Current home owner looking to sell, rent, then buy

Ramouth

MaryNB said:

Stubod said:

Troughton said:

I own one property which I currently live in. I am looking to sell it, then rent for a couple of months in the new area I am moving to until I find another home to buy in the new area.

..this is what we would like to do as and when we move, however finding a rental property for "a couple of months" will be really difficult, most Landords will probably not be interested in anything less than at least 6 months?

Unless it's advertised specifically as a short term let you'll struggle to find an rental property for less than 6 months.If you enquire about a property with a 6 month AST and tell the landlord you don't intend to stay longer you may not get the property. Where I live demand on rentals is crazy and landlords aren't going pick a tenant that will need to be replaced in 6 months if there are plenty other intending to stay longer. Costs them time and money. If you do find yourself looking at 6 month tenancies keep schtum about your long term plan and do not renew the contract after 6 months if you are still waiting to complete. Let it automatically become a rolling contract. 

Depending on how fussy you are, by the time you find somewhere, get an offer accepted and go through the (on average) 3 month buying process, a 6 month AST might not seem excessive. 

6 months worked out just right for us.  A bit of time at the beginning to find a property, several months of conveyancing, and a month overlap at the end so that we could wait for completion before giving notice to our landlord.  Also handy for getting little jobs done at new house before moving in (filling, painting etc).

To make us look like more attractive tenants we told the agent we were looking for a project house to buy with the intention of carrying out significant building works while living in rented.  This wasn’t entirely untrue as we would have been delighted to find something like that.  We also emphasised how keen we were on gardening!

lookstraightahead

It's been a while since I was a landlord, but I would imagine there are a lot of landlords who like tenants with a plan, just incase the landlords plans change.

I think it's a fab idea, lots of people say it's expensive but often they are people who have never rented and just don't want to or are uncomfortable doing so as it's new to them. 

Moving area (like we did) is a big deal. We moved with an area in mind, a road specific area, and we ended up a couple of miles from there when we bought. You can start getting the lowdown from locals, join local Facebook pages, try the pubs and restaurants, visit areas. It's really not just about the house. I also knew plumbers etc by then.

AFF8879

I did this when I moved out of London to Hampshire last year, although I stayed with family instead of renting (which I fully appreciate is much more straightforward!). I just wanted to add given I’ve not seen it mentioned- in the current market, being able to go and view a property at extremely short notice is often a requirement in popular areas. E.g. if I saw a house that met my requirements had just been listed, there’s no way I’d have been able to come view within an hour (or even same day) if I was still living in London. You haven’t said how far you’re planning to move, but something to consider