pacepeter

We rented at first, which is a pain unless you know people to do the little jobs that need doing, sold it in the end was waiting for the prices to go up. Anyway bought a house in airdrie and has gone up 12,000 within a year
Peter

JAJ

Some discussion:
http://britishexpats.com/wiki/House_in_UK-Keep_or_Sell

Danny B

I exchanged contracts on my house in England the day the shippers were loading everything into my container back in July 2007. I sold at the peak and bought at the peak.

Tangram

Exact dates and situation we had. I believe it was just starting to tip over the hump and starting it's way downward when we sold/completed. Not quite the peak but better than our buyers got a year later ( 50k less than they bought from us )

crusheduk

Been on the market 9 months dropped the price 6%. 1 viewing in the past 3 months.....6 viewngs in the first 2 month but silly "offers."

It's DEAD....walk down the streets and see dozens of houses with "fore sale" signs. It''s not moving at all.

Read in the Times this morning the housing market for first time is all but dead right now..Banks are not lending.

I have a feeling we will never sell it unless we drop it to silly money.

HGerchikov

We sold in 2004, we chose to sell because we wanted to give Canada a proper 'go' and felt if we still had somewhere to go back to in the UK it would make us less likely to give our new life our full attention. We hit lucky and sold in a high UK market, and bought here before the prices went up too much. I have met many people who still have their UK houses and most have found it a major distraction as they are either relying on good agents to rent it out or family members to check everything is OK. My advice - if you are coming here for good - sell up if you can and fully commit yourself to the move. (I know in the current UK market that may not be possible for a lot of people).

R I C H

I appreciate the amount of equity you have in your home is a determining factor as to how far you want to drop your price, but 6% doesn't sound like a huge drop, or determined commitment to sell if you really want to.

Remember prices have suffered here too, so selling low and buying low might not work out as bad as you might think. I purchased a property this week that had been on the market for 2yrs, originally at 30% more than I paid for it. Granted it's a vacation property, but in immaculate, move in condition. There are buyers needing to offload here too, so bargains can be found.

linz3112

We bought our 1st house in March 2007 and want to sell before we move, hopefully next year but the chances of it selling are very slim. We will not be able to drop the price etc because at the current house prices, we will not have any equity or only a couple of grand!
Looks like we will have to rent it out until the prices creep back up but that could be several years!!

The Normans

We wanted to sell our house before going to have the maximum amount of money avalable on the other side but unfprtunately we have been on the market for a while with no joy. We are now looking at renting out our property here in the UK. Can anyone else who kept their UK property advise did this cause you any problems on the other side i.e. getting a mortgage etc?

MegaJamie

My plan is to keep my flat.

its about 5 mins walk away from a mainline station that can get to stansted airport in 15 minutes, and central london in 25, so I think it has great rental potential.

However having money to put down on a place in Canada may be essential, and managing a property (even using a letting agents) from so far would be a pain!

Mind that might go out the window if I decide its better financially to spend a year or so living with my parents as I save up.

HGerchikov

If you are coming as landed immigrants (rather than on a work permit), have employment and a decent down payment then getting a mortgage should not be too much of a problem. However, I am guessing that if you haven't sold your home then you will not have a large down payment to make which will impact the mortgage product you will be able to get. High loan to value mortgages are much harder to get here now than they used to be and are more expensive. Also, if your deposit is less than 20% you will need to purchase default insurance on the mortgage which is an additional cost.

lcar

Our house was on the market from May to December with a high street estate agent, with a few viewings but no offers.
We recently took it off the market with that agent, and we put it back on with an internet only agency - www.getanoffer.co.uk. They give a price range rather than an asking price, and market actively to buyers who are ready to proceed. They also aim for completion within 28 days, and cater specifically for sellers who are keen and motivated to sell fast.
After 3 days back on the market, we had our first viewing, and those buyers made an offer. It was in the middle of the price range, and yes it was a drop from the original asking price, but it is a price we would have accepted all along.
It's all going smoothly at the moment, fingers crossed
At the moment, I would definitely recommend getanoffer - I will update that when we get further down the line.
We are selling so that we can 'do the job properly' - buy a house in Ontario, and commit ourselves to our new lives.
Hope the survey goes well on Wednesday, so I can follow my husband across the pond in May...

britsnake

In 2008, we were originally planning to rent out our property for the first few years in case things did not work out but decided against it. This was partly because of fear about the instability in the UK housing market and of Exchange rates.

We are glad we sold when we did but may have done things differently if we were doing it now.

emmabell

We have two properties to sell over in uk, both been up for sale for nearly 3 years. Lucky that we have a good mother in law here so rents cheap. Just have to wait it out.

jerry brewer

Hi
We sold in 2007 in the UK, We reckoned it would be to easy to give up and go back if we kept it.
Luckily we had three buyers after it so we got good price, bought here 6 months after landing, got a good priced property ( which is being chased again by developers , so the market must be getting better here ).
Likewise if we moved back we would get a house way better than what we used to have in the UK.
cheers
Jerry