lcar

Hi all,
Our house has been on the market a couple of months, and we've had a few viewings, but no offer as yet. We waited until we had our passports with visas back before putting it on the market - wish now that we'd done it much sooner.
A job has come up in the right area that my OH is applying for. If he gets it, we are planning to head out, leaving the house unfurnished and empty. Our insurer will cover the empty house, and our estate agent will hold the key and continue to try to sell the house. We'll have a gardener to keep the garden tidy, a cleaner to dust and check inside once a week, and a neighbour to keep a close eye.
Council tax will be free for 6 months, then 50%.
We live in a small village, where everyone knows everyone else, and it is very unlikely that a. squatters would find our house and b. they would go un-noticed, so that isn't something we are worried about.
We are of course more worried about covering the mortgage etc in the UK, and rental in Ontario.
What haven't we thought of?

spaceace

we did the same....sounds like you've got it all covered.

What about gas, electric, water?

Did you sign off power of attorney for when the house is sold?

lcar

We're planning on leaving gas, electricity and water connected, for viewings etc and in case it runs into winter and cold weather. Bills should be minimal, we hope.
Hadn't thought of power of attorney - how does that work? Presumably our solicitor will deal with the sale on our instructions?
We have PR by the way.

spaceace

We left the services on too.

We gave my dad and his wife power of attorney (needed both because the house was in joint names)

Basically, once this is setup, the solicitor still only takes instructions from you. Whoever you assign as power of attorney can sign any paperwork required.

Cost was 150GBP to setup and saved us a whole load of headaches as we were residing in NS when the sale went through.

lcar

Hi again Spaceace,
Thank you, that is really helpful. Power of attorney sounds the way for us to go.
It is very reassuring to hear that it all worked smoothly for you - leaving the house empty and unsold and heading out without the backup funds which we expected to have is a bit scary, but we will only go if my OH has a job to go to, and ideally me too.
How long did it take to sell your house?

spaceace

No problem :-)

We had the familiar story of house being valued at a great price for US, then lots of viewings saying the house was a overpriced, so we reduced and had a couple of offers.

Then it took 2 months for the sale to go through due to the buyer dragging their heels.

Thankfully we could have stood paying the mortgage for 10 months without it causing us too big a problem, but not ideal having a house empty for that long.

Selling up is always a worry....never-mind the additional stress of new jobs, new country etc.

Having said all that, it's all very do-able if you put your mind to it and be brave....and it's a great experience and we are glad we did it.....now just to get PR LOL

spaceace

forgot to say, house was in a great school area...sold in about 3 months end to end

lcar

Mmm, think we need to be brave and just do it (with the proviso of a job to go to).
It is a big transition time for our children this summer, with son and daughter both due to start new schools, and it just feels the right time to go - a perfect natural break.
We're having to backtrack on all the expectations we had for moving though, and make new plans based on still having a house to sell.
Scary... but good to hear it is do-able.
Best of luck with the PR

spaceace

Yes, we wanted to move before our eldest started high school

Thanks, and good luck yourself :-)

Poppit

Hi

What about renting your house out whilst trying to sell it, that's what we have just done and at least it covers the mortgage and you can delay using the 6 months free council tax until you have no tenants in?

Poppit