Advice Needed

viv0147

My Sister and her husband are both failing health wise and it would be sensible to move into town. Where they live at the moment is outside town in a very hilly area in a 3 bedroomed house which they own and is mortgage free. So the best solution for them would be to sell their house and buy a downstairs flat in the town centre.
My Sister is unsure as I am how this works, she is afraid to put her house on the market or to put an offer in for a flat incase their house sells and theyre offer on the flat falls through which would leave them homeless,would this be the case? Thank you for reading this post and please advise.

Pete9501

Put house on the market to sell. Start looking at suitable flats in the area, perhaps view one or two to get feel but don't fall in love with any particular property. When sensible offer received then go for purchase of flat. Be prepared to rent for 6 months if nothing available, whilst inconvenient gives them full control to find ideal new home and move when they want to.

Yes its a worrying time for anyone buying a selling, but if they are not getting any younger then do it now. Chances of finding a buyer now before Xmas probably nil, so aim at the market picking up early in the New Year. In the mean time check out 3 or 4 EA and have different valuations. See what % each one will charge.

Start to de-clutter now especially before photos are taken. Consider any outstanding maintenance and keep garden tidy, especially the front for kerb appeal.

Lord_Baltimore

Your sister will need a solicitor to manage the legalities associated with buying and selling. Her solicitor will ensure that your sister completes the sale of her home and purchase of the next in a transition that doesn't leave her homeless.

So, your sister finds a buyer (usually using an estate agent) and agrees a price for the sale of her home; she is then able to offer on the new flat (she can offer before the sale of her house but her offer won't be 'proceedable' at that point as she doesn't have the funds yet). If the flat deal falls through, your sister simply pulls out of the sale of her property. Similarly if her buyer pulls out.

The solicitor will arrange for all parties to exchange contracts (this commits buyers/sellers to the sale) with an agreed completion date. The completion date is when all parties take physical possession and avoids the homeless bit that is worrying your sister.

The process is often seamless and sometimes not.

G_M

viv0147 wrote: »

.....she is afraid to put her house on the market or to put an offer in for a flat incase their house sells and theyre offer on the flat falls through which would leave them homeless....

No.

The two contracts ill be linked. 'Exchange of Contracts' is the point at which buyer and seller in each deal becom commited.

But her solicitor will Exchange Contracts on both the purchase and the sale simultaneously, so there is no risk of one falling through leaving the other contract in place.

Ideally the sale and purchase will progress in the same timescales, but it is quite common for one or the other to be delayed while waiting for the other.

carefullycautious

Bungalow over flat would be better, unless she is considering a retirement flat?

Noise and anti social behaviour plus high turnover of landlord tenents would put me off, although I have seen one block where the buyer has to live there as buy to let landlords are not allowed.

Another option is the do an exchange with someone who wants a larger property, you could put her details for this with lots of estate agents and see what response she has.