Sell up or rent out?

Question

Hi.

We are struggling to keep up with are mortgage payments due to my partners buisness failing.

We had come to the decision we have to sell up but we are advised it not a fantastic time to sell unless there are no other option with the credit crunch etc.

We were wondering if it would be a better time to rent the house out rather than sell and move in with parents untill our finances are in a better state?

thanks for your time.

vickilee.

Answer 1

speak to an estate agent as soon as possible , nothing is selling so be prepared for a long wait unless you know it will sell as demand is high in your location , renting through an estate agent would be better but they want a cut , speak to mortgage people you could extend the term , the future does look grim as far as business is concerned , good luck many peoples thoughts are with you .  

Answer 2

Yeah I'd do that and you can set the time you lease it for. Don't delay if things are bad as you might not have that as an option.

Answer 3

Put it up for rent, the buyers market is not strong at the moment and you could lose more money trying to sell, and keeping it on the market for months, there are always people looking to rent places, trying to sell is a bad idea due to the poor housing market.

Answer 4

Rent it until your finances have improved.

Answer 5

id rent it out, thats wat weve decided to do if our morgage goes up too much x

Answer 6

If you sell now you will lose out big time. It takes a long time for deals to go through and people have to pull out because they cannot raise the mortgage. Rent it out. Times will change in about 3 years.Make sure you do things right and insist on deposits and rent up front.Try and get South Africans to rent as they are the best at looking after your place.Take photos of the interior and exterior so if there is damage beyond reasonable wear and tear,you can claim it off the deposit.

Answer 7

I would put it up for rent and put it on the market too unless theres any chance that you'd want to hang onto the house afterall.    

Answer 8

Theres no easy answer to this one...

If it was me i'd see if i could hang on to my property i think - as long as the rent more than covers the mortgage and i could still afford to rent somewhere else. If you also have to rent somewhere to live then you have to take this into consideration also. If you can move in with family or friends for a bit then this would save outgoings.

The risk is how much will the property market fall and how long will it take to recover.

I'd want to be doing lots of working out worst case scenarios to see if you can cover things financially if it all goes wrong.

If you take your money now and sell, although you may lose money now you will stop the dripping tap of money going out. Danger then is that you spend some of the capital released to supplement your income from your partners failing business.

At the end of the day its down to you and your individual circumstances - do your sums and see what feels right.

Good luck.

Answer 9

If it were me i'd rent but first ask around and find out ,from people in similar positions, what they have done.

Answer 10

I would rent out, but before doing read up on the law of being landlords, as you cannot just throw out the tenets when your finance is better and other things.

Answer 11

Depends how lettable your house is.  Get a local Letting Agent to have a look, and tell you what work would need to be done.  Good tenants want a place to be in good repair.  The Agent will tell you how much rent it will attract and what the market is currently like in your area.

Add up what you need to spend, set it against what you can expect to gain, and if the sums work out - go for it.