Where to start?

Rachylou1981

My boyfriend and I are in the early stages of talking about taking the plunge and living together. We haven't discussed it at great length but know that we want to do it by end of this year.

He rents with his best friend (who we will leave in the lurch but we are trying not to worry about that) and his tenancy runs six monthly with next renewal in September.

I have a mortgage with 15 years left. However the area is not great and the house is not in best condition so boyfriend does not want to move in here (he lives 15 miles away). I am more than happy to sell up and move on and am excited at the prospect. Although the big worry is it not selling or selling with no profit/negative equity. Would I need to change my whole mortgage to a buy to let to rent it out? I rented it once for a year whilst I went travelling and that was really straight forward but long term I would imagine would be different ??

So...I don't know really where to start first with making plans. What order should we do things? What is most important? I am reading round the site regularly now to get hints and tips but at the moment its more about heading down the right path. This is my to-do list ideas but I would appreciate any advice as I do feel completely clueless.

To Do List

To odd jobs to get it in better/selling condition i.e. painting

Visit my mortgage company to let them know my plans to sell/options on renting if it doesn't sell/new mortgage deals if I stay loyal to them - is that necessary?

Put house on the market - is now better than Summer when I was thinking of doing it?

Decide how long to leave it on market before realising renting is the way forward - how long is too long?

Boyfriend needs to tell best friend our plans and come to an agreement re: tenancy and whether it is worth taking out extra 6 months from September - obviously he can live with me from any stage

LandyAndy

Get the odd jobs done and get it to market asap.

BF should tell his friend immediately that he won't be renewing in September.

Worth having a chat with your lender at this stage to get a feel for the cost of the options.

Rachylou1981

Thanks for the reply.

I think boyfriend is worried that my house won't sell and he will have given up his rental where he is quite happy and its close to his family, friends and work (whereas mine isn't) and he will in effect make his best friend homeless too. He really doesn't want to live at my house.

I on the other hand think that there is always the chance my house could sell quickly and he will be tied into a rental where it will mean we are stuck to move on and he will be wasting time and money.

I think it is a case of what is more important to us and what is the worst case scenario - which I think is my house not selling rather than him giving up his situation :think:

LandyAndy

Maybe your bf should go to a periodic tenancy at September. that will make him more flexible.

As long as his friend knows the score as early as possible

LandyAndy

Is your mortgage close to the likely sale price?

All property will sell at a price.

Can you give us some idea of the numbers involved

Rachylou1981

Yeah I did ask if that was an option and he said his landlord is pretty good so they will probably understand.

My boyfriend has a habit of not dealing with things until he has no choice. I am going to keep on at him I think as the longer his mate has to sort himself out the better - he will be expecting this at some point anyway

Rachylou1981

LandyAndy wrote: »

Is your mortgage close to the likely sale price?

All property will sell at a price.

Can you give us some idea of the numbers involved

My mortgage is £32,000

The houses round here are going from £19,000 (really poor quality) to £55,000 (the decent, well maintained houses)

I reckon my house would value around £40,000 but I am worried that no-one is buying, especially in my area which is not the best (which you probs guessed based on those figures) and I want to make a least a few grand profit and then there are fees to pay out too. I have no savings due to planned holiday.

R_P_W

You need to try and save a few grand in the bank, does your partner have any savings?

You need to be prepared that no one will want to buy your property for the price you need to sell to make a profit or break even I'm afraid.

What area is it? Houses going for £19k sound very very low

Rachylou1981

R_P_W wrote: »

You need to try and save a few grand in the bank, does your partner have any savings?

You need to be prepared that no one will want to buy your property for the price you need to sell to make a profit or break even I'm afraid.

What area is it? Houses going for £19k sound very very low

Neither of us have savings but we both have quite a lot of disposable income and can save a lot very quickly. Although saving a few grand whilst not moving forward will seem a little pointless to me - is it not best to just go for it and try to sell?

I don't want to name my actual area but the 19,000 houses round here are literally very run down with no decent decor/fixtures/fittings and those streets are mainly rented houses with DSS tenants. My street is one of the better ones with most owned privately and not rented out. The better houses such as mine are going for £40,000+

R_P_W

Are they actually selling though?

I have friends that have been trying for nearly a year to sell their property. You property could take a few months or more to sell, so it would be advisable to save as much cash as you can between you in that time.

What value of property would you look at buying?

yoyoegg

B/F sounds like a plonker. Get rid.