When to sell our home?

[Boxertony]

Members I just want to some opinions about when is the best time to sell my home. I have gained state sponsorship (475 subclass). We lodged our main visa application last month and planning to conduct our medicals and police clearance sometime in the near future. With the Housing crisis at the moment, do you think its worth putting it up for sale right now, because the likelihood of it selling is minium. All our capital is in this home, which is roughly £15k if we get the asking price, which is very doubtful. We got our home valued and the agent asked us to knock off £15k, which means we will gain nothing, in-fact lose out because of the estate agent costs etc. I just thought of decorating our home now, putting up for sale at the original asking price and even throwing in all our furniture for an extra incentive to the potential buyers. My biggest worry is that we gain our Visa and just cannot go because we cannot sell our home. If we sell our house first (ummm no bloody chance), then we will just rent property here in Newcastle upon Tyne till the Visa arrives.

 

Furthermore has anyone got knowledge about the option of putting our home up for auction. How do we go about it? How much will it cost? Do you tend to get a better price for your property?

 

Finally a crazy offer for anyone out there. Anyone would like to purchase a large 3 bedroom ex council house, with or without all amenties. Set on a lovely estate in Cramlington, South Northumberland, Cramlington is the second newest town in Britain and was built in 1965. 4 miles from the beach and 10 miles to the centre of Newcastle upon Tyne.

[Guest BAZnDAF]

I always tend to err on the side of caution, and won't be putting the house on the market until we have the visa. But many on here have put their houses on the market prior to getting a visa and have been succesful in selling, and others not so succesful, I guess it boils down to personal choice and the amount of risk your willing to take. Other options are renting your house when you move and then look at selling in the future, this does, however, tie up your capital. If you have to sell prior to your move down under then might be best to get it on the market as soon as.

 

Not an easy question to answer really as there are a lot of variables that are out of your control.

 

Barry

[Guest hel&sam]

we got our visa granted last week and the house went up for sale on monday this week. to be honest, i wish i had put it up back when we made the decision to go, the opinion of our estate agent is that prices are not going to go up in the next 12 months, probably go lower because you are competing with lots of desperate people trying to sell for financial reasons or whatever. now i have the visa i'm impatient to go but know i have a very very long wait. (i'm not known for my patience!!!)

 

Helen.

[Guest PEZ]

We took agents advice and didnt sell our house till we got our visa. Got visa a month ago and just sold house today, for £15k less than asking price and £35k less than valuation about a year ago.

I personaly dont think they will increase much if at all in next year so im afraid its a buyers market.

We have estimated it will cost us about £10k to emigrate, including flights,container,woofer and rental when we arrive. Without being nosey or rude i think if you only got £15k that will be really really tight. But on the positive side it might be enough to get you there and then who knows, at least you will be there.

[Guest tooeasy]

put it up for sale now we nearly lost our visa because our house wasnt selling then it went thro at the last minute and now we are loving it in adelaide

[ozzieclare2be]

if i werein your position id rent it out and hang on to it.

[Guest kelly1980]

Hi Tony,

 

We are awaiting to hear about sponsorship at the mo too, its been just over 5 weeks so hoping to hear anyday!

 

Our house has been on the market 5 weeks, no viewings as yet! We have put it on at a price we thought to sell but the agent has suggested lowering the price already. We think we will hold out a bit yet into the spring. Our capital is also tied up in our property, about £50k after all debts paid if we are lucky but this is dwindling by the day in the current climate.

 

Some people may think it's early to put it on the market but for us if we don't get the visa I don't think we will want to stay in our house and carry on in current jobs, i think we will want to do 'something' different anyway -so for us it was the right thing to do.

 

I think the longer we leave it the more we will be losing. If we sell soon (not likely) we will rent for 6 months whislt process continues but we would at least feel like our capital is freed up and if all goes well we will have the funds free when we need them. For us renting the house whilst being on the other side of the world isn't a great option.

 

It's obviousely a personal choice though but that's our take on it.

Hope it helps!

Kelly

[Boxertony]

Thanks to all the members who have replied to my thread about when to sell my home. I have now decided to decorate it, put all new carpets down and then put it up for sale now. I will put it up for the price I want, but of course that would lower due to our economic climate. I cannot afford to put my house up for rent because we dont have any savings to go to Adelaide with. Regarding the Interest only mortgage, this is something I looked into. If I remortgage, my repayments will go up and the payments I would recieve via rental would not cover the repayments. In addition if anything happens to my rental home then I have no one to take care of it, except agents who are expensive. In addition if the tenants dont pay their rent then I will have to pay for the mortgage payments instead of them, which I would not be able to afford. Also I have been an Homelessness Housing Manager of my local council in my previous role and i am very aware of tenants not paying their rent etc and its dam hard and expensive to kick them out.

 

Yes putting house up for sale now, it will taes ages to sell, so might as well put it up for sale now.

 

Very much appreciated for all your responses.....

 

Tony

[Guest Devon]

if i werein your position id rent it out and hang on to it.

 

Deffo agree with ozzieclare2be on this one, due to the current climate both sides of the world! Good luck though which ever way you decide