To rent or to sell?

Just after some advice please. Considering moving to Aussie for a few years, and not sure if to sell my house or to rent it out. House is almost mortgage free, just an old two bedroom house in Christchurch.

Does anybody know a good property manager in Chch? Also how hard is it to deal with tax issues from overseas. Can the property manager/accountant look after this?

I like the idea of keeping the house, to stay in the property market, but not if it is to much hassle.

Thanks in advance.

Styerz check enduring relationships with your accountant you could end up with some embarrasing Tax Bills. (There can be some very awkward tax complications)

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Originally Posted by Stylerz

Just after some advice please. Considering moving to Aussie for a few years, and not sure if to sell my house or to rent it out. House is almost mortgage free, just an old two bedroom house in Christchurch.

Does anybody know a good property manager in Chch? Also how hard is it to deal with tax issues from overseas. Can the property manager/accountant look after this?

I like the idea of keeping the house, to stay in the property market, but not if it is to much hassle.

Thanks in advance.

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No easy answer - but I was in the same positon a few years back.

In the end I decided to keep the property and have it managed by a "professional" Manager. I was on the other side of the world so felt I had little choice I wasn't going to be nearby to even pop across the tasman to fix an issue.

The Manager took a decent %age. Can't recall what but something like 10%. For that I didn't get much. Tennants did runners, didn't pay on time, had parties, and generally did things tennants do - except I was paying 10% for the privledge. (never used a manager since!)

Came back and spent a lot of time and money on R&M.

Was it worth it. Yes. Property had doubled in value in four years. Mortgage had been paid down a bit (after being topped up when the tenants fled). The R&M was inevitable so had to be done regardless. Had no tax issues - just paid tax on surplus income (which wasn't much in the year there was some) and IRD seemed happy with that.

I dont think properties will double in value in the next four years. Interest rates will go up, R&M may become more urgent. Rents won't rise significantly. The yield and capital growth may just not be there to make it worth while holding.

Thanks for your replies.

Havnt decided yet, but probably more in favour of selling now. Although am worried about being out of the property market for to long though.

Minimoke did you have an accountant working in with property manager to organise all the tax/finances for you? Or did you still have to sort things out from overseas?

Is there any benefit in selling my house and putting a deposit down on another one, so i can claim all mortgages costs back. Or am i better off just selling and sitting on a couple of hundred thousand for awhile, until i know what im doing?

Stylerz check with your accountant I was advised to sell mine but that was in 1998 because of possible TAX consequences and for Australian capital gains tax you have to have a valuation done on the day you arrive in Australia and close of trade prices of any shares you own in A$ oo the day you leave NZ. Or the previous day if you arrive on the same day as you leave. Been there done that. Found out some of it the hard way.