Has anyone sold their house with a mortgage still on it?

[justhavinganosie]

My husband and I worked hard to save up for a deposit to buy a house but with council tax and rent getting more and more expensive, we settled for somewhere cheaper (ex council). It was my husband who was depserate as he always wanted his own house but I wasn't too bothered in all honesty, I agreed we should save more deposit and get a house somewhere nicer but nevertheless that is where we're at. We came and viewed the property at night time to see what it was like around the area and it was OK, nobody about and was fairly quiet and the seller said she had no problems at all. The house is beautiful and exactly what my husband and I wanted. Neighbours are quiet, no issues there (at the moment) But I just had a bit of a nagging feeling something wasnt quite right because crime rates around the area was quite high, despite from living in a council estate all my life, I had no issues but I prefer the quieter lifestyle.

Solicitor thoroughly looked into any possible disputes because the seller was selling after a year so needed to find out exactly why but none cropped up and it turned out the seller wanted to permanently move overseas into her second home. After a lot of persuading and umming and ahhing, I finally agreed to go ahead and buy the house because we was fed up of paying rent and just wanted somewhere we can call home.

All was OK for the first couple of weeks but then I noticed neighbours kept blocking my drive way, either with my car in it or preventing me from accessing it. I didn't knock on the door or anything as I don't want to kick up a fuss. Then there was a lot of motorcycles going up and down the street during the day.. None at night at the moment, thank god but who knows when that's going to happen. And now there's always a van regularly blocking the road so cars can't go in and out of the street as the road is narrow you have to park on the left side only. I was late picking up my son because of this as I couldn't find who the owner was. Didn't get a chance to speak to him as he left before I checked out the window again for sign of him.

I'm getting really scared that it is going to get worse and that we will forever have these problems. My husband is mixed race and I'm so scared they're going to throw racist abuse at him when we go for a walk one day (we haven't yet) because where I am in Wales I haven't seen absolutely any mixed race individuals so far and there's quite a lot of young chavvy people from what I've seen as I have to drive through the estate every day to get to work. Maybe there are mixed race people here... or maybe I'm being paranoid. There's a lot of young pregnant woman as well with children. I don't want to come across as judgy but just saying they are most likely mixed with the wrong type of people hence why I'm coming across them all the time.

But I'm being fully prepared here...if things start to go wrong, can we sell this house with a mortgage on it and obviously just pay off the remaining mortgage we owe if we go down on price? Is this a difficult process? The house was quite cheap but very solid..and I can see why now though. I feel so stupid to be honest and very upset and scared this is going to get worse I really don't want any trouble. I keep myself to myself but I am finding myself almost having to talk to these people because they're causing problems ie obstructing my driveway, blocking the road so my car and other cars can't get out through the street, motorcycles up and down, children outside going near people's cars and my car with bikes and toys, worrying they're going to cause damage, worried about going holiday in case my house gets burgled.

 

[Lht30]

Most people will sell a house with a mortgage remaining on it, unless you've been overpaying on repayments. The only difficulty is if your house was in negative equity (where you sell your property for less than the remaining mortgage on it). However the housing marking in the UK is booming so most people are selling & making huge profits to put down as a deposit on a new place.

 

[justhavinganosie]

Most people will sell a house with a mortgage remaining on it, unless you've been overpaying on repayments. The only difficulty is if your house was in negative equity (where you sell your property for less than the remaining mortgage on it). However the housing marking in the UK is booming so most people are selling & making huge profits to put down as a deposit on a new place.

I think I would probably have to go in negative equity simply because the buyers might be put off by the location of it.. But then they wouldn't buy the house in the first place would they? Just want to be prepared just in case this happens because there's no way I want to live in a place like this if that is how it's going to be. X

 

[WilmaHun]

I work in conveyancing, it's very common to sell a property with mortgage remaining. Essentially what would happen is the solicitor would use the purchase monies to redeem the outstanding mortgage, he would then take his own fees, estate agents fees and then the remainder of the proceeds of sale would go to you. You may find you get charged an "early repayment fee" from your mortgage provider - especially if you're exiting a fixed rate early, but these fees would be outlined in your mortgage documentation anyway and often work on a sliding scale depending on how long you have left of your fixed rate. Again, any fees would come out of the sale proceeds.

I understand being worried about negative equity, however the best thing you can do at this stage is get an agent in to value the property so you know exactly what it's likely to sell for - you may be surprised! The market is absolutely booming at the moment and prices have gone up. You can even get multiple different agents in to provide you with valuations so that you get a broader idea. Another thing you can do is look at sold prices of houses in your road/area on Rightmove.

 

[flutternutter]

Im so sorry you feel like this. I regularly feel like this where I live. The parking wars and feral kids really get me down, we are 1 year into a 5 year fix, we got a loan to do work on the house and I often just think, whatever the cost get out.
My problem is regardless of penalties for early exit/ the loan, we dont have the money to get an equivalent sized house in a nicer area. We would have to considerably downsize, which is depressing because my house is amazing.

I would definitely look into costs and weigh up your options before doing anything rash. As the market is good, you might find its an easier move than you first thought to get out.

 

[justhavinganosie]

Thank you so much for explaining it all WilmaHun at least I know there are options when it comes to selling even if I still have a mortgage in place. Will see what happens I am feeling very apprehensive though.

Even if we downsize to a smaller house, it would still cost a lot to move for us. It took so long to get to where we are, every single hour of work and overtime I did all went into savings to put down a deposit and I am still not happy about it. I should've waited another year or 2 to get more deposit and a house in a nicer location but my husband was so sick of renting and getting nowhere. I can understand where he is coming from. Honestly every time I hear motorcycles revving past the house or chavs walking past I get a lump in my throat.. It sounds so bloody judgemental I know but I know what they're like.

 

[Hertfordshire_home]

Have you signed up to a fixed rate mortgage? Assuming you have, you might have to pay an early repayment charge to the mortgage provider if you wanted to pay back this early. Not sure if its the same rate for each bank but i imagine it will be fairly similar. For example for us - we signed up to a 5 year fixed rate mortgage. The ERC depends on how long into this we are when the sale is completed:

year 1 - 5% of outstanding mortgage balance
year 2 - 4%
year 3 - 3%
year 4 - 2%
year 5 - 1%

This is something you should confirm with the provider if you are not sure, but will be in your documentation.