Yet another disaster in house buying saga

[stevieknicks]

So a very quick history - accepted offer on our 2 bed flat in June, offer accepted on house to buy. Buyers drop price after low valuation in August, we lose house. Two unsuccessful bids on houses, then one offer accepted, we spend fortune on surveys, etc, buyer pulls out two weeks ago. FInd rental property, landlord lets to someone else, find another rental, can't get in until end Feb. Buyers pull out, we offer 1k off, they say no need 5k, we say bugger off, they say deal on if we move end Jan.

We have a 3yo and a 4mo.

We are so down about the whole thing and want to salvage something from months of pain, but I can't move to temp accomodation, then a rental, then eventually (and soon I hope) our own house with two dcs. Parents and family overseas so staying with them not an option.

Is there anything anyone can think of to sweeten these buyers? We are still getting a decent price for our flat (can take no less though) and I would rather get this over with now than start all over again in Spring and risk nobody wanting to buy at that price.

I hate this

I can see their point btw, they have been waiting months for this flat.....

Your situation has made our messy house selling/buying look slightly less scary. It's horrible out there in moving house land.
I can't properly follow your story (pregnant and easily confused)
We just accepted a much lower offer on our place having lost our buyer months ago after survey that she wouldn't even talk to us about. We would have fixed the prob, but she just pulled out. The one we were hoping to buy has (very kindly) been rented out by the vendor, but now we've accepted a much lower offer on ours I don't know if we can afford hers. I feel terrible for messing her about through no fault of our own. I don't know where we'll find teh extra money.
At the moment selling and going into rented while house hunting seems the safest if not a total pain, way to do things.
It's painfull finiancially, but maybe you just have to meet them half way, £3K? and hope you find your near perfect place soon. At least you'll be chain free.
Best of luck.

It looks like the best option is to change the rental that you are going into so you can get the sale over with. That is what I would do, look to rent somewhere that is already empty. Have you phoned all agents, looked in the paper/net? Even if it is not an ideal house it will give you a few months to find a nice place to live. Good luck.

Have tried everything to find a rental, this is the only one available - we were told available at end Jan, but then once we told our buyers, we found out it was actually end of February. I feel like we have been dealing with muppets at every turn!
mrshotrod, we have already accepted a revised offer 13k less than originally agreed as their bank would only lend a certain amount, I feel like we are at rock bottom for what we can accept already (a good £30k off asking price).
It is all coming down to who will or won't budge and our EA thinks we are right to stand firm at a 1k goodwill gesture. Easier for them to rent for a few weeks than for us tobe homeless with children.
But I am not sure I can go through all of this again in the spring!

This is one to talk through with your solicitor but something I once did when a house sale situation got a bit messy and everyone was getting fed up with it dragging on. We had an extended period between exchange and completion. Rather than the usual one week we had three months. This ment that the buyers knew they would be in and by when and we could finish completing on the house we were buying. There were a few extra costs like double insurance etc. It also means they would need to put the deposit down and has potential mortgage knock ons for them if their mortgage offer is nearing its end (most mortgage companies would no doubt extend the offer for this).

It might just stop them feeling like there is no end to the revised moving dates.

Where is that you are looking with only one rental?

Is there a nice B&B or family hotel you could stay at near by?? Some hotels have little flats sometimes. Look on www.cottages4u.co.uk or something like that some people do long term lets on holiday homes.

You should be able to get something for a month for a couple of grand?? Whereabouts are you??

Looking in North London and South West London. Its a bad time of the year. We would need to exchange before xmas so that everyone feels assured, but we would be agreeing to move without having a home for our family guaranteed and that is what makes me very nervous.
Of course something may come up in Jan, or we can go on a holiday in Feb - but would you do it with small children or just shrug it off and start again in Spring?

How about a nice long holiday since your children aren't at school and you are probably on maternity leave?

Lots of rentals do come up in new year.

If the exchange thing would work for you and you have a place available end of Feb - can you reserve the end of Feb place and do that?

I'm missing the why you're not going to have a home bit.

Starting again in the spring sounds like a step backwards. Isn't the market still falling?

What if the current tenants don't move out? That's what I mean about not having a guaranteed 100% roof over our heads - ok I am being pessimistic but I am hormonal! Buyers have agreed to complete 4 Feb so we need to take a risk and hope that there will just be three weeks of pain and nowhere to live. I know something might come up...
Do I sound like an over-anxious worrywort then? Would you sign away your home without a cast iron home to go to?

Prices not necessarily falling, but flats always harder to shift as are more dependent on ftbs with rich parents (as our buyers are).

Yes I have signed away homes without a cast iron home to go to (I'm/ I was a serial house mover). It can be quite an anxious time but also puts you in a really strong buying position.

I'm an avid list maker. I try to look at the logical side of things. I'm guessing you're on maternity leave/ a SAHM with a 4 month old? So you don't essentially have to be in the exact geographic area of work?

I'm guessing in the current economic climate it would be possible for your DP to rent a room of a mate Mon-Fri (especially with people wanting to debt clear post Xmas) or short term commute to work?

Your personal stuff could go into storage - just make sure that all boxes are clearly labelled and you keep an inventory of what's in each one so it can be found. Most storage places are by the week so very flexible.

Your rental property doesn't presumably need to fit the same criteria as a home you'd buy or be in as specific location?

Its a quiet time of year for holiday lets and the like is this an area that you could look into for a short term furnished let to bridge any gap before a longer term rental comes up?

I don't think you are over anxious but it is worth writing down what the real issues are for you and then possible solutions to them to see if you feel you could make it work.

It is inconvenient if a chain doesn't all marry up but can literally save you tens of thousands of pounds on a future purchase - think of the holiday (amongst other things) that could buy you to get over the stress and inconvenience.

I don't think it would be a good idea to wait for spring.

Maybe you could be a bit more flexible in what you will rent? I understand that you only want it for 6mths or so. You have access to good public transport, so live outside of your preferred location for a few months.

I looked on a few holiday sites and there were houses with 2 beds around london, but not inside M25 for around £700+ for three weeks. Could you just book something like that and then you would have somewhere to go to. You would incur additional storage costs, but it could work and put you in a strong position.
Also you can just extend for another week if necessary.

Have a look at serviced apartment companies for the 3 weeks. I'm not convinced that there is only one suitable property to rent in the whole of North or South West London though - is it price that is the issue, or are you looking for something really specific?

I do understand our pain - we had a pushy buyer who wanted to be in by xmas eve (3 yrs ago) and was going to pull out if he wasn't in the house by then- Our new one wasn't going to be availbale until 21st Jan, so we had a similar sort of situation. I spoke directly to the guy buying our house, to assure him of our best intentions to move as quickly as possible, as it turned out he had lost confidence in our estate agent and wasn't believing what he was being told and therefore was being unnecessarily pushy to try to make his point.Could yours be resolved with some direct communication?

I'm in sw london, there's masses to rent round here

when we had our building work done, I moved into serviced apartments for a few weeks

saco apartments - they were really great.

There are loads of serviced apartments in SW london strangely - if you google them, you'll probably find a fair few. Lots offer late booking discounts too which we took full advantage of!

Just found out someone I know bout a one bed flat and has not yet let it out - will give it to us a bit cheaper as a mate's rate. Will be a squeeze but it is an option.
We have tried to reason with buyers all week but they are not budging (and have the money so will always have the upper hand).
After sleeping on it and being a bit more rational today will probably just go for it - will take short term let then move into longer term let in nice house/area for the foreseeable until dream home to buy comes along.