to be upset that we can't move house?

[raininginbaltimore]

We bought out house in 2007, at what turned out to be the peak of the market. It isn't in the worst area, but not great. It is victorian, so always cold, expensive to heat. Main road, bus route, noisy at pub kicking out time as on main route through village.

Got it valued, with view to move. But it is worth 10k less what we paid, ceiling price, would get 5k less realistically. Plus we have spent about 20k doing it up.

So no chance of moving for a very long time, which has made me miserable. I feel bad for ds as he will have to go to crappy local school, with local mentality (ex mining village, very insular). And I just feel stupid for buying it as we are trapped, and may never recoup the price we paid for it.

YANBU, its shit but no need to be upset.

There are ways and means. We bought in 2007. Shit hit fan. Oh well. We now rent out our house and have moved to the nicest village in the shire where we are lording it up renting a much bigger pad.

Just think creatively:)

Well you can move but you just have to take the financial hit is all. Waiting to recoup the price is not going to happen for the foreseeable so you have to make a decision about what is important. If you can afford to make the move, quality of life is much more important and if you have no idea of when it could happen it could be unbearable.

I realise it isn't end of world. We couldn't rent out our house for enough to cover mortgage unfortunately. But yes, we need to think of other options.

What it is worth at moment wouldn't cover rest of mortgage and we don't have the savings to cover the shortfall plus a deposit.

I know it is just bad luck and I am being whingy about it!

Do you know that for sure? As long as the rent would cover interest-only repayments, you'd be ok, so would it definitely not? I know IO isn't ideal but it could be a temporary measure until you're on firmer ground.

Try and turn it all on its head - you have to just completely alter your thinking and you'll find a solution. brandy's right, quality of life is the most important thing. And its sad but somewhat comforting to know that many, many people are going through precisely the same thing.

OK, it's a downer. I know, it was same for us.

What you have to do is work out your priorities. You don't need the rent to cover your mortgage, it needs to cover the rent on whatever you rent - we get £700 in from our tenants, pay £700 out to our landlord. Our mortgage is the same as ever was.

We moved out because we desperately needed a bigger house.

If you want to move to a better area then you may have to accept a smaller house.

But you have got options. If you can afford to pay your mortgage and are in work right now you are doing ok.

Keep your pecker up!

Or if your mortgage s very high, just sell it. Take the hit. Rent. Bank the deposit and save the difference between the mortgage and rent.

Or look at part-ex with one of the big new build firms and port your mortgage?

we're in the same position -thinking about renting option but need valuations and to know what the mortgage will be after fixed term finishes.

Could someone explain how a part ex would work if you are in negative equity and can't afford a larger mortgage?

YANBU but without wanting to hijack me and DH bought a one bed flat and within a month of moving in house prices went down. we got pregnant and had DS last year. we are now stuck in a one bed flat we cant find a buyer for about to take at least a 10k hit just so that we can have a bedroom and not sleep on an inflatable in the living rm so I feel your pain!

The rent wouldn't cover us renting anywhere else bigger in the area so we're stuck until someone buys and we have to move back in with my parent for a couple of months to top up the deposit enough to buy a big enough place.

Eek, that sounds bad grumpy.

We were looking at new build part exchange, but they don't have an expensive enough house to do part exchange (needs a 30% difference)

Dh won't sell to rent. He hated renting (we did have a rubbish landlord). I have had good ones in past, so have a different view.

It is a nice house, just bloody expensive to heat. I am trying to see positives. I don't know why I don't like local schools, except that I teach at the local secondary so I see the kids that come from them. I am being silly.

How much would you get if you rent yours out & how much would it be to rent in your preferred area? Would your DH rent at all?

To answer part ex ?, it can't work if you can't afford bigger mortgage.

It's now March, so heating it is going to be less of an issue for the next 6 months. In the summer you'll have lovely collect breezes wafting through the house :)

In the summer sometimes our house is cold enough to wear a jumper, then you go outside and realise that it is actually 20 degrees!

We could rent out for max £600 and mortgage is £730. Not sure dh would rent at all. He hates the insecurity of it,.whereas I like the freedom! We cache afford bigger mortgage on part ex, but they literally don't have expensive enough houses.

