Risk breaching completion to satisfy my --bastard-- buyer?

[evilpopstar]

I'm due to move house next week. My buyer wants to keep his London flat and buy my house so has to complete by 31 March to avoid £27000 stamp duty on a second home. We have moved heaven and earth to comply but Due to numerous hold ups and his timeline we are being asked to take the risk of exchanging and completing on same day - which will be a heavy banking day due to all these pre 1st April sales going through at last minute - which could leave us ( not him as his purchase will go through first ) having exchanged but not completed. We could then move into the empty place we are buying on vendors say so but we are formally in breach of completion and charged £200 a day until sorted , most likely the next day. I think our buyer should pay us full removal
Costs and even then am wondering if we should take this risk. I have no timeline and it suits me to move in a couple of weeks when the moving frenzy had died down. I like where we are moving to but I don't love it. Am frozen with indecision. Help.

Are you sure it's too low, though? Is there real evidence that you could have got more? Or did you get a fair price from buyers who'd been waiting for a house of your type to come on? Going live onto the market is no guarantee of getting more money. Sometimes you get the best price from someone who's been waiting patiently.
It is difficult to get it right, I sympathise. We went through the same thing when we sold our flat. But we did decide eventually that we got a perfectly decent market price.

How much do you think you are out of pocket by?

Could you pull out - put it back on the market and then rent in the school catchment area in time for Oct - while you are looking to buy in that area?

If you are not happy with the new house and feel you have left yours go too quickly, as well as feeling rushed and stressed due to other timelines - then I think that there are a lot of things here that will bug you for years to come....

the stress of the rush this week will fade - but being out of pocket in a house you don't want to be in will fester forever ... take a look at the thread running about people moving again after making a mistake -- it is v v costly to keep moving - pissing equity away.

House across road with one less bedroom and smaller got 20k less. House up road with 2 less bedrooms got same price. In the same month. All done up to pretty much same degree. But in the end it was down to us , we could have said no and gone for more. As you say , we got a perfectly decent market price. Paid over odds for one we buying though. God I need to let it go!!!!

If you really feel like you are underselling you need to pull out.

If you really feel like you are underselling you need to pull out.

... especially if in addition you Paid over odds for one we buying though

This is v wrong.

How much do you think that you have undersold for exactly and over paid by exactly? If the total freaks you out and will continue to do so in the long term you need to pull out - especially if you do not like the house you are going to.

If it is in the low tens of thousands then over time in London markets that will be a drop in the ocean.

Looks like you did the classic finding something you loved (first house) the selling your fast and cheap to secure it - lost first house so rush to find another in SOMEONE ELSES timeframe which you don't like and have paid over the odds for - hence the selling and buying gap is bigger that needs be. People do this when they fall in love with a home - if the house you are moving to does not achieve this status the you are in this classic set up without the dream house.

The risk of paying xtra £900 removal costs is a short term red-herring - the reality is that you feel you have undersold and over bought - not even a dream house - to meet someone elses timescale - look up and calculate the bigger real costs emotionally and financially over the long term.

Pull out if it is the right thing for you. London houses are still selling like hot cakes.

Is this a joint decision?

if so are you and your partner both unhappy with the sale/purchase

at this stage you can go back on both the purchase and sale or just the purchase,
depends whether you think the market is still going to be rising in the next quarter/6months

house buying and selling always produces winners and losers unfortunately but only you can judge the relative impact on your future happiness of deciding one way or the other

if you are an anxious brooding type of person then your remorse may have serious impact for years to come, however if it is just jitters then you will get over it once you settle in

OP - I would stop focussing on your buyer's financial situation. To be honest if he wanted to buy your house for his budgerigar it doesn't affect you. Him wanting to save the stamp duty is normal and people all over the country will be doing it.

I can see that added to the normal stress of moving house the fact you are going to a house and area you don't like as much as you have now is not enthralling. However, if the reasons you did it (i.e. compromising on those two things for a few years for the children's schools ) were right when you made the decision, then they are right now. If so, then having secured a house in the small catchment area is valuable to you. If the catchment is small and you pull out now, what are the chances of finding another house , completed and moved into in time for October?
What you have now is much lower risk, and very possibly worth having paid to expedite surveys etc.

I don't understand why you would be liable for his stamp duty. It would surely be the case that you and he and your vendor get your finances lined up and exchange and complete only when all 3 are in place. If that doesn't happen then the risk is he decides to pull out and look again at leisure. And how does that then affect your purchase? Very often the complaint is that the buyer is dragging their heels - at least you don't have that.

I agree that you do not know if your house is undervalued. You said you got a "decent market price" . If you feel you are paying "over the odds" for the new house - might that have something to do with the catchment. In which case you will (in theory) benefit when you come to sell that house.

Your problem I agree is the removals but the insurance a pp mentioned above sounds the way to go.

It will be a nail biting few days but then you will have 5 months to get the house sorted and settle in before school starts. I would rather have a weeks stress now than start again with no guarantee it won't all happen until October.

Not sure how helpful that is but just advising to concentrate on your priorities and how near you are to having achieved them. In a week's time you will very likely have achieved all you set out to do.
Easy for me I know but just trying to remind you of the positive

decca thank you so much you kind kind person and you snow and crusshed what great and patient advice. I'm also crazily peri menopausal pre menstrual which is not helping. Yes we do both feel the same - DP more than me even - and of course the kids don't want to leave their decade long home isn't helping. I don't think I'll brood forever but it will always nag at me. I think we could have got 30k more for this and paid 20k less for next one. Quite a big sum !!! But then the London property market is insane and it's so hard to capitalise on everything.

We won't be liable for his stamp duty as long as we exchange and complete on same day. Only if we exchange before them banking system crashed then we don't complete on day. Which is what we aiming for. Just hoping don't have to put stuff on van then off again. Agree - going to have crazy week then can settle in and lick wounds. Agree also stress of starting again and meeting October deadline will be intolerable after this!!

to you all

Evil -

We have previously exchanged and completed on one day. I can't say it wasn't stressful but we are here to tell the tale. We have also for good reasons moved from a house we loved to one which didn't tug on the heartstrings so much initially. Still in it and very very happy here. The reasons still stack up! Also, don't forget those figures of 30k and 20k, in the nicest possible way are figures in your head, not completed sale Land Registry figures.It's in any case a little bit like shares surely. Who manages to sell completely at the top, and buy completely at the bottom? Sometimes if it is good enough for your own objectives - it's actually good enough. And how much would you brood if you hadn't managed to move to get what you consider the best school for your DCs?

I would worry more about the logistics of the solicitors/ bank etc being clear as to what you need next Wed or Thurs than the entire UK banking system crashing .
Also, and I have also moved from a house where DC spent a long time, it can be emotional. You are doing what you think the best is for them. Don't necessarily expect them to understand that fully and thank you, but you will know it. From our experience they will be absolutely fine.

I have my fingers crossed for you. or - whichever your preference.

Thanks decca you are a star. It should be but it's going to be .DP is taking kids to Dublin on Tuesday to give me a clear coast to move. Got brother helping and could have friends too but will def have s good blub at some point. Thanks for holding my hand. You don't know how much I appreciate it.

So.... did you do it?

What happened did you exchange?