Putting house on market for one possible house to buy

Halle71

We currently live in a very ‘hot’ area for property prices and have been in our house for five years and have been tentatively looking forsomewhere a bit bigger. The problem we have is that, although out house value has increased dramatically, so has everywhere else and we still cannot afford to move to where we really would like to – if you took our house, removed thekitchen extension and loft conversion, and moved it to where we would like to live it would still cost us another £400k or so! We are also restricted becauseof schools.



Anyway, a house has come on the market that we areinterested in – only 10 minutes from ours but considerably bigger – 165m2 toour 125m2. It also has the capacity for a kitchen extension resulting in a house of circa 180m2. The garden isbigger, there is had a brick outhouse and off street parking and we would gain an extra double bedroom. It is not in as good condition as ours but it is in abetter postcode (SW London as opposed to a CR). It is on at the same price as the estate agent it is on with said ours is worth and we are being gifted £100kby my parents which would enable us to do the work we need to do. We would end up with a lovely kitchen/dining/bi-fold/doors/outdoor living area and today that house would be valued £800k + in that area.



It all seems a no brainer (although I am a bit scared about building work, mess and 2 young kids) but, in 12 months this is the only house that is anywhere near suitable for us so we would literally be putting ours on themarket in the hope we get this house. I don’t want to mess anyone around if we lose it so can’t see how we can proceed.



Has anyone done this? What happened? What would you do?

da_rule

It's refreshing to hear someone who can actually see the potential in a property. So many people seem intent on moving into their dream home without wanting to do any work.

If it is a house you like, in an area you like and you can afford to make the necessary renovations and you can afford the house then go for it. Living with building work can be a bit of a faff, but if you get a reputable building company in they should minimise this as much as possible.

Halle71

I guess it's sometimes difficult because people can borrow money via a mortgage but having the disposable income to make improvements when you've paid a massive deposit and moving costs is hard. But this is the only way we can do it! I guess we are lucky that my parents can help out - we actually saw the same house last summer before we had my parent's offer and reluctantly walked away. It was taken off the market and put on again last week.

I've just spoken to the estate agent who have told me there is an open day on Saturday and we should put ours on the market ASAP if I want to have a chance. It's all sounding a bit competitive now. I thought we had a chance because, while undervalued, it looks better in the pictures than it really is but upon viewing it's clear work is needed. I hoped that people with maxed out budgets had seen it but couldn't afford the work needed.

Dan-Dan

If the area is as hot as you say , you have little to no chance of grabbing this house as a bargain if your not under offer , yesterday

Jenniefour

Agree with above. You need to get your house on the market asap. And if it's in a more desirable postcode than yours, which is in a hot area, then that seems to indicate this house is also in a hot area. So be prepared for it to go for a lot more than the asking price, especially as it's possibly undervalued. For which you might need to use a big chunk of the gifted deposit to have a chance of making an offer which might be successful.

If there's a lot on interest in yours, you can do the same - have an open day.

shortchanged_2

Halle71 wrote: »

we actually saw the same house last summer before we had my parent's offer and reluctantly walked away. It was taken off the market and put on again last week.

I've just spoken to the estate agent who have told me there is an open day on Saturday and we should put ours on the market ASAP if I want to have a chance. It's all sounding a bit competitive now. I thought we had a chance because, while undervalued, it looks better in the pictures than it really is but upon viewing it's clear work is needed. I hoped that people with maxed out budgets had seen it but couldn't afford the work needed.

Has the price dropped?

Why didn't it sell before if it's undervalued in a hot area?

kingstreet

You really need to have a house on the market and an acceptable offer before you start thinking about your onward purchase.

A vendor with any sense does not accept an offer from someone not in a proceedable position.

Halle71

The price has risen.
Last summer ours was valued at circa £500k and theirs was on at £520k with a different estate agent. Now it's on with the EA who valued ours at £650k which is the the same as ours is now valued at. It hasn't sold because it is the subject of a family dispute.

