Should I sell and move out without having bought a house??

[MetaWhat]

Our house has been on the market for 2 months and no offers so far. It has been reduced once which increased the number of viewings but no solid offers.

Yesterday had a viewing from a family wanting to move up North from London. They need to move within 5 weeks as have sold their place. They said they were originally wanting to buy another house to move into and potentially buy our house as an investment, but have now missed out on the other place and would like to move into our house. They have other options.

We can't buy anywhere until we sell ours but it's highly unlikely we will be able to buy and move in somewhere else within 5 weeks.

So that would leave us having to rent somewhere, stay in a bnb or something, storage costs, two sets of moving costs, etc.

This would be a huge stress with two little ones and me starting back at work after maternity leave next month! But I feel it would be the better option as it would put us in a better position of moving before the school admissions deadlines in January.

WIBU to ask them if they could go over the asking price to compensate for increased costs our end? They seem quite desperate and have the money? Any other advice or words of wisdom? What would you do?

No. They can rent until sale is complete. You wouldn’t let them move in without completing surely?

They need to complete before you put yourself out!

How long would it take to complete? They seemed to think they could do that within 5 weeks?

Six to eight weeks is usually quoted but in reality it can take much longer.

You move out on completion day, after the completion. You can't ask them for extra money because you haven't found anywhere yet, that's not their problem. If you can't afford rent, storage etc they'll need to wait until you've bought somewhere or find another house.

To take the pressure off could you rent a house in the catchment area of the school you want, to give you longer to look for a house you really want.

@45Finfintytint
Ah, ok thanks. In that case they're not going to be able to move straight in anywhere are they!

@Pilot12
Thanks. We've considered renting. Can you rent somewhere on a month by month basis do you know? Or do you have to sign up for 6 month minimum?

If someone has a switched on solicitor, they can definitely complete in 5 weeks. It also makes sense to agree a higher price for your property if you’re going to go out of your way by renting yourselves. Make sure they have enough deposit, though, as their bank might not value the property at the increased price.

Sell and rent while you look. You can sometimes find agents who'll rent month-to-month. Just ask them!

I would look into renting before you agree to do that. We looked into it to suit our buyers but we couldnt find anywhere that wasnt going to be at least twice the morgtage cost and then the cost of moving twice and dealing the the outrageous rental /agent fees...it wasnt as easy as I originally thought it would be.!

Probably depends on house prices in the area. If it's a 150k area, then the costs might outweigh the benefits. If it's a 700k area, then 5-10k in extra costs can be covered by increasing the house price + you'll benefit from being chain free for your next purchase so it could even save you money.

I've sold and moved into rented twice.

The first time we went into a holiday rental for 8 weeks -more expensive than std rental but we negotiated hard as it was off-season and they didn't need to do changeover/cleaning etc. We're not even in a tourist area but there was plenty of choice. 95% of our stuff went into storage just took a car full and the pets.

Standard rental contracts are 6 months long, but that will go quite quickly if you're stuck in the buying process. We ended up liking the rental/area so we didn't buy again for 3 years!

I would go look at the ongoing threads about endless house chain nightmare delays and balance that against the hassle of moving with two little ones.

I would! Selling and buyer is stressful.

We did this three times with little ones - first time we were lucky enough to find an empty house in the same village on a short term let - think it was 9 months - and we stayed there. horrible house, definitely haunted! The second time it was 2 months and we stayed with my parents - not fun! The last time the kids were older and we rented a friends 2 bed bungalow for three months. That was a great family bonding experience as we HAD to get along. no separate rooms anywhere that anyone could escape to

The BIG downside for all of this is the double moving costs and storage costs. I've just done it again (kids grown up now) and its cost £900 to move out, £100 per week for storage and £700 to move into new place. BUT the moving out was less stressful as didn't have to whizz straight to a new place and the buying process was a doddle as I wasn't trying to combine two lots of solicitors and paperwork!

Oh remembered another downside - you always put something you need into storage! However its a great way of decluttering as if you've managed without something for 3,6 9 months then do you really need to keep it?!