Is it time to sell my UK Home?
 

Dear friends - I am in a dilemma, we bought a house in the South East during the peak in Dec 2006... and had to move to the USA shortly afterwards and here in the States ever since... Being a First Time Buyer I could only afford Interest only mortgage (the interest rate was too high to pay both capital & interest).

So really the loan amt has not reduced by a penny while I believe the house price is dropping... Any advice? With the Olympics 2012 are we seeing any uptick in house prices?

I am confused should I sell or keep it....

Re: Is it time to sell my UK Home?
 

Two identical houses, across the street from one another, similar condition, coincidentally also bought in Dec 06 (new), same estate agent, similar price.
House 1: On market 1 week before being sold.
House 2: Three months later, one viewing, no offers.
Logic? House selling seems a bit of a lottery to me - it all depends who walks through the estate agent's door.

Unfortunately ours is House #2. It will take years for your house (and mine) to regain its Dec 06 value so we're cutting our losses and selling (or at least trying to).

Olympics? I doubt it. Getting a bit late for that anyway.

Re: Is it time to sell my UK Home?
 

Thanks Geoff!

In my case neither do I have Equity nor capital into the property ... So if I sell I will have bring "new" money on the table to repay the loan.

Is there a way we can let the Bank take over? Similar to short sale or foreclosure in the USA?

Re: Is it time to sell my UK Home?
 

The interest rate in the UK in 2006 was around 4.5%. Historically that was a low rate.

Re: Is it time to sell my UK Home?
 

Hi
Wish I could. The rate we got was at 6.75%. (Tracker)

Re: Is it time to sell my UK Home?
 

Is it rented out? Maybe sit on it with tenants in till things improve.
Are you in the US forever? You may want to take it back over from renters one day.

Re: Is it time to sell my UK Home?
 

Presumably if you stop paying then the bank will eventually take over. But you don't want to do that if you ever return to the UK and want to buy another house. I don't envy your position at all. In the same timeframe as yours, ours has gone down about 18%. Obviously varies though.

We got lucky on the mortgage - 0.25% tracker above base rate for the duration of the loan. Luckily not in negative equity either, despite the loss.

Re: Is it time to sell my UK Home?
 

I was lucky in that I was able to sell late in 2006 when I left, recently saw it back on the market for 10k less. The garden looked like it had grown in well.

But to your point, one assumes in all this time the house has not been your primary residence. If so there are interesting tax issues. I'm no expert but if you sold at a loss you may be able to count that loss in your favor against your US taxes.

Re: Is it time to sell my UK Home?
 

Good point you may get stuck for tax in the UK as its not your main home

Re: Is it time to sell my UK Home?
 

Well tax wise it has been. as enrolled in the NRL (Non Resident Landlord) programme... So that is fine..

Re: Is it time to sell my UK Home?
 

@sir_eccles - you raise an interesting point. If I can count those losses it will work well. Thanks for the tip - I shall research further on those lines..