Not if to sell, stay or rent

[Flusco]

Me and DP have put our (shared ownership) house on the market and received an offer for the asking price in less than a week.
Since receiving the offer we’ve been in panic mode and unsure if going through with selling is the right thing to do…

Essentially the reason to sell was based on wanting to reduce workload as we are working too much to cover living costs and mortgage and after doing this for nearly 3 years, it’s really affecting life quality and physically draining.

Another reason to sell is wanting to avoid any potential big jumps in the cost of remortgaging (albeit in 2025 though who knows what the state of interest rates will be by then..) and potential negative equity if house prices continue falling.

We really like the house, it’s a lovely home to live in but there are things that I would be happy to walk away from.. ie not liking the estate we’re on a massive amount; noisy, neighbours not the worst but not great, doesn’t really have a good vibe .

If we sell our only choice is to move into a rental as there is no real chance of downsizing (the amount of shared ownership on the market is minimal where we would be looking the prices would higher than when we bought ours 2 years ago).

A big issue is the prices of a decent rental (2 bed, modest garden ideal) are higher than we need to be able to reduce workload- £100 less than our current mortgage , we’re looking in saving £300 to solve the issue though we’d maybe make a small saving on council tax if we moved .

I’m also worried about the potential instability of renting currently or being forced to move again if a landlord wanted to sell and then back to square one.

All the options seem risky and far from ideal, I know some people are in way worse situations but this isn’t what

Any thoughts of wisdom would be appreciated or anyone in similar situation, what did you do?

Have to say that from your description it doesn’t sound like there is any point selling right now. The private rental market is brutal right now and it won’t save you any money.

If you’re on a decent fixed rate mortgage and don’t need to remortgage until 2025, I wouldn’t be so hasty to sell in 2023. We are close to the peak in mortgage rates now which makes it a hard time to get the best price on your home. I would leave it at least another year to sell and reassess the situation then. It’s likely that interest rates will be starting to fall by the end of 2024 which could make the prospect of remortgaging a bit less scary.

I would stay - sounds like renting would be more stressful, you wouldn’t meet your goal of working less, as you would want to up your savings. If I were you I’d focus on boosting income and looking at better paying jobs so you could work a bit less

Yes, it sounds like your instincts are telling you that this isn't the right move - or the right timing for it at least. If you're having doubts, I'd pull the plug sooner rather than later, before the buyer incurs expenses for a survey and so on. But whatever stage it's at, it's better to pull out than regret your decision later on.

If you stay, commit to working and saving hard for another year and see where things are at then. If you're busy with work, then things like the vibe of the area will be less of an issue for you than living in a house that you like, and which suits your needs. I'd only want to give that up if I could buy somewhere better, and it sounds like that isn't an option right now.