Offer received but quick eaxchange needed

pjmtq

Been on market for 11 months, finally received an offer, low but prepared to except given current climate.

Buyer is an investor and will not negotiate on anything including time to exchange, 4 weeks. Issue is we have not yet found a house and expect that it would take longer than 4 weeks to find one setup mortageg and exchange.

We're keen to move so do not want to decline but not sure what to do between selling and buying as it could be a couple of months. Need to consider storage costs, cost of moving twice, where to stay in the interim (possibly parents).

Anyone else been in a similar situation?

QTPie

Yes, sort of. We accepted an offer on Friday from an investor. He also would not negotiate on his offer, but said that he is "willing and able to progress the sale" as quickly as we are willing and able (so did not put any timescale requirements on exchange).

HOWEVER, we are VERY keen to move onwards AND have always intended to go into renting (for at least 6 months possibly 12+ months). So we are pushing for very quick exchange (hopefully about 3 weeks - he is a cash buyer so could be done this quickly...).

Yes, this does involve moving twice, BUT we don't want to rush buying anything else (want to buy the right place at the right price and at the right time) AND want to be chain free when we do. So the price of a double move is worth it to us. Have you considered that? A minimum rental contract is 6 months, though...

Since your buyer is an investor, does he intend to let the property out immediately? Does he have some tenants lined up? If not, you could offer to rent it back from them (assuming price and conditions are suitable). You will probably find that the investor is VERY keen on this (assuming you would make good tenants): from an investment point of view, the would have no worries about it being empty for a while... It would also mean that you didn't have to move AND could take your time finding your next house (AND be chain free)

Our investors have just offered for us to rent the house back - so it is likely that yours would also be interested.

Speak to the estate agent and ask him/her to ask the person who made the offer if they might me amenable to that...

Good luck
QT

sarah_elton

Is it possible for you to rent a property for six months? You can find a rental on a couple of weeks notice (quicker if need be). You can then look for a new one at your leisure, without feeling under pressure to dive in and buy something (as you would if you were staying with friends or family). Also avoids storage costs, and since house prices aren't going up any time soon you don't lose anything by renting.

Since the process of buying whatever house you choose can easily take a couple of months, you have a few months at the start of the tenacy to find something.

Other alternative - is the investor going to rent it out or do it up? If he's going to rent it out, ask if you can rent it back - be the first tenants. You can live in the house for another six months so no removal costs and no additional move. Then, as above you look for something at your leisure.

I'm selling at the moment and am doing exactly this - going to rent the place back off the guy. We should complete within a month of offer being accepted all being well. We've got a cash buyer and he's not even bothered with a survey. We're then free to move out whenever we want (after the initial six month tenancy agreement) without having the hassle of waiting for a sale.

EDIT: Great minds QT...

princessamy86

If you really want to move, then accept his offer and bite the bullet of the costs of storage etc- although we were in a similar situation and various friends/relatives were all roped in for storage space! You can get some quite good offers for storage if you shop around, lots of them have 1 month free offers-just make sure you get adequate insurance for your belongings. Have you asked this investor if he really can't wait a bit longer for you? Sometimes they just say stuff like that to scare you into accepting the offer! I would rope as many mates in as possible, get them to help you move so you don't have to pay removal costs, and try and move in with parents if it's just for a couple of months cos that will save you money as well! Is your investor looking to rent it out? He might let you stay on for a few months while you find if you pay him rent, that will at least save you storage costs and will let him find a tenant as well. Good luck! :rolleyes:

poppysarah

Is he getting a good deal? Make him wait. If you htink he's been generous with his ofer then go along with the deadline. Maybe you could rent for a while whilst you find somewhere... (take advantage of any further drops in the market)

QTPie

sarah_elton wrote: »

EDIT: Great minds QT...

Not only were we thinking just about excatly the same things, we were thinking them at exactly the same time

QT

QTPie

poppysarah wrote: »

Is he getting a good deal? Make him wait. If you htink he's been generous with his ofer then go along with the deadline.

I think that is pretty risky... certainly our buyer (crossing fingers, legs, toes etc...) said that the terms of the offer (price) were not under negotiation - he didn't want "any messing about". If we didn't accept then he would buy elsewhere (investment, cash buy too - although he thought our house was great, he didn't have any emotional attachment to this house and would just buy elsewhere...). I believe him: there are two other houses in our development on sale (the other two had an asking price £25k either side of ours) and he REALLY likes our development. However, in return, he promised not to mess us around either (hopefully he is a man of his word!).

Providng you are completely happy with the offer, I would say accept it and "find a way": the housing market is a fickle beast and another reasonable offer may not be along for another 6/12 months and THEN could be considerably lower. Of course I could be COMPLETELY wrong and you could get a better offer from a more patient buyer next week... . The property market is SOOOO unpredictable, but I think that "a bird in the hand...".

I would honestly say go into rental and take your time over your next purchase. If you can get the buyer to rent your own house back to you, then that may work out to be a "win win" situation for all involved

Good luck
QT

sarah_elton

My investment buyer was exactly the same. I tried negotiating upwards like you normally do and was given short shrift. There's plenty of flats available for him - he could have gone with any of them and what swung it for mine was that we wanted to stay on as tennants so he'd have a sitting tenant from the start. It was a 'take it or leave it' offer.

QTPie

sarah_elton wrote: »

My investment buyer was exactly the same. I tried negotiating upwards like you normally do and was given short shrift. There's plenty of flats available for him - he could have gone with any of them and what swung it for mine was that we wanted to stay on as tennants so he'd have a sitting tenant from the start. It was a 'take it or leave it' offer.

Sounds fairly common perhaps?

If mine doesn't mess me around (and gets to exchange very quickly and without gazundering), then I am fine with that. He gets what he wants, we get a reasonable price and to move on with our lives without further ado

He obviously has a good reason for wanting this house (or a house on this development) and now and, hopefully, will not get cold feet (like our last buyers seemed to...). Presumably (our buyer is a well respected local businessman and VERY familiar with building/property) he has done his homework and is happy with the sale. If we can exchange quickly, then that also gives him less chance to change his mind...

QT

zone

Good advice above. If you really want to move now and can afford it id take the offer and rent somewhere. Then look for a new place in your own time without being rushed to buy a property. If you dont take up the offer then your buyer may decide to walk away and you will be back to square one. Depends how badly you want a sale.