Rent or Sell, what to do??????

[midlife]

I assume that you are no longer in Cumbria?

I know that it's quite specific to geography but it never stopped round here.

Yep, still in Cumbria. Just moved 5 miles down the road lol.

Back on topic. Advice would be to sell up

 

[Dave 123]

@smokeysmoo we moved from Plymouth in 1999. We kept our house there just in case we ever needed to live in if we moved back.

We’ve had 3 lots of people rent from us in that time.

An agent is essential if you don’t want the hassle.
Try and source your own trades people, don’t use the agents people.

Be prepared to install a new kitchen and bathroom, paint the house throughout, possibly carpet it too. This will make it easier to rent, potentially to a better class of people.

Get the garden tidy. The garden needs to be neutral, not too complex.


My mum died in October. We sold.
There are 5 of us, so selling made more sense than renting.
I pointed out that we would have needed to fit a new bathroom.
Which one of us was willing to field the agents calls? The calls are “the tap is dripping....” or “the door handle in the back bedroom is sticking...” And you can’t reply with “well fix it your bloody self!”

Probate was fairly complex to fill in the forms, but I had the probate certificate in my hand in about 4 weeks.

 

[Proto]

Or Brexit gets resolved by either cancellation or kicking into the long grass.
We come out of the recession over the next 3 years
Immigration continues, population rises.
House building fails to keep up with demand.
Price rises are inevitable.

You might be in your camper van longer than you intended ......

Not such a problem. Just off to Luchon to do some riding in the Pyrennees!

In truth, I’ve put quite a lot of money into some investents, some long term, some short and some instant access, but we’re looking to buy (Somerset - Bruton/Frome area) whenever we see something we like but have found nothing so far, so thought we’d might as well go travelling.

Predicting economic changes is something that even economists are unable to do with any degree of reliability.

“Ask five economists and you'll get five different answers - six if one went to Harvard.” ― Edgar Fiedler

However, when selling our house in Thame, Oxfordshire, talking to the agents, the market is very difficult indeed. Prices falling, new builds proving very difficult to sell, special offers etc. Similarly, looking to buy in Somerset, exactly the same scenario. And again, my son is buying a house in Devon, prices are falling. Prices falling across London. Conversely, Bristol is very active. So too Birmingham (until Jaguar Land Rover closes and moves to Hungary!)

Location is critical, and the right house will always sell, but I see no reason, for them to rise irrespective of Brexit. My guess a slight fall, say 10-15% over next three years then they’ll stabilise.

Having said all that, houses should not be investment vehicles, they should be homes, so I advised my son, who is panicking about the housing market, to ignore the (slightly) falling prices. He and his wife need a home. If you like the house, you can afford it, and have no intention of selling in the short term, then just get on with it.

Apologies to the OP, drifted off topic a bit.

 

[Levo-Lon]

Personally id get shut asap.

 

[Lee_M]

To counter all the doom and gloom in here, we rent out a flat thru an agent.

The agent charges 5% as they committed to matching our previous (not quite so good) agent.

It hasn't been perfect, we've had the odd awkward tenant and our last one seemed to break every white good we had, but generally we've bren ok.

Because of where the flat is the ground rent/service charge is extortionate, but we still make about 6k profit per year and we still have the capital investment if we need it in future.

Because we have an agent we basically don't get involved unless it's to agree some work being done or agreeing to a new tenant.

If it's in the right area and you get a decent agent then it's a nice steady income

 

[midlife]

That’s some profit after all the expenses and tax etc.

 

[vickster]

You might as well be speaking Greek TBH vickster

But it's something I'm sure the solicitors will explain if it applies

I meant how much tax would you have to pay on any income. If you’re already a higher tax rate payer, it could be a sizeable chunk.
Capital gains tax, if you come to sell in the future and prices have risen. Inheritance tax, as you say, solicitor will explain.
Could also be worth getting an accountant to assess the finances of the different options

As most, I’d sell asap

 

[Venod]

Blimey all this about bad tenants, I bet there are a lot of members on this forum who rent, are they all bad? Despite having had the chances i have never wanted to be a landlord, not because of the work etc. but more because it goes against the grain with me, it is in many area's the reason why prices are so high stopping others getting the chance to buy. I can still remember how hard paying council house rent and getting £5,000 deposit was with a wife and two kids to support back in 1980.

This is also the reason I would sell, even renting now is becoming too expensive for the young they have no chance of buying if not earning huge amounts or borrowing from the bank of mum and dad.

My dad would never buy his council house, even though he could have at a very attractive price, when he died my brother and I bought it as my mother was still living there, when she died 17 years later, my brother wanted to rent the house, like the OP I had no interest in being a landlord and despite his best efforts to convince me otherwise we ended up selling.
I wouldn't have being comfortable being a landlord and although the house didn't sell for a high amount it did enable us to move to a better house.

I still feel a pang of guilt about removing a property from council hands, (who's rents tend to be cheaper than private) and making a profit from it, something my dad would never do.

 

[Electric_Andy]

+1 for selling it. My parents rent out 3 properties; my dad does building and property maintenance so can do all the stuff himself, but sometimes he's been called at midnight because there's no hot water, or something minor is leaking. This should be treated as urgent especially if the tenant is a working professional. Tenants have the right to report any minor problem and they often do, and expect it to be fixed within 24 hours.

They haven't had any trouble with tenants, but even acceptable use by some people means that between tenants there's fixing up and decorating to do. And there's no guarantee that a person who "checks out" on paper isn't a complete slob. The other thing to consider is that renting tends to attract a far more transient person, so you could be looking at changes of tenants every 1,2,3 years.

I'd get the house all decorated in neutral colours, make sure everything works well (which you'd have to do anyway). Then get a valuation. Take 10% off that valuation and then see what the costs look like i.e. a lump sum minus fees for a sale, versus yearly renting minus all the fees. If it works out as, lets say 4-5k a year more for renting, decide if that's worth enough of your time and effort. And consider that if you go away on holiday, you'll have to ensure that there's cover in case the tenant has a problem.

 

[Hicky]

I've recently moved and kept the house to rent out for the kids to have in 5-10 years or so. A young family have moved in and I hope the fittings etc(mostly newish) last until its handed over to the kids. At that point I view it as a learning phase(I'll be mentor) for them to learn how to do diy for themselves and they can throw money into it(you can't expect a house for nowt! ).
I'll only start to make some real money when the mortgage is paid off in a few years....my pragmatic view is I'm giving my sons a big help up in home owning.

 

[MarkF]

We rented a house out once and twice had the tenants from hell. Professional types too, vetted, the lot, we never made a penny.

 

[Cletus Van Damme]

If you do rent it out make sure you pay the taxman. I tried to avoid it and got nailed, had to pay tax, interest and I think a fine and fill in a load of crap. All my own fault...

 

[smokeysmoo]

If you’re already a higher tax rate payer

Nope, never have been and very much doubt I ever will be

 

[ColinJ]

One of my sister's tenants has ripped out a kitchen which had been updated just before he moved in, and he did it without asking permission.

Mind you, he has replaced it with an even better kitchen at his own expense!

 

[lane]

Chanel 5 at 9pm tonight Nightmare Tenants, Slum Landlords!