Advice on current situation?

A question about : Advice on current situation?

Hi all

I'm currently in the process of buying/selling and would be grateful for any advice on our current situation....

...Approx 6-8 weeks ago we found a buyer for our current house and found a home we wanted to buy. We got the full asking price for ours and got a good price on the house we intended to buy. All seemed to be going smoothly until the owner of the house we were buying decided to take the house off the market >

Anyway, about Ј700 worse off, a month has passed now and we have found another property we wish to buy. The problem is although our offer has been accepted the seller's have yet to start looking for a property, and even if they find something quick it may be part of a long chain etc...

My question is what are peoples thoughts to going ahead with selling ours, putting the money into savings and renting for a couple of months? I dont really want to hold the sell up, as if we lose the buyer we've no chance of getting the asking price again (prices have dropped slightly in our area, with most of the houses orginally on the market 2-3 months ago still on the market). I think this also puts us in a good position if anything else becomes available?

I thought this was a good idea, but having mentioned it to a few people they weren't as enthusiastic, which has made me wonder if I've missed any possible pitfulls etc?

Any advice gratefully received, sorry for the long post, thanks in advance!

Best answers:

• I agree with you. In the current, buyers', market you don't want to lose your buyer if you can help it. There are many more houses to choose from now, so you should find one quickly and will be an attractive buyer as you won't have a chain.
• I did this (I.E. Moved in to rented whilst trying to find next house) It worked for me, but watch out for...
  1. Most renters will want a 6 month contract. Try a friend etc. But also think about how long it will take to find something you want and to go thru the process. It may take 4-6 months anyway!
  2. Rental costs should be covered by interest earned on investing capital from sale, but don't put money in to a long term account in case you find something quickly! Also consider putting the capital in account in lowest tax payers name to minmise tax payable on interest.
  3. If moving to unfurnished rental you will incur two sets of moving costs. If in to furnished then you will need to pay for storage, and more costly, insurance for stuff in storage.
  Just some of the personal lessons I learned, hope it helps. It worked for me.
• Selling first is a bit of a gamble.
  Not a good idea if prizes are rising.
  Nothing to lose and maybe something to gain when they are falling.
• My question is what are peoples thoughts to going ahead with selling ours, putting the money into savings and renting for a couple of months?
  Can you negotiate a delayed completion with your buyers? In other words exchange contracts now, so you all know where you stand, but you can complete in say 3 months time.
• Only your buyers themselves can answer that question.
• A few years ago I tortured (quite unintentionally) the purchaser of the flat I was selling at the time - I had found a property to move into, but the owner of that hadn't paid his mortgage for a few years so it got a bit messy getting him sorted out and trying to get my purchaser to understand that I wasn't fobbing her off.
  However my buyer did hang on for months...I think it was five months in the end...possibly six The only complications were that the survey she had done expired...so I funded her a new one (didn't want to lose her!) and also I think I helped her get updated searches done. I also chucked in a few bits and pieces like 2 heaters and a few little bits of furniture. This all helped to keep her sweet and interested.
  I instructed the estate agent to stop all forms of advertising/marketing of the property too, to give my buyer added peace of mind that she was most definitely not going to lose out. I didn't have to resort to reducing the price of the place.
  As painful as it was it all worked out in the end and everybody got moved. It took 13 month s between putting my place on the market and moving out...was previously gazumped on a place I found, then somebody who made an offer literally disappeared. Hang on in there with your purchaser...if they have spent anything on the purchase eg a survey, then they are less likely to walk away.
  I think that if you were to move into rented for six months (that's the minimum you can rent for as you probably know already) then you're putting yourself into a very strong position...certainly much stronger than you're in now. Don't be afraid, it'll work out wonderfully if you go with the flow!
• Oops sorry..forgot to make one other point. When you exchange contracts you MUST make a date for completion which then becomes legal and binding. When I sold my last place (ie the one that took months and months and months to complete on) it sold on the day I put it on the market, much to my complete surprise (thought it would take a couple of months to go), but as I was moving out of England to Ireland I asked for completion to occur three months later. It so happened that this suited everyone concerned and it wasn't a problem at all. So go on...ask! Otherwise you still have the renting option.
• Thanks very much for the replies!
  I think renting is the right thing to do for now.
  Fingers crossed!!
• I can tell you that having moved recently, I swore that the next time I do it, I would definitely sell first and move into rented. All the benefits of this have already been mentioned - it also gives you great purchasing power and helps to maintain your sanity as you do not have to get involved in the soul destroying world of a chain that breaks!