Please tell me the benefits of selling, then moving into rented?

[De88]

As above really.

We haven't been able to find anything for ourselves after accepting a good offer on ours with a buyer I don't want to lose. Partner says buyer can pull out if they aren't happy to wait but I don't see how we wouldn't be in this situation again anyway, unless we were very lucky? We really do need extra space, and as soon as possible.

It looks more and more likely we are not going to find something as time goes on, another problem being that our money is tied up in the house- we were going to be borrowing from family to make up exchange deposit, which now isn't possible. So looking at going into rental for 6 months at the end of it, hopefully no more.

Please reassure me there will be positives to renting after the sale is complete? Big thanks.

I sold my house 6 yrs ago to a ftb and the house I was buying fell through, so I thought I’d move into rented to be in a good position to buy. Good idea at the time but due to various different things, 6yrs later I’m still renting having been out priced with the sudden boom in my area, the SE, over the last few years and feeling pretty hopeless about the whole situation now. Had offers on 3 houses during that time that all fell through too. Plus I’ve had to move into 3 different rentals as the landlords kept wanting their house back to sell, after only 6 months, so had to keep signing new tenancies. You never feel secure. It’s crap. It seemed a good idea at the time and with the housing market as it is now at least you (and I) would be in a good position when buying I suppose. As long as you look to buy asap.

I don’t understand this comment:

“ another problem being that our money is tied up in the house- we were going to be borrowing from family to make up exchange deposit, which now isn't possible”

If you just mean the deposit paid on exchange, that normally just moves up the chain with only the person at the bottom of the chain paying out cash. Contracts usually start with 10% and then it gets agreed at what is practical.

Obviously different if you were relying on family to help with the overall cost of the house.

@HappyDaysToCome

I don’t understand this comment:

“ another problem being that our money is tied up in the house- we were going to be borrowing from family to make up exchange deposit, which now isn't possible”

If you just mean the deposit paid on exchange, that normally just moves up the chain with only the person at the bottom of the chain paying out cash. Contracts usually start with 10% and then it gets agreed at what is practical.

Obviously different if you were relying on family to help with the overall cost of the house.

We're going from a 3 bedroomed to a 4 bedroomed; our deposit we'll receive from our buyer is a fair amount smaller than what we'll need as our 10%.

• whatever we borrowed would of course be paid back in full immediately once the sale was settled - good amount in equity so we would still have a very good deposit to carry over for new mortgage. So not quite totally relying on family for the overall cost of the house but know what you mean.

3-5, rather!

I think there are pros and cons, as all the replies on this thread have suggested.
A lot will depend on what the market is near you, as this is quite variable in different places.
I have a friend who is moving areas and sold and moved into a rented place in a different county, thinking that would give them a great advantage, but, in that county, in that price range the world and his wife seem to have done the same. They just put an offer in on a house new on the market, thinking they would be such strong candidates only to find that 3 other couples were in the same position. You can look at that in two ways - one being well you'd have to then or you'll never be accepted as a serious buyer if you were in a chain. BUT OTOH, you are likely to be pressured into paying over the odds for a house, or bidding on a house you aren't even particularly sure about as you don't want to end up renting for 2 or 3 years.

I also think that I'd do it now, as we only have dh and I still at home, and we could, in theory just get a flat or small terrace for 6 months and put stuff in storage. However the prospect of doing that with 2 small children and a baby, which were our circumstances when we last moved, would make me retreat into never even considering moving.

You can put all of your house sale money on cryptocurrency and make some money?

@tortoiselover100

You can put all of your house sale money on cryptocurrency and make some money?

I'd rather have a home, but thanks!

Thanks @BackforGood I swore our last move would be our last for a very, very long time! Aargh what a (first world) situation, yes definitely don't intend to rent for 2-3 years

It's not something that I would ever do tbh.
I think it's risky.
Selling and buying in the same market avoids being priced out, having to compromise too much, panic buying, stuck renting for ages, wasting money and not to mention the hassle of moving twice.

This worries me too @Zenithbear. Thanks for your reply.

De88
You're welcome

We thought being in rented would be an advantage. Numerous estate agents told us so, can confirm that several years on it has been no advantage at all. Flat housing market due to brexit and then covid. I've found that sellers generally choose the highest offer no matter the circumstances of the buyer. It also made us super picky as we were always waiting for the perfect house to be available-there is no perfect house and all that has happened is prices have risen, competition is now crazy and we've been paying off someone else's mortgage.

I've been in a similar situation twice: twn years ago we moved from London to the NW and rented because we needed time to look at properties properly, scope out the various areas etc. It worked really well for us then.

This March we sold our house and our purchase fell through. We thought it was going to happen to started looking for rental but it was an absolute nightmare - there are almost no rental properties suitable for a family where we live and anything that came up was applied for by multiple applicants based on virtual viewings alone so the landlords were able to choose the 'best' applicant who were then allowed to view the property physically and the lease was then usually agreed. (We have a cat so pretty much zero chance anyway without putting him into the cattery long term.)

In the end we put all our stuff into storage and moved in with my parents, living out of suitcases (me, DH, 2 DCs). The upside was that when we found a house we were in a brilliant position as a total cash buyer, skipped the survey (not that old a property and we are savvy buyers), skipped searches as we knew the area and from having the offer accepted to exchange was 3 weeks. I am now happily sitting in my new lovely home!

So I suppose what I'd say is, it's all very easy to say 'we will go into rented' but actually you must call letting agents now and find out the reality of the rental market in your area. We know someone who has sold their house here, buying a new build that hasn't even been started yet and then cannot find a single thing to rent - landlords don't want a short-term renter. They aren't sure at all what they are going to do as their buyer is pushing.