Can't sell the house and no plan B
 

Hi BE,

I am, like a number of other BE members I am sure, in a place I can not control and I don't know what to do.

We have poss LMO with a 3 year work permit, but with PNP, we should be PR within 6 to 18 months (according to the migration consultant).

Anyway, that's not my issue (to be honest, that has been the easy bit :thumbup:).

I just can't sell the house, was up for £265,000, have reduced it to £240,000 for a quick sale, but without the sale, we don't have the finance to fund our move.

We can't go over and rent it, as the $$ I will earn in Canada, won't pay the morgtage and pay the way in Canada too and to be honest, I am sure tennents would be difficult to work with and they'll wreck the place (maybe).

Has anyone done anything that I might not have thought of?

I am sure I'll get a few 'you're stuffed' replies, but there will be some ideas I am sure.

Hope you can help?

Chris.

Re: Can't sell the house and no plan B
 

CHRIS

Try an open day discuss this with your agent.

KJM

Re: Can't sell the house and no plan B
 

Hiya - we did an open day, no one came, I think a cross between crap weather and Christmas around the corner.

It's a good idea though, try it with another agent, and manage them better with the ad's in the local papers etc...

Re: Can't sell the house and no plan B
 

Youre options seem to me to be

• Reduce the price again
• Change agents?
• Remortgage to liberate funds to come to canada with
• hope for the best with renting it
• Give up on Canada

Re: Can't sell the house and no plan B
 

Only thing I can think of (rather than continually postpone) is that you just get on a plane with minimal gear and go on ahead to Canada and live cheap, with family to follow once the house is sold.

Re: Can't sell the house and no plan B
 

stick the house on ebay you could give it a go .i had a mate who did this when he went to live in usa,advertised it on ebay with everything that you see included in sale it was sold 3 hours later for the buy it now price

Re: Can't sell the house and no plan B
 

Yeah, to be fair with a work permit there is no requirement to show settlement funds.

I arrived in canada with two cases, a golf bag and about $5k and I survived...albeit without the UK mortgage to service which I guess complicates things enormously

Re: Can't sell the house and no plan B
 

Have you thought of "staging" your house? It seems to make a difference to selling places. Putting some furniture and ornaments etc into storage so the rooms seem bigger and uncluttered. Mind you that only applies if the agent is getting people through the doors, so if not then how are they presenting it?

If you are feeling brave you could post the internet link on here and we can comment freely!

Re: Can't sell the house and no plan B
 

IF and it is a really big IF you get good letting agents, then renting out the house is ok.

I would remortgage on a very long-term interest only mortgage thus reducing the monthly payments as much as possible and rent it out, either short or long-term.

You still have time to sell the house.....try the open day, get someone who really knows the local market and who is honest to look at the house with a view to making it more saleable (you've probably done this anyway but another look won't hurt) and then really push the agents.

Re: Can't sell the house and no plan B
 

I've been there. Its a crappy situation. Im my case I had a work permit and a PNP app in the pipeline and an employer in Canada jumping up and down wanting me to start work. I sort of felt that I couldnt put them off any longer so I flew out to Canada to start work. OH and kids stayed in the UK to try and sell the house. The $$s I was earning didnt cover the mortgage and bills in UK as well as my very basic living expenses in Canada like you say. I explained my situation to my employer and got them to agree to pay half me rent here in Canada which helped a bit but as every month went by we were getting more and more into the red.

After 4 months I'd had enough of OH and I being apart so she and kids came out to Canada. She switched estate agents before she left and we also dropped the price by 25k. It did sell eventually (for 50k less than the original asking price in the end) but took about another 3 months after that.

There are a few lessons learned:

1) I wished I'd got employer to agree to cover a bigger proportion of the cost of living here and still having a house and mortgage in the UK. After all they were the reason that I ended up moving to Canada to start work before my house had actually sold

2) I wished I'd dropped the price by whatever it took to get it sold right at the beginning. As it is I was reluctant to loose out on that extra money. But in the end I reckon I probably wasted more money paying rent and mortage and living costs in two countries at the same time than I would have lost by dropping the price. And in the end I still had to drop the price anyway! And I also had all the stress to go with it.

That was 18 months ago. It sounds like the UK property market has taken a serious down-turn since then too so if I was you I would be tempted to drop your price again to a level you know you will definitely get a quick sale at rather than a) see prices around you drop even further over the next 6 months and end up having to go even lower and b) loose out on the chance of living your dream and moving to Canada.

Oh, and change agents too. If your agents had an Open House and they didnt manage to get one person through the door they sound like a bunch of wasters to me.

Re: Can't sell the house and no plan B
 

how about a contract with "the housing association"
our local borough (Barnet) takes the house for 5 or ten years, pays just below market value rent, but takes all maintainance and management over for you.
then at end of term you can renew or they decorate house and give it back to you as you left it. i wouldnt want to sell a house here in this climate. prices might have only fallen 1% but thats if you can find a buyer.

i am hoping i will be getting PR in 15 months, maybe the market will pick up by then.

BTW I belive its 10% below with fixed yearly increases.

Re: Can't sell the house and no plan B
 

I have taken loads of this great advise on board, there is stuff I have not even thought of so many many thanks for that.

Am I brave enough - yes, just listed it on eBay:):thumbsup::

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...MESE:IT&ih=018

Or go to ebay and paste this number into the search box - Item number: 280190705697

Re: Can't sell the house and no plan B
 

excellent listing on ebay hope it sells for you good luck :thumbsup:

Re: Can't sell the house and no plan B
 

Thanks, it's gotta be worth a go, I think opening it up to offers too is useful, the agent can't have the arse either, as I will still put it trough them.

We'll see.

Re: Can't sell the house and no plan B
 

Yeah, it's an excellent listing, I hope it sells too. If it's priced right and you've presented it or "staged it" well, which seems to be all the rage these days, I'm sure you'll have success.

Just out of interest though, are things selling in your area? Or is there a general slump in the market?