Rental for more than a couple of years?
Dec 28th 2008, 9:21 am
#1
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Thread Starter
Joined: Feb 2007
Location: WA but not forever!!!
Posts: 943
Rental for more than a couple of years?
I was just wondering if anyone on here has rented for more than a couple of years or is planning on renting for a longer period of time.
We moved over nearly 2 years ago. We have a lovely house (I would say that!) but we want to have more freedom. We are thinking that one option would be to try and sell very soon to avoid the house falling further and move into a rental around $300 / $330 per week. This would take down our living costs so that we could save or hubby do some more study to position us for a better salary over here or a possible move back to the UK.
Has anyone else thought about doing this. I am not convinced that owning a house is going to work for us over the next few years and if we didn't sell soon then we might be really stuck in it for another 4 or 5 years. Obviously we are not going to get back what we paid for it and there is a figure we have in mind that we wouldn't go below already.
Would appreciate anyone else's thoughts on this and any experience with how they felt about moving into a rental.
I am pregnant at the moment so ordinarily I wouldn't make any big decisions whilst the hormones are flying around but I see a short window. Before the house prices started dropping we were already thinking of selling to give us more options but then the interest rates dropped and we kind of stopped thinking about it so much (we were on 9% for one month but now on 5.09%)
Thanks in advance.
Poppet.
We moved over nearly 2 years ago. We have a lovely house (I would say that!) but we want to have more freedom. We are thinking that one option would be to try and sell very soon to avoid the house falling further and move into a rental around $300 / $330 per week. This would take down our living costs so that we could save or hubby do some more study to position us for a better salary over here or a possible move back to the UK.
Has anyone else thought about doing this. I am not convinced that owning a house is going to work for us over the next few years and if we didn't sell soon then we might be really stuck in it for another 4 or 5 years. Obviously we are not going to get back what we paid for it and there is a figure we have in mind that we wouldn't go below already.
Would appreciate anyone else's thoughts on this and any experience with how they felt about moving into a rental.
I am pregnant at the moment so ordinarily I wouldn't make any big decisions whilst the hormones are flying around but I see a short window. Before the house prices started dropping we were already thinking of selling to give us more options but then the interest rates dropped and we kind of stopped thinking about it so much (we were on 9% for one month but now on 5.09%)
Thanks in advance.
Poppet.
Dec 28th 2008, 9:24 am
#2
Has left the building
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 4,079
Re: Rental for more than a couple of years?
I was just wondering if anyone on here has rented for more than a couple of years or is planning on renting for a longer period of time.
We moved over nearly 2 years ago. We have a lovely house (I would say that!) but we want to have more freedom. We are thinking that one option would be to try and sell very soon to avoid the house falling further and move into a rental around $300 / $330 per week. This would take down our living costs so that we could save or hubby do some more study to position us for a better salary over here or a possible move back to the UK.
Has anyone else thought about doing this. I am not convinced that owning a house is going to work for us over the next few years and if we didn't sell soon then we might be really stuck in it for another 4 or 5 years. Obviously we are not going to get back what we paid for it and there is a figure we have in mind that we wouldn't go below already.
Would appreciate anyone else's thoughts on this and any experience with how they felt about moving into a rental.
I am pregnant at the moment so ordinarily I wouldn't make any big decisions whilst the hormones are flying around but I see a short window. Before the house prices started dropping we were already thinking of selling to give us more options but then the interest rates dropped and we kind of stopped thinking about it so much (we were on 9% for one month but now on 5.09%)
Thanks in advance.
Poppet.
We moved over nearly 2 years ago. We have a lovely house (I would say that!) but we want to have more freedom. We are thinking that one option would be to try and sell very soon to avoid the house falling further and move into a rental around $300 / $330 per week. This would take down our living costs so that we could save or hubby do some more study to position us for a better salary over here or a possible move back to the UK.
Has anyone else thought about doing this. I am not convinced that owning a house is going to work for us over the next few years and if we didn't sell soon then we might be really stuck in it for another 4 or 5 years. Obviously we are not going to get back what we paid for it and there is a figure we have in mind that we wouldn't go below already.
Would appreciate anyone else's thoughts on this and any experience with how they felt about moving into a rental.
I am pregnant at the moment so ordinarily I wouldn't make any big decisions whilst the hormones are flying around but I see a short window. Before the house prices started dropping we were already thinking of selling to give us more options but then the interest rates dropped and we kind of stopped thinking about it so much (we were on 9% for one month but now on 5.09%)
Thanks in advance.
