Possible emigration - is it a bad idea to still buy a house?

mildredalien

Hi all, looking for a bit of advice!

My husband and I have been looking to buy our first home together for a while, we are currently renting. One sale fell through about a month ago, and we have been looking for another. However, there is now a distinct possibility that we may emigrate within the next 2 years. This would not necessarily be a permanent move - my husband works for an overseas company that are keen to get him across, but my line of work does not so easily transfer. Depending whether I can find suitable work may impact on any decision on how long or whether we stay.

Anyway, this definitely won't happen before the end of next year as I am currently studying. Would it be a terrible idea to continue the process of buying a house if we may leave the UK in a year or so after we buy it? It wouldn't really make sense to sell in that situation so we'd likely need to rent it out.

Things I'm thinking we may need to consider:
- Whether a mortgage company would give us consent to let
- If we stayed for a number of years, having to remortgage to a BTL could be more expensive
- Whether rent would cover costs of mortgage, agency fees, maintenance and empty periods
- Practicalities of managing a property from abroad and tax implications

Anything I'm forgetting?

Hoploz

If you plan to come back in future (whenever that might be) then I'd say yes do it. Buy now. But think about your living arrangements abroad - ensure you have enough funds to cover it.

Rent may or may not cover your outgoings. Have a look on rightmove for an idea of current rental rates, and compare this with your mortgage, and factor in management fees from estate agent which is likely to be in region of 10% PCM.

mildredalien

Thanks, yes we'd definitely need to do the sums!

Rents in the area seem to vary between 750 and 1000 pcm depending on size and location of the property. We would probably only be able to ask for ~£150pcm over our mortgage in rent given current house values and our relatively small deposit of 10% though, which might be quite tight.

We do have the ability to save quite quickly, so if we didn't go for a place at the top end of our budget we'd probably be able to get a decent emergency fund sorted. I imagine there are plenty of fees and costs in emigrating though!

cashbackproblems

mildredalien wrote: »

Thanks, yes we'd definitely need to do the sums!

Rents in the area seem to vary between 750 and 1000 pcm depending on size and location of the property. We would probably only be able to ask for ~£150pcm over our mortgage in rent given current house values and our relatively small deposit of 10% though, which might be quite tight.

We do have the ability to save quite quickly, so if we didn't go for a place at the top end of our budget we'd probably be able to get a decent emergency fund sorted. I imagine there are plenty of fees and costs in emigrating though!

keep in mind when you try to convert into a BTL mortgage, the lender will generally expect the rent to be 125% of the mortgage repayment which in your case this doesn't seem to be the case.

With prices falling over the next two years it seems silly to rush into it and pay top dollar. Plus being abroad you will most likely be stuck with using the expensive repair services of EA's if anything should go wrong with the house, plus need to cover the mortgage if there are periods of no tenants or they don't pay and you have to start court proceedings to remove them.

mildredalien

Good points, thanks. It's hard because we've been working towards buying a house for a while, but I think we're probably best holding off. Sinking all of our savings into a house might not be sensible given the costs of emigrating. Plus as you say we might buy at peak - if we were planning to stay in a home for years it would be OK but if we had to sell up before or while we are abroad it might be tricky!

cashbackproblems

mildredalien wrote: »

Good points, thanks. It's hard because we've been working towards buying a house for a while, but I think we're probably best holding off. Sinking all of our savings into a house might not be sensible given the costs of emigrating. Plus as you say we might buy at peak - if we were planning to stay in a home for years it would be OK but if we had to sell up before or while we are abroad it might be tricky!

Equally you don't want to be in a position where you wait two years, go abroad x number of yrs come back and the market is out of your reach.

A lot also depends on your age if you are 30's it makes it more important to have a home. Id be tempted to keep an eye on the market and in maybe a year or so you can buy it on a BTL basis from the start and rent it out. Then when you return move in. But all comes down to your personal finances