Jerseygirl

I read about Gazundering a few months ago in a couple of UK newspapers. One even gave step by step instructions how to go about it.

BritishGuy36

I'd tell the gazunderers to sod off purely on principle, no matter what kind of a bind it put me in.

Just had our first viewing with the new agent about an hour ago, nice lady, currently renting, says what everyone else says (wow the house is big for the price (and that's even at the 5K higher price than last week!)), but we've had apparently keener buyers not put an offer in, so who knows. She says she will bring her dad back for another look (he's helping her with the deposit).

chartreuse

The people I sold our last place to tried it. I said "No chance and, BTW, it's back on the market as of now." Oddly enough, they were good as gold after that.

Of course, that was at the peak of the market, and things might work out differently today.

cruickies

We have had our house on the market since Nov 2007! We started at £410k, dropped to £375k by Feb 08 and dropped again to £350k in June. We accepted an offer of £335k in late June...unfortunately even though it was a short chain, our buyer's buyer pulled out and so we were left high and dry! We have just accepted an offer of £303k!!! This time they are first time buyers, so no chain.

We decided that if we wanted to get to the US within the next two or three years we needed to take the hit and take our money and run. We have masses of equity, so I guess we are lucky in that way!

If this one falls through we will probably put the house up for rent and go for an interest only loan for 2 years and see where we get to.
Good luck to you all.

BritishGuy36

Well at least the downward slide of the exchange rate has halted for the time being - seems to be fluctuating between $1.75 and $1.80 the past week or two, although it seems that the economies of both countries are so unstable anything could happen at any time.

Have told the estate agent that if we get no offers on the house by next Tuesday it's coming down £5k.

lansbury

If you come over with spare equity it is knowing where to put it so it is safe and still earns a reasonable return.

We put half into CDs so it was covered by FDIC. The rest we put into an annuity with a very large insurance company as that appeared to be as safe as it could be for a better return. Should have know a company that sponsors Man U couldn't be trusted

BritishGuy36

Yep.....should have just spent the money on Carlsberg instead... more fun than investments!

Tarkak9

...plus you'd get about $.05 per can with recycling.

BritishGuy36

Woohoo....it's up to $1.8174 right now....

chartreuse

Yes, it seems to be doing well - Yay! Go little pound, go!!

dzial67

It struck me this morning that there is now another risk in this process which could make it doubly more daunting. A friend, 20 years ago, was emigrating to France and was almost at the point of no return when the exchange rate plummeted, I think it was something like 15%, cant remember exactly. He literally had to make up his mind on the spot to go or stay, call his house sale off, loose a deposit on the house he was buying in France etc etc. He chose to go and take the hit.

I'm thinking that there is a period between when you accept an offer on your property and complete, say somewhere between 4 to 12 weeks, when you will be wondering what the exchange rate will be at the point you want to change your money but you wont actually know what it is with any certainty because of the current rate of flux. I guess going into rented accomodation is an option but you don't want to get contracted in for 6 months. I know you can buy forward but do you know if you could borrow forward. i.e If you know your sale is certain - I know that is not true but in this current situation you have to take some risk - can you borrow against your equity and secure the best rate?

All a bit long winded but I hope you get the gist.

chartreuse

Yup. That's why our plan is to buy in TX on a 95% mortgage. That way we can pick when we transfer the bulk of our capital from the UK, rather than being forced to move it in time for closing, regardless of the rate.

Any extra interest payments in the US should come to less than the potential hit from moving a big chunk at a bad time - we hope.

Giantaxe

The biggest risk may be actually buying a property in much of the US at the moment given the state of the credit markets. This is the first national decline in prices since the great depression and it shows little sign of abating.

chartreuse

Perhaps, but whadda ya gonna do? If you're investing then this is probably the right time to be a bear. If you're looking for a home then things are somewhat different.

Giantaxe

In a word - rent. In many areas it's far cheaper than the after tax carrying costs (interest, loss of interest on any equity, taxes, insurance, hoa and/or maintenance). Why the aversion to renting? It's a great idea when you move to a new area anyway, as you can get to know it so much better before committing to where exactly you want to live.