Our next step?

virgo149

Having had christmas to mull over losing our buyers 2 days before exchange a couple of weeks ago, we are now in a pickle as to what to do next and would appreciate any advice/peoples opinions.

Basically, we are back to square one with selling. I have given 2 weeks notice at our EA's as they were pretty useless anyway so have to wait for that to run it's course. We also need to completely reorganise the house again as we had already started packing (won't do that again!).

We have to sell in order to buy and do not want to end up with a massive bill for not moving again (this non move has cost us just over £1300).

Would we be better to sell and go into rented, then look for something? I am slightly wary of stepping off the 'ladder' but at least we run less risk of losing the house we want again by doing this. Has anyone any experience of doing it this way. It's a long time since I rented and do have a cat to consider. We are fortunate to only currently have a mortgage for just under a third of the value of our home so will have plenty of equity behind us.

The thought of doing this again fills me with dread but an elderly father in law is forcing the move so it has to be done. Any thoughts? Many thanks!

andyyorks

Sorry to hear about your buyers pulling out, we're due to exchange contracts on Tuesday so I've got my fingers crossed that it goes through. We sold our house and then went into rented in order to put ourselves in a better negotiating position. Our vendors accepted our lower offer as we weren't in a chain. You can find good value rented accommodation now given the rise in but-to-lets (even for cats). Interest on your equity may pay a good proportion of the rent too. I wouldn't worry about coming off the 'ladder' for a short while as you'll probably gain with what you'll save on your next house.

There are some hassles with it though. You've got to move twice and maybe pay for storage. The biggest pain for me was changing my address, phone and utilities etc twice.

I hope it all works out for you, hopefully you'll be in a position where you are glad they pulled out.

sturgeon62

Hi Sorry about your problems. We went into rented for six months (long and complicated story) but it did prove to be for the best in the end as it put us into a really strong position, we found an ideal property and the vendor really wanted a quick sell, having had someone pull out at exchange. We were even able to negotiate a very good price. We also thought we would have trouble finding a suitable rented property as we had a dog, kids and a smoker, but there were several options available which was very suprising, I suppose because there are so many properties to let at present. Best Wishes

virgo149

Thanks for your replies. Definately gives me something to think about. I'm not too worried about the packing and moving twice issue, as I would probably not unpack much anyway. Never thought about the negotiation thing on the new house, definately a positive point there. Time to get some decisions made I think!

andyyorks

Hi Virgo,

The main reason to go into rented is to give you that bargaining power. Our offer was £10,000 lower than what the vendors had received but because we weren't in a chain they took our offer. The others who had offered couldn't sell their house and the vendors were in a rush to move. It was a bit lucky really but luck that we wouldn't have had if we hadn't gone into rented.