Help with selling 2 houses and buying 1

vlevans

I’m asking on behalf of my parents.
They currently own their house valued around £280-£300k grandparents are elderly and not in best of health (Nan has terminal cancer) so they want to sell and move In With mum and dad contributing £200k to new house from the sale of their current house.

But as nan hasn’t got very long left to live they would like to get moved so she can enjoy her final few months.

They have found the perfect house for them all which is also chain free and ready to move into. What would be the best way for them to get moved as quickly as possible? Obviously in an ideal would they would wait for both houses to sell and buy the new house cash, however time is not on their side, thank you in advance.

da_rule

Will all 4 be on the title register as owners?

If so, if you only wait until one of the houses have sold you would have to pay the higher rate of stamp duty. However, once the remaining house sold you could claim back the difference.

How much is grandparents house worth? How much is the new house?

vlevans

It would be just my parents as the registered owners. They are going to be my grandparents carers.
Grandparents house is worth approx £200k new house is £390k.

eddddy

Realistically, the best way forward might be to price both current properties low enough that they will both sell quickly.

You can ask estate agents about things like 'informal tenders' (also called 'sealed bids').

e.g. You set a lowish guide price, and people have maybe 2 weeks to submit their offers/bids. You can look at the offers and decide which one to accept, if any.

But if somebody else offers on the house you want in the meantime, you might lose it anyway.


There are other options, like 'bridging loans' but they are high risk and expensive. And you could lose a lot of money if things go wrong.

vlevans

Dad did suggest a bridging loan but I know they are a lot of interest.

vlevans

The only other thing I can think of is my husband and I could buy my mum and dads property as an investment to rent it out.
We have enough money in the bank for the deposit for a buy to let mortgage.
Would that be a good idea?

da_rule

vlevans wrote: »

The only other thing I can think of is my husband and I could buy my mum and dads property as an investment to rent it out.
We have enough money in the bank for the deposit for a buy to let mortgage.
Would that be a good idea?

You would then need to consider whether or not you want to be a landlord and have all of the liabilities that goes with that. See G_M’s excellent sticky thread at the top of the forum for more details.

A bridging loan may be an option, or just a simple high street bank loan, depending on what the shortfall is, or maybe even a very small/short term mortgage?

Something else to consider is your parent’s assets. Once they’ve sold the property they will have a fair amount of cash it seems.

You may want to give some consideration to your mums will (as it unfortunately sounds like she’ll pass before your dad). If, at the moment, she leaves everything to your dad, this may not be the most efficient way of leaving things. If your mum and dad would have less than £325,000 each in assets then there is no inheritance tax benefit to leaving everything to each other.

I would be inclined to suggest that you have your mum leave everything of hers to you/your siblings. This way it doesn’t transfer to your dad, so doesn’t form part of his estate should he ever need care, so reduces the amount the state can get its hands on. Also, from a practical point of view, if your dad is living with you, you’d still be able to make sure that he didn’t go without.

Also, you can charge your parents for living with you (obviously only a fair contribution). This seems somewhat callous, but again it’s a legitimate way of depleting their assets.

I would also take the opportunity to get powers of attorney set up (if your parents don’t already have them) as this can save a lot of problems later on if one of them ceases to have capacity.

vlevans

I think I’ve confused you it is my mum and dad selling their house £270k value and my grandparents selling their house £200k value and buying a bungalow together for £390k although it will only be my parents on the title register.

Husband and I may be able to help out with the sale of my parents house (£270k) and look at becoming landlords.

da_rule

vlevans wrote: »

I think I’ve confused you it is my mum and dad selling their house £270k value and my grandparents selling their house £200k value and buying a bungalow together for £390k although it will only be my parents on the title register.

Husband and I may be able to help out with the sale of my parents house (£270k) and look at becoming landlords.

Ah right, sorry.

But your grandmother could leave the money to her children (or even grandchildren) etc.

G_M

Do either of the existing properties have mortgages on them?
Is a mortgage needed/wanted for the new property?

vlevans

No neither have mortgages.
They would not need a mortgage on the new property if both my parents and grandparents houses sell.