Moving to another part of the country: To sell or not to sell?

Hi,

I put my house up for sale as I need to move to another part of the country due to work commitments (to rent/buy) and recently received an offer which is approx €50k short of the outstanding mortgage balance due.

I am now considering my options as follows:
1) keep house and rent it out and hope that market improves in 10 years.
2) sell house now with €50k loss.
If I choose option 1:

• I have considerable less buying power for a new house, if I decide to buy in the future
• I have the hassle associated with being a landlord etc
• house prices mightn't increase for 10 or more years.

If I choose option 2:

• I am taking a 50k hit
• the mortgage I could get for another property is not reduced by having an existing mortgage.

My questions are:
is there a 3rd option that I am missing?
is there any other positives/negatives to 1 or 2 above that I should be aware of?


I am by no means an expert and am afraid that I am missing something completely obvious and would be grateful for any advice you could provide to me at this point.

Thanks in advance,
Moll

What is the condition of the house and what sort of a location is it in. It may not be in the condition or location that would mean it would be rented on a continuous basis while you are not in it.
What is the current value of the house?
What was it's peak value?
are you on a tracker/fixed/variable rate mortgage.
What is the term left on the mortgage?
Can you manage to pay the mortgage if the house is vacant long term?
Is your job secure?
Are your wages likely to rise or decrease over time?
These are some things I would need to know before commenting or deciding if I was choosing.

We did just that at the market peak (in 2006) and have been lucky enough to be able to rent the house since then. House is in Dublin, in a good location beside the usual Shops, Church, Schools, Public Transport etc. We were asked to rent it unfurnished by initial tenants and our policy of only letting to families has paid off - we have achieved 2 year rental contracts since then. Not a lot of hassle during the rental period either - if both parties are open about accepting problems and solving them (usually by paying a tradesperson to fix it!), then the rental can be fairly hassle-free. In the current climate, I would totally advise not selling - €50K is an awful lot of money to lose and in fact it's probably just the minimum which would be lost. Have a tight contract drawn up - it always helps. Good luck!

U may not qualify for another mortgage if u are starting a new job as u can't get a mortgage while you're on probation. Also a house is a long term investment - do u want to live in this new area for the next 20 years or will you be moving back to your original location or a new location in 5 yrs time. Ask yourself do you see yourself there in 20 years time. Do you know the new area good enough to buy there straight away. Should you rent for 6 months to a year to get to know the area etc.
Regards
Mike

Thanks guys for taking the time to reply and apologies for delay in responding.

I'll try to answer your questions as best I can

• The current outstanding mortgage is €248K
• Current offer on the house is €202K
• Valued in 2006 at €350K
• Property located in Dublin 12 close to Hospitals ie. James's, children's hospital and Coombe.
• I don't want to return to the location to live long term as i bought the property originally like many others just to "get a foot on the property ladder" but never intended to live here long term.
• I am in employment in the private sector, so my position is not as secure as a person in the public sector is.
• I intend to rent in the new location initially to get a feel for the area. My intention is to look seriously at purchasing another property in 1-2 years depending on the market situation then.
• I could afford to cover rent on my existing house and rent elsewhere in the short term ( 3-6 months) but not long term.
• It is not a new job, I am transferring to another office, having worked there for 10 years.
• I have been pre-approved for another mortgage, which is reduced based on having existing property.

My opinion generally is that house prices will continue to fall for the foreseeable future and will not begin to recover for in the short term and not return to the boom prices in the med-long term as the extraordinary set of factors which contributed to the housing bubble will not be allowed to be develop again in this or the next generation ( but that is simply my own opinion and you may not agree with that), because of this I think that it doesn't make too much sense to hold on to my existing property.

I would be grateful for any further comment you have.
Thanks,
Moll

You have an offer .... a rare thing these days.

Take it and run. And start saving again.

unless you have 50k to finish off your existing mortgage, can you sell at all?

Thanks all for your comments.

Similar situation

I am in a similiar situation. Iwould love to move but just finished building. I am wondering if i sold could i carry the deficiet to the house I would like to move to if I got the new place for a reasonable price?

renting is not v. big hassle if you get good letting agency to run it. i wouldnt recommend selling, as 50k is lots of money. dont know how high is your mortgage, will rent cover it?