To want to sell our home and have the freedom to rent

[zestyflavour]

I'm a single parent and have owned my house for about 14years and it's been nothing but financial hardship, nitemare neighbours, and debts up to my eyeballs..plus never having any money to spend on the actual property itself, let alone holidays or anything else, however It's a nice house in a nice area.
If I sell up I'll make a tidy profit which will enable me to pay off all the debt and get my children and I away from any impending nitemare neighbours (house next door is a rental) Plus is have money to lock away for a deposit in the future...if I don't spend it on a round the world trip!
The problem is...if I sell I won't get back on the property ladder for at least another 10 years (poor credit rating) but at least I'd have no money worries (although rental prices are pretty high ) and could enjoy life - sort of!what do I do??? Upset the kids by selling the family home but then actually being able to live a life, or stay here for their stability but be miserable, angry, and skint!
All comments welcome pleaseeee

On an interest only mortgage I would explore all options

We have sold to move into rented. Just to give us some breathing space really. We found a rental which is much nicer than our previous house and we now have lovely neighbours (we didn't before).

Ultimately it will give us less to retire on. I suppose that's the main issue. But it has taken away a lot of anxiety given that dh can't find permanent work and I can't work at all at the moment due to illness. I feel an awful lot better knowing we have the equity in the bank should dh's work dry up. We haven't spent any of it but seem to have a lot more disposable income, just because we're not constantly having to pay for repairs/DIY.

Several people said we were making ourselves homeless as who would rent to us. But actually lots of LL will take you if you pay a year upfront, which of course we could with the equity in the bank. LL has said we can go onto a rolling contract after the first year.

But we were in the situation where ends weren't meeting, the house needed essential repairs we couldn't afford and if dh's work stopped we literally didn't have a penny left (he'd been unemployed for a while and all savings went). It's not a great decision long-term in that we aren't currently paying anything off. But for us it was the right decision.

The only difficulty I found was that LL and letting agencies didn't want us to view properties until we had a definite moving date. So you need a bit of a gap between exchange and completion. Removal companies were also hard to find at short notice.

Ummmm, sell up and move to a cheaper house in a nicer area. Gazillions exist. Lots of people do it. Any reason you can't? Fgs don't go renting it's bloody awful and people who rent have lousy neighbours and landlords who won't fix stuff. What's better about that?

Not all landlords give long tenancies specialsubject and certainly not to a new tenant.

You have a very naive view of private renting in this country.

If it's an interest only mortgage, do you have an endowment / savings policy? I thought it was a requirement to get one?

SpecialSubject Really? As someone who has been renting for twenty years with no sign of this long tenancy, I'd disagree.

People constantly put houses up for rent...give NO indication of their plans and then sell a year down the line.

Long tenancies are like gold dust.

Renting is just paying somebody else's mortgage and you will own nothing at the end of it.
Can you rent out one room?
Might be worth speaking to an independent financial advisor who can help you with a plan.that's definitely helped me.
Moving in with your parents as a temporary measure is no loss of pride,thousand s of people are doing I and perhaps your parents would really appreciate you being there to help them?
Hope things turn around for you soon,but I'd be extremely wary of going into rented accommodation .

I can see why you want to sell but please don't. Would you consider a lodger even short-term. Or even an overseas student for the summer for an extra bit of money. Who knows what's going to happen with the housing market. It's anybody's guess.

Can you remortgage, do the repairs needed and rent it out?
Then you are free to rent elsewhere?

You’d be mad. Stark Raving Bonkers.

Whatever ‘freedom’ you’re looking for, you’re not going to find it while you have kids at school.

Change your mortgage to a repayments mortgage, it won’t cost you much more right now.

Look at other options for income.

Appreciate the security you have.

Get as much paid off as possible & make plans for when your kids are grown.

That’s my advice anyway, do with it what you will 🌷

oP can't change her mortgage folks she has a bad credit score

How can you have NO money if you’re paying interest only

How is renting cheaper ?

You are

Opps, you are in a far better place where you are now then if you sell up and go into rented.

I now rent after a separation. The house is much nicer than the one I had and the area is good. I don't have to spend money that I do get on maintaining and improving the house. I think that I have been very lucky in that I have a corporate landlord who owns the whole estate and specifically wanted long term tenants. I'm very happy renting at the minute but do worry a bit about the future after retirement.

How is rent money a waste? You will have a roof over your head and money to spend on fun things.
unless you can get a better mortgage elsewhere.

I doubt you'll find anywhere to rent as cheap as an interest-only mortgage - we found rent in our area on a 2-bed was basically the exact same as a repayment mortgage. Do you have a plan to pay off the mortgage when the term finishes? (Interest-only mortgages are going to be the next misselling scandal IMO as it's becoming increasingly clear that people really don't know how they're going to pay them off.)

What you could do is maybe sell up and buy something cheaper? Regardless, remember rent is not money that benefits you in the long run, gives a roof over your head but nothing else.

If you have an interest only mortgage and no way of repaying the capital, you don't own your home and will never do so. You are effectively renting your home already, from the bank that gave you this pointless mortgage. Private rented accommodation will likely be no cheaper but you won't have a repayment hanging over your head. However renting is not easy - you have no real security and could be forced to move at any time. Plus the house is not yours and you cannot do anything to it, not even paint it how you like, unless the landlord agrees.

Unless you can use the profit from the sale to fund a purchase elsewhere, I can't really see what selling and then renting would offer you. You might as well stay until the mortgage is up as at least you have security of tenure which you won't have in rented accommodation.

Can you give us some figures

Eventually your mortgage will be a lot less than renting

Friends renting have had to move several times but restricted to area due to schools etc

You need to get a decent bogey and compare costs or rent yours out and rent somewhere cheaper for a while

do you have kids and pets?
if yes then renting with both it's likely to be a nightmare

Don't do it

Don't do it. Renting is a waste of money as you're paying someone else's mortgage for them. Continue to pay your own mortgage and you can live mortgage/rent free throughout retirement. How would you afford the rent when you're retired?