Plow & Hearth



Sell And Rent Back: Free Up Your Home Equity

by Peter Shukla

The housing market is a volatile entity with changes in outlook happening every day. When the housing market is getting better, you will be able to make decisions about your property more easily and with greater confidence. One method people have been discovering to access the equity in their homes is the sell and rent back technique.

The sell and rent back technique is easily explained. You sell your home to someone else and then immediately draw up an agreement to rent the property back from the buyer. This will allow you to free up the equity in your home without having to move and thus sink the equity into another house. Also, many people don't want to leave the area where they are now living. Many people also don't want to tell friends, relatives, and others that they have to sell their homes; this way, only you and the buyer have to know that your house has been sold.

Throughout the country, many people are purchasing houses for rent. A lucrative endeavor is then to rent out apartments. In previous years, around the time of the late 1990s, a vast quantity of people purchased apartments so that they could live in an apartment while gaining equity. Now, people need to sell the apartments they had previously purchased so that they can realize that equity.

Many people prefer apartment living due to smaller easier to clean rooms. Another reason is because any maintenance work is done by a management team instead of the tenant calling for work themselves. There is no outside work to perform and they are close enough to where people work in cities. In general, many people prefer to live in an apartment, but they still want to take advantage of freeing equity for other interests.

Refinancing a home is a popular method for extracting home equity. However, refinancing can lead to higher interest rates, added fees, and ultimately, higher monthly payments. The decreased equity over time can end up costing the homeowner more down the road. Hence, many homeowners seek to tap their home's equity without paying more monthly.

Selling the home is another method for tapping home equity. However, conventional home sales require buying a new home and moving. With the "sell and rent back" method, the former homeowner can remain in their home, while paying a lower monthly rent instead of a higher monthly mortgage payment. Another money saving advantage is having a landlord who will be responsible for the upkeep and maintenance of the home.

The housing market right now is extremely volatile, but the long-term outlook is improving. The sell and rent back technique has become more common among homeowners looking to make use of their home equity. This process is where people sell their homes for rent back purposes. The primary reason to do this is so that you can sell your home while freeing the equity in the home while you find another home to move to. Another popular item is the rent back apartment. Many people would like to continue to live in their apartments while freeing up the equity that they have built up for other investments or consumption.

Published October 3rd, 2007

Filed in Family, Home, Real Estate


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