Buy in three days, or be "homeless"?

[pelagra]

We got an offer on our house on Saturday. The buyer wants to move as soon as possible, but we have held off viewing until we were procedable. We've kept a careful watch on the market, and had a shortlist of 9 properties. Today has been taken up with driving by, and cheekily asking vendors who were at home if we could walk round their gardens. That has brought it down to 6 possibles. None of their agents work Sundays, so with lockdown coming in we have three days to arrange first and potential second viewings.

Would you even try? We wouldn't actually be homeless, but we'd end up in a caravan outside a friend's house while paying to store all our stuff.

Does anyone have experience of buying in the first lockdown that might help us decide whether to push ahead now?

It's a relief that the market is currently planned to stay open. I've no faith those plans will remain intact, though.

We will definitely aim to move at the speed the rest of the chain wants, both to keep the sale and because we keep our promises. My concern is whether we can find, view and commit to a forever home so quickly. If not, we are reliant on anything that comes new to the market, and I wonder if people will hold back on that. We considered renting, but that would mean costs for both rental and storage. So it looks like the caravan is calling.

Estate agents are open during lockdown so you should be able to view even virtually. If you cant find anywhere you could maybe rent? Or explain to your buyers

We've just had an offer accepted on a property. One factor that played into our decision as to whether/how much to offer was the fact that the vendor was chain free.

I would be absolutely livid if I found out that the property was not chain free and the buyer intended to mess me around, particularly given the approaching expiry of the stamp duty holiday.

A second wave and potential lockdown wasn't unforeseen. You have the caravan option. For your buyer's sake, please stick to your word and use it.

I work for a conveyancers. we operated as normal during the first lockdown as did the estate agents. If people were willing to go out for a few hours and viewers wore masks then viewings happened as normal. The only rule was all internal doors needed to be left open so no viewer touches any handles etc. Estate agend only needed to touch front and back doors and then antibac. You're really worrying over nothing. I have friends who agreed sale and purchase in august and september and both are due to exchange this week and move shortly after. Even the rule of 6 (which bare in mind was actually law) was exempt to help facilitate a house move. Meaning friends and family could come together to help people move. The rule during lockdown is work from home unless you cant. In which case GO TO WORK. And non essential retail and hospitality close. Estate agents fall into the first category and are not non essential retail. Take a breath.

We're selling and buying atm and started process mid August. We hope to complete this month.

We did all our viewings and second viewings over 3 days last week.

We'd been watching the market all through sale so were aware what was available.

I agree that if you have said you are chain free you should stick to that though, but it's perfectly possible to do that along with also looking for and making arrangements to buy your next house and fingers crossed there weren't be too much of a gap between completions.

We saw 6 houses in one day and chose the best one. We weren't looking for a forever home though. We chose the best, despite some misgivings (and it was probably the right choice, although one alternative came on the market in the intervening two months). I'd look at them and make your choice from there. If none suit, move into the caravan and wait it out! Part of me wishes we had accepted an offer to move in with inlaws, but the house is fine and we will move in 5 or 6 years. Good luck, it's very stressful. X

It was certainly worth working at high speed. We viewed our top three today. One was sold by midday, but we could be happy in either of the others. We are just thrashing out which to offer on first. I suspect both will sell fast, so we need to decide carefully, but very quickly.

However, neither vendor has found yet, so the caravan is looking very likely. And DH says I can't put up my 12 foot Christmas tree there.

Offer accepted on our favourite, and the vendor is moving to an finished newbuild. Surveys booked or already done all the way along the chain, and the only person in the chain who needs a mortgage has it approved. It's happening!

Excellent!

Wonderful news, OP!

On Gransnet there's a thread where several Grans say that they bought a house they thought would do for a bit - and they're still happily there 30 or 40 years later!

All the best to you, in your new home.