House not selling – what about renting?

It used to be an easy thing to plan. Decide to move, look for a house, put yours on the market, wait a bit, sell it and then move into your new house. Nowadays many houses are sticking on the market and owners currently in negative equity with their house value cannot afford to sell at a reduced price. More and more are taking the option of renting out their house until the market improves. My friend rented out her mother’s house for four years before it sold, but she took advantage of the rent money to upgrade the house over that time so that she got a much higher prices when it eventually sold. Sometimes the rent is essential to pay off the mortgage still owing, but often there may well be some surplus to help with expenses in the new home. It’s always sensible to put some away for preparing the property for sale at a future time. If the mortgage is already paid off, then renting out the property might be the very best return you can get on the money already invested in it. If savings rates are very low then this is most likely to be the case. If a homeowner is considering renting his or her property then professional advice is needed. Agencies can take over and run your rental for you at a cost, or they can be their own landlord – but options need to be carefully evaluated.