Pros & Cons of selling and moving into rented before buying again...

[Nessalina]

Just that really! Our house is sold subject to contract, with FTBs ready to move in whenever. We haven't found anywhere to move to yet after a month of searching, and we've seen pretty much everything in our search area that there is to see.

I'm starting to think that we should get the house sold, and move into rented so that we can a) not lose our buyers, b) not have the stress of selling and buying at the same time, and c) be in a better buying position when we do spot the perfect place.

Issues I can see are that a) it means moving twice, b) we're shelling out for rent which will cost more than our mortgage will, so we couldn't do it for long, c) the market might move on and our money be worth less as time passes.

Have other people done this? Did it work?
What am I not thinking of?

Another important factor - I'm 34 weeks pregnant and just about to finish for mat leave!
Thanks

We had to do this, and actually if there is nothing out there for you right now its better that you go into rented accommodation and buy the right house, selling and buying is expensive and stressful and being in rented puts you in a good haggling position when you buy again.
I'm not unpacking all of my stuff so its easier when we do move again.

We did this and it worked in our favour. There were a few months of upheaval in temporary accommodation with most things in storage. In the end it worked out it our favour as we were chosen out of about 10 offers as we were able to proceed easily.

However, with a baby due soon it could be a bit much to take on...

I am a bit worried about the baby factor...

We've not rented in over ten years, does it involve credit searches and stuff these days? Not sure how it might impact on sorting our mortgage out.

It's just the thought of worrying about a chain whilst juggling a newborn, it feels like less can go wrong if we can get the sale through asap. Though I'll miss our little house... it's small which is why we're moving, but home comforts would be good in the early days.

Watching with interest as it's something we're considering doing next year (if needed) no babies for us but young children so they, plus the extra money in rent and worries about the prices going up are what's concerning me.
How is the market around yours? Are you lucky to have such good buyers or could you find similar again quickly?
It could be worth giving them a rough date for completion that will give you an extra month to house hunt but reassure them that you'll move out whatever so your sale and buying of houses might not happen at the same time but could possibly overlap slightly?

Our buyers seem keen, and it's early days, we only accepted their offer this week. They have two months notice to give, and a full mortgage application to sort, so I guess the first step is for them to get that on the go, get a survey etc, then once they know that's approved, then give notice. So probably looking three months min? September is supposed to be a bonanza month for houses coming on the market, so we may yet strike lucky.

We sold in June and moved into rented accommodation. The most difficult part was trying to find a four bed house to rent. I stupidly thought that would be easy in a city but no, especially with a dog. The good thing was that we took on the rental house earlier and we could move in over a few days rather than move out and in on one day. We are going for a long term rental so I don't need to think about moving out for awhile though. We had to have credit checks.

It is much less stressful trying to just manage a sale. We found a rental pretty easily (no pets), started it to overlap sale - so we had it for a few days before we had to be out of the old house, and when we eventually bought months later, we kept it on so that we got keys for new house, could strip out all the carpets and have flooring replaced / do some decorating for a week or so in an empty house, and go home to the rental.

We also had a newborn - it was great actually having a rental during that time as there was no decorating / maintenance / gardening to do - all that was done by the management company. Meant we had more family time than we ordinarily would have had.

We actually got a great deal because our new house went to sealed bids and we were in a good position to say we were chain free, could work to their timescales etc. Made all the difference.

I'd do it again in a heartbeat if the numbers stacked up.

I sold my house and moved to rented. Moved in 1 mth before baby born. In truth, the upheaval added to how time consuming and exhausting a baby is meant I couldn't face moving again for a while after. 2 years later we are now buying but I think I could have been ready again once baby was 6-9 mths. We had credit check for our rental. We also waited until I'd been back off maternity leave 3 mths son had 3 months full wage slips for mortgage else it limited who we could apply for as not all.of them apparently will use your pre mat leave salary as a given.

We did this once. Never again and i would not contemplate it at 34 weeks gone.

I think more properties will come on the market for this weekend & at the start of next week. The election was announced as people would have been putting their houses on in the spring so I think that reduced housing stock. Have you spoken to estate agents as well as looking on websites? You want them to think of you as soon as they sign up a vendor.

