Sell up or stay put?

bexabell

Good afternoon!

I’ve been reading various posts on this forum today and I’m now having second thoughts about our current plan to try & move house this year. I didn’t realise quite how awful the market is L

We don’t need to move - the house is big enough for the two of us, we like the location and it’s recently been redecorated so looking lovely! But we both feel like it’s time to move on as the property is (and always will be) “his” house, so it would be nice to buy a house which is “ours”, and perhaps even find our “forever” house if all of the pieces fall into place.

But is now the right time to move for anyone? Should we:

• Scrap this plan and stay put for a 2/3 years instead, or
• Get valuations from a few estate agents and comparing these against recent sold prices before making any decision?

Is the state of the market down to the seller’s financial position, the house, the local area etc and so for some the market isn’t sluggish at all?

Any thoughts/suggestions/recommendations gratefully received.

Very confused Bex

Skint_Catt

Personally (from a buyers point of view sorry!) I don't see the problem in 'testing' the market - most of the houses we have viewed so far have been doing this - they don't need to move, but if they got the right offer...

Sadly there have been a few we've been interested in but have been pulled by the vendor as they've just decided not to bother.

I guess have a look around & see what you'd need to sell for in order to buy that 'forever' house and work out the figures from there?

C xx

CloudCuckooLand

Depends on "awful". Dropping prices may make you think its not good, but the gap between a cheap house and a more expensive house will shrink...so as long as you have deposit/equity to spare you can afford to sell for less than you planned - subject to lender/remortgage, of course.

Restricted lending is one of the main factors. A mixture of tighter credit history criteria, higher deposit requirements, and greater attention to little details like having a salary that relates to the borrowing, add up to fewer applicants getting approved.

Those who have no problem with any of that, may still find an issue in competing for scarce funds from a particular lender, if trying to get the best deal on the market, at any given time.

But it does have to be said that several thousand, approx 50k a month from memory, transactions are still taking place.

The problem with finding a 'forever home', is that its likely to be quite attractive to lots of people. So, you don't want to be giving your place away in order to keep the chain happy.

The seller may not want to take the hit of dropping prices, if they feel it is desirable. Which may mean it doesn't even come to market. That's one of the problems with a "sluggish" market. Plenty of average/poor stuff, not enough good quality stuff. Just enough at the better end to keep prices from looking like they are falling off a cliff.

There are areas where the market is less sluggish. Have you considered giving selling a go, and if it does sell but nothing appeals at the time, going into rental to be a cash buyer who can move quick when the 'forever place' crops up..?

pmlindyloo

I think you ought to spend some time investigating the market in your area. Have a look at Rightmove and other sites. Get a 'feel' for how the market is doing in your area.

Armed with some information you may then want to get some valuations done. Be warned that the estate agents may give you a figure that is overpriced/underpriced in order to get you on board.

If you have done your homework you will be in a better position to know what your house may sell for.

Then have a look at what you would like to buy and find out how much you can afford (likely to be two different things!)

You don't say anything about your finances or whether you are employed/self employed, but if you will need a mortgage you will need to investigate how much you can get. It is a tough world out there at the moment mortgage wise.

I fully understand about your wanting house that is both of yours (been there, got the t shirt!).

If you have done all the research you will be in a much better position to make a decision.

We personally sold last August and moved into a rented house, wanting to be in a good position when the right house came up as cash buyers. We also thought we might make 'a killing' in a downturning market! The reality of the situation where we are is that, although house prices are down slightly, the market is very sluggish and there are very few suitable houses!

Best of luck!

henryfayols

After gonning through the posts I personnally feel that you should sell the house & before doing this you take a price review of your house & then sell it.I hope that now you will be happy & settled in your new house where you are living as a rental.You will get the desired house which you want.

GDB2222

It's an expensive business moving house. Estate agent's fees, surveys, stamp duty, etc. Lots of thousands! Is it really worth it because it's "his" house, and above all will he see it your way?

bexabell

Sorry the late response - I've been having trouble logging onto the forum!

Thank you all for taking the time to reply to my post!

I realise that moving is an expensive process so we've spent the last year tighten our belts, paying off loans, credit cards, overdrafts etc whilst redecorating so hoping that we'll be in a reasonable good position to move if & when.

