Bought house now second thoughts

WIAWSNB

Any further thoughts on this, olb?

If your house cost £230k for a one-bed property, I guess you must be living in a fairly high-property-cost area? In which case the rental sum will be commensurate.  

I'd imagine even a 1-bed will surely be well in excess of £500pm, £6k+ a year, although deductions required for the agency. 

If you really feel you cannot cope staying in the house in the short-term, then why not consider this? You'd move back with your folks, not lose anything on the property, and in fact have a useful extra income. 

In a year's time, you can revise how you feel, and sell if you really want to. 

But don't entertain renting it yourself! 

Grumpy_chap

Herzlos said:

The second is the outgoings, you've presumably taken out a £25k loan over a short term which means your payments are huge? You would be a lot better off financially if you were to convert it to a mortgage over a longer term. It doesn't even mean you'd be paying endlessly though; if you took it over say 10-15 years and maintained payments at the current rate it'd still be gone in the same term as the existing loan, but it takes away the payment burden as the minimum payment could easily be 10% of your current setup. 

£25k may be below the minimum advance for many mortgage products.
"Better off financially" needs to be qualified that the monthly payments would be lower and the interest rate possibly lower, but the term would be longer.  The OP would need to overpay to ensure that the total cost to borrow is lower.  It does give the OP much more flexibility.

Albermarle

Uriziel said:

How long have you been living there? If you just bought it it is extremely unlikely you'll be able to sell it and recover all of your money. Is that fine with you? Though you can always speak to an estate agent and explain to them how much money you want to sell it for and see if they think it's doable or not.

I have a feeling you feel anxious because you simply are new there and people with mental health issues dislike change because staying in the same place is simply more cosy and familiar. Have you tried to do things you enjoy at the new place? Make yourself a little corner for whatever it is that you like whether it is reading or video games? You might start feeling more familiar and comfortable then.

You write that you dislike the inside of the house. Next time you buy property, have a woman choose. Most men think rationally and practical and they don't care about anything as long there is a room and their stuff will somewhat fit. Most men live like pigs alone. I would ask a woman to help with choosing. Women are pretty fussy on where they live because they want things nice. They also spend on average more on rent than men because they like things being decent. Otherwise you will continue running into this problem.

Somewhat sexist comment !

ReadySteadyPop

Emmia said:

I think one of the problems is, that selling isn't cost free - so you'll need to pay an agent to sell your place, so you won't necessarily get £200k back out.

I also wonder if you need to find a way of working through your issues mentally, whilst staying in your house - one day a parent may not be there to provide an alternative. 

I would as Brie suggests consider getting a small mortgage, paying off your family and then having lower repayments - you'll be repaying a faceless institution rather than the people you see for Sunday lunch or Christmas - that imposes it's own pressure 

Cash pots should never be dropped into the property market IMO, when mortgage debt was cheap your ability to make a "profit" was more or less nailed on ( but unless you were downsizing it wasn`t really a profit)  now with global borrowing costs looking set to rise you can make substantial losses.

olb81

So when I had the 20ok I could have gone within budget 160-190k and got something similar just leasehold. Or with a proper mortgage of say 100k I could have got a 2-3 bed. 
Instead I decided against advice to use all my money but still get the 25k loan @6.1% and another 6.5k off family.
So I'm left with very little but half of it on repayments. I am paying over 500 a month for the bank loan and 100 per week for the family loan.
I end up with 200 a week for everything else.
MH issues are ongoing but my nerves change a lot , I can be quite calm and things won't bother me too much and then another time a nervous wreck and ocd to extreme.
I did rent out a previous property and would rather not do that again.

WIAWSNB

Who is the £25k loan with? And over what duration?

mlz1413

If you change from freehold to leasehold the extra service fee will probably add as much as you hope to save.
IE management fees would probably be £100pm.  As you could be paying out the same per month on a property worth less.

If you took a loan you may well have repayment fees on that if you are paying back early. 

Also you started by saying you desperately wanted your own place, the main reason for buying.  So surely if you sell this property and mive back with parents you will feel the same in not many weeks.

Do you have a friend who can stay with you for a week or two whilst you settle into this new home?

Can you stay at your place on the days you work and then go to parents the days you don't work and therefore don't see anyone else?

A pet may help, a cat to cuddle, a hamster to watch play or even fish can be calming.

Also if you do put the house up for sale again you could easily still be living there in 6 months, sales take time.

Renting through a reputable company may give you some breathing space.  And if that is all you need then I would consider this option.  

WIAWSNB

olb81 said:

I did rent out a previous property and would rather not do that again.

