Relocation - complicated

Needsadvice13

We are hoping to put our house up for sale soon and begin the process of moving from south to north. I know most people suggest selling up and renting for awhile but this really isn’t an option for us as I wouldn’t want to settle my daughters in a new school only to have to move again if the new house is in a slightly different area to the rental and we also have 6 pets (2 dogs and 4 cats) so not exactly a landlords dream!

My job is easy because I am fully remote (no office to go to!) and can provide my contract details to show this. My husband however is a HGV driver and would eventually need to gain employment in the north (lots of work on similar wages from our research)

Our options as we understand it are…

1. We apply for a mortgage with his current employment and I move with kids/pets while he remains behind staying with his mum until something suitable comes up. Would a lender be comfortable with this arrangement?

2. he may be able to transfer to a different branch of his current employer but the job terms may be slightly different (national logistics company with many different contracts) - would a letter to say he is transferring and the details suffice or will he need a certain number of payslips before a mortgage would be approved.

3. he currently trunks from our home location to a location up north and could potentially do the same in reverse with his employers permission meaning his employment details would be exactly the same. However the area he would be working out of is around 1 hour 30 mins of where we are looking to buy - would a lender consider this too far? Or too long of a commute

4. he gains employment up north before even selling our place and we live separately for a couple months (him staying in a room rental or air B&B or possibly takes a tramping job) so he has payslips etc when we apply 

any insights as to which option is best or what lenders would be most happy with? 

We should be looking at whole of market as both have clear credit reports and our only credit commitments at time of application will be mobile phone contracts and car finance

DullGreyGuy

Needsadvice13 said:

My job is easy because I am fully remote (no office to go to!) and can provide my contract details to show this. My husband however is a HGV driver and would eventually need to gain employment in the north (lots of work on similar wages from our research)

So why are you moving north? 
Sounds like you want to go and your hubby will fall in line so assume you are the higher earner?

People suggest renting for those not familiar with an area because online research, asking strangers online is not actually the same as living in a place. Guessing you know where you are going so the renting isn't relevant. That said, it depends a bit, a friend "returned home" a while back and discovered living somewhere as a teenager is very different from living in the same place three decades later as an adult with kids

tacpot12

Of all the options you are considering, I think the better ones are where you get the mortgage in place before your husband changes job. Option 3 avoids messing his employer around, but if the mortgage company may ask if he is considering changing jobs, and if they do, he will have to answer honestly. 

If you were to go with Option 3, I don't think they would think it was too far to commute, but might have a concern about the long-term viability of the situation. However, your husband does quite a generic job and I think that they would not expect him to have trouble securing work. 

Option 2 might be ideal if the employer had a facility near where you want to relocate to. The employer might be prepared to put him on a new contract that maintains his length of service (and omit any probationary period). This should reassure the mortgage company. It would a good idea to try to get a copy of the contract he would be moving onto asap to see if there are any differences in it that would be a problem for him. 

Sapindus

Slightly different circumstances but some years ago my husband had to look for a new job and found one in his parents' area, so stayed with them while I sold the house.  Like you I was more flexible in where I was physically based.  I was on maternity leave as well, which meant I had the time to make the house look nice for selling and tidy all his stuff out of the way.  It also gave us a bit more certainty that he was actually enjoying his new job.

Don't underestimate however the effect it has on the husband's psyche when he comes home to "visit" and finds that everything is running smoothly in his absence and the kids don't even seem that excited to see him.

Having currently gone through "sell the house and rent somewhere in the new area to settle in" I would with hindsight probably not do this again!  Juggling the timing of finding a suitable rental at exactly the right time and a three hour drive away, to coincide with exchanging contracts on this one, has been possibly the most stressful time of my life.  A variation on that might be sell the house and rent in the old area whilst looking for somewhere in the new area.  As a buyer, and a cash buyer too, you have more clout with sellers and estate agents than the lowly would-be-tenant when it comes to arranging viewings etc.

Needsadvice13

DullGreyGuy said:

Needsadvice13 said:

My job is easy because I am fully remote (no office to go to!) and can provide my contract details to show this. My husband however is a HGV driver and would eventually need to gain employment in the north (lots of work on similar wages from our research)

So why are you moving north? 
Sounds like you want to go and your hubby will fall in line so assume you are the higher earner?

People suggest renting for those not familiar with an area because online research, asking strangers online is not actually the same as living in a place. Guessing you know where you are going so the renting isn't relevant. That said, it depends a bit, a friend "returned home" a while back and discovered living somewhere as a teenager is very different from living in the same place three decades later as an adult with kids

Our local area is going downhill in terms of crime/anti-social behaviour and we both felt it was time to move on…. It’s actually my husband who wants the north and as my job is fully remote I’m happy to go anywhere that isn’t here. In terms of salary’s I earn £41k and he earns £44.5k so very close. We are also fortunate to not have any childcare costs due to my job. 

We have a small shortlist of suitable market towns/villages that meet our criteria and will be visiting all of them shortly. 

The questions were more to assess whether what we want to do is possible without having to rent.

pinkshoes

You're over thinking it.

Apply for the mortgage with your current jobs. Your husband can then keep his current job until he finds a new one.

The job location bit isn't important. I worked in engineering with someone whose home was 250 miles away from the office. He drove up Monday morning,  stayed as a lodger in someone's house until Friday then drove back home for the weekend. His mortgage company had no issued when they moved and took out a bigger mortgage.

Albermarle

 he gains employment up north before even selling our place and we live separately for a couple months (him staying in a room rental or air B&B or possibly takes a tramping job) so he has payslips etc when we apply 

Remember that buying and selling houses can be a long drawn out process, if things do not just slot into place. Although around 16 weeks is the average, there are plenty of threads on here with people taking over a year, one deal after another falling through etc.
So you need some kind of back up plan in case such delays affect you.

Maahes

Needsadvice13 said:

1. We apply for a mortgage with his current employment and I move with kids/pets while he remains behind staying with his mum until something suitable comes up. Would a lender be comfortable with this arrangement?

My daughter and partner have just completed on a house near me. Her partner couldn't match his London IT salary here so he stays in London during the week. They had no issue getting a mortgage through a broker.

When I moved last year (to South Wales) I told the mortgage provider my office address was in central London and it wasn't a problem.

amibovvered

You seem to have a duplicate thread?

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6568254/relocation-some-mortgage-questions#latest