Anyone sold a house and moved into rented accommodation temporarily?

kay_1

We are planning on putting our house on the market next month but would like to know if there are any advantages to selling our house and moving into rented accommodation temporarily.

The original plan was to put our house on the market october time because by that point we would have enough for a 15% deposit from equity in our current home and savings.

Due to living in an awful area where crime rates are a joke and gun crime is rising each week I would like to put our house on the market now.

My thinking is our house could take 6+ months to sell and by that time we would have enough money in the bank to find a suitable property to buy. However it could sell quicker than that and we would have to move into rented accommodation until we have saved enough and a house we like comes up. Is this a stupid idea? I would hate to wait till the end of the year to put the house on the market and then have another long wait before we get a buyer.

So what are the advantages and disadvantages to doing things this way?

Building_Surveyor

Well if you rent you are more than likely to be locked into a contract for 6-12months. Is that something you would be willing to do?

kay_1

We wouldn't mind a 6 month contract as we would be living in the area we wish to buy in. I don't think I would be keen on a 12 month contract.

cayennepepper

We are doing exactly that. Couldn't find anything to buy in the area we wanted, so we are renting until the right property comes up. Estate agents are calling us all the time with details of new properties, they know we are desirable buyers with no chain

fragmast3r

did it too, sold house in a few days of advertising, couldnt find 1, so rather than loose sale, we rented, no move stress either, as we timed it so we exchanged/completed a week after we got the rental, so had 2 propertys for a week, made the move simples only down side, a week or so after moving into rental we found our perfect house.......... ooops ,

StevenMarks

I've done this recently when ma new part moving to a new part of the country.

House on market for fourteen months before selling while I was in rented the hole time (still am as I can't find anywhere I want to buy).

mrsmchapman

We are doing this also, one down side is if you have a redemption fee on your mortgage!

ikeby

Another one here, due to moving to a new area also. It will he more hassle with removals and change of address etc but will hopefully put me in a better bargaining position when i next buy.

Have you looked into rental prices? I was quite shocked at first what you get for your money so have had to compromise on space, maybe one less room or no garage. Still waiting to properly start searching though as haven't got completion date on sale yet.

mrsmchapman

Rental in our area is quite high price, so we have gone for a very basic half sized house, as this will be for only a couple of months we are putting 3/4 of our home into storage and taking very minimal into rental.

ikeby

Another good thing is that all rental agencies I have spoken too do 6 month contracts as norm, then go month to month after that. All of them charge a fee though which is from around £100 to £350!

Better_Days

We are currently doing this. Accepted an offer on our house last October, finally completed at the end of January. Have gone into rented because I wanted to find the right property, not one that would just do.

It will also put us in a good position when we find the property that we want, as we will be chain free. We did get a very good offer for our property and have set this against the cost of the rent. Renting is expensive though and I hope we wont be here for longer than 6-9 months but it depends what comes on the market.

Not having to tie up a sale and purchase at the same time certainly reduced the stress levels. It does mean moving twice, but we have a bedroom full of stuff which is boxed up and will just move again if I don't get round to sorting it out.

Renting also means you can overlap your sale and purchase with the rental, if you time it right - so there isn't a mad dash on a Friday afternoon. If you buy a property that needs a bit of work which is disruptive to day to day living, it can be done while you stay in the rented property.

Don't forget though, don't sign up for a tenancy agreement until you exchange contracts. Otherwise you could be left commited to a 6 month rental and your house sale has fallen through. Our exchange was delayed repeatedly and I was put under considerable pressure by the LA to sign the tenancy agreement. I refused but did pay a retention fee of £350 to stop the LL re-advertising the property.

Lots to think about - but if you get a good offer for your house seriously consider renting - but do your sums too!

Edited to add: One of the variables is the way the housing market is going. If you live in an area where prices are rising fast then if you go into rented you may never catch up, but if prices are fairly stable (or even falling) then this will not be an issue. Crystal ball time really. But it remains to be seen what effect the govts latest tinkering with the housing market will have with the 'help to buy' scheme which begins I think in Jan 2014.