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Original poster

Help! Opinions on risk vs opportunity of this situation

49 replies

ScarletApple · 22/09/2021 17:49

TL:DR do we stay put and try and move next year, or do we go for it and break the chain to get a bigger house in this mental market.

We've sold our house and our sale is ready to exchange. We have been looking to buy for months and virtually nothing has come on in our small search area - when we've offered we've been pulverised in bidding wars, as it's a very desirable location. Our current house is lovely but we're rapidly growing out of it - it can't be extended anymore, and the downstairs space is simply too small for the size of our family. We need a playroom and a study, plus a much bigger garden (ours is small).

We went on the market just before the pandemic but quickly had to come off, so this is our second attempt at moving. Our buyer is now impatient and wants us to go into rented, threatening to walk - we do have one rental option, but it's expensive and we'd be squeezed into an even smaller house for the duration.

I'm now in a position where I have no idea what to do. We could stay in our lovely, affordable house and manage for a bit longer, having another go next year and letting this very motivated but increasingly arsey buyer go on their way. Tbh we could probably sell it for more, now! Or we could go ahead, knowing that we've wanted more space for a long time, move into rented, be chain free and ready to pounce on one of the very few houses that come on the market. Prices have risen so rapidly that we could be priced out of the next rung up if this continues.

I'm beginning to have nightmares that we end up selling this house, move into rented, and then just end up buying a similar-sized house for more money due to the price rises! There are a couple of houses coming on the market soon which could be 'the dream' but there's no guarantee we'd win the bidding war, or that it wouldn't all fall apart later, leaving us with nothing. But, if we don't make the move soon, we might not be able to afford it. The EA says we need to put ourselves in the best position possible or we won't secure something anyway in this market.

Help, wise mumsnetters - give me some perspective!

OP posts:

BluebellsGreenbells · 22/09/2021 17:51

Have you leafletted the area? Could help motivate a seller?

Littlecaf · 22/09/2021 17:54

Is break the chain. It’s not worth going into rental at the moment if you can’t find somewhere. You’ll be there for ages.

Original poster

ScarletApple · 22/09/2021 17:58

Yep leafletted the area!

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Original poster

ScarletApple · 22/09/2021 18:00

The buyer says she wouldn't wait for the time it'd take to push through a private sale anyway...but who knows as she wants this house!

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Daisydoesnt · 22/09/2021 18:00

I think if I were you I'd sit tight and wait till next spring. If that means losing your buyer then so be it. We're hearing that the market is still very dysfunctional - not much supply, and lots of demand. Does there seem to be much coming onto the market in your area? I know September is supposedly a busy month, but it's already October next week. It will be Christmas before we know it and then everything will slow right down till spring. So it could be spring before you find anything, and as you've said yourself, your rental option is expensive and even smaller than your currently-too-small home. Not an appealing combination!

As an aside, what sort of a contract would you have to sign to get the rental (1 year with a six month break would work....?)

I feel your pain. We started looking last September, completed on our sale and moved into rental 1st December. And we're still in the rental and still looking! It's not that we've lost out on anything either, it's just that there's nothing decent coming on to the market. I have a horrible feeling will be waiting till April before we find anything.

Good luck!

Calmdown14 · 22/09/2021 18:05

I think I would stay. Is there anything that could be done in your house to improve the layout without massive work?
Swapping the use of rooms, investing in better storage, making a bedroom a bit more multi purpose with a hidden office area you can close off like an alcove with doors and a desk with pull out

NoSquirrels · 22/09/2021 18:07

Your estate agent is obviously going to advise from the position of keeping this sale moving, so I’d ignore them, tbh.

In your position I think I’d tell the buyer, OK, understand that you may wish to pull out, that’s your prerogative. We’re not prepared to go into rental unless a decent rental option comes up.

Then wait and see.

Worse case, your buyer walks, the dream house comes on the market immediately and you can’t offer because you don’t have a buyer.

But if it happens ASAP then the buyer also won’t have had a chance to look for another property so the estate agent can sweet talk them. If there’s a gap, you’ve remarketed your house anyway to get another buyer.

I think if you feel the market is still rising then breaking the chain now is not a great plan.

Ohsugarhoneyicetea · 22/09/2021 18:10

Its a sellers market, ditch the buyer and wait till you find something you want to buy. Find a buyer in a rental who can be more flexible.

NoSquirrels · 22/09/2021 18:17

In essence, you hold all the cards. You haven’t spent thousands on fees, you still own a house, you’re not desperate to move. So I wouldn’t be pressured by the buyer - it’s their choice to pull out, of course, but I’m not convinced they will, especially as you say there’s not much on the market in your area.

Original poster

ScarletApple · 22/09/2021 18:33

Thanks for the replies so far - it's so helpful!

To answer a few questions - we have a cash buyer, she isn't buying this to live in, but for someone else to occupy. The person who will live here is keen to get into her new house, but doesn't seem to be under any particular time pressure. They just want in!

We had mentioned early in the process that we'd be willing to break the chain - not having any idea how scarce and expensive rental properties are now. The one we could get would be 12 months with a break clause, but cost £1000 per month more than our current mortgage, for a smaller property...literally the only option.

There's nothing we can do to make the current house bigger - it's literally two rooms downstairs (a kitchen and a living room) no garage or anything to extend in to (semi). We're already homeworking from bedrooms. We're bursting at the seams but it's still a lovely house in a desirable village and I'm scared to lose it!

