Anyone here selling and moving to rental?

[Deleted User]

Aviod renting if you can. Very competitive and rents going up. 

If you are renting similar to what you have now will likely cost more than your morrgage. 

Maybe downsizing or Letting a room to a lodger if your lender allows.

You still have time a d as others have said can have 6 months of interest only payment. 

Martico

thebratprince said:

Martico said:

I agree that 6 months interest only is dangerous, as it kicks the can down the road and you end up with higher payments (as the mortgage terms is now shorter, but the capital to pay back won't have changed)

In your position, I'd work out how much of a difference extending the term would make to your monthly outgoings. If you think a liveable life still won't be possible, then downsizing or finding a less attractive property might be the best option. I'd caution against renting given price pressures and insecurity 

Yeah, I'm not sure I like the idea of paying more later and just delaying things. Renting seemed like the best choice but if I could make downgrading and buying somehwere else *not* a logistical nightmare full of stress, I'd want to do that.

Extending the term by any length would take my husband past retirement age so it's not ideal, we'd have to extend it quite a lot to make it affordable. 

Though you wouldn't have to carry on paying past retirement. At some point you should have nominal wage increases (debt is inflation-proof after all, even if servicing debt is subject to interest rate changes), so you should be able to start overpaying further down the line. 

Deniseconfused

Im a landlord and I hate it now. Im selling my properties. The stress of having to raise rents when mortgages go up is not pleasurable at all. I know it is really really stressful right now but Id really look at every option including Gov schemes to try and keep your house. Some excellent suggestions on here. 

In the rental market you are at the mercy of the market, and moving with small children and keeping near the same schools etc would be a nightmare and rents may just keep increasing 

MFWannabe

Personally I think it’s a crazy idea 
As others have said rent can easily become more costly than mortgage payments 
You’re at the mercy of the rental market, potentially having to move every 6 months, how stressful would that be? 

You still have a good amount of time to make plans for when your fix ends, including if you need to downsize but I would definitely try to keep your own home 

_Penny_Dreadful

Renting is really tough at the moment. Heavily geared landlords are feeling the squeeze as interest rates rise and many landlords are cashing out before the Renters Reform Bill becomes a reality. I’m not saying don’t do it but realise the securing and keeping a rental might not be as easy as you think. 

Personally, I think I would do almost anything to keep hold of the house. You won’t have much time for hobbies with a baby, even less when you have two. Extending the mortgage now to beyond your husband’s retirement age doesn’t have to mean you take that long to repay a mortgage. Once you’re on more of an even keel you could reduce the term again. 

gazfocus

I've sort of done this but with a caveat. 

A bit of a long story but it might give you some food for thought. We decided in 2021 that we were going to sell our house. House prices had shot up in our area dramatically because of covid and our neighbour had sold for £195k the year before and our house had been valued at £250k so thought we'd make the most of it. We ended up accepting an offer of £270k from a family moving into the area because their kids were in school in the area, and wanted to complete before the school year started (this was in July). For quickness we agreed to find a rental....this was difficult even then, but found somewhere (temporarily), signed the tenancy agreement and paid the deposit. Two weeks later, the buyers pulled out and we were left with the prospect of another 4+ months of paying the mortgage plus rent on the house we were moving into, so we decided to rent the house to family instead (big mistake!)

Anyway, we're now selling the house again, and in a much nicer rental but the caveat is that we are using the equity from our sale to buy a house that needs a fair amount of work which will then be used as a holiday let (or that's the idea anyway).

Initially, we were going to sit with the money in the bank from the sale of our house, wait 2-4 years and then hopefully buy our 'forever home', but my mum put the fear of God in me and told me not to get off the property ladder. At the end of the day £150k in the bank now will be worth less than £150k in 4 years (due to inflation). Plus, there's always the risk of that money being dipped into and dwindling as 'emergencies' come up.

In terms of renting vs owning though, my wife and I are quite happy renting for the moment. We've got great landlords that have no intention of selling, the house is one of three on an old farm with the landlords living next door (and their brother/sister in law living in the other house).  We do pay more in rent than the mortgage on the house we are selling is at present (we still have a fixed rate of 2.06%), but we live in a much nicer area and the kids have the neighbours kids to play with which was a huge selling point, but it was very difficult finding a rental property.

As others have said though, the rental market is so difficult right now, with 20-40 people viewing every house that comes available, which is one of the reasons we went with a more expensive house, because there were less people willing to pay the higher price. I'd be worried that you could sell your house and not be able to get a rental, so you'd either need to secure a rental first (adding extra costs each month) or have the ability to move in with family in between selling and finding somewhere to live.

MEM62

MatyMoo said:

As someone who struggled through when interest rates were 15-17%, as a single person, I think you are mad 😠 I worked two/three jobs for about 4 years. 

I went through the same thing.  I did whatever I had to do to keep hold of my first flat and was very glad that I did.   

@thebratprince The rental market is broken, comes fraught with risk and it will get worse.  Your issues with the mortgage payments are temporary and you would do well to ride them out if you can.  Adjust your budget now and save what you can before your rate goes up.  This will give you a safety net and/or a little to reduce the borrowing when you remortgage.   

bluelad1927

I'd avoid rental at all costs. If it were me I'd look to extend the term as far as possible  with the intention of overpaying when hopefully life gets easier.

MeteredOut

As others have said, I'd do whatever it takes to keep the house. If possible, I'd take the lifestyle hit rather than risking moving to renting.

MSE has boards where you can post your income and outgoings and people can (without judgement) suggest where you could "value engineer" your spending.

Might be harsh, but now might not be the time for you to consider "expading the family", if you have that as a choice.

[Deleted User]

It sounds like you have a variety if options: extend term, take in a lodger, delay starting a family, second job. I really do appreciate that nobody wants to pay so much more and that the available choices affect quality of life. But it does sound like you can sustain the property and it us your home. Switching to rental would entail further hardships in my opinion.