WWYD in this situation

[reabies]

Hi everyone, DH and I are so frustrated and don't know what's best to do with our current move, Wwyd:

House 1
Located in the next town over from us. We had our offer accepted on this in March. Vendor has been looking for a property since then, had an offer accepted somewhere but pulled out after survey 3 weeks ago, and hasn't progressed on any she's seen since then.
We love the house, it would work for at least the next 20 years for us, but the commute to work and local amenities isn't as good.
No idea when the vendor will find something, she seems to have very specific criteria, we are losing hope.
Has space to host family and friends, big christmases, birthday parties in the garden etc.

House 2
In our current town so better for commute, schools and amenities.
Much smaller. Similar sq ft to our current house downstairs, and bedrooms are all much smaller.
Difficult to host in the same way. Couldn't fit all in laws in the lounge for a get together for example.
Would probably need to move again in 10 years, once kids are in senior school.
Vendors are having a second viewing on a house this week, but haven't offered on anything, so no idea how long the chain would be.

We have a baby arriving in December. We thought we'd have moved well in advance of that .

Our buyers are in rented and although as frustrated with our vendors situation as we are, they are ok for another 6 months or so when their lease is up.

Would you hold on for house 1, knowing the vendor has faffed around for 6 months now, and might not find anything for months yet? Or would you gamble on house 2, which isn't as suitable and also doesn't have a completed chain yet, but which keeps us in our current town, in the hopes it moves a bit faster? House 2 will fly off the shelves, it will likely be under offer by next week so we need to make a decision soon. We had kind of given up on current town as prices are mad and houses don't come up often, so this is a chance to stay somewhere we love.

Either way, we'll have this second baby in our currently too small house, which isn't ideal, but I could cope with it for 3-4 months if I felt convinced vendor 1 was serious. I would hate to still be here this time next year though because she's not serious about moving and got all the time in the world to wait for the perfect house.

Thanks for any thoughts.

House 2 doesn't seem worth the hassle and expense if it's the same size as your current house.

I'd put some pressure on house 1 and say she needs to think about going into rented because you're worried about the chain collapsing. See what response you get.

But psychologically I think you need to assume the baby is coming home to your current house!

House 1 (owner) sounds like a waste of time and effort. I'm not sure that any ultimatum will make a difference whatsoever, even if they agree to it.

House 2 doesn't seem to meet your needs and if it's as popular as you say then you'll over pay and then possibly regret it.

I don't know your finances or circumstances, but when we last moved we sold and moved into rented accommodation so that we could take our time to find our ideal home.

Thank you - sorry should have mentioned we did ask about renting when she pulled out of her onward purchase and she said no because she runs a client-facing business from her home, and is only prepared to move the address of it once, to the next house she buys.

Agreed, even if we found a chain free property tomorrow it would be unlikely to complete ahead of baby's arrival. I could stomach waiting a few months to move after baby is here, but not 6m+. We started looking last July, just can't believe how long winded and difficult it all is.

I also agree house 2 isn't worth the hassle for less space. I think if house 1 wasn't in the picture we'd be so up for it, but knowing what we have with house 1, house 2 just isn't as good. That said, until our vendor actually finds something house 1 may as well be off the market as we can't move forward on anything. So frustrating.

@XVGN you make very valid points feels like a lose lose situation at the mo! We are still looking, we saw another one this morning and one 2 weeks ago but for various reasons neither were right, house 2 is the first one we've seen that could possibly work although not as great as house 1.

We have a toddler, a dog and a baby on the way so I just can't face moving into rented. Maybe that makes me as bad as our vendor. But at least now we are paying off our mortgage rather than rent, and don't have to worry about toddler/dog ruining someone else's house.

That's fair enough. It's a handful! To be fair, we did have a number of dogs ourselves and were surprised to find someone who would rent to us. We were always on tenterhooks but ultimately our landlord said that we left them the property in better condition than when we arrived!

I would discard house 2 because it doesn’t seem worth it.

House 1 could work out if they find somewhere soon but it’s a gamble. I wouldn’t want to rely on them. I would keep looking hard at other properties in the hope that a 3rd option becomes available in the next month or so. Maybe widen your search area or compromise on something else to find new properties to view.

