Should we sell?

[Passthebourbon]

No one can really tell me what to do here, but I'm a bit torn so perspectives would be helpful.

We have agreed a sale on our house with a view to spending a couple of years abroad before buying in a totally new area. We sold our very unusual house quickly for a much better price than I was expecting. But now I'm concerned about being out of the housing market for two years (as well as paying rent on our house overseas). I know there are some predictions of prices going down, but my feeling is that this is not highly likely. I don't want to be in a situation in 2 years where we can't really afford to come home and buy in our new area.

So the options are:

1. Delay the move for a while until we know what's happening, but lose our buyer (we don't have to go abroad until next summer).
2. Rent the house instead of selling it (but we know we don't want to come back and live in it, because when we return we'll be living elsewhere).
3. Accept being out of the market for a couple of years and don't worry about it!
4. Buy in the new area that we will be returning to after our time abroad, and rent it out while we are away.

Thoughts....?

Interesting @RandomMess. Do you think this is worth doing even if we then need to sell it again in 2 years?

Thanks everyone for your posts. I love hearing the range of opinions and experiences, especially from those who have done the time out abroad.

It means you would have somewhere to move into wit go out trying to buy from abroad. You can then try and buy a forever house.

Perhaps if it's something smaller/cheaper but you could cope with living in you may be in a position to keep it as a long term buy to let?

Kent is very commutable to London so I think prices there could outstrip Suffolk...

Cash will earn nothing in the bank there is more chance of it appreciating in property??

So the consensus is, don't lose the buyer! And possibly stay in the market. Any other views? Anyone think there's going to be a crash?

I don't think anyone can predict the property market especially after this year. People need homes and the UK isn't oversupplied with them. As long as you don't overpay for the home you buy and plan to keep it for more than 5+ years there's no point in stressing over a possible 'crash' which has been predicted so often I've lost track! My 2 bed flat lost money after I bought it in 2007 and didn't regain value for at least 3 years, then stabilised but over the past couple of years has dropped again because there is so much competition from new builds (I'm in London).

If you buy something and rent it out, it's not going to cost you anything. You could then live in it for a year or so rather than renting when you come back to the UK??

Can you buy something mortgage free or small mortgage - not particularly risky really.

If the market crashes so will the future house that you do want to buy???

If you sell and buy and the market crashes then you are no worse off than if you had stayed in the market.
If the market rises then you won't be able to buy the house you would like...
I know 2 people who ended up on this position.

One bought miles away from work and had a horrible commute for years, the other had a huge mortgage.

Sorry. That didn't make sense.
If you sell and buy and market crashes then you haven't really lost anything as will still have a house of the same size to live in.
If you sell but don't buy and put cash in the bank and the market rises then you will not be able to buy the house of the same size/location.

I would definitely go through with the sale as you have a good price and going back to a different area.

I wouldn't buy another property if you don't need one for 2 years as things can change in 2 years and your needs may be different then or schools if applicable can change. I would expect the housing market to fall over next 2 years potentially very sharply, especially after stampp duty exemption stops, but then recover over the long run and remain a good long term investment but a potentially bad short term one.

I would sell. I think house prices will fall

3 or 4 - don’t lose your buyer!

Whatever you decide will be a good decision for you.

When I went abroad I sold my house. I didn't want the hassle of being abroad and having to deal with repairs never mind vacant periods, tenant non-payment or damage. Getting agents to mange the property would have meant not doing much more than paying the mortgage and the agents. I would also have got really stressed if I had been overseas and I had heard about problems.

In the end, I added to my savings while abroad, had a much bigger deposit, and could go directly for a property when I returned without having to get in a chain.

For me, not having the responsibility of a property when abroad is very liberating.