Moving abroad - what should we do with our house?

Clydefrog

Thanks for the replies everyone.

On reflection, renting out sounds like a bad idea. Sounds like there are a lot of things that can (and probably will) go wrong. Still some thinking to do + got a meeting with a financial advisor next week but it's looking like "sell".

The only difference will be whether you continue to pay interest on the borrowed money that you could pay off.

True, but I'm looking at two years tops, so not sure if it will make a massive difference, especially considering the rather unstable housing market + the £ value situation. Will however raise this with the advisor.
On a side note, I think our equity in our current property is just under 50% - would it be prudent to use some of the savings to overpay to take us over the 50% threshold? Would this make any difference to the interest rates?

Except you may still need to find somewhere to live if/when you return, if that return doesn't coincide with an opportunity to give notice to a compliant tenant, allowing you possession when you require it.

Good point - I suppose it might be a better idea to rent in Poland, have the money readily available and buy a new property, if it turns out we want to come back. I will still have a regular UK income so a small mortgage shouldn't be a problem.

But it's rarely a good plan to buy a small property as a toe-dip to see if it all works out, with the plan to sell and upgrade in a couple of years.

Our thinking was that if things don't pan out, we'd keep the small Polish property and rent it out. The grandparents are there, meaning they would be able to look after it for us. It's tying £40k up in an asset which is likely to appreciate over time, so could treat it as a sort of a small pension pot.
Saying that, renting for a year or two also sounds appealing. It's a small price to pay for flexibility, which works to our favour regardless of whether we stay or return.

To sum up - it looks like we will sell the UK property, invest the money on a short term basis, rent in Poland for a year or two. By then, we should have a clear picture of where we would like to live long term.
if we decide to come back to Britain - the money can be used to fund the purchase of a house here.
If Poland - we'll have a fair bit of time to scout the housing market and buy a dream home or even potentially build.

Peter_Williams

I think you're either a landlord or you're not.
That is, only certain people are suited to being a landlord.
Don't dabble. It's all or nothing.

AdrianC

Clydefrog wrote: »

On a side note, I think our equity in our current property is just under 50% - would it be prudent to use some of the savings to overpay to take us over the 50% threshold? Would this make any difference to the interest rates?

If you were thinking of remortgaging, it may.
If you're keeping your current deal, no.