Moving up the property ladder...

[Purplelemon7]

Is now a good or bad time to do it in your view?

It entirely depends on whether there is a house for sale that you like and can afford.

We've never given anything else any consideration, and we love our house!

Never buy a house that you wouldn’t be happy to stay in for a few years.

Depends on what’s happening locally and your circumstances. Don’t think there is a broad yes or no. If you need to and can afford to then probably as good a time as any. All property prices are relive to each other so if they are inflated right now you will sell high and buy high but if they go down later there will be less on the market probably and borrowing may not be as cheap so it’s all swings and round abouts.

If you were going to look anyway and doing it now means saving in stamp duty it's worth considering

If its a house you want then yes of course.

Is your job (& your DP’s job if you have one) secure? Are you stretching yourselves financially to the limit to move? Will you need to move again within 4-5 years?

If you need to move, can afford it comfortably and could stay put longer than you might want if you had to, then it’s never a bad time.

Yes our jobs are secure and our mortgage on the new place would be around 30% of our combined incomes, 30% on childcare and that leaves 40% for everything else.
I think we will sell our place very quickly but struggle to find something we like as there isn’t much on the market right now

Property ladder - I hate that bloody phrase!

We sold last year between lockdowns. Did not expect to still be renting 6 months later.

Prices are through the roof so good time to sell...but the supply of 3 bed semi's around here is non existent so prices are insane...stuff that sold last year but obvs fell through has been coming back on for 25k more that 5 months ago and a lot of people making offers well over asking in a lot of cases.

It costs 40k to move house so make sure you get it right and want to stay for a decent amount of time.

i would do it now only if the move had longevity.

Totally depends on your own circumstances!

We are looking to move to our ‘forever home’ so will be moving soon but don’t want to sell yet as we haven’t seen anything we like.

Just done it! The stamp duty exemption was a bit too good to miss. Local market is nuts here but we were lucky to find a property not long after selling ours. Can't view any houses without being sold and a AIP though so here you have to be in it to win it as they say!

It costs 40k to move house is that a typo? It doesn't cost anywhere near 40k!

Yeah it’s the forever home and we are willing to wait to find the right one.. although if we get a buyer soon which I imagine we will then they probably won’t be too happy with us waiting too long. We do also have the option of putting out stuff in storage and staying with our parents who both have large homes until we find the right one!

@STARmyarse I saw two properties I liked and to view them one required our house being on the market and the other being under offer! So I’ve put mine on the market now.

It costs 40k to move house is that a typo? It doesn't cost anywhere near 40k!

depends where you are I guess, I wish a move would cost me "only" 40k!

I sold my house for full asking to a my first viewer, had 4 further asking price offers from FTB. The FTB at the moment are absolute sharks. We lost out to FTB on 3 houses (after putting full asking price in too) as even though DP is essentially a FTB, even my sold and ready to proceed (and 40k deposit) was not good enough.

AFAI can see the market is full of FTB who want ready to move into properties and can afford family size homes and can afford huge mortgages. Puts my 94k 2 bed terrace first home buying back in 2004 to shame!

DP and I were kind of in competition with them as I would not go above 200k. Finally got a beautiful house because:

We were first to view it.
It is on with our EA so in their interests to sell it to us.
Put a full price offer in whilst viewing.

If you have the stomach (& time and energy) for the crazy market then go for it OP. But I wouldn't unless you really have to move given my very recent experience.

And 40k is rubbish. It has cost us £3275 for conveyancing, valuation and EA fees. Sale and Purchase.

And 40k is rubbish

That is the SDLT on a £1.1m home. Not a normal house price, but quite imaginable for a terrace in Camden.

Since they think will be a dip after the stamp duty, if you can stomach it I would sell and then rent on a 6mth short term tenancy (which can roll on month to month thereafter) and find your home then. That is what I would do anyway, whilst it is a hassle you will be in the best position when selling and then again when buying.

@maddening yes that’s what DH and I were discussing. We could go and live with parents for about 6 months. It will be a hassle putting furniture away into storage and taking essentials over but at least won’t have the cost associated with renting.

Totally agree. And you could declutter in to storage to help the sale and take the stress out of moving day.

Hmm that’s something to think about.

My plan had been get ready to ‘hit the button’ then when we see something we love go for it but in this market I know we could still end up losing a property we love anyway.

We’d need to rent which I really don’t want to do.