Keni Posted October 28, 2008 Share Posted October 28, 2008 So after our holiday we did what they all say on TV, painted the house to refresh it, cleaned it from top to bottom and then put it on the market, with the OH hoping to put in for retirement November.The day the house went on the market the credit crunch starts!!!Apparently, the estate agent says, they have so many repossessions being sold for silly money that it is dragging down all the other prices - which means our dream is starting to recede - if we drop more than £10k now we will have to put our dream on hold, after waiting all these years, frustration doesn't come into it.I have spent over a month really working on the house, doing all those jobs that you promise you will do one day, and now the house is immaculate, we are ready to sell but will have no buyer. is anyone else in the same boat?Pass me a bottle of wine someone!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Polremy Posted October 28, 2008 Share Posted October 28, 2008 Why not rent it out? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patf Posted October 28, 2008 Share Posted October 28, 2008 We had a good tenant in our house until this July, then we spent a lot of money tidying it up to sell. But decided to continue renting. The agent found another tenant very quickly. But a bit annoyed at having to spend all that money.We're not sure what to do now, depends whether there's an upturn in the market, which seems unlikely in the short term. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keni Posted October 28, 2008 Author Share Posted October 28, 2008 We had thought that one out, unfortunately, renting will only cover the mortgage on this place in England and will not allow enough capital to rent another place and then allow us to move to France to do the renovations on our place.With the capital locked away plus pensions we should (ha!) have enough to cope with all, but with just a rental income we would have to continue working to pay the rental for our property in England, if you see what I mean. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suein56 Posted October 28, 2008 Share Posted October 28, 2008 [quote user="Keni "] ... renting will only cover the mortgage on this place in England and will not allow enough capital to rent another place and then allow us to move to France to do the renovations on our place.[/quote]If I have understood your post correctly and you do rent out your UK house - can you not live in your place in France, or at least one part of it, whilst you renovate it, thereby avoiding the need for a second place in the UK?Sue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
betty Posted October 28, 2008 Share Posted October 28, 2008 Sadly, yesterday we had to put our French dream on hold . After putting our house on the market just before the Northern Rock crisis last year, we have struggled for over a year for our house sale to go through. Afte the house chain collapsing twice during this time, our buyer who put their house back on the market a couple of weeks ago, accepted an offer at the weekend on their property but came back to us yesterday wanting us to drop £50k from what they had originally offered us. Unfortunately we cannot drop that much and they wouldn't meet us half way. The thing is, they will find it virtually impossible to buy something in our area for the price they are now offering us. We are also not in a position to rent as once the mortgage etc is paid there just wouldn't be enough left to afford a place in France.So I just have to keep working for a couple of more years, although the pensions I have must be worth much less now so it might be a bit of a long wait for things to pick up again.Never mind we can start planning our next holiday and keep visiting different parts of France while we wait! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keni Posted October 30, 2008 Author Share Posted October 30, 2008 The problem spg is the little'un. She has decided not to go with us - her epilepsy is being managed at present and her love life and job mean she wants to remain settled. We needed to rent a small place out for her for the year, to make sure she is settled.Once we have paid off the mortgage, the remainder will be our extra living pot - the interest that is. With just a rental income, we can only pay the mortgage and not get somewhere for the sprog or have the extra as out top up!Don't you want to kick some bankers!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suein56 Posted October 30, 2008 Share Posted October 30, 2008 [quote user="Keni "]Don't you want to kick some bankers!!! [/quote]Quite.Hope you can get something sorted out re your complex housing situation; juggling your life requirements and the needs of family is never easy.Sue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suein56 Posted October 30, 2008 Share Posted October 30, 2008 [quote user="betty"]So I just have to keep working for a couple of more years, although the pensions I have must be worth much less now so it might be a bit of a long wait for things to pick up again. [/quote]It's really difficult to know what to do for the best at the moment ... We're waiting to see what develops re the exchange rate and house prices in the area where we rent our permanent home in France. We have been unable to afford to buy here as yet with what we received from the sale of our UK home.[quote user="betty"]Never mind we can start planning our next holiday and keep visiting different parts of France while we wait! [/quote]Now that's an excellent idea!Sue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnOther Posted October 30, 2008 Share Posted October 30, 2008 A horrible situation and although no comfort be assured you are notalone and perhaps in a better position than some who have remortgagedor otherwise borrowed to buy in France (and elsewhere) and now couldpossibly be facing losing everything. Unfortunately the UK market has not yetbottomed out and in my personal view is unlikely to do so for at leastanother 6 to 12 months by which time some property prices (avoidance ofthe word value is deliberate BTW) will have halved from their precrunch levels.We spent 8 months waiting for our UK property to sell during which timenot only had we bought in France (out of savings) but had moved themajority of our stuff over and were living in limbo.Best of luck to you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turnip Posted November 2, 2008 Share Posted November 2, 2008 I was lucky, I sold before the crunch and sit here watching prices come down in France. Perhaps you should hang on in there and wait for property prices to recover once again ?Whatever you do don't despair or act rashly. Economic cycles have always been with us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keni Posted November 3, 2008 Author Share Posted November 3, 2008 Thanks to all of you who offer good words - I know we are not alone out there and there are those far worse off than us, at least Chris is in employment!!We will be over for Christmas - must sort out some heating for the house though - it gets mighty cold and a couple of electic rads don't usually do much, however the electric blanket is another matter altogether, no wonder there are so many children with birthdays in autumn in France!!The stock market seems a tad more stable, the bad news is estate agents are closing down in our town already!I hate housework at the best of times, but ErnieY, thinking I gotta keep the place clean and tidy for around eight months . yuk! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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