Selling or letting house for a year?

Question

I'm considering working abroad for a year. As a homeowner what are the pros and cons of either selling the house or renting it out?

Regarding the option of renting are there agencies that can take care of absolutely everything for a cut of the rent? I don't want to be travelling halfway around the planet to find a tennant or sort out a leaky tap!

Answer 1

I would find a good agent and let the agent handle all tenant issues and handle fixing of the house.
If you sell and come home, you will have to start over. If you keep your home you have another year's equity and the tenant has paid your payments. Also you might have a nice little profit.
The cons? Unless you have a supervising agent who knows how much to collect as far as deposits and to check references, you may get tenants that move out not paying, or may damage the property. Those would be the most important concerns.
Finally, a compromise: I knew people who have traveled for six months at a time. During each period two mates lived in. If you know people who are willing to keep up with small repairs and pay the payments, then you can have at least a bit of your cake and eat it as well. That would be my first choice. Because they would be paying only the payments you would not have to declair any as taxes. A nice little arrangement.

Answer 2

Definitely sell if you can. If you let the home go to foreclosure after the Chapter 7, you are going to have a very, very hard time buying another home. It will be another 3-5 years at least before you can qualify for another.

Answer 3

Definitely sell it. If the tenant does not pay a rent for a month only,You may wind up with extra bills, and you can not do anything to the tenant . Will need layers and courts to get them out, and in the meantime, ruin your own credit.

Answer 4

Do you not have family who could look after your property for you? If you get a decent tenant, you could be away for the year and everything could tick along nicely as long as your tenant knows someone is keeping a lookout for you. Estate agents are a rip off, take your money and don't really manage your property properly, so why pay them? I'd go for it on your own and take the risk.

Answer 5

One thing to consider is what are home prices doing now? In our area, they are dropping. If you sell now and return, you may be able to buy a comparable home for less.

Don't do what we did. We rented our home cheap, just to cover the house payments. We expected to return to it, but decided to stay where we were (2,000 miles away) so when we sold the home, it was taxed as rental property. OUCH! If there is any possiblility of you not returning to that home to live, I would advise selling it.

Good luck!

Answer 6

Yes, there are management companies that will "manage" the property for you! Of course its a service, so yes, theres a monthly service fee! Go to your local yellow pages and look up Property Management companies! I would suggest getting information on more than 1 company. Always give yourself options to chose! Good Luck!

Answer 7

yes there are check out your local phone book.... check several out and make sure you happy with what they can provide for their cut of the rent.... but its as easy as making the phone call because my mum did and was very happy with the service she got from her letting agency. She had no problems at all, they screened her tenants, set up the direct debits, got repair men in if needed all part of service. Good luck just remember to check out several to find the one you are happy with.

Answer 8

make sure they have good job so to pay the rent

Answer 9

http://www.bluedwellings.co.uk/
we based in e1, but can manage anything in East london or 1mile around towards the city