Wht would you do???

richash

Please help me decide,
I recently built a house and have a mortgage for £135k ish , was a bit stupid in the design process and went over the top, then came the huge bills like Oil central heating - £210 pm, Council tax - £200 pm, mortgage payments of £1000 pm, and about £23k of outstanding loans and cc bills mostly racked up trying to finish the house before I clainm £11k back in vat (horray), and all the other household bills. It was valued at £500,000 about 18 mths ago.
Would you,
SELL and be mortgage and debt free?
or
STICK IT OUT because it is your dream house, although you know that you cant afford it?

BTW, if I decide to stay, looking for a broker to help with a remortgage and consolidation to bring my payments down, any recomendations

beingjdc

Given my views on the economy I'd sell, making sure I got someone who was stretching themselves, and buy it back at auction for half price in three or four years

But on a serious note... a house the size it must be for those bills to be right - could you not take in a lodger for a while to cover some of the costs?

richash

beingjdc wrote: »

Given my views on the economy I'd sell, making sure I got someone who was stretching themselves, and buy it back at auction for half price in three or four years

But on a serious note... a house the size it must be for those bills to be right - could you not take in a lodger for a while to cover some of the costs?

Dont think the wife and kids would go for the lodger idea, but its a good thought.

poppy_f1

pop over to the debt free wannabe board, post your statement of affairs and they can really help cut your bills down

Ian_Griffiths_Halifax

In this climate, I'd be tempted to sell and be rent free if you can get a buyer. You could then go and rent and wait to pick up something else of a similar size at auction later on.

HelpWhereIcan

Although the fact that you appear to be struggling means I would tend to agree with the other posts about selling now, there is an argument that says staying put is worth it to be in your dream home. If you can make the costs affordable.

Afterall, if it is your dream home and intended as a place to bring up your family and you plan to be living there mortgage free and retired in however many years who cares what it is worth next year or in 4 years?

Using a combination of techniques such as getting the best utilitiy providers, budgeting, restructuring debts, snowballing and consolidation may make it affordable for you to stay - especially if you get a longer term fixed rate.

But, you have to be aware of the downsides too and be realistic to make the decision as you could be making things worse if you do nothing but delay the inevitable need to sell at some point.

If it will never be affordable no matter what you do, sell.

If you can take steps to make it affordable, all the while knowing that the house will fall in value in the short to medium term etc it may be better to get some advice on all your options - DFW, consolidation etc etc

Good Luck

HelpWhereIcan

richash wrote: »

Dont think the wife and kids would go for the lodger idea, but its a good thought.

I had a customer in the last crash who used 2 rooms as a B&B to bring some extra money in. Had a house too big for her and during the week had various people staying. Mainly contractors IIRC, but she did ok out of it.

silvercar

If I'd built my dream home, I wouldn't be looking at what it is worth now or in 3 years time. I'd just be calculating if I could afford to keep it. I'd make short term sacrifices to be able to stay in it.