My buyer is pushing me into rental, WWYD?

[littlecrystal]

My buyer, who offered in Christmas period, informed me that he's rental expires in beg of March and it would be excellent to complete before then, but if not that's ok, he will wait. No dates agreed.

I had found a house to buy myself, and started legal proceedings, but then withdrew my offer after found out that this house is next to a substation.

I told the EA that I will consider going into rental but I want several more weeks to find a new house.

In the meantime the buyer has applied for mortgage but there is no sight of survey booked yet.

Today I received a call for the EA saying that the buyer extended his rent until beg of April, can I complete by then? After that he will have to sign 6 months rent agreement.

I said I will try my best, but at the same time realized this leaves me no time to find a new house and complete, so it is a definite move to a rental!

I have 2 kids so it ain't be easy and I tried to avoid it.

I don't want to let the buyer down, but his timescale does not leave me any air for breathing.

WWYD?

[MrsJohnDeere]

Can you afford to lose this buyer? Would you sell again easily if you pulled out of this sale.

If it was me I'd move heaven and earth to find a house to buy ASAP, but we were on the market for months before getting an offer.

[littlecrystal]

This is my buyer No. 4 (I lost 3 due to no houses to buy). Every buyer I found was super quick (London market). I could easily find another. But my EA is getting impatient with me, as it has been a year since I am unable to find (or lost out in bidding wars, for that mattter).

Yes going into rental and paying mortgage redemption fee will cos
t us a lot, but what I cannot truly afford is buying a wrong house again.
The current once is wrong.

The only one available for buying is with a triangular corner garden and a substation at the back of the garden, and I really don't feel compromising on this.

[lollydollydrop]

Will he not let you rent from him till you find a place to buy, or why not rent yourself in the meantime?

[littlecrystal]

Maybe because it will leave me 10k out of the pocket?
Anyway I am more concerned with his inflexibility while he told me he was pretty flexible in the beginning...

[Flibbertyjibbet]

Going into rental can be a good thing. Yes there is faff of moving and mortgage redemption fees, but overall once you are the buyer who is not in a chain and thus able to complete quickly, you will find yourself in a better negotiating position when you do find the house you like.

That way you can take your time to look round for the right house for you. After the first 6 months the rental agreements are usually on a month to month basis anyway so I think your buyer may be bluffing

Choice between a rental versus house with a garden you don't like and a substation at the bottom of the garden....?

[allmycats]

Go for the rental yourself and then give yourself time to choose your 'ideal' house. The buyer is not being unreasonable in expecting to
complete within 4/5 months.

[PrimalLass]

We were able to agree a 6-month 'stay' on the mortgage redemption fee.

I'd go into rental, and we were just about to but found a house at the last minute. But here in Scotland there is not usually a chain - you agree a date when you accept an offer and it is the seller's problem if they don't have a house to move to.

[WhoNickedMyName]

Your buyer is being totally reasonable, and in fact it's you who is incredibly unreasonable.

It is perfectly normal to go from offer to completion within 4/5 months and quite often it takes less time than that. He's been extremely kind to agree to rent for another month.

You've lost 3 buyers already, I'm not surprised your estate agent is getting pissed off with you. If you're serious about moving you need to move into a rental property, now, so you can take your sweet time looking for somewhere you want to buy.

[orangepudding]

The problem with going in to rental is that you won't be a priority for agents selling houses. Buyers on the books with a buyer already will take priority, if houses move quickly where you are you may miss out on places that don't even make it on to the general market.

[littlecrystal]

PrimalLass how did you managed to agree on redemption fee?? My bank (Woolwich) allows only 30 days portable window (it used to be 90 days I think). If I manage to extend, that would be excellent, but I doubt!

orangepudding sorry but I am not sure what you do you mean by not being a priority for selling agents if I was in rental?

To everyone else, where do you see 4-5 months to completion? It is barely 3 months, and if I did find a house, and if my vendor was in a chain, you cannot predict how many months it could take. It could take half a year. And the my FTB is the least person to dictate his timetable when everyone else is in a chain.
I do not see it unreasonable.

