Selling and then renting until you find ‘the one’ ?

fishfingerbutties

Some great replies on here, as this is something I've been mulling over. My house sale and onward purchase last year fell through (twice!) so I was planning to sell again this year and move into rental. Depending on the situation, my plan is still to sell up next year and if the sums work out I may still rent to give myself some flexibility. 

But the rentals market where I'm looking to move to is moving really quickly at the moment... so who knows how that will change.

badger09

badger09 said:

Really, really hoping to avoid this (couple in our 70s) but will do it rather than lose our buyers and the chain below them. Our vendors have said they will move in with family rather than lose us as buyers, but if that turns out to be untrue, we will do it. Their house will be much easier to sell than ours   

Davesnave said:

badger09 said:

Really, really hoping to avoid this (couple in our 70s)   

Easier if you're not working IMO. I was 60 when we sold to rent, and although the rental was a little rough at the edges, it felt like being in a slightly sub-standard holiday let and we behaved accordingly. After all the crap that came at us while trying to sell, it was great to wake up to an empty agenda and no immediate concerns.

Absolutely! And easier for us than for a couple with 2 young children. However, there are some health problems, one of which is seriously life changing when it hits, and stress/anxiety is a known trigger. Moving twice is not ideal, but.... 

Well, its crunch time for us. Our solicitor phoned this morning - email from our vendor's solicitor today to say they are not proceeding with the sale, despite receiving replies to her enquiries on Friday. 

I've been in contact with vendor  - basically, tenants in their prospective purchase don't want to move before mid March, which means our vendors will miss stamp duty holiday. I'm now hoping to explore whether tenants will move out earlier for an incentive, or whether our vendors will sell to us if we soften the SDLT blow for them. Going to cost us around £10k to rent  - not to mention the hassle of moving twice, storage costs etc, so that's figure I have in mind.

Thoughts or comments welcome.   

fishfingerbutties

badger09 said:

Well, its crunch time for us. Our solicitor phoned this morning - email from our vendor's solicitor today to say they are not proceeding with the sale, despite receiving replies to her enquiries on Friday. 

I've been in contact with vendor  - basically, tenants in their prospective purchase don't want to move before mid March, which means our vendors will miss stamp duty holiday. I'm now hoping to explore whether tenants will move out earlier for an incentive, or whether our vendors will sell to us if we soften the SDLT blow for them. Going to cost us around £10k to rent  - not to mention the hassle of moving twice, storage costs etc, so that's figure I have in mind.

Thoughts or comments welcome.   

Oh sorry to hear that. No harm trying to exhaust the options and see what they say, but they may just well now have resigned to not selling for the time being. 

If I were in your shoes, I'd be making plans ready to move into rental. Yeah it's a big pain in terms of cost and moving, but longer term may well be worth it. 

shinytop

We did it (sell/rent/buy) this year out of choice and I'd recommend it.  It made the whole process a lot less stressful and we got away with not having storage as the rental was unfurnished with a garage.  We found somewhere very quickly and moved after about 5 months into a 6 month lease.  We downsized for the rental and with interest on the house sale money (there was still some then!) and lower council tax/bills, it didn't cost that much.

Good luck with whatever you do.  

Newnoel

Time out of the market is always risky... 6 months from now house prices could be a lot higher than today

Davesnave

Newnoel said:

Time out of the market is always risky... 6 months from now house prices could be a lot higher than today

Well, they could be, but most of us look for evidence when considering the likelihood future events and I doubt if many see a rosy picture in the year ahead!

That's not to say some kinds of houses in particular areas won't buck the general trend. Covid has so far been kind to the area where I live, but it hasn't put lots of well-paying jobs here.

Newnoel

Davesnave said:

Newnoel said:

Time out of the market is always risky... 6 months from now house prices could be a lot higher than today

Well, they could be, but most of us look for evidence when considering the likelihood future events and I doubt if many see a rosy picture in the year ahead!

That's not to say some kinds of houses in particular areas won't buck the general trend. Covid has so far been kind to the area where I live, but it hasn't put lots of well-paying jobs here.

