Am I mad to sell my house?

LegacyUser

Hey there, I'm thinking of selling my house. I'm a single guy, and I've been living in my own house for five years now. The thing is, I don't know if it is what I want. It costs a lot of money to keep up the mortgage, and I don't spend much time there.

I have a reasonable job, but after the mortgage and everything is paid off, there isn't much left, so I don't have much money to socialise and do the things I want. I couldn't afford a holiday this year, for instance.

If I sell, I stand to bank about €50,000 or €60,000 after the mortgage is cleared (assuming I CAN sell it!) I'd be much better off financially renting somewhere cheap. I could let the house, but the rent wouldn't cover the mortgage, I'd still have a bit to pay. All in all, I'd rather sell than all the hassle of renting.

The thing is, EVERYONE says I'm mad! Everyone says I'm crazy, it's so hard to get a mortgage, and I'll never get one again! Even so, if I wasn't paying out almost my entire salary on this mortgage, I'd be banking quite a bit of money, having a life, and be very well off! I would save quite a packet of money.

Is everyone else right? Am I crazy to contemplate selling? Is there anything I'm missing here? Do I really need to cripple myself with this mortgage? I seem to be working to keep the bank in profit, rather than working for myself. What are the consequences tax-wise if I decide to look for another mortgage in ten years' time? Any good advice here???

Victor

Hi, this isn't quite a PI, so I'm moving the thread to Accommodation & Proprty.

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Have you considered renting out a room? The first €10,000 is tax free under the Rent a Room Scheme.

Are you sure you'll bank 50,000 on the sale of your house? How big is your mortgage in relation to what you'll realistically get for the house?

Bear in mind very little is selling at the moment, you could have the house on the market for months before selling it at a loss.

If you do sell successfully and go for another mortgage down the line you'll have lost first time buyer status and will have to fork out substantial stamp duty.

Could you rent out a room in your house? Could you rent out the entire house? Yes it's hassle but preferable to negative equity.
What kind of interest rate are you on? Could you switch to a better rate?

It's tough but at the moment there's lots of people who can't do what they want regarding socialising and holidays etc.
How 'crippled' are you really? Maybe if you sit down and record all your outgoings you might find ways to save money.

Highsider

No i dont think you are mad. If you arent "living" your life on a social level (no holidays,no money after rent paid) what's the point TBH. If you can sell at a 50-60k profit then the only question is why not?

Firetrap

Yeah, got to agree with the poster above me. You've got nothing to lose by putting your house on the market. If nobody bites, you'll still be where you are now. If they do, you're on a winner.

If you can't sell, have you looked into renting out one of your rooms? Yes, I know it's a horrible thought and you no doubt bought your house so that you wouldn't have to share anymore but they might take the sting out of your mortgage for a couple of years.

rockbeer

Yep, I agree, put it on the market. If you can make a profit go for it. The likelihood of that might be less than you think at the moment though.

Life's too short to waste.

jetski

Another option is you could rent out a room if you have one spare

gurramok

Agree with above about at least trying to sell. As a bear, there are buyers out there, not many, but they do exist

Sell at the right price and you might be lucky to get a buyer if they like your house.

This nonsense about your friends saying your mad and you never get a mortgage again is nonsense.
If you decide to buy again, you will have that 50k as a deposit on a future house and banks will lend to you as you have that big deposit.

Victor

gurramok wrote: »

If you decide to buy again, you will have that 50k as a deposit on a future house and banks will lend to you as you have that big deposit.

And much of that 50k might go on stamp duty.

dny123456

I'd sit tight if I were you...

would you like to be 50 and renting?

Firetrap

The OP didn't say he wanted to sell his house and rent forever. He was contemplating selling the house now and hopefully making a profit, then going again in a few years time and buying another one.

SimpleSam06

dny123456 wrote: »

I'd sit tight if I were you...

would you like to be 50 and renting?

Then again, how would you like to be 50 and looking back at your 20s and 30s as living a hard, hand to mouth existence with little ease and constant stress worrying about making payments? Rockbeer has it, life's too short to waste.

bakerbhoy

At the moment prices have tanked /tanking . It will be incredibly hard to get a good price for you.Buyers on the other hand can.If you can keep it for next 4 to 6 years do so .Prices will have floored and stabilised by then and the market will be a lot clearer .
Most sellers now are stress sellers , you apparently aren't , thats who you will be competeing with for a sale .
Your affordability may well have improved significantly and you may be kicking yourself for selling ,for the sake of short term pints and hols.

noel farrell

sell now if you think will make a profit if you can finde a buyer the are hard to find at present two years time you you will buy a house half what the are now and have no morghage to pay have agood time you only have one life cheers:D

dny123456

SimpleSam06 wrote: »

Then again, how would you like to be 50 and looking back at your 20s and 30s as living a hard, hand to mouth existence with little ease and constant stress worrying about making payments? Rockbeer has it, life's too short to waste.

I'd prefer to stress now, rather than when I'm approaching retirement.

blast05

Don't forget that interest rates are dropping like a stone - have currently dropped about 1% with another 1-1.5% to come over the next 6 months. If you have say a 300K mortgage, then a total of a 2.5% drop will put about €425 back in your pocket every month on a 30 year mortgage .... 5K a year - enough for 2 very decent holidays per year if you want to look at it like that !

Hippo

If you bought the house 5 years ago the chances of you making a profit on it are next to zero. Admittedly that's without knowing where it is and what you paid for it....but while some few houses/apartments are selling at the moment they're going for a lot less than the sellers were looking for originally. I work in the conveyancing area and believe me this market has tanked.

SimpleSam06

dny123456 wrote: »

I'd prefer to stress now, rather than when I'm approaching retirement.

Well nobody is saying that its a good idea to take out a mortgage at 55. However even leaving it eight or ten years you will likely be repaying much less of a mortgage than if you continue, although I am making a few assumptions based on what you are saying.

Conventional wisdom has it that low house prices=high interest rates. This conventional wisdom has been turned on its head however, now that we are in EU, and no longer have control over our interest rates, and house prices will be dropping with interest rates. Note thats just the ECB base rate, not the interbank lending rates, which are still high and arguably more important.

blast05 wrote: »

Don't forget that interest rates are dropping like a stone - have currently dropped about 1% with another 1-1.5% to come over the next 6 months. If you have say a 300K mortgage, then a total of a 2.5% drop will put about €425 back in your pocket every month on a 30 year mortgage .... 5K a year - enough for 2 very decent holidays per year if you want to look at it like that !

Is that not only on a tracker mortgage, which the banks have uniformly discontinued?

blast05

Is that not only on a tracker mortgage, which the banks have uniformly discontinued?

All banks have passed on the cuts in full on standard variable mortgages and will nearly certainly do so for future rate cuts given the government guarantee and government appointees on the boards of directors