What would you do? Try to buy this house or walk away? sorry a bit long

[coffeegonzo]

We sold our house in August and decided to rent rather than rush in to buying as we've moved to a city and wanted to get to know where we wanted to be. We've had a very bad couple of years - my husband died a year ago after an 18 month illness, and both my parents died; three children who have been through the mill. Through friends and luck we found a house to rent in our dream street; it's a cranky old house and a bit awkward to live in but the area is the best in this city probably. We signed for a year. It's been a haven and it feels like home. The landlords gave us the impression they wanted to sell at some future point and would be delighted if we eventually bought it. It's very hard to value as there are no others like it in the street and it's very unmodernised; and an odd layout, shape etc. Now it's spring and new houses come on to the market, I wrote to the landlords to ask what sort of price they might want so we could rule it out or in; they replied that they're not thinking of selling at all yet, but may later, not giving any time scale. The tone of the letter was 'thanks and good luck". Should we hang on, paying rent which is wasted money, but we may eventually get the house, or should we just start looking again? I don't want to disrupt the children. We have lovely neighbours..the thought of moving again is...well....

[SparkleSoiree]

I would continue renting for a while. Continuity for the children, the landlords aren't in a hurry to sell. Take my time finding my feet and have a more relaxed approach to finding somewhere to sell.

Sometimes just having a breather is more important than doing anything.

[SparkleSoiree]

*A more relaxed approach in finding somewhere to buy. (sorry)

[TheGreatHunt]

What happens if they change their mind and they sell at more than you can afford?

[coffeegonzo]

Hi Sparkle (I've name changed btw) yes, that's my instinct, but financially it's mad...also the landlord's letter didn't actually say they were going to continue letting it (although I think they probably are). They might want it for family or have another friend who's interested in renting it; they pointedly didn't say any of this; I don't want to be pushy by pressing them with questions either.

[Choccybaby]

I don't think it's being pushy to ask them to confirm whether they'll be able to continue letting it to you if they don't want to sell. Seems a natural follow on question to them saying they're not selling tbh.

[coffeegonzo]

TheGreat - I know. I have a slightly variable top price but it's difficult because the house could have a wide difference between it's top or bottom value - because of it's position someone might be prepared to pay over the odds; houses don't come up in this street that often

[coffeegonzo]

Choccy, yes, I'm going to ask them that, but need to be clear in my mind whether it's sensible to go on renting for ages which is wasted money.....

[enriquetheringbearinglizard]

Coffee, given what you and your children have been going through I don't think you should rush into anything.
I think it's perfectly fair to ask the LL to qualify the position of the house and that after your year's tenancy is up you're on a one month rolling contract (I presume)

Keep your eyes peeled on what there is to buy, but don't feel pressured either way. When you do commit to buy I think it's extremely important in your situation to get it right.

[mumofthemonsters808]

I really hope things work out for you and you have many years of happiness after all the pain you have endured.

[Sunnyshores]

As a landlord I wouldnt mind if my tenant asked questions about my longer term intentions re them and the house, after all a long term tenant is what most landlords want.

I appreciate they maybe dont know what date they'll sell, but they must have a rough timeline in mind - ie when prices reach x, if the mortgage goes up to x, when we retire at x....

The other thing as you say, you dont even know if the price is/will be something you can afford. Can you see on mouseprice.com what they paid for it and what it's worth now? It would be awful to sit there paying rents for say 3 years, only discover its worth far more than you can afford.

Are you renting through an Agent? Do they have a sales departmentt hat would be able to give you a heads up on value?

Personally I'd say another year is a breather it sounds like you need, after that renting is dead money.

[ProjectGainsborough]

gonzo I'm sorry you've had such a bad time. Nothing to add to what others have said in that I would bide my time and wait for the right thing to come along.

Sending positive vibes.

