To Sell Investment Property or to Hold

Micanne

Registered User
Messages
1
Hi

I am looking for some advice/viewpoints on our situation.

We have recently moved out of Dublin to the North of Ireland having built our own house. The house is fully livable but we would like to spend an additional €10k-€15 k on the property to complete it to a the standard that we want. Current Mortgage on this property is €40,000.

We have a two bed apartment in North County Dublin that we are thinking about selling. It falls under the CGT exemption rules so all profit (say around €80,000) if we sell will be ours.

The biggest reason we are looking to sell is mostly for financial security, my husbands job is in no way secure as he works in construction and I will be going on unpaid maternity leave, other than state payment, in the new year.

We really cant decide whether we should hold the property and cash in in the future or sell now and take the gain..... Thanks in advance for your help!

Age
:28
Spouse’s/Partner's age: 28

Annual gross income from employment or profession: €40,000
Annual gross income of spouse:€30,000

Monthly take-home pay:€4,400

Type of employment: Permanent-Fulltime private sector, Spouse: Full-Time, Construction, Not secure

In general are you:
(b) saving?
Completing our family home at present so all our spare cash is going into this currently which is circa €2500 per month, aim would be to save this going forward.

Rough estimate of value of home: €180,000
Amount outstanding on your mortgage: €40,000
What interest rate are you paying? 2.95%

Other borrowings – car loans/personal loans etc: None

Do you pay off your full credit card balance each month? Yes


Savings and investments: €10,000

Do you have a pension scheme? Yes, Employer contributes 10%, Spouse No

Do you own any investment or other property? Yes, 2 Bed Apartment Valued at €215,000, remaining Mortgage €116,000 North County Dublin. Rental Income €1400, Mortgage €560

Ages of children: None Yet

Life insurance: Yes
 
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You are earning a significant profit on that 80k at the moment. Gross rent 17k less say 3k costs gives you 14k profit per year on an 80k investment - equivalent to 17.5%. You’d get that return no where else.

Only sell if you need the cash now or you’re not comfortable with being a landlord.
 
On the face of it the rental looks like a pretty decent investment.

But if you realised the €80k equity in the rental you could be debt-free in a house done up to your standards, with a substantial rainy day fund that you could access if (when?) things get tough.

That would be a pretty sweet position to be in at your ages.
 
I think that sometimes the right financial or tax answer isn’t always the right answer.

In my view, you should sell the apartment, become debt-free, and have the comfort of the cash sitting there.

Best of luck.
 
No way would I sell the rental. It’s paying for itself, and you’re acquiring an asset long term which will give you an income. You won’t be able to do that again if you sell. Construction, indeed Ireland is currently booming. If you’re worried about your husband losing his job he should retrain in a different field. I find it difficult to get tradesmen in many fields unless I have been using them for years.
 
Good plan, well done so far. I didn't see any mention of emergency funds? This is missing and I would factor that one in especially considering your comments regarding employment security so as to get a fuller picture. However I wouldn't sell the apartment if you can resist it, both the income and the mortgage have good value in themselves. Are some of your €10K savings and investments fully liquid? You should work out what you would need to survive for at least 6 months without a job, seems to be in region of say €30K to be in a fully accessible pot? I think your key issue is prioritizing the build up of your various pots and I would put emergency funds ahead of completing / beautifying your home (IMHO of course).
 
Plenty of good advice here, it really depends on how you see life.

You are young and have achieved a lot financially. Is now the time to hunker down and become debt free, or do you approach the future confidentially.
 
If you are worried about his job wouldn’t the rental give you some alternative income? I’d keep it.
 
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