is it worth renting in a new area before you buy if you haven't yet sold?

[MissChief]

from my countless threads, some of you may be aware that we're planning to relocate
We've not yet sold but are desperate to move and get settled in the new area some 60 miles away, ideally for sept for ds to start the academic yr in his new school. To do this, we'd need to rent where we;re planning to move to and keep our current house on the market. We've just realised that we woulnd't be able to have viewings on our current house within 4 mths of a 6-month rental so we'd probably have to leave it vacant so that it could potentially sell. Rather a nightmare as we've got a large mortage to cover but we could just about afford it for a few months (if our rental's cheap). Has anyone any expereince of doing this? Any tips? TIA!

I have moved from Scotland to England and we rented for the first 6 months, so we could suss out the good areas from the bad. Having said that my dh works for a large global company and they paid the rent for us, whilst our house in Scotland was in the process of being sold. It did mean however that we had time to look around and finally settled on a village with good facilities and amenities.

oh, that's lucky - we're moving further from dh's work so somehow don't think they'll give us a package! How are you settling in, then, did it take you long?

You could rent it for the 6 months and put it up for sale after 4, if it still doesn't sell your tenants would move onto a rolling contract with a month's notice either side. Or think you could have it up for sale from the beginning but have a delayed completion at the end of the 6 month term. Viewings would have to be at a minimum of 24 hours notice (the time for entry by landlord or representative is written into the lease) but not sure why you should n't have them in the first 4 months.

I found it relatively easy to settle in because of dd.(have lived here for 5 years now). People usually strike up a conversation with you whilst doing the playgroup/school pick-up etc. I went on to have my ds down here, which at the time of the move I never envisage having another child because I was so far away from my mum and my friends and never thought I could cope without any form of "back-up". I have made 6 good friends down here. One of whom I used to work with in Scotland many years ago (we both ended up in the same English village by coincidence!). Good luck with the move!

thanks, that is a coincidence, fimbo! Like you, I had a 2nd after moving and did help in terms of settling in - now on the move again though!

Lizs - I was surprised when agent said this as thought it was ok at 24 hrs notice too-he said somehting about "right to quiet enjoyment" whihc meant couldn't realistically have viewings aprt from 4-6mths.

we are renting, we moved 250 miles to a new area and couldn't decide about exactly where to buy a house in the new area. so far it's working out well, and we've found our dream house to buy (but have problems with our old house sale, maybe i should join your other thread). but the renting itself has worked for us I think, we now feel we know far more about the area we're looking at and the area our new house (if we don't lose it due to crap buyers ) is in.

rental isn't particularly cheap but we figured it would be a costly mistake to buy a house and then find we wanted to move again because we'd got it wrong.

that's reassuring, so you're not currently renting out your old house then fennel?

oh and hope your buyers pull their finger out, sounds a hassle!

bump

sorry Mischief, no, it's empty. we moved out mid march, got it painted all magnolia and beige and sold it the next week (it looked better without 5 of us and loads of plastic toys all over it). to buyers who aren't in a chain, were "cash buyers" and apparently wanted to move in within a month. but maybe they were lying and have reasons for slowing down the sale, i don't konw.

oh, hope it works out for you, guess it generally takes longer than people expect..

bump - anyone else got any comments??