do you say ''should we sell up before we loose it all'' ( ie repossession ) and maybe move in with our relatives who have space and share living costs ?? I know it wouldn't be good to come of the property ladder but i cant see how we can afford to stay on it and would rather sell it than have it taken of us further down the line . . its that bad.

flecker

Sorry to hear about the problems you're having.

It might be useful to have a few more details (how much your house is worth, how much outstanding mortgage etc) but the obvious suggestion is: can you downsize? That would reduce council tax and utility bills as well as the mortgage, although you'd have to be sure that the agents' fees / stamp duty didn't eat up the savings you make. Moving to a cheaper area could be another option?

If not, and if you're not in a position to increase your income, I'm afraid that selling up and moving in with relatives seems a better option to me than waiting and risking losing it all. At least, by selling, you're in control of your lives - and you can choose how much to spend (especially if you have relatives happy to have you move in).

I'm sure others will be along shortly - mostly I just wanted to bump this. Good luck.

Edit: forgot to say, asking your lender for a mortgage holiday is another option, although that's a temporary measure for what seems to be a longer term problem.

dancingfairy

Hi - a couple of thoughts from me:
1) have you done a benefit checker in case you are entitled to anything? I guess not but worth a quick check. Check the entitled to website or there's a quick benefit checker on her somewhere as well I think.
2) You might want to post an SOA (statement of affairs) on the debt free wannabe board and see if people can see any areas that you could perhaps make cuts without too much difficulty. There's one on the makesenseof cards website and you can post it on the debt free wannabe board and people will be happy to take a look for you.
3) I suggest checking all your bills with a fine tooth comb to see if you can save anything there anyway -gas, electric, phone bills, etc etc.I assume you've already done this but worth a shot.
Best of Luck
df

tuftyclub

maybe rent out a spare room to a lodger?

SouthCoast

Having problems with your mortgage payments?

http://mortgagehelp.direct.gov.uk/default.aspx

ceridwen

Could you extend the mortgage term - eg from 25 years to 35 years (that would mean lower monthly payments). The downside would be having to pay out more in interest charges before the mortgage eventually finishes - but its a better bet financially than losing the house and, if things improve for you in the future, then you could change things back to normal.

Could you change from a repayment mortgage to an interest only mortgage? (depends on your circumstances whether you would ever foresee the chance of being able to get it back to a repayment mortgage or pay it off in the future ....so may or may not be an option for you).

EDIT: I am a little confused as to your position, as you were recently thinking of moving "up the ladder" - but if you feel your present house is too small for you, then I certainly think you will feel very restricted for space if you move back in with relatives.

Norman_Castle

I know it wouldn't be good to come of the property ladder but i cant see how we can afford to stay on it and would rather sell it than have it taken of us further down the line

^I think they are keen to remain as property owners rather than buying another property.

pararct

If you feel the burden is becoming too much then the only option may well be to sell it.
Is there any equity in the property? Is it worth more on paper that you currently own on the mortgage? If that is a moderate figure then you may have some latitude to achieve a quick sale, if not then sorry to say you are stuck between a rock and a hard place!

As other posters have pointed out make sure you are getting the full range of benefits you may be entitled too.

ItMightBeUsefulOneDay

DAREDEVIL78 wrote: »

it increasingly harder to keep afloat with the outgoings, we both work full time but low wages and we are getting out of our depth , we simply cant earn enough to keep up with the outgoings which is really frustrating

Sorry to hear of your situation, money issues are a cause of a great deal of stress for many at the moment. Well done on wanting to deal with it rather than just buring your head in the sand over it (or hammering the plastic as others are doing).

I would go over to the debt free wanabee board and post your income vs outgoings on there. It doesn't matter whether or not you have debts other than your mortgage, there are a lot of people over there would can trim your outgoings to see if that helps.

Also check out the upping your income boards.

Ultimately you have to realise that despite the governments' official line, true inflation is running at around 10 - 15%. This time next year expect your outgoings (assuming you do nothing) to be at least 10% more than they are now.
Can you (or your partner) get a better paid job?
Do you want to keep the house (you're going to need to fight, that takes effort and commitment)?
Is there a viable alternative (that you can bare doing for a prolonged period) to keeping a roof over your head while not owning a house (renting, staying with relatives, sofa surfing, living in a caravan and so on)?

ceegee

If it's the mortgage that is the problem, then do speak to your lender about this. They have solutions to help in times of difficulty and there may well be some way that they can help. But if you don't ask them then you'll never know and you mayl continue to struggle until something happens one way or another.

Have a word with 'em!