To sell or not

Charismac2404

Hello,

I came here initially looking for info regarding tax, however Ive seen that there is quite a lot of input on the forums so would like to put my thoughts out there and see what opinions/advice is out there. I am currently going round in circles wondering if i should sell up or not.

I own a house outright, which has been let out to a tenant for 6 years until she moved out in october 2018, and has since been lying empty.

The house was rented out as i relocated to a new area for my then partners job. Our relationship has since ended and I am now a single parent. I live in a private let, the area i live in has very high living costs and avg house prices are way out of my affordability (avg house price is 250k). I am 32, i am self employed and also a full time student, i have v poor credit rating and around 10k of old debts from various different things (old catalogs, cancelled car finance, old utilities), i am up to date with all current commitments though.

My plan was, when the tenant moved out, to sell my house that i own. My thoughts were to free up some capital, buy a flat to rent out in my local city (we live v rural atm) which could then be used by my children as accomodation if they wanted to attend further/higher education (as it would not be possible to travel from home). Id also like to buy my myself a car as mine is about to die, and also have my eye on a piece of land which is currently used for grazing but that i could eventually build a house on.

For my budget, i have seen flats for sale which i could buy outright and rent for around 500pcm. I have had bad experiences with tenants years ago so i would be looking to use an agency, especially as i do not live close by. so by the time i have deducted their fees and paid my tax i dont expect to have a huge return, however hopefully the value of the flat would increase over time? Obviously if i had my land here where i live atm, and can build my own place I will have a good thing going... but I feel this is all a big 'what IF' as id need to get planning, have cleared my debts and built credit etc, so realistically it would be 10years or so until i could build and would just have a field until then?

However.... I keep wondering if that is really a good idea or if im being unrealistic or throwing money away etc.

The house needs a bit of TLC to get it market ready, my finances are tight with being a single parent, I would manage to get it done but will take me a bit longer than id hoped - had expected to have it on the market in spring but now looks more likely to be mid/late summer.

Recently i have been wondering if im being daft and if id be better off moving back in to my house and living mortgage/rent free. This would meen uprooting my kids (age range 5-13), moving from very rural idyllic island location to semi rural location (where i grew up). The house i own is too small so would require the lounge/diner to be halved to provide an extra bedroom, plus possibly eventually a loft conversion down the line to give my teenager his own space.

I worked out that living in my owned house, mortgage free and with cheaper heating and living costs than present, it would work out to be around 10k a year extra in my pocket...

I keep going round in circles... stay put and go through with my plan and sell up, get a flat and land or invest or savings etc which would hopefully set me up well for the long term OR move back to my house, benefit from having more money in my pocket and save and build myself from there.

I didnt intend to write so much :eek: and hopefully im making some sense... its hard for me to know as anyone i know and speak to about it cant give me unbiased/sensible advice... people i know where i live now want me to stay here so will say whatever suits that, likewise those where my house is want me to move back there... even had someone suggest i just sell it and spend the money on 'whatever' - stupid suggestion thanks for reading!

Davesnave

Other thread: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5990539/selling-a-2nd-home

All of us have many options, but some need a reality check. In these possible scenarios, there's no evidence supplied that this piece of grazing land could ever become a building plot.

I say this as someone with enough land for dozens of houses, but with no realistic prospect of building even one. If there was any prospect of building, I wouldn't be selling-off parcels at grazing land prices either.

The second question is where the money would come from to build this house if you are still paying rent and not receiving a great return from the flat, especially if one of your children is, by then, living in it.

Personally, I'd move back to the house to enjoy lower living costs, clear my debts and go from there. The kids would adapt.

Charismac2404

Thank you Davesnave,

Yes the points you have raised are exactly what are niggling at me, given that my financial position will likely remain similar to how it is at present I wouldnt see a build being possible until i probably sold the flat and hopefully had the lending power to fund it that way. However my earning power is limited where i live, due to lack of job prospects in rural location, so am I likely to get myself to that point, while raising my children and having high living costs? Obvs when i moved here i didn't know id be a single parent, and if there was another earner then my position would be v different, but i dont want to pin my future around the what if of meeting someone.

And of course like you say, what if planning isnt possible? I only know that there are several newbuilds dotted around the area in what were previously unused fields/plots. But I have no knowledge as to how these came about, I do know there would have to be an application for change of the use of land and then the planning applications etc. Some plots with approved planning sell for over 90k, so im guessing that price tag reflects that the process isnt cheap or easy... but some people do manage it. I know some people who have gone down the modular/"mobile" homes to get around planning, tbh its lovely, just like a house (except it shakes if the door slams ��) and cost them 50k ...so that could be an option. But then its unlikely i could ever sell it on? And is it really what I want? Im not so sure...

Its something ive thought of doing for a long time, but now that it comes to the point of going through with it I question all the what ifs... to me it is a lot of money and i want to ensure I make the best use of it. its good to get some impartial input based on facts, so thank you ��