Ours is ready to move in - newly decorated inside and out, new sash double glazing, 3 year old loft conversion, lovely bathrooms, recently resanded floors/new carpets, updated kitchen. It's as good as can be done and literally needs no money spending on it.

Whereas, to get to the same standard, the one we want to buy needs new flooring and decorating throughout, new bathrooms and without the kitchen extension the downstairs is not balanced with the five bedroom upper floors (we would divide the loft into two beds for the kids) - it actually feels quite cramped for the footprint because they have a tiny kitchen opening onto a dining area that they have covered with wall units meaning the fridge is behind the door so you can't get into the room. And the shower/storage area on the ground floor is revolting. The loft isn't property finished.....

But. The details/photos don't hint at the work that many people these days would deem necessary which is why we didn't take it further last year.
This is easier:
http://www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/32240395?search_identifier=e114914a22ece2b00957c8307408f63b

Our road is very popular, we are in a great situation once we are under offer having over £500k equity plus the £100k from my parents, and would hopefully have the support of the EA as we would sell through them as well. But I know that counts for little until we are under offer. Dammit, I've been looking at kitchens :-)

Halle71

The problem with putting it on the market and then looking for somewhere is that our criteria are so tight there are only likely to be one or two houses a year that are viable. We get under offer and then end up p*ssing someone off. I've seen posts from those people on here hence asking opinions of this forum. Looks like we may have to stay put.

cattie

There is a big potential here for disappointment & cost, and this is for both you & anybody who puts an offer in on your house.

As you mention you only want this house & no other, what happens if a buyer goes through all the expense of survey, legals etc. & then the vendor of the house you want to buy pulls out for any reason?

You will just carry on living in the house you currently own, whilst your buyer could be left out of pocket & finding in such a fast moving market, that other similar properties have increased by many thousands of £'s which could well mean they have missed the boat & been priced out of the type of property they hoped to buy.

Do think about this carefully & if you do go ahead I think you need to be very open & honest with anybody who makes an offer on your current house to ensure that they understand the situation & any possible implications fully.

pinkteapot

Halle71 wrote: »

The problem with putting it on the market and then looking for somewhere is that our criteria are so tight there are only likely to be one or two houses a year that are viable. We get under offer and then end up p*ssing someone off. I've seen posts from those people on here hence asking opinions of this forum. Looks like we may have to stay put.

You mentioned that you have a large amount of equity in your current property... Might bridging finance be an option?

This is where you buy a new house before you've sold your old house, using a loan. It's more expensive than a mortgage (in terms of rate) but the intention is that it will only be for a few months, while your sale goes through.

It's an obvious risk and you should only consider it if you're confident that yours will sell fast, but it might well be possible for you?

Try posting your figures (equity, sale price, purchase price, salaries) on the mortgages board and the brokers over there can advise on whether it's possible for you.

You'd then be a "non-dependant buyer" (for a seller, just as attractive as a first-time buyer) and would have no chain below you.

As I said, risky (in case you don't sell fast) and it'll cost you in terms of the interest you'll pay, but it can be a way to move if you're in a situation where the right house for you will only come up very rarely.

Other option is to find a buyer and then make them wait. We did that. Our buyers offered last August and we didn't accept their offer until October, when the perfect house for us came on the market. Our old house was also very sale-able so we knew that if our buyers got fed up and found something else, that we could line another up.

If you go down this route just be honest with the people who view - say you're waiting for the right house to come up. This will save people who want to buy quickly from wasting their time. But you'll find someone who falls in love with your place and isn't desperate to move quickly, who'll wait for it.

I found our chain horribly stressful because the house we were buying was the only house we wanted. Nothing had come up before (or indeed since!) that was right. Then, the people we were buying from were only selling because something extremely unusual had come up for sale. If their purchase had fallen through I know they would have pulled out of selling to us, as they didn't want to move unless they could have the one they wanted. I was a bundle of stress until exchange!