How on earth do you time a move/change of job/starting school??

[MirandaSawyer]

We live in London but are planning on moving out. My DS is nearly 3 so we need to be in our chosen location by January 2011 to be able to choose schools for him for Sept 2011. So far so good.

Am happy to rent in the new area for a bit but I am going to leave my job and go freelance (which I can't afford to do in London because the mortgage is to big). Problem is that I'm on 3 months' notice. So - do I put flat on the market, hand in my notice and hope it sells within 3 months? Or do I wait until it sells and then hand in my notice and just draw out the sale period?

Any advice? Maybe this should be in employment but it's a bit of a crossover really.

you have to wait til it sells really - it will take that long any way

Will people be cross if I prevaricate though? I can't do my job if I'm not living here - too far to commute. I suppose we could stay with my parents for a bit if the worst came to the worst ...

A few thoughts/suggestions...

You can string out a sale for as long as a piece of string if you want to. People probably do it all the time just for this reason.

You could be upfront with any potential buyer and state from the outset you want/need to move at a certain time. This is called telling the truth!

You may also want to check your work contract or try and find out in advance if they will really hold you to the three month thing.

You could sell your house then get fired from your job in which case you are very unlikely to have to work any notice. (Then you could write/sell a funny article about how you had to get fired just to move.) This would be quite rock and roll and impressive.

Also check your mortgage. Are you going to use the same mortgage for the new property? A lot of mortgages allow you to move and keep the same mortgage.

Some mortgages also allow you to have a "payment holiday" where you let them know you will not be paying anything for 1 or 3 months or whatever. Once they have agreed it, you simply don't pay. The interest goes on the end of the mortgage if you see what I mean so you do pay, eventually.

This is a difficult problem. I think this is one of the reasons people have partners/get married - eg one partner supports the other partner while they make a career change or whatever.

Personally, I'm trying to do this as a single parent and it's going to be very difficult: buy/sell property, find a new job and change my son's school, somehow all at the same time. Have no idea how I'm going to do it. I only know that I am definitely going to find a way somehow.

It must be possible!

How about put the flat on the market, then once a sale has started to proceed hand your notice in? When I have moved, it usually takes 3 months for everything, though that is pre HIP packs. Have you any holiday you could use as part of your notice?

I would also check when school applications have to be in by. You might need to move earlier than you think, as most applications need to be in by the October preceding starting school.

Do you have the option of handing in your notice retrospectively?

I work in the NHS and I recently discovered this is a possibility for me - you just send a letter saying you are handing in your notice "with effect from..." and insert a date, which might be a date that's already gone.

I have done exactly this - no problems.