Rent my flat out of sell it

I for once now believe that we are toward the end of house price adjustment downwards. We may not be rising very quickly because salaries are not risi ng and many people are worried about employment prospects. As your partner says you may have a problem Getting a new mortgage if you want to move. But then just because you have had an offer doesn't mean to say that the fi rst time buyer can get a mortgage, unless they are a cash buyer with parent al help....so don't get your hopes up unless you know that the funds are av ailable. In my area of north lincs many offers are made but when it comes t o funding the offer nothing transpires mainly due to mortgage famine. If you want to see where we are now you can't do much better than keep your eye on the Nationwide Building Society House price index. One index that i s very indicative of a pick up is when the house price to earnings ratio dr ops to about 3.5 to 4. In the last housing crisis this index dropped as low as 2.7 before things started to pick up in 1997, but that was an unusual c ircumstance with forced sales caused by interest rates being as high as 16% !

Another thing to remember that is if you sell and go into rent, then the eq uity you have will quickly dissipate on rent. My former wife did this in 19

97 and she had £48k which lasted about 5 years. She had nothing in the end and ended up in council accommodation.

All the best in your quest.

Hello

I am new here but just needed some opinions.

I am currently selling my flat in Sutton surrey and have had an offer yesterday of the full asking price of 170k. First time buyer.

I had a previous offer of 165k and had around 10 viewings in 10 days.

I had 4 valuations and only one estate agent thought my flat would achieve this amount. The others were adamant Id only achieve 165k at the very most, I however asked them to put it up at 170k.

My dilemma is that now its come to light that due to my partner being self employed, we may struggle to get the mortgage we need to buy a house and even if we do manage to get it, we still haven't found a house we like.

My partner thinks we should sell the flat anyway as we have been offered a very good amount for it and will have 33k equity. He's suggesting that we rent somewhere until we can either get more deposit together if the mortgage is declined or until we find a suitable house to buy.

I'm in two minds about this as currently my mortgage on my flat is only around ?450 a month and I can rent it out for ?900 giving u s a profit every month to pay off of the mortgage.

On the other hand, I understand where he is coming from as he thinks that if we don't sell the flat now at this high offer then potentially the prices could end up going down and we would be worse off in the long run.

Sorry to bang on and hope this makes sense. just so confused about what to do. Are the predictions for house prices to fall in the uk over the next few years?

Thanks

First find out how large a mortgage you can get together. Explain your situation to a IFA and he/she should point you to suitable deals. Then you will be able to work out what you can afford.

Second start looking at properties within your price range.

If you can't find something you like now within your price range then, unless your financial situation improves a lot, then you probably also won't find anything in a couple of years time.

This all depends on whether you can save a decent deposit in a reasonable time. Isn't 33K enough?

Given low interest rates you will be losing value of your equity even if you don't spend any of it. If you sell and rent now and then buy later then you will have the extra hassle and expense of moving twice.

The risk of selling and then renting is if house prices start to rise again you could be out of pocket. However if house prices fall you could gain. I don't think house prices will fall much more now.

Given the interest in your flat I wouldn't worry about it too much.

I'll get my crystal ball ;-)

Sutton is a shithole as is all of the south Burn your flat down, get the insurance money and move to the superior north.