Selling two houses and buying one !

[DiamondBright]

I'm planning to move in with DP once DD has finished school so putting my house on the market in roughly a years time. DP also has a house to sell, so we'll be selling two houses and buying one together.

Any advice on the logistics from anyone who's done this would be great.

At push we could all move into one house for a short time but neither is ideal bedrooms and working from home wise. I'm also concerned about squashing into a house we're trying to sell, we'd need a storage unit and it would still potentially end up looking crowded, we currently both have spare bedrooms and plenty of storage space so it would be a stressful start to living together.

I'm wondering if selling both and renting is the best option?

Would put both on the market and see what happens. In the current market you may find both go relatively quickly.

If not, I would consider renting. It will make it easier for you to find somewhere to buy and you will be much more attractive buyers if you are coming from rented.

If you haven't lived together before, it also lets you see what it is like before you buy together.

I sold three to buy one (moving back to London), but two were investment properties. I staggered the selling too.
As you aren’t moving for a year, perhaps sell one, move in to rental, then sell the other? You won’t have the problem with storage and it gives you some breathing space if you don’t find something to buy straight away.

The people whose house you would be buying will probably want you to only be selling one. So unless you can buy while still owning one, you'll need to sell the easiest one first then move in together while you buy and sell.

I would be tempted to put both up for sale now, the market is really good, then rent, it would be much less stressful knowing your money is in the bank rather than having the worry of getting two houses sold.

@Pugdoglife

I would be tempted to put both up for sale now, the market is really good, then rent, it would be much less stressful knowing your money is in the bank rather than having the worry of getting two houses sold.

I can't move into DD finishes school next year, I'm getting my house ready to go on the market now to minimise last minute work and make moving a bit easier.

We did this. We sold our houses and pandemic happened which delayed completion. My dp then rented the house back off the buyer as moving wasn’t allowed-annoying but he didn’t have to pay storage. This meant he could time moving to my completion and we rented a house together while we looked. Shit rental house, we were there a year and either couldn’t find anywhere or they fell through for Covid related reasons.

However….we are now sitting in our lovely home in a beautiful village and feel very lucky. We wouldn’t have got this house if we’d been trying to sell 2 at the same time-the fact we weren’t sale dependent swung it with the vendors and we only offered 5k over. So all that stress and living in a shit rental house full of regrets was worth it.

I agree that it will be harder to be seen as the best buyer, if you’re offering in a popular property and have 2 to sell.

Remember, people like cash buyers, first time buyers etc because they are simple, with less to go wrong. Someone selling 2 properties is a much bigger risk as so much could fall through or get delayed jeopardising the chain(S).

Therefore, I would certainly look to sell one first. Wait until it suits you re DDs schooling and factor in that from start to finish of being in your new joint home, is likely to take a long time. However, by doing it this way, when you come to offer on the house you love, you will be a standard buyer and be more attractive.

The alternative which would make you even more attractive is to sell both before you look to buy. You can put both on market, with plan to move into rented for a while. This is very flexible in the sense that if you get 2 buyers quickly, you might sell both at same time, or if one sells and you live in one for a short while before renting, you can do that etc etc. Renting is expensive though.

Selling 2 properties will inevitably take longer and involve more stress along the way, which might include living squashed into 1 property for a while or being in rented for a while. However, you just need to accept there will be inconvenienced and costs and also that it will take longer. It’s all about putting yourself in strongest position as a buyer which means your offer will be more likely to be accepted and a good offer accepted. Someone selling 2 houses together is not this buyer.

we are doing this now. We've sold one (completed), the 2nd one (that we are living in) is sold subject to contract but is going really really slowly. We've found the house we want to buy and that is ready to exchange but it's our buyer that is holding it all up.

We really need to have moved by the end of this month because we can't all fit together in the one house.

top tips

1. you will need storage but look at movers who offer storage as it's cheaper (we have house 1 in the movers storage now)
2. either sell both houses together or pick one you think will sell quickest (call it house 1) and sell that one first. That means you can really make an effort with the house 1 (move extra stuff to house 2), then when sold, move all the extra stuff in house 2 into the sold house 1 while you wait for that one to exchange.

It is really really stressful I will warn you now! Buying and selling 1 is bad enough but adding another into the mix just adds to the complication.

oh and use the same solicitor for all of them - that's made a huge difference too.