Has anyone ever handed their keys back to the bank?

[MarkF]

I went to Wigton once whilst working in Allonby, was like that place in the Wicker man.

Around there every holiday place, site, bar, pub & club seemed to manned by Poles, either side of the firth, can't you let the 2 other rooms out? Good to have your son in the 3rd to keep an eye on things.

 

[dellzeqq]

Move it to Brighton and sell it for £275K

move it to Haggerston (not a smart part of the world) and sell it for over four hundred grand

 

[Linford]

Some good advice here

 

[Andrew_P]

Not worth it, will take you years to recover from they will sell it to at a low price and hound you for the money for years and years. Your credit rating will get shot.

There are still some specialist buy to let mortgage companies around, I would do that. http://www.money.co.uk/mortgages/85-mortgages.htm you would need it valued higher though 85% seems to be the min LTV

I once lived in a flat in South Norwood SE London bought for 42k and was worth 18k when I needed to move out, so you have my sympathies.

 

[shouldbeinbed]

Ok, don't hand the keys back, as others have said, it is not a get out of obligation free card, it will saddle you with more problems. I have experience through criminality of others of having no option but to get rid of a property for vastly less than I still owed. The bank were *helpful* in so much as working out ways I could still pay them everything outstanding with interest. Its a desperate measure but you could ask the bank to discuss a Deed of Covenant if you got an offer below your current mortgage debt. Its basically a monthly paid mortgage with interest but without a property & could cover a shortfall but is usually only agreed as an exceptional circumstance. It also makes no concession to your other commitments or outgoings & is a primary debt if you do get into trouble so could count against you if you wanted other unsecured borrowing, phone contracts etc whilst still paying it off.

Also your estate agent sounds pretty well useless if they haven't got your flat on the internet.

 

[Brains]

Also your estate agent sounds pretty well useless if they haven't got your flat on the internet.

In this day and age to not put it on the web site means:

• They know they have zero hope of selling your flat
• You are outside their catchment area
  
• The price of your flat is way above market, so won't get even looked at by serious buyers
• They have a buyer they are lining up, probably the owners brothers nephew who is a builder/developer/slumlord
• They are useless beyond belief and should be got rid of

 

[ColinJ]

In this day and age to not put it on the web site means:

• They know they have zero hope of selling your flat
• You are outside their catchment area
  
• The price of your flat is way above market, so won't get even looked at by serious buyers
• They have a buyer they are lining up, probably the owners brothers nephew who is a builder/developer/slumlord
• They are useless beyond belief and should be got rid of

My sisters and I had an estate agent tell us that we were asking way too much for our late parents' house. He wanted to sell it for £15k less than our target price.

It turned out that he had been telling prospective buyers that we were desperate to sell and to to knock £15k off our price and we would have to accept! His approach was to go for a quick turn-around even though it meant a slightly smaller commission on each sale.

We weren't impressed and went to another agent who got us £12.5k more than the first one's 'ceiling price'.

 

[postman]

I watch Homes under the Hammer,my mate a builder was on the prog many years ago.Have you tried Auctions.they seem to do well.There are always people trying their hand at investing.

 

[Sandra6]

Thanks all for your replies and suggestions.
I've been to see the mortgage guy at the bank and handing the keys back is going to be a no, renting it is a hmmm maybe, and keeping it on the market and trying to maintain a positive outlook is going to be hard!
Apparently because we're still trying to sell we can't change the mortgage the way we would if we just decided to rent - which is good because we have a really good rate (repayments of just £250 a month) and as we are renting to our son we shouldn't have to. But the housing benefit people won't like that so son may be living rent free until he gets himself a job. Which does actually save us money in the long run as he was eating his way through about £50 a week living here!
The selling it part is hard, not just because the market is rubbish at the moment, but because of the added issue of the lease and there being a third party involved in the shape of a property management company acting on behalf of RBS who own the freehold.
It wasn't a problem with the last company as they got work done and returned my calls, but GVA -who are in charge now - are giving me the run around.
We did try selling at auction, and got an offer of £52k, but with the astronomical fees we just couldn't afford to sell. Obviously we owe less now, and have a bit more money in the bank to cover the shortfall so we may be able to go back down that road.
I considered the "we buy any house" brigade but they all seem so dodgy that I've been put off.
If I'm honest I just don't want to have to think about it till after xmas, but son rang earlier to say the roof is leaking now so I'm going to have to do something pretty quickly or there won't be anything left to sell!
Anyway, thanks for listening, I'll keep you informed.

 

[Supersuperleeds]

Make sure the insurance is up to date and........

 

[ASC1951]

...The selling it part is hard, not just because the market is rubbish at the moment, but because of the added issue of the lease and there being a third party involved in the shape of a property management company acting on behalf of RBS who own the freehold. It wasn't a problem with the last company as they got work done and returned my calls, but GVA -who are in charge now - are giving me the run around....
If I'm honest I just don't want to have to think about it till after xmas, but son rang earlier to say the roof is leaking now so I'm going to have to do something pretty quickly or there won't be anything left to sell!

Depending on what your lease says, this may be to your advantage. Although it is common for the upper lease to include the roof and the lower lease to include the foundations, that is often as a joint responsibility. If the freeholder has to carry some of the cost of roof repairs, GVA are not in a position to give you the run around.

Probably just one problem too far, but don't overlook that in some circumstances you have the right to take over the management from GVA. Lookee here - http://www.lease-advice.org/publications/documents/document.asp?item=21

..I considered the "we buy any house" brigade but they all seem so dodgy that I've been put off.

I dealt with several of those outfits before I retired from the property-lawyering. They were all unmitigated shysters who preyed on the naive or desperate, promised the earth and achieved nothing that the sellers could not have done themselves. Yes, they do have a database of people looking for cash sales, but only for sales below even auction prices - if there is a steady supply of distress sales at auctions (and there is) there is no other reason to buy via the shysters. Avoid in all circumstances, I reckon.

 

[Doseone]

A few quick thoughts:
1. Why isn't it on the internet? Agents don't pay per property, they just pay a flat fee to be on Zoopla/ Rightmove irrespective of how many properties they list. If it isn't on one of the big portals then that massively reduces the chances of it selling. Rocket up agent's ar$e time.
2. Seriously don't bother with the chainbreak/ We Buy Any Property brigade. You could sell it through the agent at less than Market value and still get more than they would offer you.
3. Why has it cost you to change agents? Surely they are no sale no fee?
4. I think you have already come to this conclusion but don't just hand the keys back. Worst thing you could do.