Magpie71

Hello, dont want to put all eggs in one basket, my wife and i are hoping to move to Wellington this time next year and i just wanted to ask the question...... is it best to rent out our home in the UK or just sell up?
Appreciate the advice
Cheers

kamburu pat

Hi Magpie,
If you intend to move to Wellington, ie, emigrate, you would probably sell your house in Britain, if you are just going for a period of time to see how you like it there you would hang on to your house. In the past when my husband took jobs overseas, mostly in Africa, we used to rent our house for three years each time, had we been going out to say New Zealand with a view to moving there permanently, we would have sold our house.
Our son lives in Wellington and we hope to go out and rent for a while to see how we like it but not sure about going for good!
Pat.

turkeys

Hi Magpie

we are going for a year initially and plan to rent our property in Whitstable - ideally for a 12 month unfurnished rental. Although we do have someone very interested inn renting it furnished for 6 months, which begs the question how do we sort out the next tenant in 6 month's time

Ultimately I guess we will have to take what we can get. However, we are having a 6 month mortgage break which takes the pressure off us for a bit

I am spending every weekend glossing the woodwork to within an inch of its life

I am a Teessider too originally btw - Boro

Andy

steevg

Hi, just thought I'd throw in my two-penneth worth!

We made the grave mistake of selling prior to coming back to NZ in 2003, wish we'd hung onto our place now, as the rent we would have been able to charge would have more than paid for our rental here in Taupo, with lots to spare.

In addition to this, if you're thinking of moving to NZ soon, bear in mind that the current exchange rate from the UK is not the best - forecasts are that in the coming year (2008) it will all turn turtle again and GBP to NZD will go to something in the region of over $3 to the Pound!

If I were to do it again, I'd leave my money in UK property until we'd settled into jobs, rental etc. and were happy with our choice of town. That said, I know it can take months for a property to sell in the UK . . . while it can take only weeks to buy here! I believe there are schemes in NZ like Lease (rent) to Own, which might come in handy in situations where you're struggling to sell your UK property!

Hope this helps with a slightly different perspective!

Regards,
Steve

Magpie71

Thanks for the advice. So much info to take in but hey if it was easy i would'nt need advice!!! I would like to rent out my home in the uk but dont think the rent would cover my mortgage so will haveto change that to an interest only mortgage. Then theres the dilema that the house is not occupied and id be forking out two lot of rent. Dont really want to get too deep into debt. Decisions Decisions

kamburu pat

It is a conundrum! One thing to remember when you have a mortgage and if you decide to rent out your house, you need to remember the Inland Revenue, when we returned from two years in Kenya we found the tax man was waiting, we had received more in rent than allowed! Also, our place was furnished so we were responsible for repairs, you need an agreement and a solicitor.
Pat.

steevg

. . . . and maybe a property manager to look after your interests while you're away!

lapsed kiwi

Sell. We didn't and it's a pain in the bum. The rent doesn't cover the mortgage, let alone the bills and UK property is forecast to slump in the next few years. Also check out the "rental property in Auckland" thread

kamburu pat

Steve, we did have an agent and most of the time he did his job. The rent was always paid, which was one less headache.

steevg

We were very lucky (I guess you could call it luck) living close to USAF Mildenhall and USAF Lakenheath, we rented to the US servicemen - didn't need property managers, their own people are **** hot at ensuring all rents and monthly debts are paid on time. They don't like their own personnel giving a bad impression to the public - I believe this is still the case. Maybe you have a military establishment close to you that you could advertise in?

In any ways, no use thinking of renting if you're in negative equity and still having to pay a top-up on the mortgage while you're here - that really would be a pain! You'll have enough on your plate without the worry of making extra money for that!

What about taking a mortgage holiday? Some banks allow you to defer payments for a while, possibly up to a year - if this was possible, you could rent it, come over, see if you like it enough to want to stay, then give your agent instructions to sell in 9 months or so . . . . gotta think a bit more laterally with these sort of problems!

Anyone else got any "tricks" or tips regarding this?

Steve

Magpie71

Loads of great tips there, its much appreciated. We have thought about a mortgage break (6months). My gut feeling at this time is to organise renting the house out furnished or at least part furnished. That way we will experience the delights of NZ and if it all goes wrong we can allways come back to our home in the UK. Money is a big factor as my wife and i are both nurses and you know how well thought of we are in the UK!!!! Job wise its great as our current employers have agreed to a 2 year carreer break with the gaurentee of a job should we return. Anyway a good 12 months to ponder all this but I bet it goes quickly.
Cheers everyone