A month of searching isn't that long. Is budget an issue? Or have you literally seen nothing?

We ended up compromising and buying a house in the right location but not quite what we wanted. I imagine we will move later down the line but in the meantime we are doing work to this place.

We have done this twice without issue. We have then bought from a really good position.

Both times we have negotiated a really good price on our purchase from our strong position.

There was nothing on the market where we wanted to buy, nothing.

We just did this. In our case the buyer was a first time buyer and anxious to move and we didn't want to loose the sale however the house we wanted wasn't available for several months due to tenants serving out their notice. It worked out fine in the end but it was stressful with a lot of upheaval.

England - min rental is six months. Have a look at the how to rent guide on gov.UK to understand your rights. Too many on here rent dumps from crooks.

Did it, worked out well but that was us.

I had to do this in 2015 as a result of marital breakdown - sold the family home then rented for 18 months. It worked really well for me, as said above put us in a much stronger position when I finally saw the house I wanted, made the buying process easier and less stressful (and the selling process of the old house) and meant I wasn't in a rush to buy just any old house.

The only con I could think of was as house prices were still rising while we were renting I had slightly less equity to play with. But being a no-chain buyer meant I could negotiate well.

Would it be worth contacting local air bnb hosts to see if they'd consider a long term stay of 2-3 months? I think the position you're in will be stressful regardless, at least if you've got a buyer and moving ahead then you won't need to worry about keeping he house perfect for viewings with a baby. Not being in a chain will make you very attractive buyers, we've lost out on 2 'forever' homes cause we'd have been in a chain and after all the hassle you don't want to settle on a second best choice just cause you had to rush!

Air bnb is a good shout, never would have thought of that!
Markets do seem to be slowing, so I don't think we'd be out of pocket waiting... but I'm
Not sure how having an extra child will affect our borrowing potential, I didn't have to declare the one in utero when getting our agreement in principal! Ah well in 5 weeks that'll be a moot point as she'll have arrived!!

Reading this thread with interest as we are considering the same thing. Slightly different situation (I'm already on mat leave) plus a history of months of being messed about by various vendors/buyers means we are completely fed up with trying to buy and sell at the same time (we just can't seem to make it happen).

We would have to pay to get out of our mortgage (a few grand) but it would mean we'd potentially get our "forever" home (they've not found anything yet but we've got buyers who want to move).

I wish I had a crystal ball ...

It's probably a bit late now either way but if you need a large mortgage (relative to your income) it is much better to apply before the baby is born as they will see your "mortgageable" income as less if you have more dependants. And if your own income is reduced any by being on maternity leave without full pay, then that is considered also. So if you already have mortgage approval, it might be reviewed or reconsidered after the baby is born. In that case, I'd buy as soon as I could.

Otherwise, it seems like a great idea though, no chain, not as much pressure to settle for less-than-perfect, etc.

Best of luck with it all.

Yeah sycamore it's definitely a concern... we are going through a brokers (L&C) to maximise lender flexibility, but I'm pretty sure another child will make a big difference. We're currently ploughing ahead with trying to find somewhere to live, and hopefully we'll find it asap so we can go through full mtg app asap. If we can't, then the pressure is sort of off once she arrives, as it can't be helped anyway!

I've just done this for six months. The biggest problem was the price of renting. Also it wasn't as easy to rent as I thought it would be but that depends on your personal circumstances.

I found somewhere to buy and moved again quickly which was a pain as It feels as if I have been living out of boxes for a long time and I never got that settled feeling when I rented even though I liked the house.

However it was much easier to sell without being in a chain and I didn't want to lose my buyer so it was the right thing to do at the time.

I've done this twice and it's worked very well. Last time we still had 3 weeks in the rental after we completed on the house we were buying which was wonderful as I could get the new place up to scratch.

We did this for 9 months. It was a bit of a logistical arse but worked out very well for us from a negotiating point of view. I guess it depends which area you are in as to whether house prices are likely to rise significantly in the meantime.