Help please? capital?

A

AV-1

Guest
Hi, hope everyone is alright....

first post,

where shall i start? well, i am a novice in these matters, and am hopeful that someone here can help me, please,

basically, i own my house outright, in North London, with no liability or mortgage, and the value is approximately £350,000. I don't work, am a student, but I am considering leaving my studies at university to study independently, privately, by myself as it were, and moving abroad.

The situation is this,
i believe there is a downward turn in property prices now, in the UK, well this much is obvious, but that it is a trend that is going to continue for some time as opposed to being a temporary situation, and rather then see my house depreciate am curious as to what ways i can garner some capital out of it in order to either........

a) leave it in a bank and let the interest accrue, or

b) invest it in a few small, relatively secure and low risk, nominal property investments abroad (Berlin, Wroclaw, Buenos Airies for instance) and anticipate steady, though not exorbitant, capital growth in tandem with some small rental yield

------

now, in either scenario, a) or b), i would plan to live for the next couple (2-4) years in a low cost, low rent country, effectively, becoming an emigre, then return to England envisaging that in either scenario, house prices will have stagnated or decreased, or even if they have gained value, it will be of less amount to that which i shall have garnered from pursuing either option a) or b).

The situation, though, is this,

im at a lost as to how to quickly realise the value of my house, ie. to raise its worth into lump cash. To have the money as soon as possible to save or to invest,

naturally, the obvious solution is to place the house for sale, wait for viewers, hope for buyers, then eventually, hopefully, eventually, voila, to sell. The conundrum here, though, is this.
I dont believe i can sell my house that quickly, on my road already there are 7 properties, approx 4% of all the properties on my road, advertised for sale and they range in value greatly as much as +/- £80,000, although this is mainly a terraced road, with the occasional semi or detached, but generally speaking, the houses are much of the same and the variances in prices seem rather random rather then strategic or representative of their differences.

Do i have to follow this route, is this the only route, to realising the current, relatively immediate, value of my house into hard capital?

Not being well versed or particularly understanding of financial opportunities, such as raising equity, i'm of the belief that 'selling' the house is the only way to do this, but is it?

I need to ask and i need to know, please, please, how else can i raise capital from my house, without understating its value, in order to pursue scenario a) or b) ?


Please please please if you know anything or have any type of advice you can offer, or experience, please do so, as i'm of the belief that time is of the essence here and although its rather pragmatic, i'm feeling as though each day that passes i am losing out.....

thanks so much,

goodnight,
 
Bear in mind that Askaboutmoney is an Irish site focusing mainly on Irish personal finance and related issues.
 
thanks ^ ,

i had noticed but figured it was still worth asking, but cool...

still, if anyone can help?

thanks again
 
AV-1 said:
b) invest it in a few small, relatively secure and low risk, nominal property investments abroad (Berlin, Wroclaw, Buenos Airies for instance) and anticipate steady, though not exorbitant, capital growth in tandem with some small rental yield

2-4 years is too short a timeframe for this type of investment IMHO. Also, you will to a certain extent, placing all your eggs in one basket by investing all (?) your wealth in property. Personally, I wouldn't class property as 'low risk' over that period, and even over the longer term, I would see it as medium risk as opposed to low.


What exactly will you do in this 'low cost, low rent' country? Will you be working? If so, at what? Or will you be relying on rental income from your investments to support your lifestyle? Is this feasible?

I think you are taking a risk by selling now with the hope of buying again in 2-4 years.
 

Have you done much research into this?
Personally, I know nothing about the UK property market.

However, I was listening to a business show on the radio this morning that stated that as a result of the Bank of England cutting interest rates the residental property market has reveresed the downward trend in late 2007, resulting in increasing property prices in December 2007. The analysts on the show expect this increase to continue thru' 2008 and after.
Based on this, now is a bad time to sell residential property in the UK.

As stated by a previous poster, the residential property market in Ireland is entirely different. We have no control over our interest rates. In 2007 there have been specific property examples (both high end and low end) having dropped their asking prices by 15% to 25%.
There are even attempts to turn "exclusive" flat complexs from residential properties into hotels!
On the brightside, a 15% to 25% drop in property is much less than our Stock Exchange, which is down about 40%?
 
Although living in Ireland I know the UK property market well enough. North London generally is good and remember the Olympics are due in 2012 which should give any city a buzz. Despite the report on the radio regarding the market going up, this is untrue. The market in Central London has not budged- YET, but is expected to head south in the region of 10/15% quite quickly. And on the outskirts and in regions up the country it is falling. It all has to do with the Credit Crunch and the Northern Rock situation. To answer your query, you could re-mortgage your own property and purchase elsewhere. You are obviously young enough to move around, so you could let out your own house to cover the mortgage. Although overseas markets look tempting ask yourself as to why property has remained low in these places. Mind you, I have invested in Berlin, which is still a rising market. You have to be very careful where you purchase there as some areas are awful. It is also a nation of people who happily rent all their lives.