[Tentun]

Hi everyone

My hubby and I have been toying with the idea of not actually selling up the house in the UK but rather keeping it just incase we get to NZ and find we can't cut it as New Zealanders. I would really appreciate your opinions on this? What has everyone else done?

If we do keep the house we'll cut costs to a minimum and ask for a mortgage payment holiday as we definitely can't afford to pay rent/mortgage on both sides of the world and then after 1 year if we agree we love NZ and things are working out for us over there, we can always sell the house in the UK.

I guess my main motivation for doing this is that I can't say for sure if things will work out for us in NZ and I feel safe having a 'security blanket' just incase we have to come back to UK then at least we still have something to come back to.

Thanks everyone
Tentun

[gil]

Hi Tentun,
Great question that will no doubt provoke many different responses.

I know people who have done what you are suggesting and kept their UK home. They seem fine and one family has decided they will keep it as a rental even though they have settled very well here.
Other friends sold up in UK (or they couldn't have aforded to come over) and are really glad they sold as they went through a sticky patch here and would have been very tempted to go back if they'd had that safety blanket, but are now glad they didn't as things have worked out well.
We sold up, even though we'd never visited NZ. We just thought it would more likely work for us (not for everyone, I appreciate) if we made a proper break with UK and indeed it has. My view was always that if we really hated it here, we would go back, no time period specified, but I am quite an instinctive person and find my gut feel is often spot on. So far, my only regret is that we didn't move 20 years earlier!
It can be difficult to manage a property from the other side of the world, so if you do keep it, make sure you have someone you can trust looking aftre it and any rental you do very closely. (The friends I mentioned at the start have her mum and dad to do this, dad being a retired surveyor).

A very old friend who has lived 12 of the last 15 years in the US has kept his house in Hove all the while, and he advised me not to sell up. However, he never planned to stay in US permanently and was earning shedloads of $$$$ there, plus he has no kids, so whilst it has worked well for him, I feel we have done the best thing for us in our circumstances.

Good luck with your decision and keep us posted,

Gil

[nippa&pippa]

Not all mortgage companies will offer mortgage holiday to warn you, if i was you, check!! Our company don't offer as would be very helpful in our case as our house still hasn't sold :( . The money is very tight with two house to look after and it is stressful like in last two week we had call from neighbours that fence blown down twice so we had to pay someone twice to fix in GBP which is higher than NZD! The heating is still going twice a day to prevent frozen pipes etc..we find it very stressful to keep UK house (not our choice)

[The Hodges]

We're keeping our house and renting it out, so we couldn't move back in anyway as someone else will be living in it, but we've got it just in case. We've got family nearby, so although we're paying a fee to a management company, they'll be checking up on it too.

We have worked out that we'll be able to rent, or possibly buy an apartment in Auckland, so we don't need the money straight away, which was another deciding factor.

Each to their own though...

[Sam B]

Yeah, we've decided to rent out our house in the UK, the tenants moved in a week ago, and it is being managed by a property management company that do everything, so no headaches hopefully. After a year or so, if we're happy here, we'll sell up the UK house and buy here. I wanted more time to look around NZ and decide where to settle for good. I love my UK house, and couldn't bear to sell it straight away. We've put our furniture in storage. I think I'm less likely to get homesick knowing I could go back if I want to...

[sizzlingbadger]

We sold our house before even knowing that our EOI was successful. Once we completed we moved in to rented for 5 months before flying out.

We didn't want to move to NZ with the house 'waiting for us' in case we went through a rough patch, it's far too easy to use it as a bolt hole when things become rough.

We also realised that it's extremely hard to sell a house from the other side of the world and having worked for an estate agency I knew there was no way I was letting them manage our property. I know there are good companies out there but are you really willing to let the one biggest asset in your life out to strangers ?

If you have a mortgage to keep paying you've got to ask yourselves the realistic questions, of what happens when the interest rates go up and how are we going to afford to pay a mortgage and rent in NZ while on kiwi wages. Also what if the house doesn't sell ? ?

*Goes to put flak jacket and hard hat on very quickly :exit : *

[Jo Jo]

If your house will be easy to rent out, then I'd say definitely keep it. The rental income should cover the cost of the mortgage, and other costs associated with owning a house, such as decoration, repairs, etc., so financially it should be cost neutral for you. If you have equity in the house, then you can remortgage to release some of the equity so you will have some extra cash for NZ (you would have to get a Buy to Let mortgage, but the amount you can borrow will be dependent on the potential rental income and not on your actual income, so it won't matter that you are earning NZ$).

BUT, and this is quite a big but, if your house is not going to be easy to rent out, then it may end up costing you to keep it. Which is fine if you will have spare cash in NZ, but not fine otherwise.

You should speak to some estate agents in your area to find out what the rental market is like as that will help you decide what to do.

Jo Jo

PS Just realised this thread is a month old, so this probably isn't much help.

[willowshouse]

Good advice Jo-jo ..

There is a property investment forum over here and one of the questions posted recently was should I sell my UK property and bring the money over here (to invest). The answers from the property gurus was a resounding 'NO' .. the UK property market is not yet maxed out and so if your figures stack up and you can afford to keep your property in the UK without it preventing you from doing what you want to in NZ - Keep it!

I personally have seen a 15% increase in capital gain in the last 6-9 months with property I own - that's a lot more than I would have realised here in NZ.

If there is any doubt at all in your mind just don't fall into the cashing up in UK but don't buy anything in NZ brigade - both markets are increasing and if you step off the ladder you will find it harder to get back on.

Dawn

[Ana&Steve]

I'm no financial wizard in any sense, but just wanted to say to the peeps in the States (esp. West Coast) that everything we've learned says that our market is NOT going up any time soon:( so we are selling now, and we've already "lost" equity. Everyone's situation is different of course, but it's good to get a feel for these things!
Ana

[Diny]

We sold our house in the UK before coming out here but if we could have afforded not to we wouldn't have done so.

I guess - like mentioned above - the 2 main factors are rentability and size of mortgage.

If the rent will cover the mortgage then I say don't sell. I can understand what people are saying about a house at home being too much of a safety net and that you'll quit as soon as the first lot of stuff hits the fan here in NZ - but I don't know whether that's right or wrong.

Personally I'd look upon it as an investment rather than an easy way out safety net.

Diny

[Jo Jo]

Personally I'd look upon it as an investment rather than an easy way out safety net.

Diny

I agree with this. I certainly didn't buy my flat as an investment, but now that I am leavng, that is the way I am trying to see it (rather than worrying about what people will do to my home - eeek!) I see my move to NZ as permanent, but it is nice to know that if that's not the way it turns out, I still have my foot on the property ladder in London. And I figure that if everything does work out in NZ and I am lucky enough to have kids, then they are bound to want to go to the UK at some point, so it will be nice to have somewhere they could stay...