Poppet.
We rent but also own and are buying several other homes. Will continue too rent while it remains more efficient to not live in your own residence
Our current rental is a 2 year lease.
Dec 28th 2008, 9:26 am
#3
Crazy Cat Lady
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 65,493
Re: Rental for more than a couple of years?
Masses of people don't want to own their own houses here. A very good mate will only rent because she refuses to be tied to a mortgage. It's far less of a big deal as it can appear in the UK. If selling, going into rented and saving a bit works then go for it.
Dec 28th 2008, 9:36 am
#4
Forum Regular
Joined: Oct 2008
Location: Colchester, Essex but hope to head to Bulli / Thirroul area.....
Posts: 141
Re: Rental for more than a couple of years?
I was just wondering if anyone on here has rented for more than a couple of years or is planning on renting for a longer period of time.
We moved over nearly 2 years ago. We have a lovely house (I would say that!) but we want to have more freedom. We are thinking that one option would be to try and sell very soon to avoid the house falling further and move into a rental around $300 / $330 per week. This would take down our living costs so that we could save or hubby do some more study to position us for a better salary over here or a possible move back to the UK.
Has anyone else thought about doing this. I am not convinced that owning a house is going to work for us over the next few years and if we didn't sell soon then we might be really stuck in it for another 4 or 5 years. Obviously we are not going to get back what we paid for it and there is a figure we have in mind that we wouldn't go below already.
Would appreciate anyone else's thoughts on this and any experience with how they felt about moving into a rental.
I am pregnant at the moment so ordinarily I wouldn't make any big decisions whilst the hormones are flying around but I see a short window. Before the house prices started dropping we were already thinking of selling to give us more options but then the interest rates dropped and we kind of stopped thinking about it so much (we were on 9% for one month but now on 5.09%)
Thanks in advance.
Poppet.
We moved over nearly 2 years ago. We have a lovely house (I would say that!) but we want to have more freedom. We are thinking that one option would be to try and sell very soon to avoid the house falling further and move into a rental around $300 / $330 per week. This would take down our living costs so that we could save or hubby do some more study to position us for a better salary over here or a possible move back to the UK.
Has anyone else thought about doing this. I am not convinced that owning a house is going to work for us over the next few years and if we didn't sell soon then we might be really stuck in it for another 4 or 5 years. Obviously we are not going to get back what we paid for it and there is a figure we have in mind that we wouldn't go below already.
Would appreciate anyone else's thoughts on this and any experience with how they felt about moving into a rental.
I am pregnant at the moment so ordinarily I wouldn't make any big decisions whilst the hormones are flying around but I see a short window. Before the house prices started dropping we were already thinking of selling to give us more options but then the interest rates dropped and we kind of stopped thinking about it so much (we were on 9% for one month but now on 5.09%)
Thanks in advance.
Poppet.
We had a house in NSW, it wasn't where we wanted to end up and had little chance of ever being the home we wanted to stay in forever - we sold it and rented. That saved us a whopping $500 per month so we had some breathing space! I remember my husband's Aussie family being absolutely distraught at this thought - money should be in bricks and mortar (blah, blah) but it suited us better.
The difference we had was that although we didn't make money we didn't loose on the sale - can you rent the house out to cover it's own costs entirely or would it need topping up each month? If the house would fund itself then you may be more sensible just hanging onto it for now - obviously if you are renting something else and also topping up that one it'll be much worse for you
Whatever you decide can I suggest you really take a step back and do it for the best financial reasons, we were really stupid with money when we were there first time around. We had saved for a couple of years to fund the move, sold my London flat and then basically frittered it all away with trips back here / keep moving as houses "just didn't have character" etc etc. Now we are here in the UK, saving again some 8 years on to do it all again
Try to hang onto that hard earned money that is in the house - you will need it whatever and I hate seeing my mistake echoed
Good luck with the bub too! An Aussie baby - we have one of those!!!!!!
Dec 29th 2008, 11:56 am
#5
BE Enthusiast
Thread Starter
Joined: Feb 2007
Location: WA but not forever!!!
Posts: 943
Re: Rental for more than a couple of years?
Hi there, Congrats firstly on the baby
We had a house in NSW, it wasn't where we wanted to end up and had little chance of ever being the home we wanted to stay in forever - we sold it and rented. That saved us a whopping $500 per month so we had some breathing space! I remember my husband's Aussie family being absolutely distraught at this thought - money should be in bricks and mortar (blah, blah) but it suited us better.