You could have said the same thing in late March, and house prices are up by more than 5% in many area so far this year.
Lots of people have been burned by thinking they are clever enough to time the market

GDB2222

Newnoel said:

Davesnave said:

Newnoel said:

Time out of the market is always risky... 6 months from now house prices could be a lot higher than today

Well, they could be, but most of us look for evidence when considering the likelihood future events and I doubt if many see a rosy picture in the year ahead!

That's not to say some kinds of houses in particular areas won't buck the general trend. Covid has so far been kind to the area where I live, but it hasn't put lots of well-paying jobs here.

You could have said the same thing in late March, and house prices are up by more than 5% in many area so far this year.
Lots of people have been burned by thinking they are clever enough to time the market

Newnoel said:

Davesnave said:

Newnoel said:

Time out of the market is always risky... 6 months from now house prices could be a lot higher than today

Well, they could be, but most of us look for evidence when considering the likelihood future events and I doubt if many see a rosy picture in the year ahead!

That's not to say some kinds of houses in particular areas won't buck the general trend. Covid has so far been kind to the area where I live, but it hasn't put lots of well-paying jobs here.

You could have said the same thing in late March, and house prices are up by more than 5% in many area so far this year.
Lots of people have been burned by thinking they are clever enough to time the market

I expected a drop in house prices because of the massive recession we are about to see due to Covid and Brexit. It hasn’t worked out that way yet, and prices are up rather than down. That could just mean I’m a dreadful forecaster, or people just get on with buying houses until the recession actually bites. 

It’s  a massive risk to climb off the property ladder and go into rented. Prices may drop, and it’ll look like a great decision. Or prices may rise and it’ll look like a terrible one. It’s the sort of risk bankers make with other people’s money, not their own. 

Davesnave

Newnoel said:

Davesnave said:

Newnoel said:

Time out of the market is always risky... 6 months from now house prices could be a lot higher than today

Well, they could be, but most of us look for evidence when considering the likelihood future events and I doubt if many see a rosy picture in the year ahead!

That's not to say some kinds of houses in particular areas won't buck the general trend. Covid has so far been kind to the area where I live, but it hasn't put lots of well-paying jobs here.

You could have said the same thing in late March, and house prices are up by more than 5% in many area so far this year.
Lots of people have been burned by thinking they are clever enough to time the market

Err, that's what I implied in "That's not to say some kinds of houses in particular areas won't buck the general trend."

As I said., I'm in an area that has benefited this year, but the lack of local employment will be key in determining how long the current love affair lasts.

Sad I have to explain my own post, which I thought had the elements of variability and risk included.

Davesnave

GDB2222 said:

Newnoel said:

Davesnave said:

Newnoel said:

Time out of the market is always risky... 6 months from now house prices could be a lot higher than today

Well, they could be, but most of us look for evidence when considering the likelihood future events and I doubt if many see a rosy picture in the year ahead!

That's not to say some kinds of houses in particular areas won't buck the general trend. Covid has so far been kind to the area where I live, but it hasn't put lots of well-paying jobs here.

You could have said the same thing in late March, and house prices are up by more than 5% in many area so far this year.
Lots of people have been burned by thinking they are clever enough to time the market

Newnoel said:

Davesnave said:

Newnoel said:

Time out of the market is always risky... 6 months from now house prices could be a lot higher than today

Well, they could be, but most of us look for evidence when considering the likelihood future events and I doubt if many see a rosy picture in the year ahead!

That's not to say some kinds of houses in particular areas won't buck the general trend. Covid has so far been kind to the area where I live, but it hasn't put lots of well-paying jobs here.

You could have said the same thing in late March, and house prices are up by more than 5% in many area so far this year.
Lots of people have been burned by thinking they are clever enough to time the market

It’s  a massive risk to climb off the property ladder and go into rented.

But there are better and worse times to do it.

When we did it, we had £400k in the bank earning 6% so we made a profit, which is no longer possible.

Prices also fell, and in  one area where we were looking, they continued to do so for some years after we bought. Here, where we live now, they recovered slowly, and where we used to live, very fast. Variables of location are disguised within the big picture.