[coffeegonzo]

Thank you for all your replies; I haven't been on mumsnet for nearly 2 years I don't think; I couldn't do any "normal" and didn't want to share all our crisis and sadness at that time; but it's reminded me of what a good place it is!
I may get an estate agent round again (I've had one already who is the friend of a friend but he found it really hard to price although thought he could probably get it within our budget)
But MyFeet - yes prices are going up here. Am on rightmove everyday! The location of this is just brilliant for us re school as well. But I have a lot of furniture in storage as this is semi furnished and not big enough for my stuff. So we may find another place which is better and cheaper. The children need to get used to not having their heart set on this and also being further away from everything; it's unlikely we'll find something so central.

We'll stay until the summer definitely. Thanks for all your input.

[coffeegonzo]

Sunny - annoyingly it doesn't come up on mouseprice or zoopla- the previous owners had it for years. But it's on a street of very old and diverse houses, some with gardens, some yards (ours has a pretty yard) Some are huge Georgian, some small cottagey, and some downright quirky like this....

[lulupeg]

I'm so sorry for the turmoil and sadness you've all been through, you sound very strong.

Have you considered renting it long term - like 2/3 years and meanwhile buying an investment property so you are back on the ladder while you bide your time? You'd need to factor in costs and whether it would be worth your while but if the market is rising it might be a prudent move? That way you can enjoy your home and location (providing your landlord is happy to sign a longer tendency) but you wouldn't feel like you were wasting money as you'd be paying off someone's mortgage and someone'd be paying off yours.

Good luck with your decisions I hope your friends continue to be a support to you all xx

[coffeegonzo]

Thank you lulu. People keep saying I'm strong...haven't got a choice really and doing all these things like moving etc has distracted me. I'd been thinking about your idea of staying here and buying another house to rent out. There are plenty pluses to that idea, but I & and children) are aching to paint this place, take up old carpets etc etc..... It has a brown bathroom :-? it's a very old and unmodernised house, although where it is situated couldn't be more perfect.

[cestlavielife]

you could discuss painting over brown putitng new carpets (big unfitted rugs ) etc with landlord.
and sign a long rental.

then look into buying an investment property alongside.

keeping a well lcaoted property maybe what you and dc need right now

[coffeegonzo]

cest, I don't have a huge income so am a bit loathe to spend on this house, particularly if we can't eventually buy it...but I am moving more and more towards the idea of buying an investment house and using that rent to pay this...it doesn't even need to be here, just somewhere easy to rent out and re sell when we need to. The only problem would be if these landlords decide to sell and we'd need to find another house to rent.
I've never done anything like this before and it's quite a huge thing to do without my husband (or my parents) to bounce off and share.... I know that sounds pathetic.....

[enriquetheringbearinglizard]

Gonzo it doesn't sound pathetic at all, life's usually easier when we have someone to sound out and back us up, but we don't always have those people and sometimes we do have them, but they're a bit rubbish anyway.

You do the best you can with the information you have at the time. No one can do more whether it turns out to be right or wrong. No one gets it right 100% of the time.

If you do spend to make where you are a bit more 'you' then spend on things you can take with you if you have to move.
I hope it all works out for you

[ContentedSidewinder]

coffee I am so sorry for the hell that you have been through recently and the uncertainty with the house cannot be helping with your peace of mind.

We had a sort of similar situation, we were in rented, the agency let us know that this may be the last 6 month contract we could do as the LL may be looking to sell. So after that 6 month period we would do a rolling month to month tenancy. We had previously done several 6 months ones for that house.

We didn't want to have just 2 months notice to quit the property, at the time the property market was moving fast so we decided to jump before we were pushed.

So we moved and over-lapped the last 2 weeks of the tenancy giving us an easy move, allowing time to clean the new place, move at leisure, and then clean the old place before handing the keys back a few days later.

[eddielizzard]

so sorry for your losses. i really hope things will look up for you now.

i'm rather cynical i'm afraid. so while you're harbouring thoughts of buying the house, doing any sort of decorating or improvement out of your own pocket would be a no-no. fine if your ll will reimburse you the money.

otherwise you're just making it more attractive to all the other potential buyers out there.

imagine if you made the most of it, sunk money in, and all to help them sell it for a higher price to someone else!

i would give it a couple more months for breathing space and think about looking around. it does sound like you've set your heart on this house, but you might be pleasantly surprised at what else is out there.