How to slow down property purchase?

[78thcat]

I'm a FTB in the process of buying a flat.
I'd like to move in late August/September to give me a few more months to save for new carpets, furniture and redecoration. I think the conveyancing work will be finished in a couple of weeks. Vendor can move out whenever, she is waiting for a probate property to come through, so is willing to break the chain and move in with family. My mortgage offer expires in October.
Would you exchange next month and then have a long gap before completion, or try and delay the exchange somehow? What are the risks?
Many thanks for any help or advice.

Ikea used to do relatively cheap futons- not sure if still do. If you got one you would have something to sleep on and sit on.
And charity shops like bhf do furniture, and some deliver. Also scour local fb pages - always someone getting rid of something on ours.

Just get a 0% interest-free credit card and put everything on it.

Thanks. I've always been very debt averse but I am considering this as a short term option now.

Futon is a good idea, thanks. Maybe I can find one second hand.

Just get a mattress and add the frame when you can afford it- you will get a decent enough new one for £150 delivered-shop around

We had deckchairs for 2 years. Focus on painting, carpets etc rather than furniture to begin with.

ebay can be great for furniture- search locally

Yeah we watched TV on foldable camping chairs for months until our sofas got delivered. Cheap rugs to cover the floor until we could get carpet.

Roughing it in your first property is a rite of passage OP! As long as you have somewhere to sleep it's all good.

I'm pretty wealthy but I still get my furniture like sofas from places like British Heart Foundation because they only get wrecked by dogs and me being klutzy. Plus actually better for you as de-gassed from the solvents.

Mattresses always buy the best new one you can afford. Bed frame was cheap from Argos, it's actually great!

Get in the place, worry about other stuff later. It's more expensive if it falls through and if you delayed exchange, I'd relist. Long time between exchange and completion might be ok in your case with an open discussion.

It’s definitely best just to move in then decorate/furnish. My pre-purchase Pinterest boards are completely different to what I ended up doing!

Just exchange and complete when you said you would next month. You can get an air mattress and a chair and make do. It's easier to paint without a lot of you stuff around anyway. If you leave it until October you will pay 5 months extra rent. That means you will be paying your mortgage for 5 extra months at the end when you need not have.

I moved into my first flat with not much more than a blow up bed and a kettle. Luckily there was an Argos nearby so I could nip and get things like lamps and a microwave, but I was a good week without any other furniture or even curtains. Happy days… really gave me chance to think about what I wanted to do and buy!

I slept in an inflatable camping mattress for 4 years solid (long story) and when I was an FTB I slept on a mattress on the floor for a while.

It's amazing what you can find on Facebook marketplace (there's also a very good 'recycling' group where people give away free stuff in my local area) for free or cheap if you can drive and collect it.

I've had lots of things free including a strimmer, hob, kitchen units, worktop offcut and builders sand. I've paid a little bit of money for some other items - solid mango wood coffee table and two side tables £50, floor lamp £20, bedframe which was £850 new for £125, mini oven £30.

You can also look around for ex display furniture - I had a matching bed and drawers from Next 75% off and a mattress from John Lewis 66% off. Next seem to have the best ex display stuff just before a sale, but they usually have something.

British Heart Foundation furniture shops and Emmaus if you have something near you.

Customer returns are a thing too - this eBay seller sells on customer returns from John Lewis, Swoon and Oak FurnitureLand
https://www.ebay.co.uk/str/shopwithclearcycle?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=Agqze2ZGThO&sssrc=3418065&ssuid=-prLBRuXQE2&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

Op I agree with a PP. Invest in a good mattress. A good nights sleep when you are starting out will be a wise investment. You will be so much more resilient for the reno /decor projects you will be undertaking.

Like another said it's a right of passage slumming it. Plus when you are more comfortable you will look back and go do you remember when...and strangly enough it's done through rose tinted specs. Early on in my relationship we used to have fairy lights a mattress and a laptop to watch TV and that was pretty much it. I remember it fondly.

Enjoy the journey and making your house a home over time.

