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Sold the house but nowhere to go!

We put our house on the market 2 weeks ago expecting at least a few of months before it sold if at all. 9 days later we were shocked when we got an offer from FTB's that we accepted.

We were expecting to be chain free as we had friends moving abroad for a year and we had the option to use their house while we were looking for a new place to buy but this has now fallen through. We are actively looking for a new property to buy but have found a problem in that there is literally nothing on the market at the moment that we like. We have looked into renting but this would be more expensive than our mortgage and we'd have to potentially pay to store all our furniture. We'd also have the hassle of moving twice and the potential problems of breaking a rental contract if/when we found a house to buy.

The only option I can think of is to stay in our property and wait until we find somewhere to buy but we are aware that this will likely cause problems with our buyers and we've got no idea when a property we like will come on the market.

We're really stressed about the situation, on the one hand we don't want to mess out FTB's around but then we will cause ourselves alot of problems if we agree to vacate the property on a certain date without having a place to move into.

What would be the best thing to do? Any advice would be much appreciated, the situation is causing arguements and tears:o
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Comments

  • poppysarah
    poppysarah Posts: 11,522 Forumite
    Storage for stuff. Stay with friends/family whilst you look.

    Ask how much a hurry the ftb are in
  • MobileSaver
    MobileSaver Posts: 4,217
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    Can you stay with family/friends for a couple of months?

    My girlfriend and I did this for three months once when there was a gap between us selling old house and buying new one. There were some obvious minor inconveniences but in the grand scheme of things it was one of the best things we ever did and ensured we got the dream house we really wanted.

    Just think of the fantastic position you will be in when you do find your next dream house if you go ahead with your sale now and become chain free.
    Every generation blames the one before...
    Mike + The Mechanics - The Living Years
  • andys15
    andys15 Posts: 1,102
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    Charliezoo wrote: »
    We put our house on the market 2 weeks ago expecting at least a few of months before it sold if at all. 9 days later we were shocked when we got an offer from FTB's that we accepted.

    We were expecting to be chain free as we had friends moving abroad for a year and we had the option to use their house while we were looking for a new place to buy but this has now fallen through. We are actively looking for a new property to buy but have found a problem in that there is literally nothing on the market at the moment that we like. We have looked into renting but this would be more expensive than our mortgage and we'd have to potentially pay to store all our furniture. We'd also have the hassle of moving twice and the potential problems of breaking a rental contract if/when we found a house to buy.

    The only option I can think of is to stay in our property and wait until we find somewhere to buy but we are aware that this will likely cause problems with our buyers and we've got no idea when a property we like will come on the market.

    We're really stressed about the situation, on the one hand we don't want to mess out FTB's around but then we will cause ourselves alot of problems if we agree to vacate the property on a certain date without having a place to move into.

    What would be the best thing to do? Any advice would be much appreciated, the situation is causing arguements and tears:o


    Ok well storage is very cheap, so thats no problem. I would personally rent somewhere on a short term let, and continue to look. If todays reports of further house price drops are correct, it could set you back thousands in the long run. I would even look at caravans to live in, rather than lose a buyer.
    Debt free. March 2020
    Mortgage free-August 2021
    Planned retirement date- 19/5/2026
    £29500 saved. Target £420000(19/05/2026)
  • tyllwyd
    tyllwyd Posts: 5,496 Forumite
    If you find a six-month rental of an unfurnished property, which goes onto a rolling tenancy with a month's notice, hopefully that would give you time to find & complete on your new house. Moving twice would be a hassle, but the advantage would be being chain free. (And if you were planning to stay in a friend's house, surely you were planning to move twice anyway?)

    Or be honest with your buyers and explain the situation so if it is a huge problem for them, at least you get that out of the way early on. Otherwise, if you hang on and they only find out later, they are likely to feel that they've been lied to and be more upset and likely to pull out than if you'd been up front with them from day one.

    In most areas, FTBs are very hard to find, so if you definitely want to sell, I'd think very carefully before risking losing the buyers you've got.
  • Cannon_Fodder
    Cannon_Fodder Posts: 3,980 Forumite
    Being chain-free will give you the edge if you have to compete for the house you like...

    Seen today's headlines ? http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/houseprices/7886145/UK-house-prices-not-set-to-recover-for-another-ten-years-says-PWC.html
    http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/city-news/2010/07/13/house-prices-start-to-tumble-115875-22409739/

    If you lose your FTB, you might have to drop the price by more than you will pay out in rent...

    Your equity can go in the bank to earn interest to offset the rent a bit. Try out some new areas or types of property, you might decide you like something totally different to your current opinion.
  • Charliezoo
    Charliezoo Posts: 1,732 Forumite
    We've literally go no-one to stay with now so renting would be our only option. We are reluctant to do this with the rental prices being so high and we would end up eating into our deposit by doing this.
  • Charliezoo
    Charliezoo Posts: 1,732 Forumite
    We're in a bit of a panic about this, how long have we realistically got to decide what to do and find somewhere to go?
  • Cannon_Fodder
    Cannon_Fodder Posts: 3,980 Forumite
    Ask the FTBs. Some would say 48 hours, some a week, some might allow a month or more...

    Ask.

    Keeping the lines of communication open is very important. Better to give them some bad news, but say its being acted upon, than to wait for two weeks then spring on them that its been a problem all along - they will stop believing what you say, and may pull out.
  • andys15
    andys15 Posts: 1,102
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    Charliezoo wrote: »
    We're in a bit of a panic about this, how long have we realistically got to decide what to do and find somewhere to go?

    Can you not just rough it for a few months. It will be a dinner party story in a few years. Stay somewhere, anywhere cheap. Caravan, grotty Bed and breakfast. Why risk losing the sale now for a few months of roughing it. If I was buying your place and you started coming to me with problems, and stalling tactics, I would be off. I would also be lowering my asking price each month there is a fall. The owners of the house I bought were stalling me, but every month the house price dropped, I lowered my price. We soon exchanged and it cost them over £2500.
    Debt free. March 2020
    Mortgage free-August 2021
    Planned retirement date- 19/5/2026
    £29500 saved. Target £420000(19/05/2026)
  • sonastin
    sonastin Posts: 3,210 Forumite
    Charliezoo wrote: »
    We're in a bit of a panic about this, how long have we realistically got to decide what to do and find somewhere to go?

    Your buyers are the only ones who will be able to answer that question...
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