Do I take a step down the ladder?

[VirginiaMilf]

This is more of a what would you do if in my shoes.

Late 30s, eternally single, no children, OK job with reasonable stability. I own a small family sized home worth £1.2m in a nice part of London. I have around £800k equity. I am struggling financially as my income is out of kilter with the property expenses.

Do I (1) sale the house, downsize to something half the price and get my finances in order. But this means I will likely never be able to upsize again and live in a desirable home and won't benefit from the increases in value. Or (2) keep struggling for the next 2 years until I get my share payout, then downsize at a later date when it should hopefully be worth more allowing me to be mortgage free?

@TemuSpecialBuy @Twoshoesnewshoes
Thank you, it was a very scary time and a real eye opener. The house became invaluable as it enabled me to finance the medical bills so I've seen first hand how having a valuable asset can help you in life. But at the same time, it's a big financial drain

if you don’t fancy lodgers could you Airbnb part of the house at peak times. Do you have a parking space or storage space you could rent out?
Have you looked at cutting as many costs as possible? Use community fridges for food, have a no buy policy for clothing, get rid of the tv, etc etc.
Im in a not dissimilar position with a valuable house and not quite enough income to cover the bills every month without constantly watching every penny but I will be able to work more soon. I do have a family so no room for a lodger. I do need to keep the house.

What tax situation ? You get around £7,500 of income tax free plus they can share some of your bills.

How much do you intend to charge a lodger?

How much do you actually use the other two bedrooms?

I would also really try to hang on to your house, with Two lodgers in London you should 💯 be able get £1500.

i say this as 3 bed at 1.2m has got to be someplace fairly decent and i was letting my 2nd bedroom out for £700 pm in zone 3 in south east London about 7 years ago…

another thing you could look into is using the house for location filming.
one of my friends does this and makes ££££ I really wanted to but then we had kids (stupid expensive kids… 🤣) and it became super impractical

you could also look at letting your off road parking out?

ultimately you have a good range of assets you should be able to leverage them to stay in your home.

Would it be helpful to try and break it down?
if you know you need £1.5k can you do a few different things

can you:

• cut £200 from daily living by cancelling subscriptions / cheap gym/ phone whatever
• make £50 pm selling stuff you don’t use on vinted
• rent a room
• lodger at £800 in one room
• airbnb the other at peak times / when it suits and get X pm on average
• Take up the 6 month interest free which over 2 years translates to £200 pm etc

it might also be worth seeing if you can restructure your debt repayment so it’s over a longer period / at a lower level.

I really feel for you and hope you find a good solution that works

Probably £1k incl bills. They will have their own bathroom too

I use all the bedrooms as they are not particularly big. So one has a bed, the other the wardrobes, the other my working space.

These are all good ideas but so overwhelming ! I will look onto location shooting

Sell the house. If children are very unlikely for you why are you holding onto it? Downsize and be worry free.