Would you sell or rent?

[Azquilith]

Trying to sell my 2 bed flat in SW London, but thinking whether it might be better to keep it and rent it out longer term. Looks like I could get rent and cover mortgage, service charge and letting agent fee to let only (not management) but with nothing left over. Good idea? WWYD?

London girl you have to realize that not everyone believes that property letting by millions of Inexperienced landlords is either good for the rest of the population , or good for those entering buy to fret at this time

The buy to fret brigade are slowly becoming hate figures. In many areas there tenants ruin good areas . Many live in unmaintained properties , that's why so many get damaged . Ridiculous rents driven by interest only mortgages forcing out first time buyers and pushing up prices.

We will see in the coming months who had it right, sell while you can poster

The economy is so entangled in house prices with banks turning down valuations and renegading on mortgages in principle promises

Most of Europe is hovering just above deflation , Uk is only just a fraction above them. If you take into account fudged statistics probably at near same level.
Japan has had deflation for twenty years and property prices that have fallen all of those twenty years. They have a good manufacturing base , we don't .

You can only fool the people and the markets for some of the time not all the time

I wouldn't sell, if I didn't have to, and was looking at long term. I live in the same part of London and there is a huge demand for rented properties. Talk to some agents as I think 1 bed flats may be harder to rent but two beds a good bet. Douglas and Gordon, and I'm sure other agents, do a local report on rental and sale trends, not sure if quarterly or half yearly, so it'd be worth a look. I wish we hadn't sold our flat but stretched ourselves and held on to it. Look at the long-term trends and you can see where things are going but of course, there will be blips along the way, and you need to be able to cover higher interest rates as there's only one way they're going to go.

As others have advised, be realistic about costs and have a contingency fund.

There's a column in the Evening Standard property section each week about a woman in SW London who's a landlord and self-manages her properties. It'll give you a flavour of what's involved if you're going to do it yourself.

if interest only rates go from 0.5 per cent to 2 per cent that would be a 300 per cent rise in borrowing costs.

Read more: www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/mortgageshome/article-2509842/What-rising-rates-end-cheap-money-mean-you.html#ixzz3DxGxJnlC

This is the difficult bit to comprehend for many buy to fret landlords

That my friends is the part that the government have limited control of. The USA are stopping Quantitative easement stimulus . We will have to follow, already they are talking interest rate rises USA

So, wasn't expecting this to turn into a debate on the future of economy and our society, but it's interesting. We are moving out of London, don't need to sell to buy, but would prefer it as want to invest in buy to let where I am moving (has been a long term plan).
Don't think the fact my place hasn't sold means a cataclysmic slump is afoot, it's only been on the market 3 weeks, it's cash only and there's some other flats in my block also on the market. I bought it 2 years ago for 100k less than it's on the market for, and one has already sold this year, cash only, for 50k more than that. I am just wondering whether selling is the best thing to do when I could keep it as a long term investment.

back on track...

I still don't think it is worth keeping given it will make you no money at best and a loss at worst. Also I don't think you're in a position to manage it and you can't pay someone else to do so.

sell it and bank the equity. Perhaps look at buying a rental that will earn some money.

Yeah I think you're right special. I don't want to be a half arsed landlord, want to do it properly. Thanks for the advice :)

If you are moving I'd say put any leftover cash in Premium Bonds, You cant lose on them, Average return is 3 % per annum and you are guaranteed not to lose a penny.
I'm sure you would not be a half arsed landlord but the market is changing a lot.
By all means invest in a let say in Cornwall or some other " aspirational" destination.

It never went off track, the op asked should she sell or rent out, I tried to give my opinion . You have to take into account some of the points I made.

If house prices halve as an extreme example after a crash , where will the people involved end up? bankrupt.
If base rates go up to even modest well below historic, thousands will be stuck with properties that the mortgage payment far exceeds the rent.
In don't think in all honesty rents could cover the trebling of the base rate, yet alone anywhere near historic base rates.

Not long ago a landlord nearby had a portfolio of eight properties taken back by the bank, that was caused by voids, and a badly vandalized property.

Every time I saw this guy he looked sick with worry, and always sounded depressed .

PREMIUM BONDS FOR THE PROCEEDS OF A HOUSE??????

you DO lose due to inflation. It is a GAMBLE so averages are meaningless. Never won a dicky bird on mine, although I only have £500.

holiday cottage in Cornwall? Fine, assume 12 weeks a year occupancy max and see how that stacks up. The place is saturated with cottages.

It's the big blocks 1000 plus that come up more frequently.There's an element of luck I suppose. I had about ten grands worth early 00

They regularly came up with 100 and 50 quid prizes, Some months two wins.

I would probably convert to dollars as American economy is massive and they have natural resources , their energy prices have come right down so their economy will improve IMO. I think the pound is in for a whipping soon as are house prices. 350 million people in the USA so much larger scale for pay down of their debt and productivity. Above all they have cheap energy compared to British industry .

Before I invested in anything my aim would be pay down debt if the op has any. We are in for a rough ride soon

I think investing £30000 in Premium bonds is a pretty safe bet.
As for buying a let in say Cornwall, you can rent it out for most of the year.
Worth noting that house prices there are still on the up and properties there are very sought after.