sell or rent out? my ct is killing me

[sungirltan]

ok, since dd was born and a few other things our council tax has become unmanageable.

our mortgage payments are small as we have interest only.

our options are to just sell and move somewhere cheaper but risk making less on the apartment OR letting it out (i reckon we would make 50% profit which would pay the rent elsewhere) and renting somewhere for a year until the market improves.

has anyone done this? is it more hassle than its worth or did it make things easier?

i am worried we will end up in a rental property more than a year and that the apartment will become a millstone. would it be better to sell now?

any thoughts/advice gratefully recieved. getting apt valued tomorrow.

We rented our flat out. As we were renting out at the same time as a lot of other failed sellers there was an oversupply and we ended up letting it to my younger brother and has student mates. To be fair, they've looked after it well but it now looks tired.

There have also been a lot of bits of work needed over the past two years which have really eaten into our 'profit' from it so I wouldn't expect renting it out to cover much more than its own costs at the moment with wear and tear etc.

What is CT, £1000 or so ? It isn't worth what you are contemplating for that and if rates rise, your mortgage will eat up your rent money anyway.

If you are on interest only, with very low interest rates and cannot cope, then moving out and renting your place out is not going to help.

Have you tried Money Saving Expert and getting someone to look at your income and outgoings to see where you might be able to cut back ?

thanks saf - we just put it on the market in the end