after some advice, to sell or not to sell??

duck_egg_3

hope you don't mind me asking, i've been a member for a while but not really posted much.
well, our dilemma is as follows.........
my dh has a really good paid job but it is very dangerous, on friday he had an accident which could have been a lot worse than it was (2 wheels fell off his truck as he was driving at 50mph) thankfully nobody was hurt but it was more out of luck than anything else!
the reason he has to do this job right now is because of the csa, they screwed him big time when he was at his last job earning £26,000 and took over £100 a week out of his wages, this didn't stop when we got married and he became responsible for my 2 children....i fought but got nowhere and he ended up taking this job (his boss is a cowboy and pays him £6 an hour on the books and gives him extra cash at the end of the week to make it up off the books) although this is very naughty it was our only option at the time.

welll, now you know the background, back to our dilemma right now, we own a house worth approx £120,000 with a mortgage of £56,000. we also have debts (managable ones) totalling around £18,000 including the car.

we are looking into selling the house for the following reasons......
a.) to become debt free
b.) to release some money to start up a business
c.) to have no maintenance hassles with the house

the only reason to keep the house is to have something for the children but if we put a lump sum into a high interest account for them then we have solved that problem!

can anyone offer any advice as to whether it is a foolish idea to give up our house?

we would use some of the money after we've paid our debts to pay 6 months rent on somewhere private giving us that time to establish a business without the hassles of trying to find the rent.

i hope this all makes sense and i haven't rambled too much....any questions, i'd be happy to answer!

tia x

PasturesNew

Usually I'd think it was a good idea. But I can't help thinking not in this case.

Do you like the house you're in? The area?
What business would you start, who would run it, what makes you think this is an idea with the country on the brink of recession?

Your OH's salary is imho quite large just on his usual salary.
And he has the 2nd job which, imho, without the cash top up is quite normal/good.

From the above you seem to have a reasonable income and a small mortgage, although you mention house maintenace but don't say why yours would be any more than most houses (e.g. is it a big old wreck?)

I am not sure what your driver for this decision is, but I think it is "if we sell this and start a business, everything will be dandy and we will be better off and the world will be better" but I don't think it will be.

So, what IS the real driver for this?
What business?
Why do you think the business will succeed - most take at least 2 years to turn a profit and we are going into a recession.

duck_egg_3

hi, thanks for your advice......we like the house we're in and the area is ok, the house however does need some work doing to it....not sure if i was a bit misleading with my first post but my dh at the moment is on around £13,000 a year with a bit of a cash bonus from his boss so our income is comfortable right now but my dh really needs to change his job....he could go and drive for another company but again the wages will be heavily reduced when the csa reassess us. his job right now is very risky and we're looking at many avenues to try and change this.

our house needs a new kitchen, bathroom, proch roof and the garden needs doig, all told this will cost us around £10,000 and although we comfortabley cover the mortgage/bills, everytime we try and save for the house, something crops up!

i don't think for one second things will be dandy, i know it is hard work but my idea is that without the pressures of debt we could succesfully start a business.

we have many ideas so far and obviously with some cash behind us this is a lot easier!! so far we have discussed things like a catering van ( we both have catering backgrounds) as this is something we can both be involved in or a safer option is for my dh to take a plumbing/gas fitting/plastering course and be self employed this way....

littlesos

duck_egg wrote: »

hope you don't mind me asking, i've been a member for a while but not really posted much.
well, our dilemma is as follows.........
my dh has a really good paid job but it is very dangerous, on friday he had an accident which could have been a lot worse than it was (2 wheels fell off his truck as he was driving at 50mph) thankfully nobody was hurt but it was more out of luck than anything else!
the reason he has to do this job right now is because of the csa, they screwed him big time when he was at his last job earning £26,000 and took over £100 a week out of his wages, this didn't stop when we got married and he became responsible for my 2 children....i fought but got nowhere and he ended up taking this job (his boss is a cowboy and pays him £6 an hour on the books and gives him extra cash at the end of the week to make it up off the books) although this is very naughty it was our only option at the time.

