Porting is for you if you get better rates in doing so. Porting is carrying over the contract to the new property. If you sell the current house with the equity and apply a new mortgage, you will be able to save on payments especially if the rates are lower now. You can then have a substantial down payment on the smaller house, have a lower rate mortgage and hopefull have some cash left.

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Hi, i recently inherited a bungalow. it is in a bad way (but we don't know to what extent as it has not been looked at professionally yet) but is detached and has a lot of ground. my husband exchanged contracts on a house 3 days before my grandmother passed so will be mortgaged to the hilt and i am a full time mum so have no income. i think we have 4 options depending on if we can get access to any more credit (try to sell the bungalow as it is, do it up and then try to sell, do it up to move into and try and sell our house, or do it up and rent it out) problem is we don't have a clue where to start - any advice on who should be our first port of call please? (builder, bank, estate agent etc?) we really need some good advice! many thanks

Get the property valued as it stands now then get an estimate for repairs. Allow at least another £5000/£10000 for "extras" and unforseen problems. Look at similar properties in similar areas and see if yours is worth restoring. Remember that the property market is very unstable at the moment so you could tie up a lot of money in a property that you then couldn't sell: a property valued and on the market for £250K may only sell for £210K in today's market, so you have to take this into account. Property restoration as a way of making money is a minefield at the moment, especially when you have to borrow to finance the project and have no previous experience. To be honest, I would recommend putting the property on the market at the top end valuation (ie: offers over £....) and see what offers you get. Without capitol to spend on the property you will struggle to get the restoration work done. You could sell it as it is, then use some of the proceeds to reduce your existing mortgage - you'd have lower monthly bills and still have some money in the bank. Doing it up to rent out means that it will be a vary long time before you come close to making a profit. Beware of Capital Gains Tax whatever option you chose.