Is renting our house out a good idea?

[PussinJimmyChoos]

We are considering moving soon as we would like more space.

However, we are undecided about whether to sell our house and put the equity towards the new house, enabling us to buy what we have been calling the 'forever home' or scale back a tad and rent our house out instead as a future investment for DS

We have heard nightmare stories about friend's who have rented out so this is making us cautious

Any similar stories/experiences/tips welcome!

There's a thread from another person asking almost similar questions to you: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/property/890902-To-Let-or-To-Sell-That-is-the-question-what

Maybe join in there too?

Yes I saw that but it didn't seem to fit my query completely as we wouldn't be moving for a short period and then possibly moving back, iyswim?

I also wanted to know what I should be looking out for in order to get good tennants etc

Pussin we were thinking along these lines too recently, we decided to look for our forever dream house instead.
I think if we stayed in our current house, adequate for our needs in a lovely area but not 'us' or as big as we liked I'd resent it.
I feel DS would benefit more from from a large house with more space to run around in (then when older more space for privacy) and have family visit more often than an investment property for his future.
I do hope to be able to help DS out in the future but at the same time I want him to earn and save for what he want/needs in the future, in order to develop good financial habits and learn the value of money.

We considered buy-to-let last summer.
Some things to keep in mind:
Whose income will the rent be attributed to -- will that person go into a higher tax bracket?
Capital gains tax when you go to sell -- need to see an IFA to understand.
I'd use a professional management company myself, to handle the legal side of contract and finding tenants/getting their references.
Will you clean yourself between tenants or get a service in?
You might want to change mortgage to interest only -- there are complicated reasons why this could be best. You need to see an IFA.
Would you be able to buy another home in the long run? It's a shame to lose the capital gains tax advantages of selling a property you use as primary residence.

Really, you need to see an IFA!

Fantastic points raised here...good old Mumsnet.

I didn't realise there would be so much to renting i.e whose name to claim the income in etc. DH and I are not business minded at all and I think something like that, even if we got an accountant or something, would stress us out even more.

We did consider improving our current house but it still wouldn't meet our 'forever' house criteria.

Having said that though, I am very fond of this house, even though we seem to be outgrowing it by the day. We have also made quite a few improvements to it since we moved in. Its a shame that we can't extend - its mid terrace!