how did you manage the house?
 

My husband and I plan on retiring to Canada in about a year. We own a house here in the UK. We are thinking about what to do in terms of selling it. The house in the UK would pay for the house in Canada. (cash)
I want to put it on the market in Summer and move in the Spring. (2013) If the house does not sell, leave the house on the market empty and rent in Canada until it sells, then buy. Or if it doesn't sell, leave it empty on the market and buy in Canada with a mortgage that we pay off when the house sells. But that would mean taxes on the profit? (if...)
What if our "dream house" in Canada is sold to someone else whilst we are waiting for our old house to sell? Not that many dream properties in our price range in lower BC.:(

My husband is wary of leaving an empty house in the hands of a real estate agent and is convinced we couldn't afford to be "running" two houses. I think it's no big deal as when we bought this house we saw lots of houses that were empty. Others seemed to do it, why can't we?? We will still have an average income. How much can an empty house cost to "run"?

We're already moving overseas.... in for penny in for a pound I say.

Any advice or ideas???

Re: how did you manage the house?
 

Have a couple of large glasses of wine and put your feet up.

Re: how did you manage the house?
 

can you get a mortgage in Canada if you are retired? Not sure what the banks requirements would be on income etc - although I do appreciate that there will be some form of pension etc.

Just something to think about and maybe talk to a couple of Canadian IFA's to get their take on the criteria for qualifying.

Re: how did you manage the house?
 

:rofl: you kill me...............

Re: how did you manage the house?
 

If it doesn't sell, you could always rent it out. That's what we did when we came over. We pay tax on the profit we make over and above the mortgage interest payment and repairs and insurance. You could try to raise cash on the uk house with a buy to let mortgage which would free you up some money to spend n a house in Canada

Re: how did you manage the house?
 

Are either you or your husband Canadian? Or are you being sponsored? If not, forget the whole idea.

Re: how did you manage the house?
 

It looks as though the op is a Canadian citizen and is sponsoring her hubby so thats all good.

Re: how did you manage the house?
 

Ideas: Get it on the market now to give it more chance of selling before you want to go.

Don't know about your are, but where we are the market is picking up. If it sells right away, you can rent here, or go to Canada early (if you have everything in place immigration wise).

Advice: Relax and don't worry about it too much. It may sell the day after you put it on the market, in which case you've worried over nothing. If it hasn't sold a couple of months before you plan to go, then think about all this stuff.

The move is going to be stressfull enough as it is, don't worry about what (at the moment) isn't a problem.

Re: how did you manage the house?
 

Yes, that's right. I'm Canadian.

Re: how did you manage the house?
 

Couple of options as I see it.

1) Put it up for sale now and if it sells great - bank the money and rent in this country until you are ready to go.

2) Put it up for sale and if it doesn't go - rent it out - (that's what we are doing) and rent in Canada if need be. You change to a buy to let that if you have enough equity in the house in the UK you will end up with a lump sum to take with you.

3) Sell it now at a much lower price than you would in a few years and take the hit on the sale.

4) Rent it out and use the lump sum from the buy to let as a deposit.

5) Rent it out in the UK, rent in Canada until it sells and then buy over there.

I guess some of it comes down to how long you are prepared to rent for. Our situation is a bit easier. We have to wait to see if we want to apply for PR and then if we get it we either carry on renting, use the equity out of this one as a deposit or sell the UK (if the market is right).

Hope this helps. :)

Re: how did you manage the house?
 

Thanks for all the replies. It's good to have more than one person looking at a situation.
Cheers

Re: how did you manage the house?
 

Noting that, if you tell the lender that the house is rented, the mortgage rate will jump.

Re: how did you manage the house?
 

Not necessarily though - we didn't have to switch to a buy to let mortgage, just got written permission from our lender to rent it out on our existing mortgage which they were quite happy with.

Re: how did you manage the house?
 

The market may only be picking up because the stamp duty holiday for first time buyers ends this March so they are all rushing in at the moment and driving the market.

If the OP buys in Canada, will they be liable for capital gains when they then sell their UK home?

Re: how did you manage the house?
 

I'm with Christmas - we rented our house in the UK but just got written permission from the lender, which we paid £150 for annually.