I suspect you'd rather not do any of the options!
It does look to be a case of examining the best scenario for your personal circumstances. But bear in mind that going Freehold house was almost certainly a good move.
Weigh up each option, pros and cons, and make your decision. 
1) Stay as you are. Not happy. Paying £600 pm. Nothing's going to change.
2) Sell if you can and move back with family. ~£7k+ loss. Back to where you were previously. This might be the best option for you, depending on how you feel about it - we cannot possibly judge from here.
3) Rent for ~£700pm or whatever it'll fetch, and move back with family. You'd 'rather not do this', but would you rather not do it more than not doing the other options? You'd escape your current misgivings of your house purchase for a year or so. You'll have a good £500pm extra in your pocket, so can pay off the loans more quickly. You are back with your family, if that is what you want. You'll retain the flexibility of the other options, which surely is good?
Variations of these options might include a 'proper' mortgage with a longer duration, which will be far more manageable.
Please tell us you are being given treatment and guidance regarding your stress? How is that going? It's seems to be in the right direction - this house purchase was a strong move in anyone's circumstances - but do you feel this is the case? Ie, do you believe you are steadily moving towards a better outcome (with the odd setback, of course - it's never fully linear)?
Especially if so, then my gut says to hold on to the advantages this purchase has given you. You have options whilst you still own the house. 
Whilst running the options through your head, also try and imagine what you'll think about each decision in a year's time. Ie, likely level of 'regret' for each move.
Will you likely 'regret' selling? Will you 'regret' renting? Will you 'regret' staying just as you are? 

Tabieth

olb81 said:

So when I had the 20ok I could have gone within budget 160-190k and got something similar just leasehold. Or with a proper mortgage of say 100k I could have got a 2-3 bed. 
Instead I decided against advice to use all my money but still get the 25k loan @6.1% and another 6.5k off family.
So I'm left with very little but half of it on repayments. I am paying over 500 a month for the bank loan and 100 per week for the family loan.
I end up with 200 a week for everything else.
MH issues are ongoing but my nerves change a lot , I can be quite calm and things won't bother me too much and then another time a nervous wreck and ocd to extreme.
I did rent out a previous property and would rather not do that again.

I think you need to break it down into bite-size chunks, otherwise it can all seem overwhelming. Your debt is very expensive. I’d seek financial advice about how you can consolidate this. A mortgage (I know you find them difficult) may be the better option for you than the £25k loan.

I’d seek support for your mental health issues and get help there. That may help things feel more manageable. 

You could sell but I’d avoid making major decisions right now. You’ll likely lose money by selling so quickly and it’s a stressful process which you probably don’t need right now. And defiantly avoid selling and buying leasehold, that’s just another debt you’ve added to yourself. As others have suggested a pet may really help you feel less alone? Or have people staying over?

Good luck with it all. 

EssexHebridean

OK - for someone already struggling with anxiety I'd suggest that freehold is definitely a better bet than leasehold. Although with freehold yes, you do have the sole responsibility for all the maintenance etc, that also has the advantage that you also have the sole responsibility for when that maintenance is done. Sure, it's probably not a great idea to neglect stuff because firstly that will end up costing you more, and secondly it might damage the property value. Come to think of it there is a thirdly as well - that it would make the property less pleasant to live in. Ultimately though it IS your decision. With a leasehold property you have a freeholder who at any stage can say that "it's time for full external redecoration" for example, though, and although there will be a tendering process for works, you will have limited say over what is done, when it is done, and who it is done by. You will then be presented with a bill to pay for those works. I found that it came with a permanent sense of unease that a letter could arrive from the freeholders at any time giving us notice of intended major works - we were lucky in fact that we only had one such sizeably expensive set of works in our time as leaseholders - but those works were originally quoted at an £8k+ cost, were then appallingly badly done, and lead to a further several years of hassle trying to dispute that cost. We were eventually successful in our challenge, and saw a reduction of over £2k to our bill, but that entire process was anxiety-inducing in itself. 

I think the first thing you might want to do is stop, take a breath, get a cuppa and write a list of the things that are making you feel specifically anxious relating to your living arrangements. Once you have that list, there might be things you can do to tackle the causes.

I'd also agree that owing money to family isn't great - and a proper mortgage might in fact be less concerning to you. It doesn't need to be for a 25 year term - and at that amount of borrowing, it probably wouldn't be, but however long your original term is, look for a lender that will allow overpayments as that then means that in any months where you have surplus from your normal budgets, you can throw a bit extra at the mortgage and get it cleared early.