The difference we had was that although we didn't make money we didn't loose on the sale - can you rent the house out to cover it's own costs entirely or would it need topping up each month? If the house would fund itself then you may be more sensible just hanging onto it for now - obviously if you are renting something else and also topping up that one it'll be much worse for you
Whatever you decide can I suggest you really take a step back and do it for the best financial reasons, we were really stupid with money when we were there first time around. We had saved for a couple of years to fund the move, sold my London flat and then basically frittered it all away with trips back here / keep moving as houses "just didn't have character" etc etc. Now we are here in the UK, saving again some 8 years on to do it all again
Try to hang onto that hard earned money that is in the house - you will need it whatever and I hate seeing my mistake echoed
Good luck with the bub too! An Aussie baby - we have one of those!!!!!!
We had a house in NSW, it wasn't where we wanted to end up and had little chance of ever being the home we wanted to stay in forever - we sold it and rented. That saved us a whopping $500 per month so we had some breathing space! I remember my husband's Aussie family being absolutely distraught at this thought - money should be in bricks and mortar (blah, blah) but it suited us better.
The difference we had was that although we didn't make money we didn't loose on the sale - can you rent the house out to cover it's own costs entirely or would it need topping up each month? If the house would fund itself then you may be more sensible just hanging onto it for now - obviously if you are renting something else and also topping up that one it'll be much worse for you
Whatever you decide can I suggest you really take a step back and do it for the best financial reasons, we were really stupid with money when we were there first time around. We had saved for a couple of years to fund the move, sold my London flat and then basically frittered it all away with trips back here / keep moving as houses "just didn't have character" etc etc. Now we are here in the UK, saving again some 8 years on to do it all again
Try to hang onto that hard earned money that is in the house - you will need it whatever and I hate seeing my mistake echoed
Good luck with the bub too! An Aussie baby - we have one of those!!!!!!
Dec 29th 2008, 3:18 pm
#6
aussie married to a brit!
Joined: Nov 2008
Location: UK
Posts: 302
Re: Rental for more than a couple of years?
i would definately sell it now if i could, or you'll miss your window of opportunity...
we had ours on the market over here in the uk in nov 2007, but no real urgency to sell itand although we asked the agents to reduce the price, they only reduced it by a measly amount, so when the proverbial hit the fan, and we finally had a buyer a year later, it was for under £150,000 less than he original price, and £10 ,000 below what we'd paid for it 5 years earlier....!
the sale fell thru when an identical property came up for repo for a pitance, and that was that...
now we have to leave the uk with a property that we will rent out, unfortunately, exposing us to the risks of interest rate rises and bad tenants etc, not to mention a depreciating value
hopefully it won't bankrupt us (we have a years mortgage saved as a contingency fund) and we can sell it eventually for at least what we paid for it...as we owe the mone to the bank of course!
we have no choice but to do this,but it does really make me nervous, and given the choice, i would have preferred to have been out of pocket £10,000 and been free of the worry....
make sure you look at your real costs,to work out if you would actually be financially better off to off load it and lose now, or whether you would be better off to weather the storm and also risk the effects of interest rates,possible fall in rental yield etc etc ...
good luck with your pregnancy and decisions...
we had ours on the market over here in the uk in nov 2007, but no real urgency to sell itand although we asked the agents to reduce the price, they only reduced it by a measly amount, so when the proverbial hit the fan, and we finally had a buyer a year later, it was for under £150,000 less than he original price, and £10 ,000 below what we'd paid for it 5 years earlier....!
the sale fell thru when an identical property came up for repo for a pitance, and that was that...
now we have to leave the uk with a property that we will rent out, unfortunately, exposing us to the risks of interest rate rises and bad tenants etc, not to mention a depreciating value
hopefully it won't bankrupt us (we have a years mortgage saved as a contingency fund) and we can sell it eventually for at least what we paid for it...as we owe the mone to the bank of course!
we have no choice but to do this,but it does really make me nervous, and given the choice, i would have preferred to have been out of pocket £10,000 and been free of the worry....
make sure you look at your real costs,to work out if you would actually be financially better off to off load it and lose now, or whether you would be better off to weather the storm and also risk the effects of interest rates,possible fall in rental yield etc etc ...
good luck with your pregnancy and decisions...