[PrimalLass]

We're with Britannia - they said 6 months was fine.

[PrimalLass]

"Porting your mortgage
If you want to move house and have a Britannia mortgage that’s still in the fixed rate, discounted or capped period, you can choose to transfer your mortgage product to the new property. This is called porting.

Any Early Repayment Charges (ERCs) that apply to your existing mortgage will be refunded, providing you complete a subsequent Britannia mortgage for the same amount or more on the same product within 6 months of redemption. If completion* of the new mortgage and redemption of the existing one don't occur on the same day, ERCs are charged and then refunded on completion of the new Britannia mortgage"

[Stokey]

It's a seller's market - you've found 4 buyers already. If you don't want to go to rental I'd stay put.

Honestly by the time you find somewhere, prices would have probably gone up again & your buyer will be getting a bargain, or you may want to renegotiate.

A friend just made £180k more than he would have had he sold in summer 2012, this market is insane.

[LondonGirl83]

The OPs buyer has only been waiting since Christmas so just 1 month. I think if you were upfront about needing time, you should call his bluff.

London is a tough place to buy or sell. I wouldn't get off the property ladder and go into rental for any reason as if the market moves significantly (as it has been) you could end up priced out. In London, I would definitely say wait until you've found what you want. In this market, you are likely to panic buy if you see prices increasing and then what was the point of moving at all.

It might be selfish but you have take care of yourself and your family.

[lalamumto3]

Hi I totally agree with London. I would not dream of selling without purchasing at the same time in the current London market, you could end up really out of pocket. Also it will really add to your own stress.

You really need to put yourself and your family first.

[allmycats]

We are seeing 4 months etc as they buyer making the offer in December and the OP herself say that he is willing to stay in his rental 'to the beg. of April' The OP is saying that she cannot be out by the end of March.
If I was your estate agent I would be telling you to find another agent.

[Beastofburden]

Given this is London I wouldnt personally risk being out of the market for six months and going into rental. It might be OK in slower moving markets but not in London. Let your buyer take the risk of that.

[littlecrystal]

Actually official offer acceptance was circulated on 4th Jan. So less than 3 weeks as of today. The buyer's rent is ending 2nd of April. I did not expect this pressure.

[EasterHoliday]

with London prices moving at the rate they are, you'd be crackers to go into rental. you could be priced out of your target market within 6 months.
Alternatively you could make the mistake I made, and exchange and wait for completion - I did that in 2007 and probably cost myself £25k in 6 mths... (tant pis, the buyer was lovely, and very patient with me).

[littlecrystal]

EasterHoliday oh dear, how did it happen?

[AngryFeet]

It is a pain for you but there is no option but to either do as he asks or risk losing yet another buyer. We pressured our buyers to move into rental as our mortgage offer was running out and we needed to leave where we were living. Luckily they were amenable. He is just looking out for interests as are you. Thats the fun of house buying and selling. We managed to get 6 weeks between offer and completion so think yourself lucky!

[shoom]

Take your house off the market.
Find something you want to buy.
Then put your house on the market.

[AngryFeet]

Looking out for his interests

[EasterHoliday]

I got a buyer very quickly but my purchase was riddled with problems that needed fixing. Exchanged in Nov 2012 but completion wasn't until July 2007 - the market had moved massively by then (though in fairness they didn't charge any more on the purchase so I guess it was a neutral). My mother moved into rental for 18 months when she downsized. In that time, her 5 bed house translated to roughly the 3 bed flat with very little to spare. In a fast moving market, only exchange simultaneously.

[Viviennemary]

I think the buyer is being more than reasonable in waiting this length of time. But if prices are going up in your area then I can see that you would not be keen to move into rented and risk prices going up quickly. There isn't an easy answer. But something is wrong if you've already lost four buyers.

Your house is either for sale or it isn't. I wouldn't put up with being in a forever chain. I'd find another house to buy which we did with this house because of somebody first saying no problem to move and then changing their minds.