Sell and rent back
Selling a house and then renting back from the new owner is becoming a popular way for many home owners to raise some money in their more mature years. Since July 2009, the industry has been regulated by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) to try and stop unscrupulous buyers from swindling hard-up owners out of thousands of pounds. In these types of schemes the owner has often sold the home for around 60% of the market value and then they rent it back from their new landlord. Sell to rent back schemes can also backfire when the house is immediately sold on to a landlord who will then raise rent prices and/or end up evicting the former owner; all of which is now illegal.
What else can I do?
There are other options to explore rather than sell and rent back, which could be a viable way of getting your hands on some much needed cash. Firstly look to downsize to smaller surroundings. This of course defeats the object of staying in the home that you want and is maybe a last resort. Another popular alternative that was big in the 1990s is to re-mortgage and release some equity. This does have some pitfalls like the increased monthly repayments that could end up landing you in further debt with sell to rent back options still worth looking at.
It is best to take your time and weigh up all the options available to you. Do you need to free up this money right now? How much exactly do you need? Will a loan be better for you than using a sell and rent back scheme? It is a tough world out there when you own a house and is doesn’t necessarily get any easier just because you have paid off the mortgage…
Now might be a good time to use a sell house fast scheme.
The past 12 months in the housing market have been a rollercoaster ride that has seen the price of the average house fall and then come back from the dead and keep on rising. But as anyone will know, what goes up must come down, it is the law of gravity and in this case, selling your house fast before the prices drop again is essential. Some experts in the housing market are already predicting that the housing market will again fall and soon.
In the midst of the economic crisis, mortgage lenders had to head off cap in hand to the British Government for a loan that would see them through. The first payments of the £300b loan are due to start in 2011 and this is when we could see another crash. Some people are quick to react to any sign of a dip and they scream “sell house fast” within the first week and end up needlessly out of pocket.
House prices have been on the rise now for eight consecutive months, but we are still in the depths of a recession so how can this be happening? It stems down to lenders telling people that they will need 15% equity to move or the same in hard cash. Most of the 10 million mortgaged houses are not in a position to move so the shortness of supply in homes for sale in-turn sends the prices up. Going back to the start of this article though we have to come to the same conclusion, what goes up and an unusual rate must come falling back down again it’s just a case of when…
Around 46,000 homes were repossessed in 2009 many of which could possibly have been avoided with a sell house fast scheme. But according to the council of mortgage lenders we could see this figure rise by around 15% in 2010. You might ask yourself how this is possible; I thought we were out of recession?
Well, the aftermath of the economic downturn has left many people picking up the pieces so to speak. Many are still out of work with the unemployment currently sitting at around 7.8%, which equates to almost 2.5 million people. Also families who perhaps lost one household income during the recession or have recently found another job are still trying to pay back debts. As a consequence making mortgage repayments has become a problem.
Many quick house sale companies have been inundated with enquiries from worried homeowners who have fallen into arrears. Indeed, in 2009 about 190,000 people fell behind on their mortgage, this figure is predicted to rise to 205,000 in 2010. If you do have trouble paying your mortgage before you speak to a sell house fast specialist, call the national debt helpline or talk to your local Citizens Advice Bureau for more information.
Selling your property quickly can be very easy to do although you have to make sure you have investigated all other options. If you need to use to fast property sale service perhaps to downsize due to financial trouble you should try and do it sooner rather than later. According to some reports legislation could soon force banks to raise the cost of borrowing which could dramatically affect the housing market and prices. Obtaining a quick house sale in a depressed market is very difficult, especially if you are desperately trying to sell fast.
It seems if you were trying to get a quick house sale a couple of months ago you would have had more luck. In September 2008 the government decided to decrease the duty threshold down to 125K, to try and help the ailing property market. According to a report made by Academetrics there was a big increase in the number of house sales in the last 3 months of 2009.
In fact in some places where the average house price was below £175K sales went up by 10%. But predictably in more expensive areas the increase in sales was less impressive at only around 2%. For property investors who specialise in sell house fast schemes the stamp duty holiday enabled them to avoid paying stamp duty on properties below £175K, making the initial outlay far lower. However, as of January 2010 the 1% stamp duty level went back down to 125K.
Interestingly it seems people were focused on specific types of properties. These were probably studios, 1-2 bed starter homes and flats. As opposed to larger more expensive houses which actually saw a decline in sales.
If you needed to sell your house fast in Leicester, Thurrock or Staffordshire you were in luck because these areas experienced massive increases in sales of over 20% during the last quarter of 2009.
The National Association of Estate Agents and the Association of Residential Letting Agents have made repeated pleas for a re-think of the whole stamp duty system. In light of this recent report, their might now be some justification for that request.
Indeed the support for a re-evaluation of the current stamp duty system has seen industry trade bodies, such as, the Association of Mortgage Intermediaries, the Building Societies Association, and the CML combine efforts to try and persuade the government to review the system.
If you need to use a sell house fast scheme and can’t afford to wait for the next surge in demand speak to Property Cashpoint. We specialise in helping people sell their homes for cash in a matter of weeks.
Getting a fast property sale with a better quality home may sound too good to be true but new figures recently released by the Halifax show that although houses are less affordable now than they were for eager house buyers 50 years ago, the quality of homes for sale has risen dramatically thus increasing many people’s chances of selling up fast. The lending specialists recently looked into figures regarding house prices and concluded that the last five decades have seen house prices become less affordable but what you get for your money has dramatically improved.
How to sell your house fast? – Unfortunately there is no hard and fast rule for selling your property quickly but the new figures do show that house sales are on the increase after the recent slump that the UK and the rest of the world have endured. Figures show that over the last 50 years, the prices for purchasing property in the UK has risen by 2.7% per year and this is more than the 2% yearly increase in earnings over the same period. Interestingly, the research also showed that the last decade has witnessed the largest increase and the strain is telling on the first time buyers market.
Figures show that in the 1960s, 43% of UK homes were owned by the people who lived in them but by 2008 figures had risen to 68%. The number of privately rented homes dropped from 33% down to 14% in the same period and Halifax suggest that this may be down to an increase in the number of UK students.
A fast property sale is hard work and the best way to ensure you stand a good chance of selling up fast is to use the services of a specialist company. Contact Property Cashpoint for further advice on how to sell your house fast.