Critique my plan for selling my challenging house

[Fiftythreepercent]

Saying upfront that I appreciate this is a first world problem.

My house Is a period home. It has a difficult layout, no downstairs toilet and has a few other challenges that will take it some time to sell, even in a strong market.

When I previously tried to sell it the challenge that I had was availability of other suitable properties to move to. There’s not much available now in my area however I want to try and sell the house now before the market softens off or something major needs doing

With a loan from family I could buy a small home now in a not so nice area that I could potentially live in for a year or two whilst I find a permanent place I want to buy, then sell it on

This would also make my current house top of the chain and help it sell. Downside would be having to live in the other house for a while and potentially the cost of it standing empty for six months also whilst mine sells/falls through etc. This would me out financially in the short term.

Has anyone done something like this? How did it work out for you? Or are there any major pitfalls I’ve not thought about? Thoughts appreciated

Could you rent instead? It means not paying out for stamp duty and conveyancing and you can take your time finding the right house

Why wouldn't you just rent for a while?

Sell it and when you find a buyer rent somewhere so they'll be no chain. You can rent for 6 months and take your time looking

I’d go in to rented. I wouldn’t buy an interim house, the costs of buying and selling are so high. You might need to pitch the price of your house so people overlook the shortcomings. I’ve recently bought a house with no downstairs toilet (at a price point where you would expect one - the other good things outweighed this) and whilst not great it’s not the end of the world

Have you considered the moving costs if you move twice in a couple of years? Moving can cost £8-10000 each time. If you move twice, that could be £15000 plus lost straight away.

Agree it doesn't make sense to buy rather than rent when it's just for a year or so. You'd just be saddling yourself with another house to sell and being part of another chain. Rent and then you're ready to pounce when the right place comes up. And you also won't have a loan to factor in.

If you just need somewhere to live short term then renting seems like a no brainer surely, no responsibility, no risk. Rent would very likely be less than all the legal fees of buying/selling another property in a short time frame and no need for contingency or repairs/maintenance costs.

I’d rent. It’s much the simplest option. There’s no need for houses to sit empty barring perhaps a few weeks of overlap.

I’ve bridged by renting - much less stressful and expensive than buying something you don't’ really like with a view to selling again, when you take into account legal/stamp duty etc.

1. Get in a home staging company

1. Reduce the price to the market value.

1. Then either rent somewhere if you can’t find another place you like. Or buy if you have time and find somewhere suitable.

Your plan involves wasting time and money with multiple moves. That money is better spent on a combination of home staging and being willing to accept the market price.

As others have said so it and go into rented if necessary.
Ultimately to sell you may have to bite the bullet and price it lower than you'd want to get the sale. I think better to put it low and get a bit of enthusiasm and multiple offers potentially, then price it high and have it hanging in the market for ages, that puts people off.

Some friends owned a difficult to sell house (large 5-bed house and lovely inside but no frontage, small garden and no parking in an area where most houses are set back from the road with large gardens and driveway). It sat on the market for ages until they decided to rent it out instead. Apparently the things which make a house difficult to sell often have very little to no impact on its rental potential. They use the rental income to rent a nice house in a neighbouring village. I have no idea if this is a good plan or not, but they seem happy with their decision!

I think you need to look i to the tax implications of capital gains and extra stamp duty if you’re considering buying and living in another home before yours sells

Get planning permission and drawings for improving the house. This would show prospective buyers the potential and ballpark costs.

Thanks for the replies

I have thought about renting. I have three cats so that limits my options a bit. How did those who bridged by renting manage finding somewhere quickly once you knew you were definitely exchanging? What if the chain fell through and you were then back at the beginning having signed up to the rental?

Rental market where I live is also challenging-fast moving with lots of applicants for each property

For the expense of buying and selling the temporary property, I would just go into rented.

You will be able to time your move to completion on your house, rather than the purchase of a temp house.

Avoid the admin: you will have to pay second property stamp duty on the second house, but I think you can then reclaim it if you buy your new permanent house within a set period. You might have to do the same thing when you buy your new permanent house, as you will already own temp house.

Also risky. If prices drop in the interim, great, your new house will be cheaper but your temp house lost value.

We had a dog and rented through the agent who sold our house.
I told them if they didn't find me anything I wouldn't exchange, so they were very motivated to find me a rental!
It wasn't a problem.

Hmmm I’d urge caution on buying an interim place as well due to the complications of second home stamp duty and tax implications.

Also bridged several times by renting in the interim. Each time ours was on the market we’d look at rentals but not secure a rental until exchange, with the plan to move into rental at completion of sale. The timing can be tricky but you have to push for completion date to be similar to your rental start date. In our last property the completion dragged on as the buyers had a complicated business to sell. We were in rental a few months prior to completion but there was a hefty penalty after exchange if they didn’t complete. This timing issue is no different to purchasing a property though.
There’s no way I’d consider an interim purchase unless it was going to be for several years.

I'm in a similar position, in a way.
I need to stay local for my job, unfortunately it's bloody expensive around here. There's not much on the market (at any price) and feck all that I can afford.

Estate Agents have said I should sell now (not much for sale, so should sell quickly at a good price)!and buy in spring (should be more on the market). They've said I can just keep pushing back the date (to complete) & I'll find something & if not I can pull out if the sale if I want to. But that seems a bit crap to me UNLESS I sell to an investor, then 💁🏻‍♀️ (They're good properties as rentals)

With the hassle/cost of selling/stamp duty etc. I wouldn't buy an interim property. I'd put stuff in storage & (if no kids etc) rent a room somewhere.

Good luck

Lots of voices for rental! I get that it seems simpler

I think I would be paying about a grand a month for renting a big enough house or for smaller house plus storage unit

So actually if I have 12 months of that it’s probably not that different to costs of moving twice if I claim back stamp duty

Does this change anything?

Also, does the holy grail of having enough time between exchange and completion still exist?

Hi OP, you've not said why you want to move, is it area, size of the home, change in circumstances that has prompted this? That influences things a bit, e.g empty nest/downsizing is quite different from needing more space.
You haven't taken mortgage payments into account in your buy/sell twice scenario. Nor the stress of actually having to sell two houses (we sold two houses in two years due to bereavement, wouldn't recommend it but we do know our solicitor pretty well now, the chain bs in spite of being top of chain in both cases was really annoying).
Yes you can still have time between exchange and completion, I know some people do simultaneous but that does cause extra stress (see above, dickheads who can't sort out getting deposit in the right place right time, which I've now seen on numerous occasions).
I'd rent in your situation, it makes you a really strong buyer.

Sell it and rent while you look for your next place. This will make you more attractive as a seller/buyer.

Any house will sell for the right price. Be realistic on your sale price if you don't want to wait forever for a buyer.

@Riverlee

Have you considered the moving costs if you move twice in a couple of years? Moving can cost £8-10000 each time. If you move twice, that could be £15000 plus lost straight away.

Are you including survey + solicitor fees in this? I see the cost of moving raised as an issue quite a lot so just curious! I've moved a lot from rented to and hire a van (£350) and move myself, then there's sometimes exit fees on utilities (£200). I've never spent more than that.

I'm buying at the moment and survey + solicitor is £2k so the max will be £2.6k with a full building survey.

I'm now wondering if there's a huge cost looming that I've missed

What were your reasons for buying the house op? Focus on accentuating that.