This is the story of how I rented my property to save my house and save my relationship.
It was quite comfortable. I bought my house and thought it was made for life. Good home, good job, good marriage. The children settled in and enjoyed the holidays. A little cash for weekly expenses. What has happened over the last year has been a nightmare. There was talk of redundancy and then it came. A real kick in the face. I thought I had made a lot of money with my house. When I bought I expected my house to go up and if I wanted to sell I could make extra money or downsize. Not that he sold it, of course. Well, as time went on, and it was only a few months, I started having a hard time keeping up with our mortgage payments. We started getting letters from our lender and they kept coming. I ignored them at first thinking everything would be fine. We started arguing at home. We had no money to go out, my wife blamed me for taking out such a high mortgage when she was used to renting. They blamed me for forcing her to buy the house. Ok, I said, let’s sell and let’s rent. Well that was just the beginning. We use two real estate agents. I now know that they had both overvalued the properties and simply reduced them after their claws sank into me.
I just wasted months of time on the market with our serious buyers. No one was able to get the deposit. So even though I wanted to sell and rent I couldn’t get out of my trap.
Then they sent me short documents from my lender and I had had enough. I couldn’t take it anymore!
I started looking for help on the internet. I found several companies that could sell quickly. I typed in all kinds of searches from repossessions to quick sales, quick cash, sell my house quick, how to sell property quick, etc. Some were advisory-type websites, but most were companies that said they would step in and buy short-term. Well, that’s what I wanted, but I was worried about getting a cowboy company. He didn’t know who he could trust. My advice is to call and see who you feel comfortable with. I classify a lot. Some were voice messages. Some were call centers and others promised to call back and didn’t. Keep trying until you find someone and ask them lots of questions. The more you order, the less chance you get scammed.
Cut to the chase: I sold my property in a week. I avoided repossession and got more than I think my lender would have gotten for me. I got a fair price for the speed of sale. I avoided paying expensive real estate agent commissions and avoided the risk of a potential buyer backing out at the last minute if their lender let them down.
The company I went to raised their own financing, so I didn’t have to worry about waiting for my buyer to find a mortgage.
I got what I wanted: an exit.
Now I have found a family home to rent. I don’t have the burden of having to worry about debt or when I’d get kicked out. My life is not perfect but I feel more comfortable.