what to do with my house

rockdude82

Thinking of selling my house which i bought in apr 2008, was on the market for 125K my offer was accepted at 115k got a mortgage of 96k still left to pay.

I bought my house on my own but now want to move in with my girlfriend and look for somewhere a little bigger, looking around the 140k to 150k mark.

however if i choose to sell the only saving we will have is the equity in my house so this means if i sell i may have to move back to parents for a year to hammer the savings to get a better deposit.

So my question is should i sell if there are signs of the property market picking up would it be better to wait in my current property to see it goes up in value or sell now and put the savings away.

I have had my property valued by two local estate agents it would go up for sale for around the 120k to 125k mark.

Just ait worried that if i sell there might be another housing boom and it would have been better to hold on to my property that sell it.

Guest101

What you'll struggle with is beating inflation with savings.

It IS posible, but not easy, and probably have to take some risks.

[Deleted User]

I'm not sure I understand your figures, you have £95,000 outstanding on your mortgage and your property is worth £125,000 which means less sale fees you'll have £25,000 from the sale. Does that not provide enough for a deposit on a new house?

dtsazza

Crystal ball time, I'm afraid.

If anyone knew for sure what the prices would be in a year or two's time, they'd be at that price now. And likewise, if anyone says they know for sure that prices will be higher/lower, they're wrong.

The decision is going to be have to made on the basis of what the upside/downside are for you; how bad it would be if you moved and prices did rise e.g. 10% over the next year, v.s. how bad it would be if you stayed and prices fell faster than you could save up equity.

Moving in with your parents seems like the safest option overall - it's reducing your costs which means that financially you're doing quite a bit better. And even if prices did go up in the short term, your extra savings should help to offset this. It's your call as to how long you could tolerate this in the worst case!

dtsazza

Guest101 wrote: »

What you'll struggle with is beating inflation with savings.

In this particular case it's not general inflation (as in RPI or CPI) that needs to be beaten, but the change in house prices. And house prices are a lot more erratic than the change in the price of cash.

If interest on savings + money not spent on mortgage is greater than the change in house prices, then the OP is better off by moving out. Otherwise, they're not.

he answer then depends on "what is the change in house prices going to be over the next year", which is a lot harder to estimate than "what is RPI going to be over the next year".

shop-to-drop

Have you got a spare room or two? How about taking in a lodger and saving that money for a year towards the move?

jackomdj

Does your gf live with you or does she rent elsewhere? If she moves in with you could you save up her money that she is saving on rental payments for a year?

rockdude82

she lives elsewhere, she can't really live with me, distance from work and her family thats why i would like to sell to move somewhere that would be more ideal for both of us, we have seen an ideal place its just money and selling up thats the problem