arty wrote:If I can piggyback on this thread - I have an almost inverse situation, but with many similar questions at play. I'm moving to Asia, currently have a flat in South London, easily rentable. Not sure how I'll be away, but likely a good few years.
When you head off on an expat relo it can be hard to predict. Maybe you'll do your expected stint and return, maybe you'll later get x-posted to another country, or do as I did and expat>/x-post and/or return, over and over, for 25+ years. My point is that people who get up and expat don't seem to only do it once, it becomes a lifestyle, with apparent perpetual opportunity ahead. Then you 'marry local', perhaps buy a place abroad, start a family etc. The first posting is often the start of a very long journey, even if the individual has no sense of that possibility the time (IME).
I know several people who've gone to do one 'expat tour' and never returned home, from a former US Army pilot who started out being conscripted to Vietnam who is still living in Asia, to a Brit who runs an underwater photo/filming agency in SE Asia.
So my point is it's very difficult to know how long you will be away, especially if you start out open-minded, with no absolutely clear duration when you HAVE to be back home.
arty wrote:Can't decide whether to sell up, put the proceeds into a basket of REITs or other property linked investments, or rent.
Main aims are to take some income and have enough upon return to buy a similar property (obviously no need if I rent the place). During previous periods abroad I've rented the flat, and it's been, at times, a monumental pain in the proverbial. So I'm keen to avoid a lot of hassle, for the capital to remain broadly in line with UK residential property, and to receive an income in the meantime. Any words of wisdom from the board?
This is a very difficult question. If you keep your home and rent it out you
really need to have an agent you can trust, or it might end up a nightmare from start to finish. I started with a great agent that I knew well and trusted, and that went well for years. Then they got bought out by a firm of absolute rogues (with a 'respectable' high profile name) and it's been almost open warfare ever since. It's very hard to fight such wars from the other side of the world. Especially if you are holding down a demanding day-job.
Of the 3 times I've left London homes to work abroad, on each occasion I've kept and let the flats. There is some attraction in having 'your old home' to return to; and there are also CGT benefits to expatting, and later returning full time to your former home.
On the flip-side, you and your life will possibly quite dramatically change as a result of expatting, so your former home may no longer suit your future needs at all. Do you then sell up and buy elsewhere, buy elsewhere and keep your former home and become an 'accidental landlord' for the longer term...?
arty wrote:Any of you have long/medium term experience with REITs? How well do they track residential property in reality? How much of a hemmering did income take during the financial crisis? I guess the average yield is slightly lower than the rent I'd receive if I kept the flat, but offset against the reduction in hassle and the fact that I'd lose a chunk of the rental income to agents and would need to keep a fair portion in reserve to cover maintenance/voids. Any suggestions for ITs or other investments that track residential property, as most I've looked at seem to be commercial property?
Can't help you with this piece, never owned REIT's; used to own Berkeley Homes shares but prop shares seem in part a ride on the economy/strength of govt/planning law and so on, so perhaps not usefully related to the tracking the value of one's own home?