Renting for 1st time after mortgage - Questions

gemima

Hello,

I have been reading an excellent thread about Renting with some good helpful hints but I wondered if anyone can help me prior to signing up.

We have never rented before but have sold our house and are going to take a leap into the unknown due to not being able to find anywhere to buy and feeling a bit wobbly about market. Bear in mind we have 2 small children not at school age yet.

If we see a property we like and we know others are looking at it on the same day, do we just tell the agent there and then that we want it - I know renting is more high speed than buying! Secondly if we say we want it there and then do we have to put down the deposit straight away or is this done after the employment/credit checks?
What sort of questions should I be asking and is there anything I need to think about?
I feel very nervous about this but we are looking at a particular bungalow that we would never be able to afford to buy (yet) in a good area so am happy to move into rented if we could have that one. I so hope we are doing the right thing. At present we have about 70K of equity after fees deducted but have only been paying our mortgage interest only due to me being at home looking after the children so effectively we have only been renting our house and relying on our equity but of course IF house prices fall we are going to lose out. We could start paying back repayment now but know if we are going to do this we would need to stay here for at least another 8 years to wait until market picks back up again and we have paid some off the capital. We are not sure if we would want to stay here that long - have been here for 8 already!

Any reassurances/help would be really appreciated.
Thanks

hostman

Is your house completely sold (not just STC, but exchanged ...) or have you only had an offer on it?

You may have missed the boat to STR tbh.

Tassotti

Rental demand is high at the moment, so if you like a place, then YES tell the agent/LL you want it straight away.

The agent/LL will then do the credit checks/referencing. You don't have to pay the deposit immediately. You will need to pay that a couple of days before or on day of moving in.

The deposit must be held in a deposit scheme, and you must legally be informed who is holding that deposit within 14 days of it being lodged.

Be Lucky

Tass

gemima

hostman wrote: »

Is your house completely sold (not just STC, but exchanged ...) or have you only had an offer on it?

You may have missed the boat to STR tbh.

We haven't intentionally STR its just the way it is happening for us. We have got a good price for our property and no we are not exchanged yet but no chain and buyer really does want our house (waited a long time now for us to make a decision).

Can you say why we may have missed the boat please? I am nervous enough about the decision without a comment like that not backed up by a reason.

Like I said we could stay where we are but as we SSTC quickly (twice) and lost our first buyers we think we should just get out of the market for a while and wait and see what happens.

WillowCat

Providing nothing goes wrong on your sale then you have (just) caught one of the last places on the boat.

We're in an very similar position - due to exchange within the next 5 - 8 days. I've got everything crossed that my buyer doesn't pull out or try to pull a fast one on day of exchange. We're relocating not STR, but getting caught up in the difficult market today.

hostman

gemima wrote: »

We haven't intentionally STR its just the way it is happening for us. We have got a good price for our property and no we are not exchanged yet but no chain and buyer really does want our house (waited a long time now for us to make a decision).

Can you say why we may have missed the boat please? I am nervous enough about the decision without a comment like that not backed up by a reason.

Like I said we could stay where we are but as we SSTC quickly (twice) and lost our first buyers we think we should just get out of the market for a while and wait and see what happens.

Do you not listen to the news or read newspapers? Its not all over blown you know, in fact in many cases its worst than the media admits. Completed sales volumes are down almost 40% and prices are falling up and down the country.

Depending on when you agreed a sale price with your buyer, if I was buying, I wouldn't want to continue unless I see a further discount to protect myself against future, inevitable falls or I may even pull out altogether.

Therefore, you may have missed the boat if you are wanting to STR. The best time to do so would have been last year.

I apologise if this proves upsetting to you, but it is cold hard fact. The property market has changed dramatically in the last six months and is set to get worst, the economy and job prospects with it - My opinion and our own Governments opinion, who famously UNDERESTIMATE bad situations.

You may be lucky and the sale may complete - But prepare yourself for the worst.

Incisor

gemima wrote: »

... Can you say why we may have missed the boat please? I am nervous enough about the decision without a comment like that not backed up by a reason..

