To buy or to Sell?

Question

I brought a House in Bow (east London) two years ago. Since the olympic announcement it has increased in value by approx £50K. I am now wondering what is the best thing to do. Me and my wife are moving to Australia but want to keep a property in England. Should I keep the Bow property for further gains? Should I sell and buy a cheaper property in the UK and use the profit to buy in Aus? or should I just buy a bigger uk property with the profit and hope future rental will cover the mortgage? Hope this makes sense.

Rest of Family will still be in UK to manage things.

Answer 1

Keep the property in bow as property value is still going to increase. Remortgage to release some equity. The banks will easily give you up to 75% of your equity. Use the equity released to fund the deposit for another property in Australia. The trick of portfolio building is not to sell any of your properties but to continue to use the equityt released to fund new properties.

Answer 2

I would think it best to protect your profit by cashing that property out. No telling what the future brings. I don't know if emminent domain is a problem in the UK but in the US if the Olympic Committee decided they wanted to construct a venue near there they could condemn your house and just take it at a reduced price based on what you paid for the place. Absentee rental property is hard to manage, if it were me I'd move my investment with me.

Answer 3

You should keep the property, and sell it about one year before the olympics start.

But rent it out until then, and live with the proceeds in Oz (or continue paying your mortgage with it - whichever it is you need to do)

Answer 4

Who will be there to fix a burst pipe etc...?