House 2 sounds less good than your current house. Why are you considering it?

Discard house 2
Keep house 1
Look for house 3

What does house 2 give you that your current house doesn’t? If it’s the same size in the same area then I don’t see the point. I would tell seller 1 that I am on the verge of pulling out of the sale unless she can complete by mid December. If that doesn’t put a rocket up her ass then I’d pull out of the whole process, stay put for a year or two and start over again then.

This.

I would put some pressure on house 1 - 'we will give you until X date to either have found a new property or somewhere to rent so that we can complete the sale' you may find she pulls her finger out rather than lose you as buyers. Also remind her that the stamp duty threshold goes down in April so it's in everyone's interest to get the transaction done before then

Assuming you’ve already spent money on house 1 in the form of solicitors fees, survey, searches, etc? If so, I’d put any more spending on pause, until the vendor has found somewhere to move to.

In the meantime keep looking for house 3.

I was about to mention house number 3 as well.

Also be interested to know why you’re looking at house 2, can’t make sense of it as it is.

My thoughts too, worth keeping house 1 on the back burner assuming house prices may have gone up and haven't dropped.

Swap houses with your buyer if possible. Keep your sale moving.

Sorry I've not been clear - house 2 is similar size downstairs but has 2 extra bedrooms, taking us from a 2 bed to a 4 bed. In addition, it's walking distance to our current station (4 fast trains per hour) vs a drive to the house 1 station (only 2 fast trains per hour) in a town where all 3 senior schools are outstanding/good (not the case for the house 1 town.

So it does have some significant good points, but we keep coming back to the fact it's not got larger communal spaces downstairs than we already have, and there is still uncertainty about the rest of the chain and therefore might not be any quicker than the one we are stuck in.

We are still keeping eyes out for house 3! DH has seen another one today we'll book a viewing in for. But house 2 is the only one we've seen since our vendor went back to square 1 where we've even considered making an offer.

Thanks for all the viewpoints so far!

Won’t the lack of good/excellent schools be a problem with house 1?

With the extra information about that plus trains plus 2 extra bedrooms I’m now Team house 2 (or ideally house 3)

I agree with this. The house you are looking for isnt either of these!

@Twiglets1 yes, house 1 senior schools situation is a bit of a gamble. There are a couple of outstanding schools this house currently sits in catchment for, but it's by no means guaranteed. There is also a planned development of 700 homes going ahead in the next few years and I don't know if that will affect catchment areas in the future. It's 9 years til DS goes to school so just quite hard to know but we felt the size of the house and garden, as well as the price honestly, made it a good enough next step for us, and we'd cross the schooling bridge when we come to it.

Whereas if we stay in this current town there'd be no real school issue, all of them are very highly regarded.

House 1 won’t be good for 20 years if the schools and transport are poor. space to entertain isn’t an important criteria IMO. Unless schools are good in the location would rule out that one.

house 2 sounds fine, but if you think based on market research that you can get somewhere else near popular schools and more space for your budget keep looking.

Hi folks, house 3 has presented itself! We are going to see it on Saturday. It's on the same road as the one we currently have an offer on, so the location etc is what we wanted. It's actually a little bit closer to one of the good schools in the area, so that's a plus.

The layout isn't quite as good as the one we have offered on, but not enough to make us think we can't make it work. It has space for hosting and family to stay. I'm excited but cautious.

House 2 doesn't sound any better/different to what you have now.

I'd apply some pressure to House 1, but otherwise I think I'd keep looking.

View house 3, if it's nearly as good as house 1 and better than 2, then you have a choice.

However, if you still have a preference for house 1, there used to be something called a 'long stop completion date', so everyone exchanges with completion on or before x date, or earlier by arrangement.

Might be a bit soon for her to complete before Xmas now, but if that date was just before your purchasers really need to move, then you know that is the latest date completion will happen. If her answer is 'no' then I'd be concerned how long it's going to drag on, also losing your purchasers and seriously consider house 3.

Can you extend the ground floor of house 2 to provide extra space for entertaining etc?