Sorry to give more bad news but you won't get a mortgage to let it out if the difference between what you get in rent and payments is as you say. But is that on a repayment mortgage? Most people change to interest only mortgage when they rent out which more or less halves payments.

I don't see why you can't move? It's not just your house that has gone down in value - its everyone else's too, so your preferred house will be cheaper too. Just see the £20k as things you did to make it nicer for you to live in, which you have received the benefit from, and sell up.

We were allowed to let ours out, mortgage company are fully informed and our rent does not cover the mortgage, so you need to check your own mortgage first.

It sounds a bit to me like you have loads of options but an inflexible husband!

If he really doesn't like the insecurity of renting, you could look at getting on the list for estate houses, they often have two or three year contracts and if you are a good tenant they (pretty much) never turf you out as they will be renting their property out for ever (or until the revolution comes ).

Hello, I am sorry you are feeling like this. I am wondering if,rather than selling you could rent out your current property and find somewhere nice ( and affordable) to rent to see if you like it.

You might even find a renter who wants to buy your house.

With regards to the heating issue I just want to say that I think modern expectations of warmth ( centrally heating the whole house) and being indoors in tshirts ) is unaffordable and damaging to the environment.

When I was wee ( long time ago) we heated the living room and the bedrooms just before going to bed. we all wore jumpers indoors and had a supply of hot water bottles for back up.
I think a return to those days is on the cards for most of us.
Maybe if you concentrated in keeping 1room toasty warm you wouldn't feel so bad? Just a thought,feel free to ignore and good luck.

We have just sold and took a 12% hit.
We were never going to live in the house again, although we could rent it and cover our rent, by the time you have paid management fees and maintainence, we were making a loss.
Hard facts of the recession-we had to sell and take the hit. It will not get back to what we paid for it (area degenerated-building projects were shelved in area etc etc, thanks recession!)

There are options, but yes, it well and truly sucks. You've iotgood advice here....I think unless you live in London/wealthy areas of the SE the market is not going to rocket up. We are going to rebuild our deposit and buy later this year, chain free, in a strong bargaining position and with a good credit rating. It has taken us 7mths from accepting the first offer to sell our house as the market is so rocky, so we are hoping we will be attractive buyers when that time comes!!

We are in a similar position but we are moving. Like you we bought in 2007 at peak prices and have since spent 40k on doing it up. We are now selling it for exactly what we paid for it, effectively losing everything we've spent on it. However the mortgage deals we're getting is loads better now so we're actually able to buy a nicer place and pay less for it each month. Bizarre eh? So shop around - you never know what you might be able to achieve.

Whether you sell, rent or stay, you need to save if you want to have choices. Moneysavingexpert is really useful. Post a statement of affairs on the debt free wannebe forum and you will get lots of advice about where to cut costs.

We sold and took a big financial hit. We lost our savings and home and now rent. But we are happy, IMO that is worth far more than money.

There is a link on nthe web page where you fill out all your monthly bills etc.

Re. heating your house; you could get a small log burning stove. We run ours allday in the winter, one log at a time so fairly economical and it heats up the central chimney breast, keeping the house warm through the night (gods, that was a long run-on sentence)

We live in a Victorian farm cottage BTW, no cavity walls and a single skin bathroom extension I invested in thermals and big fluffy jumpers; fashion can go hang :)

Going off the main question you have asked, are you sure that the house is as well insulated as possible. My old terrace, which was always a horrible temperature improved dramatically when we put in loft insulation. Have you got about 10 inches (yes, its a lot) all over the roof space? We got a massive grant, and it cost us less than buying the materials from a DIY shop and doing it ourselves. Don't know if things like this still exist. It wasn't even income related.

Your unlikely to be able to change the school, but can you do anything else to the house to make it more like your dream?

Well having almost talked dh round to.the rent option, I have looked and there is nothing to rent on our price range in the nice areas near us. All massive 1k plus or 2bed flats.

We have loads of loft insulation, we would need new joints to fit more in. Our problem is the basement. It means the downstairs floors are cold. We have put some insulation on ceiling, but it doesn't help much.

I do wear jumpers etc, but I am already a cold person which doesn't help.