Do you think the seller might consider leaving anything behind that you could use in the interim?

If I can find it I’ll come back to this thread later and post the picture of when we first moved into our flat! Mattress on the floor and we ate dinner off a bedside table because it was all we had 😂 it’s a rite of passage (assuming you don’t have kids who need beds etc)

On a more general note if you have a date you want to move by make it part of the offer condition in future. Our last move we needed to complete after a certain date so we didn’t get stung with an early repayment charge, we made it part of the deal that we wouldn’t move before 1 October so we wouldn’t get stung for the ERC cost.

Buying and selling houses is such a fragile and volatile process, dependent on so many variables, that I wouldn't deliberately put off completion, especially if I was dependent on a time limited mortgage offer.

Move is as soon as you feasibly can, live with the decor, and do the work when you can. Having 2 houses, so you can decorate one is an expensive, and unusual, luxury.

then what does it matter?

It is a right of passage moving in with nothing! I remember ‘camping’ in a few of our house moves.

I would steer clear of debt, it always feels better saying and then buying it.

What absolutely needs to be done? Does it have carpets at the moment or bare floor? Could you live with them and hire a carpet cleaner for the day? Painting can take time, once you know the place and how light affects the rooms.

Kitchen goods are great to ask for housewarming presents. Argos do a starter pack to get you going.

Bean bags are surprisingly expensive, but garden furniture is cheap. Especially if you will then us in the garden going forward.

Final point, if there a charity second hand furniture place near you? Can be great value and you are supporting charity.

I read over the weekend that banks are staring to pull out of mortgage agreements due to the volatile interest rates at the moment. Mainly fixed rate mortgages. Read your Ts&Cs to make sure that your mortgage offer is solid and can’t be withdrawn.
Because the basic rate is rising fixed rate offers are short lived.

I too would just get on and buy it as soon as the paperwork is in place.
Look for local freecycle groups e.g. on Facebook, you would be surprised by some of the decent big furniture being given away.

I have managed to furnish my whole house second hand, other than my bed (£450) and a desk (£150 but that was definitely optional). The rest of my furniture cost about £350 total. If there's anything you can start looking out and collecting now you'll have a lot more choice than if you're just taking the best you can locate within a week or two of leaving.

But equally I wouldn't write off delaying a month or two. I had 6 weeks between exchange and completion and my insurer covered the gap between exchange and completion gratis.

Just to echo @SophiaElise that a 0% credit card is a really good way to cushion this sort of situation.

I've just done exactly the same - completed on purchase beginning of this month, £1k left in the bank account to cover things and of course, straight away discover the washer dryer is unusable, and have needed electrician and window repair man already for urgent repairs I was not expecting (so much for surveys...). I was aware I might be in trouble so negotiated provision for an 'up to 3k 5%' loan with my parents in advance of moving - but actually, the credit card on 0% is a better idea.

So - I've got a 0% card for 2 years. I plan to spend up to £3k on the card in these first two months, then repay evenly over the 22 months left. I will be strict with myself on this as I have never done the 'just put it on the credit card' thing before - but I've done some thinking and research and this is exactly the sort of thing that they are good for. Repay it off sensibly while there's 0 interest and only buy what you can afford to pay off in the time. It's like saving in reverse :)

Thanks I've been concerned about this today. Will call my mortgage advisor tomorrow and check security of my mortgage offer. My understanding is that it's very rare for a lender to pull an offer once it's been made unless there are changes to my circumstances, eg I lose my job?

Thanks, I'd definitely not rule out 0% credit card and will be looking into it. I'm pretty strict with my finances - it's what has allowed me to save my deposit afterall! so I think I'd be conscientious with the repayments...

But apart from the fact that you're mortgagw will be paid off several months earlier. Also you're playing with fire because if some delay happens there are to the completion date and then your mortgage offer expires You might struggle getting one at the same rate as they have the chance of going up agaon.

There's always loads of furniture, particularly sofas, going for free on Freebay or Freecycle - join your local groups.