Relocating for work - how the hell?

supermassive

What's your aversion to renting? If you're renting, and letting at the same time, your costs aren't likely to be astronomical.

Your alternative option is to get another mortgage and buy before selling. Get a short mortgage term and pay with the money made from the sale of the first property after 12 months.

I_have_spoken

Has anyone done this?

Yep. Back in 2012 sold in Cambs and bought a place in Scotland, so different legal systems and 450 miles each-way trip!

Finance purchase before sale with savings and loans from within family.

This is an instance where Scottish system helps, as you contract with seller for entry on a set date and can plan around that.

I fully intended to rent in Scotland by went up for some weekends to look around and found a house that suited in pretty much every way and took the plunge.

IIRC I had to stay in a B&B for three weeks in interval between new job starting and getting keys to new house.

Fun times...

Dave_the_Ginger_Cat

I rented in London, whilst selling up in Yorkshire and it worked very well for me


By renting, it also allows you to get to know the area properly, talk to your new colleagues and better choose where to buy next

PasturesNew

I used to drive up on Monday morning and had a super cheap B&B for four nights, driving back home on Friday evening. When I say super cheap I mean it ... old fashioned, mouldy shower, socket hanging off the wall, no bedside lamp, no tea/coffee tray and a basic breakfast at table/chairs that were at least 40 years old.

ash28

When we moved to the south east from Scotland, OH went into a cheap B&B and I stayed in the house in Scotland until it sold. Spent several long weekends looking at different areas, and were guided to an extent by OH's work colleagues about nice areas etc.

The problem we had was the two different systems, when we sold our house in Scotland we had a moving out date set at the beginning....in England we didn't even know if we would complete. However, we were fortunate enough to find a house in a good area that was being sold as part of a divorce settlement (amicable) and it all went like clockwork.

penguingirl

Can you port your mortgage to save the fees? Often you have a gap of 6 months between your sale and purchase so it's worth checking out.

How quickly would your current property sell? I got offered a new job end of November, house went up for sale mid-Dec and we were SSTC by mid-Jan, had an offer agreed on another property a week later and are looking at a moving date of beginning of April (fingers crossed!). So it will be just over 4 months and we didn't have much interest over Christmas so it maybe could have been quicker. But our house was very much ready to go on the market (had suspected we'd be doing this and got all the 'odd jobs' done in the summer) and we priced it to sell.

When are you going to hand in your notice? I didn't actually hand mine in until 3 weeks ago as I work in healthcare so had to wait for DBS checks, references and occupational health clearance which all takes a while. If there is anything like that it would buy you more time. I start my new job in 2 weeks and as it is isn't as far as yours I am going to do a combination of a mega-commute and staying over until our sale/purchase goes through.

LandyAndy

Did it 10 years ago. Move from Cheshire to Hampshire. Rented for 10 months while selling old house and buying new one. I'd been overpaying my mortgage so I cut my mortgage payments in half for the last few months to make the whole thing more affordable. It was definitely a good idea to rent for a while and take a good look around the new area.

pinkteapot

Rent in the new area.

1. You'll be selling your house with no onward chain which will appeal to buyers and may help you get very slightly more for it.

2. You'll be buying chain-free and can negotiate price down a bit because of that.

3. Unless you know the new area really well already (have previously lived there or have friends/family there), you just can't judge where's best to buy based on a few visits. All the little things like rush hour traffic hotspots, small local amenities, public transport routes... All those things are hard to judge until you live there. Rent first and you may find you love the area you're renting in, or realise there's somewhere better.

4. The stress and hassle of tying up a purchase and sale while also moving long-distance and starting a new job. Just no!

One other thought - you mentioned the exit penalty on your mortgage. Can you get consent to let and rent your old house out until the early redemption charge is up? That also gives you the option to move back if things don't work out in the new area...

pinkteapot

arbrighton - thank you for my 6,000th thanks!

#threadhijack