You can blame it on Peter Mayle and his ‘year in Provence,’ you can blame it on a strong pound (once upon a time), you can blame it on the plethora of property programmes that once filled our small screens at home - or you can just blame it on the fact that we Britons still really hanker after a home in the sun. But the fact of the matter is, there are a lot of Brits now in a position where they own a property abroad, but they would far rather have the equity in their own bank accounts.
We’re all aware that everything in the financial garden in the UK is far from rosy. And despite what some people say, most Brits are not better off than they’ve ever been before because of the low interest rates. The vast majority of us could do with more in our pockets; and for anyone with a home abroad, the ongoing maintenance costs of looking after this second property are unwelcome additions to an already tight budget.
If you bought a second home abroad, or you bought and moved abroad but now need/want to return to the UK and you can’t sell your overseas property, you do have alternative options available to you. When you’re desperately trying to sell it can be very hard to see anything positive at all – but if you just consider the following suggestions for a moment, you may be able to find an alternative path forward…
First Things First – Are You Sure You Can’t Sell Your Property Abroad?
Your home overseas may be the most delightful, charming, attractive, luxurious and wonderful property – it may even be a veritable bargain – but the bottom line is, there is less money available to people, therefore there are fewer buyers and this could be the very simple reason why you can’t sell your property.
However, there could also be other very good reasons why your home isn’t selling…
Who is marketing it and how? Is it reaching the target market of potential buyers, or is it going unnoticed by those who may be in a position to buy it? Have you developed a marketing and sales strategy with your estate agent? Have you listed the property on multiple international websites for example?
Think about the marketing and placement of your home’s advertising. It will be critical to its sale to get it seen by as many potential buyers as possible.
Have you had viewings but no offers? In which case, ask your agent to get back in touch with the viewers and to politely ask them for their feedback. Seeing your home through another person’s eyes is very important when trying to sell it.
You may be able to live with the leaky tap, the smell of dog/cigarette smoke, a broken fence or whatever – but any number of things can turn a potential buyer off a given property…so get feedback.
You can also ask friends/neighbours/colleagues/your estate agent to give you a frank appraisal of your home if you think you can stand their critical eye being cast over it!
Be prepared to act on the information supplied rather than trying to defend yourself and your home! If you want to sell, your home needs to appeal to buyers. Perhaps your eclectic taste in soft furnishing or decoration is a turn off?!
Listen to the advice given and take action to make your home as appealing as possible.
Finally, consider dropping your asking price if you can afford to – it really is a buyer’s market, practically on a global scale…so, appeal to the buyer’s greed gene and let them see how much they are getting for less money!
Can’t Sell/Won’t Sell? What Next?
If you really have reached an impasse with your property and it is priced and presented to sell at its optimum level, what other alternatives do you have? Well, you have two key possibilities: -
1) You can rent your property abroad
2) You can swap your property abroad
Let’s see if either of these options appeals to you…
Could You Be a Reluctant Landlord?
The term ‘reluctant landlord’ has been applied to Brits in the UK who have been trying to sell a property in order to move to a new location, and who have instead been forced to rent out their old home…the term can equally be applied to you if you have a home overseas you cannot sell, and you no longer want to live in it.
You can rent your property abroad on a long or short-term let basis. If the property is in a holiday location you may think that you’ll get more money if you let it to tourists, however, you could encounter a whole lot more work for the cash! You might be wiser to let it for the longer term, take a hit on the potential income, but secure yourself a paying house sitter perhaps. The choice is of course fully up to you…
If you want to short-term let to tourists you will need to leave your property furnished, and all holidaymakers have certain expectations about the home they will be staying in. Look around at holiday lets in your area, and ensure your property can compete.
If you are not going to remain living in close proximity to your property abroad you will need to employ the services of a property management firm to do the change overs each week/fortnight, and to keep on top of the maintenance of your home.
If you want to long-term let you can offer your home furnished or unfurnished, and you may be able to ‘get away’ with handling the management of the property from further afield.
How About Swapping Your Home Abroad?
There are plenty of Britons who still want to move to live abroad – so why not offer your home overseas in exchange for their property in the UK? You could both try a short-term house swap to give you time to find a home you want to buy/rent in the UK, and for your new houseguests to see if they could like living abroad.
Alternatively, you could do a permanent swap and simply exchange homes on a ‘forever’ basis. Naturally enough homes have to be of similar value or one of you will have to pay out cash to the other one in addition to signing away your home. Such a contract should not even be considered without the help of solicitors to ensure the whole thing is legally done, and to make sure that both parties’ interests are looked after.
A Final Alternative – You Could Give Your Property Abroad Away as a Prize…
You could try offering your home abroad as the ultimate prize in a high profile raffle? It’s apparently worked for others in the past and so could conceivably work for you to! However, you need to make sure you look into all the pros, cons and ramifications of taking this path, and you need to have the caveat that if the amount raised in ticket sales fees doesn’t cover the cost of your property, you will not be forced to give away your home.
In conclusion, this article is designed to show you that there really are options to you just sitting there and praying that someone will make an offer on your property abroad. Selling a home is hard in this economic climate, but there really are alternative paths that you can consider. Good luck…