Advice needed - is it sensible to sell and rent instead?

[PeevesAndBooster]

I, dh and 3 year old dd live in a lovely city in Wales. We own a 3-bed house in a new housing estate. We've lived here for 5 years and I do like the hosue but I don't like the area because it is isolated...I can't walk anywhere, and am very car-dependant. I have struggled with this because with a young child it is sometimes a relief to go out for a walk (there isn't even a corner shop or a postbox within walkign distance). This is my only problem with the place. That and the fact that dd will not live close to her future school-mates and hence playdates will be difficult (she already feels sad when friend after friend refuses to come over here because it is so far away).

Our house has been on the market for a year with little interest. I am reaching the point where I am desperate to move, and am feeling a little trapped.

Dh thought we could sell dirt-cheap to pay off the mortgage and rent for a few years. The cons in this scenario are
(a) We will have wiped out the last 5 years worth of mortgage payments and be back on square one,
(b) The rent in the area we want to move to is pretty much what we pay in mortgage now, so we will not save anything (to be used as a deposit in the future)

So we will be facing the possibility of not being able to own a house for 8-10 years.

What would you do in my situation? Rent? Or stick it out in this property for a few more years in the hope that it will sell one day?

Thank you very much

Is there any possibility you could rent the house out to tenants, and then rent in another area until you're ready to buy?

You may have to make a compromise like downsizing for a few years, but at least you'll be able to protect your investment that way.

I wouldn't rent again, I dislike the uncertainty and not being able to do anything to the house. Are there literally no children on the estate - no one for you to make friends with in area?
Would the money that you get from the house be enough to buy a fixer upper somewhere more central? There is another thread about buying a compromise house or renting which has some interesting thoughts. Good luck.

peeves i def.think that you need to stay firmly on the property ladder
i can imagine how fed up you feel with everything as i'm in the same situ as you
how long have you been with your EA for?
and do you think that they're working hard enough for you?

Thanks everyone for your replies!

WIP, there used to be some children in the area, but they moved out just before the property market crashed. The mix at the moment seems to be mainly young professional couples. Nice enough, but frustrating for a mum with a young child.

I think at some level I do know it is wiser to hang on to the property than to rent - we used to rent before buying this house, and we were constantly being given notice because the landlord had decided to sell . It's just so suffocating living somewhere you don't like and not being able to do a thing about it.

seriouslyblonde our EA is definitely not working hard enough. We keep chasing them, but they are so unresponsive and laa-dee-dah it does my head in. But there's little we can do about it. We could switch EAs, but to be honest I think they're all the same

peeves i can thoroughly understand why you have no faith in them
but seriously it's worth appointing a new agent as obv.yours has lost interest
i had another EA round to chat with me last week and it was quite illuminating what he pointed out to me re:the marketing of mine
he talked an awful lot of sense and i actually do have faith in this man to secure a quick sale for me

You might be surprised - some of those professional couples might start producing children soon ( I know we did v soon after buying our first house !). My sympathies though, I grew up away from my friends, dependant on lifts and arranged play dates. I didn't like it and was adamant we were in the village ( even though we could get a much bigger nicer house a few miles out).