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Original poster

ScarletApple · 22/09/2021 18:36

Basically the buyer is saying we've moved the goalposts and hence she's justified in pressuring us - in reality the goal posts have been moved for us by the market. Going into rented is not what it was pre-pandemic! The EA is saying we should never have mentioned it, but we had no idea how difficult and expensive it would be now - so many people have done it even recently and it was a totally different ball game.

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mamaduckbone · 22/09/2021 18:37

I would stay put and not let your buyer bully you into rented. We were in a similar situation (also started the process before lockdown). We ended up losing 2 buyers before we found a house we wanted to buy but it's all worked out in the end.

Original poster

ScarletApple · 22/09/2021 18:41

Thanks @mamaduckbone, that's heartening!

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RandomMess · 22/09/2021 18:43

Stay put and withdraw your house from the market if need be.

NoSquirrels · 22/09/2021 18:46

cost £1000 per month more than our current mortgage, for a smaller property...literally the only option

In that case, I’d definitely not be moving! At the mummy you’ll lose £6,000, and potentially much more. All the while your capital is also being affected by very low interest rates and inflation pushing upwards…

NoSquirrels · 22/09/2021 18:47

@ScarletApple

Tell her to find you a suitable rental property!

As I said - she might not like it but you hold all the cards here.

Original poster

ScarletApple · 22/09/2021 18:52

@NoSquirrels the EA has surfaced the one rental we are considering - there's nothing else. Rental prices are about £600 p/m more than they were pre-pandemic. To be fair to her she's putting in the work on this sale! She's definitely getting frustrated though and it is making me feel pressured, which isn't helping the decision-making process.

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Original poster

ScarletApple · 22/09/2021 18:57

@NoSquirrels that phrase is helpful - "you hold all the cards". I'm feeling like I hold none of them at the moment! So that's a useful change of perspective!

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NoSquirrels · 22/09/2021 18:59

I meant tell the buyer to find you one

As I said, I wouldn’t be pressured by the estate agent, nor the arsey buyer. It’s not your fault, it’s not like you haven’t been offering on properties you just haven’t been successful. This stuff happens. It’s not a compromise situation where you are obliged to rent or buy a house that doesn’t suit you - the process may be stressful or crap for prospective buyers but you haven’t exchanged for a reason, to protect yourself.

They can wait or they can walk, for my opinion.

Gizlotsmum · 22/09/2021 19:15

I’d wait. If you lose the buyer you will find another one, she might struggle to find anything else. If prices continue to rise the gap between what you have (in hand as you have sold and pay rent) and what you want will get bigger.

Original poster

ScarletApple · 22/09/2021 19:42

This may seem like a weird question but if we lose the buyer and decide to come off the market, how would you manage the relationship with the EA? She’s worked hard to get us in on things off market, and did a lot to secure us a good buyer on this house. There’s only one EA that gets the good houses locally (ours!) and I don’t want to piss them off if we need to go again next Spring! It’s the kind of place where we know all the staff by name and they’ve all been there for years…

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Persipan · 22/09/2021 19:52

I think you would be quite, quite mad to break the chain in these circumstances. Your looking in a small area, and from what you've said you've been nowhere near getting the places you've bid on so far. Being a chain free buyer is great, but if the competition is that fierce it may not help as much as all that. And meanwhile there's literally only one house you could rent, at a massively higher monthly cost than you pay now. The worst case scenario isn't just getting stuck there for ages; it's getting stuck there for ages, and then the landlord deciding to serve you notice (to sell it, it whatever) leaving you with potentially nowhere to buy and nowhere to rent. And actually, you like and can afford your current house. Stay put.

I think when you're buying/settling, it's a time when it's actually important to be selfish. Normally, most of us hate inconveniencing others, or not doing something we committed to do. But all those instincts are really unhelpful in property transactions. The desire to be nice isn't more important then your long-term home. You can decide not to do things you said you would, if the situation makes the new choice better for you. Going into rented would be more about meeting your buyer's needs than your own, and you just don't have to do that because you mooted the idea months ago. The buyer has the option of not buying your house, if that's a deal-breaker for them, but I think you'd find another buyer easily enough so it's more their loss then yours.

Original poster

ScarletApple · 22/09/2021 20:15

Thanks @Persipan. That’s pretty much exactly what my instinct and inner voice is telling me. Drowned out by the frustrated EA and stroppy buyer. It’s so competitive and people just have so much bloody money (!) it’s easy to feel like the poor relation that should be grateful we’re being invited to the party with the big hitters. We’re both successful professionals who seem to go a bit wobbly about property. We were pressurised to buy this place by our last chain and it wasn’t a good long term option, which we knew!

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areyouhavingagiraffe · 22/09/2021 20:23

Well, going against the grain here, but I broke my chain at the end of July. I was selling leasehold (which takes longer and was a ball ache). Loads of issues with the house I was buying so pulled out. My situation is slightly different in that lenders are constantly changing criteria on leasehold, I had a great buyer and secured a good price, and I was able to move in with my folks, with my stuff in the outbuilding in garden. Not ideal, and I can't find anything I like enough to make an offer on, however I feel like the pressure is off a little now, and I am now chain free. There is not much coming to the market but I hope that will change.

SisforSarah · 22/09/2021 20:32

Don’t move. We bought our house dec 2019 from a seller who claimed they wanted a detached house and moved into rented in the same village. We suspect they actually sold for financial reasons. Anyway, house prices have rocketed and they’d be looking at probably £400k more for a similarly size detached property . They’ve locked themselves into rental for life now.

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