If you have a buyer, are happy with the price and the deal sticks, then you have not missed the boat and hostman is just panicing you.

gemima

hostman wrote: »

Do you not listen to the news or read newspapers? Its not all over blown you know, in fact in many cases its worst than the media admits. Completed sales volumes are down almost 40% and prices are falling up and down the country.

Depending on when you agreed a sale price with your buyer, if I was buying, I wouldn't want to continue unless I see a further discount to protect myself against future, inevitable falls or I may even pull out altogether.

Therefore, you may have missed the boat if you are wanting to STR. The best time to do so would have been last year.

I apologise if this proves upsetting to you, but it is cold hard fact. The property market has changed dramatically in the last six months and is set to get worst, the economy and job prospects with it - My opinion and our own Governments opinion, who famously UNDERESTIMATE bad situations.

You may be lucky and the sale may complete - But prepare yourself for the worst.

Hi,

I think you have missed the point of my original post. Please don't be so patronising.

We don't care if we sell or stay - we decided to stay 6 weeks ago but our buyer kept on and on and desparately wants our place for a number of reasons. So, we have been looking fruitlessly for a property to buy but no-one is prepared to come down in price (like we have) - more to do with where our house is priced in relation to stamp duty. Of course we watch the news (I am on property bee every day and on this site everyday)- this is why we are thinking about just renting for a while and see how the market goes and bank our equity rather than buy a house that we are not that into.

We are not in financial difficulty, we are still on a good rate of mortgage and indeed our mortgage company will allow us to keep our existing rate if we port in 6 months so our options are not completely dead.

In all honesty if our buyer said to us he wanted a price reduction then he will be told in no uncertain terms that he isn't having it and we will then stay here - problem solved. Its just that at the moment we are being given a bite of a cherry to live somewhere else and save so I just wanted some advice on renting. Thanks.

hostman

If you don't need to move and have two young kids, I would stay where you are and not bother with the hassle of renting.

TD5

gemima wrote: »

Hello,

Any reassurances/help would be really appreciated.
Thanks

This is exactly what we did last July in the end. We weren't in a particular hurry to move but we couldn't find a house that we liked. So we sold up and took our time looking. As it happens we still haven't found anywhere and at this rate won't be looking seriously for another couple of years till things have settled down. Anyway our children are both of school age but the 'selling to rent' has definately proved less stressful that moving would have done. From my experience - be reassured - hope that helps

confused31_2

gemima wrote: »

Hi,

I think you have missed the point of my original post. Please don't be so patronising.

We don't care if we sell or stay - we decided to stay 6 weeks ago but our buyer kept on and on and desparately wants our place for a number of reasons. So, we have been looking fruitlessly for a property to buy but no-one is prepared to come down in price (like we have) - more to do with where our house is priced in relation to stamp duty. Of course we watch the news (I am on property bee every day and on this site everyday)- this is why we are thinking about just renting for a while and see how the market goes and bank our equity rather than buy a house that we are not that into.

We are not in financial difficulty, we are still on a good rate of mortgage and indeed our mortgage company will allow us to keep our existing rate if we port in 6 months so our options are not completely dead.

In all honesty if our buyer said to us he wanted a price reduction then he will be told in no uncertain terms that he isn't having it and we will then stay here - problem solved. Its just that at the moment we are being given a bite of a cherry to live somewhere else and save so I just wanted some advice on renting. Thanks.

If you can sell your house do the renting option, if it falls through stay where you are, theres a lot of people scare mongering.

To be honest they all say the markets going to drop by 40% then in the next breath there saying for you to stay, and that you probably wont complete the sale of your house.

If you sell it try the renting you can always buy after if you see the signs of the housing market going back up.

Maybe a lot of people are jealous of your situation, i know i am, i would defintaely rent if i sold my house and i have 2 young kids and one on the way.

Just go for it youve got nothing to loose, and just think in 12 months if houses do come right down, you will be able to buy an house twice as much as you have just sold one for and have the same size mortgage.

Good luck

confused