So your husband took a lower paid job to avoid having to pay maintenance to his children? :eek: And now only part of his wages go through the books so he isn't paying the full amount to the children he has with his first partner. I think this is terrible. You seem to expect that now he has taken on your family his old family should be left nothing?

If I were you I'd stay put at least until you have paid off your debts. Starting up a new business is very difficult and a large proportion fail. Have you thought about what you would do if your business wasn't successful? For me I'd want a stable life in place before I thought about giving up a job and trying to go it alone, and renting, to me, is not stable (unless of course you can find somewhere with a long term lease).

mitchaa

£26k is just higher then the average UK wage (£25k) Not a high salary, just an average 1.

How many children does your hubby have with his ex? £100pw seems a bit high to me considering his income

beecher

mitchaa wrote: »

£26k is just higher then the average UK wage (£25k) Not a high salary, just an average 1.

How many children does your hubby have with his ex? £100pw seems a bit high to me considering his income

The OP's husband left this job to avoid paying the CSA, and is now a lower paid job on £13,000 with an unspecified cash bonus being illegally paid. So perhaps he is being paid a lot more than £26k at the moment.

I agree that starting up a new business now seems like a risky prospect. Have you looked to see if renting would cost less or more than your present mortgage as that's definitely a factor to look at too.

RecoveringAlcoholic

..................

pays him £6 an hour on the books and gives him extra cash at the end of the week to make it up off the books) although this is[strike] very [/strike][strike]naughty[/strike] ILLEGAL.

beecher

Are you receiving working tax credits and other benefits based on an income of £13,000?

duck_egg_3

ok ok, now you've all given me a bashing without asking questions i'll attempt to explain!
he has one daughter from his previous marriage, his ex left him for someone else when his daughter was just 18 months old, she is now almost 14. £107 a week is a very very high amount but it seems in this country the more you earn, the worse off you become and his cash bonus although illegal is nowhere near £13,000 a year!!! his previous wage of £26,000 used to work out as follows....
his top line per week was £499, after deductions and csa he bought home just £274....we got no tax credits, no nhs help, nothing....we struggled to make ends meet and with 2 small children at home i was unable to work without using childcare.
his cash amount now keeps our heads above water and we pay a reasonable amount to the csa while continuing to have his daughter every weekend, giving her pocket money and providing uniforms, school books, school trip money and anything else we can afford to do, my husband is by no means shirking his financial responsibilty to his daughter and never has, in fact he has gone without for many years.

my original question was about selling the house and asking advice, not to be personally attacked. although having lurked on this board for the last few months i should have expected it really.

AMILLIONDOLLARS

As he is now on a low wage and has new responsibilities, why does he not go back to the CSA for a reassessment. He should put forward the additional sums he pays out for, mortgage payments and the fact that he is the single wage earner in your family. It doesn't sound as if his daughter is missing out on much with the additional treats and money given to her for other things. I'd go back and apply for reduced payments if the ex is with a new partners they should also take her earnings into account

AMD

duck_egg_3

AMILLIONDOLLARS wrote: »

As he is now on a low wage and has new responsibilities, why does he not go back to the CSA for a reassessment. He should put forward the additional sums he pays out for, mortgage payments and the fact that he is the single wage earner in your family. It doesn't sound as if his daughter is missing out on much with the additional treats and money given to her for other things. I'd go back and apply for reduced payments if the ex is with a new partners they should also take her earnings into account

AMD

we have been back to the csa and we now pay £26 a month, not a lot but dh's dd doesn't go without at all.....his ex has been married to the guy she ran off with now for the last 10 years...they too own their own house, manage a foreign holiday every year and both drive new cars, i don't feel one ounce of guilt for not paying her mortgage for her anymore. my dh has been offered another driving job at £21,000 which would be excellent and if the csa had nothing to do with it we'd be fine but if they get involved then it won't be worth him going! the main reason for all of this is to get my dh into a new safe job that he doesn't detest, it is all about quality of life, not doing anything illegal for major gains, only to support our family and in the same situation many people would do the same.