Should I sell or should I stick?

paddyland

I have had my apartment advertised for sale for a year now, with no queries. I admit it comes down to price. I am quite willing to take a hit on it. The thing is, it is advertised at the price that will clear my mortgage. To drop the price further means I will owe money to the bank.

Where do I stand with the bank by selling my property below the mortgage due? Can I sell the property and negotiate say €10,000 or €20,000 of a loan outstanding? Surely it's in the bank's interest that I owe a small amount that I can afford, rather than a large amount that I am having difficulty repaying?

I have looked into letting, but to be honest, lettings here are difficult, and what I would get in rent would still leave me in financial difficulty, assuming I could get a tenant at all. In the meantime, I am still missing mortgage payments.

My other fear is that over the course of the next two years, this wretched government will start hitting me for more property taxes or God knows what, and I will end up in even worse trouble. And interest rates will rise too. Someone said try to hang onto it, things will get better eventually. Should I hang on and hope things don't get worse, or should I try to bail out if possible?

Opinions? Many thanks.

Victor

Are you entitled to mortgage interest supplement?

Could you take a lodger instead of renting the place out? The first €10,000 is tax free.

Duckjob

Victor wrote: »

Are you entitled to mortgage interest supplement?

Could you take a lodger instead of renting the place out? The first €10,000 is tax free.

Not quite true Victor. It's not that the first 10000 is tax free.

If the total amount of receipts from the lodger is over 10,000 then the relief is not available at all so the whole amount (less valid expenses) is taxable as regular income.

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/categories/housing/owning-a-home/home-owners/rent_a_room_scheme

TwoShedsJackson

where do I stand with the bank by selling my property below the mortgage due? Can I sell the property and negotiate say €10,000 or €20,000 of a loan outstanding? Surely it's in the bank's interest that I owe a small amount that I can afford, rather than a large amount that I am having difficulty repaying?

The bank won't allow you to sell the property without clearing the mortgage and they will do this by holding the deeds so the sale can't be completed. They are also unlikely to convert anything you fall short on on the sale into a loan, it's not in their interest to allow you to switch from a loan they have collateral on, to one they don't.

ricman

OVER the next 3 years prices will go down, my advice is reduce the price by 20k, see do you get an offer.Theres lots of empty apartments out there. I EXPECT nama to push down prices ,ie it cannot just hold on to 100k empty units for ten years.
AS prices on houses go down, people will say why should i pay x amount for an 1bed apartment, when i can buy a house in dublin 4 180k on a private estate.
MY pal has a mortgage , hes selling the house, i doubt the bank will stop him, his house is worth the loan plus 60k.

stvincent

ricman wrote: »

,ie it cannot just hold on to 100k empty units for ten years.

Yes it can and probably will. Alternatively, it will give them up for 'social housing'

It can do whatever it (or the government that will be controlling it, probably partly labour after next election) likes. It's almost certainly not going to do a fire sale and just release a load of properties on the market which you seem to be implying. That wouldn't be too good for anyone.

Rulmeq

stvincent wrote: »

That wouldn't be too good for anyone.

Really? I know one group of people it would be very good for, those who don't own property.

AARRRGH

TwoShedsJackson wrote: »

The bank won't allow you to sell the property without clearing the mortgage and they will do this by holding the deeds so the sale can't be completed. They are also unlikely to convert anything you fall short on on the sale into a loan, it's not in their interest to allow you to switch from a loan they have collateral on, to one they don't.

Yep.

So, OP, in summary, you are stuck with your apartment.

Maybe you could rent it out at a low rent (to attract a tenant) so at least you are losing slightly less each month? (I'm assuming you're not living in the apartment.)

stepbar

Where is this apt?

ricman

YEAH, i hope nama gives 80thousands houses to the housing authority,
but that would mean aLL THOSE landlords would not be able to get 900 per month rent from single mothers on welfare/rent allowance.
IE if rent goes down, that would also push the price of houses down too.
AT least 25per cent of landlords rely on rent allowance to survive,.
When did fianna fail do anything in a simple effecient way .They allways do everything in the most complex,expensive way , that benefits banks, private interests and costs the taxpayers billions.
IS nama gonna rent out 80 thousand units for ten years.I doubt it.

AARRRGH

ricman wrote: »

IS nama gonna rent out 80 thousand units for ten years.I doubt it.

I don't think they have any idea what to do with the houses. They only care about getting the bad debts off the banks' balance sheets and giving them money.

Idbatterim

Do we know the breakdown of how many housing units have gone into nama, where they are located etc? When will we have an idea of what they are going to do with them? I have a serious problem with the massive transfer of wealth from the coping classes to the landlord classes! now we have a solution, hundreds of thousands of units ready to be completed and fitted out, I prey to god firesales take place and that they are used for social housing. Although I suspect FF and their mates will do all possible to prevent this! If the government really want to reduce welfare payments and lower the cost of living etc, housing is the most significant cost we all face, be it a mortgage or rent, it would be a great start!

