second thoughts...is it too late?

vaneeta

hi, i'm in the process of buying a 3 bedroom house (first time) in medway (one hr drive from london), and i've already gone quite far in the process. Actually, my contract has arrived and i must sign it. I've done the searches, surveys, etc.

I know it's very fickle of me bit I am having major second thoughts now and wished i chose to buy a very smaller one bedroom flat on the outskirts of london instead. Although i am currently living in medway with parents, i see myself in london, in the future, as i have already lived there for many years and it is where my social life is.

Is it too late to change my mind or do you think it would be better to just buy the property since i've already gone quite far into the process, keep it for a year and sell-up later for a smaller flat in london.

If i decide not to buy, I'll lose about £2000 and really annoy the vendor and agents. (i feel really bad about that!) Alternatively, is it easy to rent out my house on a residential mortgage if i relocate to london in the near future.

please advise my tortured self. many thanks.

ajsdoc

You can pull out and lose costs until exchange of contracts. The other people involved in the transaction will be (justifiably) annoyed at such a fickle reason for pulling out. They may also incur significant financial costs due to you pulling out.

But you can do it.

G_M

It will cost you money as you know. And upset some people.

But you have to live there for the next.... 5?....10? years. It is your life. It matters. You need to make the right decision for you.

If the property is not right, or not in the right place, don't buy it.

franklee

If you want to pull out then pull out. Forget the 2K that's small fry in the scheme of house buying. As for the vendor, they will likely be upset but know that's the way it goes sometimes and nothing is set in stone till contracts are exchanged. IMO best not leave them hanging on any longer than necessary so they can get to re-marketing asap.

mysk_girl

You must only consider yourself - this is hundreds of thousands of pounds and the biggest financial commitment you will ever make. Do not go through with it to keep someone else happy, that would be insane.

I have pulled out of 2 house purchases, one due to an undisclosed boundary dispute, and one for a whole host of minor reasons. None were big enough on their own to justify pulling out, but everything added up to make me uneasy. I still feel guilty about that one because it went on to be repossessed and sold for a significant amount less than we had offered - but it was still the best decision for ME (and hubby and children, obviously).

Don't tie yourself to something you may not want to live in and possibly can't resell unless you really want to be a landlord. Even then you may not get consent to let, or the rent may not cover the mortgage or you may end up with awful tenants who trash the place and don't pay the rent.

If you are going to do it, do it ASAP.

[Deleted User]

vaneeta wrote: »

hi, i'm in the process of buying a 3 bedroom house (first time) in medway (one hr drive from london), and i've already gone quite far in the process. Actually, my contract has arrived and i must sign it. I've done the searches, surveys, etc.

I know it's very fickle of me bit I am having major second thoughts now and wished i chose to buy a very smaller one bedroom flat on the outskirts of london instead. Although i am currently living in medway with parents, i see myself in london, in the future, as i have already lived there for many years and it is where my social life is.

Is it too late to change my mind or do you think it would be better to just buy the property since i've already gone quite far into the process, keep it for a year and sell-up later for a smaller flat in london.

If i decide not to buy, I'll lose about £2000 and really annoy the vendor and agents. (i feel really bad about that!) Alternatively, is it easy to rent out my house on a residential mortgage if i relocate to london in the near future.

please advise my tortured self. many thanks.

Firstly, the others are right - you must do what's right for YOU (sad for the other people, but a house is the biggest thing you'll ever buy and it's repercussions will affect your life for a long time, so it must be right).

No, it's not too late. However, I would give yourself a day and really explore what's going on. Why did you decide to buy this 3 bedroom house - was it your idea or were you encouraged by your parents? Are you planning to move back to Medway when you get older? What would be the renting potential of it? Would it be a good investment in the longer term?

One thing you do have to bear in mind is that ONE bedroomed flats are notoriously hard to sell on - except in a housing boom, and I don't think we're going to see one of those for a very long time. They are also difficult (I understand) to rent out - most renters actually want a spare bedroom.

I know that your social life is mainly in London now, but you'll be surprised how quickly that may well change. I lived in London in my 20's and left in my 30's, by which time most of my friends had left too - off to 3 bedroom houses to bring up families

To answer your question - if you rent out your home you normally have to advise the mortgage company and they may change the terms of the loan (why not ring them up in the morning and find out?)

I think you need to sort out: is this last minute panic or is this something deeper? Think it through - get some more info. Personally, I would give yourself one more day - talk to: your mortgage company; local estate agents (how much would you get to rent the house out; how easy would it be); look at the flats available to buy - would you want to live in those areas/how easy would they really be to sell on or rent out?

And one word of caution: a friend of mine bought a one bedroom flat in Croydon; she lived in it for 10 years before trying to sell it - 3 times. She still lives there ...:(

MobileSaver

Corona wrote: »

One thing you do have to bear in mind is that ONE bedroomed flats are notoriously hard to sell on - ... They are also difficult (I understand) to rent out - most renters actually want a spare bedroom.

I agree, losing £2000 on an abandoned house purchase could be peanuts compared to what you might lose when you try to resell the one bed flat.

Obviously that's a generalisation so use Rightmove/PropertyBee to see how many one bed flats are available in the area you're interested in, how long they've been on the market and how much sellers have had to knock off the price.

GDB2222

vaneeta wrote: »

Is it too late to change my mind or do you think it would be better to just buy the property since i've already gone quite far into the process, keep it for a year and sell-up later for a smaller flat in london.

If i decide not to buy, I'll lose about £2000 and really annoy the vendor and agents. (i feel really bad about that!) Alternatively, is it easy to rent out my house on a residential mortgage if i relocate to london in the near future.

please advise my tortured self. many thanks.

It's a shame to waste the £2,000, but it will cost you much, much more if you buy the place now and then try to sell it in a year or two's time. Likewise, it makes no sense at all to have it as a buy-to-let.

Do not worry about upsetting the agents, it's just a commercial deal for them, and do not allow them to bully you into proceeding.

Pull out now, and say sorry to the vendors. If you really feel bad about the vendors send them a cheque for £200 as a contribution towards their wasted costs. At least that shows them that you really mean it when you say that you are sorry. But, above all, do not proceed if it is not right for you.

KateLiana27

No, it's not too late.

You will upset the vendors. They will be angry and think you are a huge time-waster. But that's nothing compared to living for years in a place you are unhappy in.

That said, I'd urge you to think very carefully before making the decision you are proposing. To some extent it's natural to panic as your window of opportunity to change your mind closes. Are you the sort of person who tends to get cold feet about important decisions? Or is this out of character for you?

For what it's worth, I think your original decision to buy a 3-bedroomed place rather than a small one-bedroom was correct. But I'm not the one buying it

puddleduck

We had a buyer pull out on us at the point of exchange, and it ended up not costing us anything. Our solicitor explained that they didn't really have any additional work to do, apart from changing the name on the contract when we proceeded with our eventual real buyer.

So, it might not cost your vendors anything, but if you're going to pull out, do so before exchange of contracts. Afterwards, then it really is too late.

The advice about researching the market and planning for the future is a good one though. Can you compromise and find a 2-bed-something half way between London and Medway?!

paddyrg

Don't worry about upsetting anyone - yes it may nark them off and have all kinds of impacts on their chains, but that is their business. You will never have to deal with them again, so a simple "sorry this is so late, circumstances have changed, I will not be proceeding" is all you need to say.