General Consensus : Sell ¦ Rent ¦ Buy

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Hi

What is the general consensus on selling and then renting for a wee while until a house you're keen on has the offer accepted?

We are looking to sell (currently first time buyers of 4 years).

We have been looking about quite a bit and have our eye on one or two places. However without knowing how much we would realise on this we can't do anything just now...

If we received top estimated offer (valued by 3 different agencies) we wouldn't look to realise too much from our house, however, it would certainly allow us a substantial enough deposit for an 80% mortgage on a new place.

I know this is speculative. However, my thinking is that we put ours on the market and if it sells before we can buy we can rent for a month or two / or put an offer in somewhere immediately if there is somewhere we wish to snap up....

My other half thinks this is madness - effectively getting off the property ladder, where I think when a go to put an offer on a place we will be in a very strong position with mortgage ready to go and no ties...

Also, are mortgage providers currently allowing existing customers - additional borrowing or is this frowned upon in current climate?

Thanks for all advice, personal experience is just so valuable!

GJ x

spuds_2

I really wouldn't worry too much about putting your house on the market and getting it sold and having to rent. More likely it will stay unsold for several months as the market in most areas is very slow. Also, people are making offers well below the asking price. What position would you be in if you had to accept 10% less than your lowest valuation?

I would put it on the market at a keen price, see what happens. If it is a FTB type house, then it will be a short chain anyway. You could sell and rent, but minimum tenacy is usually 6 months. Certainly you would be in a strong position and prices seem unlikely to rise any time soon - but what if you don't find a house you like and have to extend your tenancy? Are there plenty of suitable properties around? I would get yours sold first though, that's the main thing.

QTPie

We have been trying to do this for a few months now... We wanted to move anyway: we are in a lovely house, but want to start a family - this house just isn't right for what we want for a family house. Plus we could afford to increase our mortgage by £200k, plus we could add another £50/100k cash. So we are not desperate to move (for any financial reason), but very read to "move on".

I agree with spuds, I think that you need to stop dreaming about getting anywhere near the top valuation. Look around, see what other things have sold for in your area VERY recently and go from there.. What was a realistic selling price three months ago, will probably not be a realistic selling price now. We went on the market at the end of October with an asking price below what an idenctical house sold for 3 months earlier, we accepted an offer 10% below the asking price after 5 weeks on the market. We got "gazundered" 4/5 weeks after that (the buyer - FTB - demanded a further 10% off the price of the house just before valuation) and the sale fell through. Rightly or wrongly.

So prices are falling quickly. Unless you pitch is ABSOLUTELY right and/or are VERY lucky, I would expect offers 10% below the asking price... After that, there is always a risk of being further gazundered before exchange. Many of us think that "gazundering" isn't a moral or ethical tactic, but there are quite a lot of people that think that buyers would be "mad not to" in this market...

We were gazundered mid-January (and a slightly reduced price), the agent started actively marketing the property again at the beginning of last week (only appeared in the local property paper this past Friday). We have yet to have any viewings requested. I intend to give it a month: if there is no serious interest by then, we will withdraw it from the market and look at alternatives.

The problem we have at the moment is that we are not seeing the same property price drops in the houses that we want to buy: most of those are still on at "late 2007 and then some" prices. They are not really selling, but the owners are obviously in no hurry (top of the property ladder - so people are prepared to wait for 5/7 years before they downsize). Ok, things may change, but there is only so much of a gamble that I am willing to take (even though we have an extra £250/300k to play with...). I am very happy to sell at 2004 (or lower) prices if I can buy in the same market (i.e. at 2004 or lower prices). At the moment I do not feel confident that we can do that (because of looking at houses towards the top of the ladder and those being in relatively short supply in the city that I live in). I want to see less disparity in the property prices in this area first...

We would have looked to rent for 6 to 12 months. As spuds says, 6 months in the minimum on a normal rent (unless you are looking at a very expensive "executive" style apartment - when you would pay virtually hotel rates per night and have to store your furniture etc). I wouldn't want to rush buying and it would be a lot less stressful NOT to be in a chain too.

It was a gamble that I was willing to make and we would be doing it VERY soon (were due to complete on the sale of our house this coming week... :rolleyes: ), but you need to be sure it is right for you and also set your boundaries (we were gazumped well below our boundary...). Be pesimistic about what you will sell your house for and don't be too optimistic about what deal you can get on the type of house you want... Is it still comfortable? Are you too stretched? Is it worth the hassle?

Hope that helps.
QT

Robert_Sterling_3

spuds wrote: »

What position would you be in if you had to accept 10% less than your lowest valuation?

A good point well made. :T :T :T

PasturesNew

When getting 3 agents in to value a house, it would usually be inadvisable to take the higher agent's price as gospel.

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PasturesNew wrote: »

When getting 3 agents in to value a house, it would usually be inadvisable to take the higher agent's price as gospel.

Hi

Thanks for your great advice. Sorry should have been more clear... averaged all estimations out to the figure I was referring to. Also have done research on very similar places nearby. Of course I am not silly enough to think we will get this, it's just all speculative and I'm just going through all possible outcomes in my mind and on paper.

We are in Scotland too, so that makes a difference also.

Keep up the comments tho, always great to have different opinions.

GJ x