Hi, hope everyone is alright....

first post,

where shall i start? well, i am a novice in these matters, and am hopeful that someone here can help me, please,

basically, i own my house outright, in North London, with no liability or mortgage, and the value is approximately £350,000. I don't work, am a student, but I am considering leaving my studies at university to study independently, privately, by myself as it were, and moving abroad.

The situation is this,
i believe there is a downward turn in property prices now, in the UK, well this much is obvious, but that it is a trend that is going to continue for some time as opposed to being a temporary situation, and rather then see my house depreciate am curious as to what ways i can garner some capital out of it in order to either........

a) leave it in a bank and let the interest accrue, or

b) invest it in a few small, relatively secure and low risk, nominal property investments abroad (Berlin, Wroclaw, Buenos Airies for instance) and anticipate steady, though not exorbitant, capital growth in tandem with some small rental yield

------

now, in either scenario, a) or b), i would plan to live for the next couple (2-4) years in a low cost, low rent country, effectively, becoming an emigre, then return to England envisaging that in either scenario, house prices will have stagnated or decreased, or even if they have gained value, it will be of less amount to that which i shall have garnered from pursuing either option a) or b).

The situation, though, is this,

im at a lost as to how to quickly realise the value of my house, ie. to raise its worth into lump cash. To have the money as soon as possible to save or to invest,

naturally, the obvious solution is to place the house for sale, wait for viewers, hope for buyers, then eventually, hopefully, eventually, voila, to sell. The conundrum here, though, is this.
I dont believe i can sell my house that quickly, on my road already there are 7 properties, approx 4% of all the properties on my road, advertised for sale and they range in value greatly as much as +/- £80,000, although this is mainly a terraced road, with the occasional semi or detached, but generally speaking, the houses are much of the same and the variances in prices seem rather random rather then strategic or representative of their differences.

Do i have to follow this route, is this the only route, to realising the current, relatively immediate, value of my house into hard capital?

Not being well versed or particularly understanding of financial opportunities, such as raising equity, i'm of the belief that 'selling' the house is the only way to do this, but is it?

I need to ask and i need to know, please, please, how else can i raise capital from my house, without understating its value, in order to pursue scenario a) or b) ?


Please please please if you know anything or have any type of advice you can offer, or experience, please do so, as i'm of the belief that time is of the essence here and although its rather pragmatic, i'm feeling as though each day that passes i am losing out.....

thanks so much,

goodnight,

surely someone can help a little.....??

If I were you I would invest in the USA as the dollar is weak and you would get a lot for your money, especially since the US property market is hitting record numbers of foreclosures. I have posted an article for you to read that backs up this notion. If you or anyone you know would like to find great bargans here in the usa I can help you find these great deals to invest in. See Article below:

Overseas property gets cheaper for Brits

Yesterday the British pound reached a 15-year high against the US dollar - and while this might give the economists headaches it is great news for overseas property investors.

Whether you are looking for a place in the sun for the cold winter months or trying to make some money from rising house prices abroad, the strength of the pound means you can get more for your money.

"There has been a lot in the news about the benefits of shopping stateside, but people looking to buy property in the USA, Caribbean, China, Malaysia, Belize and a whole host of other emerging markets, should also look at financing their purchase now," said Mark Bodega, of HiFX.

"It's worth remembering that the last time the pound traded consistently above $2 was in 1975."

Sterling currently buys you 20 per cent more in dollars than it has on average over the last 20 years, but currency exchange experts are advising Britons to act now to secure the best rate.

"We always remind people that they would never agree to buy a property in the UK if they did not know how much it was going to cost them. If they agree to buy an overseas property without fixing the exchange rate at the outset, that's exactly the gamble they are taking," said Mr Bodega.

People buying an overseas property can take advantage of current interest rates by locking the rate in a forward contract.

This allows people to keep buy the foreign currency they will need now - at today's rates - and pay for it later up to two years into the future.

"Most property purchases abroad take between eight and 12 weeks to complete, so people need to think about currency fluctuation between the time of signing the contract and the final payment actually being sent," Mr Bodega said.

"It's even more important if you're buying off-plan as the average purchase time rises to between six to 24 months. Forward contracts are a great way for people looking to buy overseas to take advantage of the current favourable exchange rate."

John
Dealmaker
USA

Oh dear! You have gold in your hands already. Don't throw it away!
Release the equity and enjoy the capital appreciation that will come by keeping the property. Yes, property prices are levelling out but they won't drop far.
You don't say whereabouts in North London you are?
I advise you to consult an independent mortgage adviser and get a rental valuation on your own property! You may find that the rental income is enough to sustain you whilst abroad.
Keep us posted! Good luck to you.

__________________
Michele Andrew
Editor of Square Foot Magazine

Indeed, DO NOT PANIC! You are a lucky chap/lady, I would take Michele's advice.

Hi AV-1,

Agree with last two post replies, and I'll go one step further. If you want to send me a PM with your number, or ask me for mine, I'll talk to you over the phone to try to settle you down. There are many ways you can release some (or a lot) of capital without panicking by selling in a down market - if London is even a down market right now - that's debatable.

We had a visit from my brother-in-law's daughter three months ago. She wanted to buy the East London property she was renting from her landlord. Market value was £320K, he was willing to sell for £275K, but wanted some money "in hand". She could not raise a mortgage, but she had £15K in cash and a high earning job. I went through her options with her, showed her the optimum outcome in a spreadsheet I use for cash management and return on investment calcuations (it's posted somewhere on this forum), suggested a couple of brokers, and four weeks later, she had managed to get a mortgage which meant that she only had to fork out £5K of her £15K cash. She completed on the property 2 weeks ago.

I invested in London five years ago, I bought a two bedroomed flat, have since release the equity on this and purchased another with 100% funding on the equity release motgage. I have been fortunate to have found someone who is a golden london landlord and have a fixed tenenant contract which not only covers the mortgage but also has a nice rental surplus. I aim to kepp doubling these over the years and just sit back and watch the capital growth. In my opinion London in the next few years is a great time to buy.

Goodluck

wouldn't it be better to remortgage your uk property(this will release equity and give you money to live on) and rent it out(check out how much your bank can remortgage your property for with the rental income covering the repayments). as the uk market is down you will not get a good price for your house now.On return to uk in a few years you will still own your home, it will have gone up in value, do not underestimate the uk market.

OK so what did you do? We're all keen to know!
London rents are healthy...

__________________
Michele Andrew
Editor of Square Foot Magazine