Flat, sell or convert to buy to let?

Assuming you've made a profit, accept the deal at £130k, take the money and RUN.

In the intervening 4 weeks pray for minimum -ve sentiment which could precpitate a last-minute gazunder.

What is the presentation like? Things like dated kitchen & bathroom fixtures can put off potential buyers who don't want the hassle of doing a refurb once they have purchased the property.

I wish I'd taken this option when the flat initially went on the market.

Hey ho!

The presentation is good, again it's been redecorated this week as moving out caused some minor damage.

We don't have a problem selling the property, I can probably say we'll have an offer in the next month, it's people not completing sales and the time it goes on for....the first pulled out after 7 weeks and the second one was after 10 weeks!

'Needs updating' is a selling point!

In message , snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com writes

If you want to sell, it seems that it is worth more than £130K, and less than £162K, so why not try £150K or so. You probably wont have it completed for Xmas, but it could be on its way.

If you want to rent it - dont try and sell it at the same time. The tenants wont like it, and would probably hinder it, and buyers wanting to live there will be wary of buying a tenanted house.

My advice - dont be without an interest in the property market. Rent it out, perhaps at a bit less than market rent, (keeps the tenants happy and wanting to look after it and stay there). It probably doesnt matter whether you convert the loan to a buy to let, but you may wish to.

Dont sell to the cash buyer people - all they will do is put it back on the market at a higher price, which could have been yours.

I would not rent it out, as you may have problems covering your expenses if interest rates increase or tenants are scarce.

IMHO, UK property values are likely to decrease than increase, especially in the short term.

Have you looked at the House Price Crash website?

"

In message , Doug Ramage writes

This bunch were spouting this logic when it was definitely a good time to buy a house, so people who went along with them at the time have lost out. There was bound to come a time when they were right, and now is that time. But there will also come a time when they are wrong again, and then a time when they are right again............

If I was of a mind, I could set up

and start spouting that the boom is coming, and we should all be on the property ladder...... and I would be wrong for a few years, then I would be right....

I agree that my advice flys in the face of current perceived logic but:

In 1984, I bought a house for £21,000 and sold it in 1987 for £23,500, using the money, (£2000), as my investment in our estate agency. In

1988, the house I sold was worth £40,000+, and I had to pay that to get back on the housing ladder. In 1990, I bought a house for £112,000, by 1994, I couldnt afford to live in it and rented it out. I nearly sold it in 1996 for £105,000, to help open another office, but I didnt. In 1999, I sold it for £170,000 and, with the money released, I have built a portfolio of 17 properties which have enabled me to retire at 45.

Somewhere around 1999, I promised myself that I would never be without a property again, and that will continue to be my advice to anybody. It's easy to sell and spend the money, but then you miss the opportunities which are bound to come again.

The logic which drives people to get on the ladder when prices are rising, and to get off it when they are falling, is short term boom and bust.

My logic is long term investment where the booms and busts smooth themselves out.

The BoE should have pricked the Housing Bubble a couple of years ago - it is likely that the ensuing larger bubble will be even more painful when it does deflate.

Richard - as you say, you are in it for the longer term and should be better placed to ride out the down-turns, unless you are over-geared. A lot of people who have re-mortgaged around the 80%+ level to invest further in property might find they have a CGT bill greater than the equity in their property(s).

In message , Doug Ramage writes

I thought they had pricked it before the rate increase in August 2004, (?), and the extra .25% killed it dead. They have now removed that .25%. I firmly believe the market was slowing at the time.

Probably.

Agreed. However, I wasnt talking about my current position, rather how I reached it.

Yes, but in the OP's case, the rent v mortgage seemed OK, and I still think it is better to suffer a little to retain an interest, rather than give it away in panic. In fact, the OP wouldnt be suffering unless rents fell but, if owning becomes unpopular, the rental market should hold up.

In message , mo writes

Agreed - My dad asked what I was going to do, and I said "Nothing!". "You cant do that!" he said. "You just watch me!" said I.

Having said that, I am proposing to do some kind of work, but it will be something I enjoy, and I wont be pressurised to make a living out of it.

So wheres all you income coming from, all the rent you make? How many houses do you own and what kind of profit are you making?

Have you no risk at all ATM?

In message , mo writes

17 flats

Enough for me

Of course I have - it could all go t*ts up tomorrow. But at least I'm not relying on the government, or Equitable Life, or an employer.

Anyway - this wasnt about me. I was just suggesting that a small shortfall on a mortgage, or a small profit, should not make people panic and sell their assets. Lots of businesses make a loss in the short term, but fortunes in the long term.

Have contacted our estate agents to see about a price drop. My concern with a buyers market is me dropping the price to 150k and then someone coming in and offering 145k, that would be 17k less than I was going to get!

Actually, it would be 17k less than you were *not* going to get. So it would really be 145k *more* than you were going to get.

In message , " snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com" writes

You've already proved that you arent going to get £162K, and you were considering accepting the £130K from the cash buyers, so you could view it as £15K more than you were going to get.

but he wouldn't have a house though :-)

tim

That's OK, he doesn't want it. Why else would he be selling it?