My cousin is a local EA so spoke to her last night about the market and it does sound very hit & miss around our area. Some houses are flying off the shelves whilst others are sticking around for months/years. She also said that alot of chains are breaking up so vendors higher up are keeping hold of their buyers by moving into rental properties until the dream house comes onto the market. As a result there's a shortage of rental properties & a bag fight for larger houses when they do come up. As suggested by pmlindyloo doesn't sounds like it's the time to find and buy our forever house!

We will start researching sold prices for similar houses this weekend and see what's on the market as competition. I've tried to use zoopla but I wasn't very successful - it didn't appear to show much detail on the other properties ie number of bedrooms to ensure that I was comparing like for like. Any ideas or other sites to try?

The house is an older property, non estate and has a large extension so not sure how to compare prices against say newer builds with smaller rooms/gardens etc which are currently for sale or sold?

With regards to finances, we have a rough idea of what we would like to spend, found a couple of nice places via rightmove which are within this figure. The OH did arrange for us to speak to an IFA at the beginning of the year, who confirmed that on paper our figures stack up with regards to equity/deposits/extra mortgage/salaries etc. Is it worth speaking to the mortgage companies at this stage as well?

Thank you again
Bex

hazyjo

My hubby and I met when he had a flat and I had a house. It did always feel like 'my' house once he moved in. Of course, we said 'our house' and 'home', etc, but in certain cases it would be classed as mine and I (more than him!) didn't feel comfortable with him not really having as much stability. If we'd split up, he'd be the one moving out (he'd sold his flat by this stage)! Shouldn't really think like that, but we've both been there before and are very open and far from wearing rose tinted specs.

First of all we looked at places which would keep the mortgage low still, but we both know we'd have wanted to move again in a few years. Eventually, we sat down with our mortgage bod and worked out what they'd actually lend us. We went in a bit under that and upped our budget and now have our 'forever house'. We won't be moving again unless there's any reason we can't cope with the stairs (it's on four floors). The mortgage will be paid off in 16 years and, cos of the rubbish market, we managed to get such a good price on the house we bought. We'd never have afforded something like this at any other time. God forbid, but if we did split up, there's enough equity and value in the house for us to both walk away and buy ourselves a house each.

Yes, it is expensive to move. Yes, it's an absolute nightmare moving house (I swear, that's enough to keep us together lol). And I think you have to both decide it's the right thing to do. You don't want to separate in the future only for him to feel bitter as hell that he sold his place (I've been there, it's not nice). It's a MASSIVE commitment and you have to be in the right place in your lives to make it.

Not sure of your ages - if still quite young, I'd wait and give the relationship a few more years before taking on joint commitment like buying a house together in a falling market when one of you already has a house. Don't mean to be negative, but these boards (and my experience of relationships lol!) tends to make you somewhat cynical!

Personally, I'd not contribute to his mortgage, but would save as much as I could. If all's worked out well, you'll have money to go towards a deposit or to reduce some of the mortgage when you do buy together. If you split up in the meantime, you'll have your 'nest egg' to fall back on as a deposit if you wanted to buy. Either way, you should both be able to walk away without claims on each other's money/property.

Hope that's not too negative! Just thinking out loud really... you have to be a bit cynical when it comes to buying together lol!

Jx

bexabell

Hi Jo

Thanks for your post - it's great to hear about peoples experiences in a similar position to us.

We're both in our early thirties (not so young anymore :rotfl:) and been together about four years now. Like you suggested it's the instabilty that's probably my main need to move to a house that's ours. I have a flat which I'd just purchased when we first met. Due to work needed I never lived there, instead updated the kitchen bathroom etc, rented it out and then moved in to his house under the agreement it was a temporary arrangement

So 3 years on we're still there and feel like part of my life is on hold in a way? Sounds a bit extreme but I have door key, bedroom & some clothes/belongings still at my parents house - te he he!

The OH doesn't do negative talking (men!) but we did have a chat last night and discussed a couple of back up plans in the event that we did split up and asked whether he would be bitter to sell the current house. He insisted he wouldn't and would like to move on (regardless of my presence) as he's lived there for about 8 years.

I guess I'm fortunate that I can move back to the parents as a short term solution then the flat which has a decent amount of equity in it.

As for the next house - we're still torn between making the big move to a forever house (perhaps not 4 floors thou sounds very grand!) or to a "it will do for the next 2/3 years" house but guess further research on sold prices, valuations, mortgages etc will it decide that for us!

Thanks again Jo - you've given us alot of food for thought :T