Idbatterim

Op if you had sold it a year ago at a realistic price, would you have been able to clear entire mortgage?

stvincent

Rulmeq wrote: »

Really? I know one group of people it would be very good for, those who don't own property.

We all own property. I love Nama.

AARRRRGH

ricman wrote: »

YEAH, i hope nama gives 80thousands houses to the housing authority,
but that would mean aLL THOSE landlords would not be able to get 900 per month rent from single mothers on welfare/rent allowance.
IE if rent goes down, that would also push the price of houses down too.
AT least 25per cent of landlords rely on rent allowance to survive,.
When did fianna fail do anything in a simple effecient way .They allways do everything in the most complex,expensive way , that benefits banks, private interests and costs the taxpayers billions.
IS nama gonna rent out 80 thousand units for ten years.I doubt it.

I predict 90% of the ones given over to social housing are in Lietrim or at least 50km + from the major cities

Otherwise they'll have to just be knocked down.

stepbar

Is there a problem with having social housing in Leitrim (note spelling) huh? Maybe, just maybe there's a few people waiting for housing in the area huh? Considering that there are c3k empty houses in Leitrim (vast majority privately owned) I struggle with your gombeen prediction. Perhaps you struggle with it yourself. Or perhaps I guess you haven't a ****ing clue what you talk of. I'd say it's the latter.

AARRRRGH

stepbar wrote: »

Is there a problem with having social housing in Leitrim (note spelling) huh? Maybe, just maybe there's a few people waiting for housing in the area huh? Considering that there are c3k empty houses in Leitrim (vast majority privately owned) I struggle with your gombeen prediction. Perhaps you struggle with it yourself. Or perhaps I guess you haven't a ****ing clue what you talk of. I'd say it's the latter.

ahhh. Poor you. Sounds like you're upset. Take a tablet.
Leitrim is a kip. Everybody knows this, except whoever decided to build houses and apartments there. The houses there will never sell. Might as well give them away for social housing. Either that or knock them down.

stepbar

AARRRRGH wrote: »

Leitrim is a kip.

LOL ****ing LOL.

That would be funny if it was true. Coming from someone from fcuking Carlow I find that real funny. Talk about irony :rolleyes:

dan_d

Interesting post.
What happens if you can't meet your mortgage repayments, and you agree to try and sell the property, and service what's left as a loan?
I'm not selling myself, but I reckon our house is in maybe 30k of negative equity (maybe less, it's hard to tell) and I've been wondering what would happen if we decided to sell up, in order to emigrate, and took the hit on the negative equity.
Would it matter, once you were able to pay the balance back to the bank, as say, a loan??

ArraMusha

If you really want to sell, drop your price, sell and move on.
If you dont want to sell start painting as you'll be there for a few years.

B & Q have good offers on paint now.

AARRRRGH

stepbar wrote: »

LOL ****ing LOL.

That would be funny if it was true. Coming from someone from fcuking Carlow I find that real funny. Talk about irony :rolleyes:

Carlow is a kip too. ALmost as bad as Leitrim tbh.
I wouldnt live in either if they gave the houses away for free.
Though it seems you and I are biased. But the rest of the country will agree that both Carlow and Leitrim are the biggest ****holes by far, and nobody would buy a house in either no matter what price they got them for.

stepbar

LOL. Oh boy :rolleyes:

Nice effort trying to associating Leitrim with Carlow there... Nice try.

But it's good to see you're proud of where you're from... LOL. You're a real credit to your parents :rolleyes:

TwoShedsJackson

dan_d wrote: »

Interesting post.
What happens if you can't meet your mortgage repayments, and you agree to try and sell the property, and service what's left as a loan?
I'm not selling myself, but I reckon our house is in maybe 30k of negative equity (maybe less, it's hard to tell) and I've been wondering what would happen if we decided to sell up, in order to emigrate, and took the hit on the negative equity.
Would it matter, once you were able to pay the balance back to the bank, as say, a loan??

As mentioned before, the bank won't let you sell the house if you cannot clear the mortgage with the proceeds. If you're 30k in negative equity, you need to have 30k to hand over to the bank on the day the sale goes through, or they won't release the deeds to allow the sale to be completed. You won't have the option of selling and taking the hit on the negative equity, the bank won't allow you.

AARRRRGH

stepbar wrote: »

LOL. Oh boy :rolleyes:

Nice effort trying to associating Leitrim with Carlow there... Nice try.

But it's good to see you're proud of where you're from... LOL. You're a real credit to your parents :rolleyes:

You're trying a bit too hard. Almost like you are trying really hard to convince yourself that Leitrim has anything to offer anyone. Its got NOTHING.