To sell or to rent? What's a good time?

  • Thread starter cuppacoffee
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cuppacoffee

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Hi,
I have a terraced house in Carlow which I have been renting out for the last 4 years or so.

I will probably want to sell it around the end of the year to help finance the purchase of another house (I'll be renting in the meantime).

I'm a bit confused about when would be a good time to sell it though - and an extra issue to complicate things is that our last tenant left about 2 months ago and we haven't found a new one yet.

The questions I have really are:
1) Is this a bad time to be looking for a tenant? - Is it likely to be lying empty for long (previously it was always quite easy to find a new tenant).

2) Would it be a good idea to consider selling it right now (based on the fact that it is empty, current market etc.) or would it be better to keep looking for a new tenant and sell it later.

Thanks for any opinions!
 
I am not a property investor, so I won't have a lot of very directly applicable advice. However, we've just had an offer accepted on a house we want to buy, and here is what I found when house shopping:

1) Yes, it is a relatively bad time to look for tenants. According to Daft, the number of vacant rentals is going up and has been for a while. An empty house is always easier to sell than one with tenants in it. An empty house is suitable for an investor or an occupier. An occupied house is suitable only for an investor or a buyer who can wait to occupy. Viewings are also harder to organise because they have to be scheduled with the tenant.

2) While prices are going down, here at least there is still a lot of competition between buyers at the bottom of the market so your ability to sell quickly may depend on where your house sits on the property ladder.

3) Other houses in the mid-range or high value market here seem to be sitting for a long, long time, maybe because there is so much more selection and room for low-ball offers and counter-offers.

Regardless, if it's empty, there's no reason not to try and sell it now. Empty is better, and you can't get a tenant in quickly anyway, so why wouldn't you list it?
 
You say you'll probably want to sell it around the end of the year. This actually means you may need to put it on the market NOW. Even in the unlikely event you got a sale in the next 2 weeks, the sale could take up to 3 months to go through, or that sale might fall through after 4 wks and you'd have to put it out there again. The current selling season ends around the end of June. July and Aug are traditionally quiet and estate agents and builders take their holidays in August. So then you only really have Sept and October left as you get into Nov it gets quiet again till the following Feb. I could well be corrected on this by some estate agents. On the current market question well there's only one answer to that, sell it sooner rather than later.
 
Thanks for the replies. Some very good points there.
I suppose what I thought was that maybe the selling market would pick up a bit after the end of the year... but I know that is not certain.

If I listed it for sale now, it will be extremely difficult to find a tenant won't it? So I'll be left with the mortgage until it sells probably....which in this climate could be a while as was mentioned.

(Even if I did find an interested tenant can I put some clause in the contract that they need to leave if the house is sold or how does that work?)

Thanks again.
 
I am house hunting around in the midlands and most of the houses I view have either the owners or tenants in them. To be honest it never bothers me as a house hunter if the house is really tidy or not. Talk to a couple of letting agents and estate agents in Carlow about how to have tenants in while you are selling, even if you want to rent it yourself rather than get a letting agent. Some of the estate agents actually operate as letting agents as well. As far as I know you can have tenancy agreements that either side can give notice to end the contract.
 
You could have a month to month tenancy agreement, but after 6 months the Part 4 tenancy agreement kicks in regardless. You can give the tenant the legally required notice at that point as long as they don't have a fixed term (ie, 1 year) lease.
 
It doesn't bother me that properties are occupied by owner/tenants when I view them. Go ahead and list and try get another tenant at the same time
 
your house could be slow to sell, to I would look to get tenants on a 6 month lease. In my experience good properties will always rent if they are in good condition and well furnished, painted nuetral colours etc.(read this for more detail http://www.irishlandlord.com/index.aspx?page=infocentre_article_view&id=20 The rental market is still strong, you just need to get prospective tenants to pick your house. look for a reasonable rent and you should have no problems renting it
 
Rentals are fine at the moment, if people aren't buying their renting. Its difficult to rent a house if a for sale sign is outside the door, and tenants rarely make the selling process easier, I would look to sell without tenants for a while and if need be then try to let it.
 

Gerry m, most of your posts seem to point the readers to the new website irishlandlord.com.

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