Buying new place before selling current home - is this wise?

M

mct1

Registered User
Messages
356
We plan to downsize and relocate nearer town, and after finding a total of 5 properties worth viewing in 7 months, we've now found one that fits most of our criteria.

We were the first to see it and offered the asking price in cash which was declined - sellers looking for more. But before upping the offer we're seriously reconsidering the wisdom of potentially ending up with two houses for several months, maybe longer, as there's work to do on our home before we sell.

Obviously there's the extra cost of utilities, insurance, LPT, anything else? Ten/twelve minutes drive between the two, so we'd spend some time in each, gradually moving in, until we sell. We're more concerned about the hassle factor than the cost.

Has anyone done this? Is it a pain, or are we overthinking this? No guarantee an increased offer would be accepted of course. Before this property came up we'd decided to park the issue for a few months, but finding another place we like may not be easy.
 
Hello,

You'd need to be very strict on yourselves, with regards to how long you'll take moving houses, preparing your current house for sale, and then selling it. There's a lot of potential to take a "relaxed" approach, and that'll cost you a lot of money.

Also, are you sure you really need to do a lot of work to your current house, before you sell it ?

Will the intended expenditure add value to the ultimate sale price, and will that value be more than the amount you need to spend ?

Not a lot of expenditure generates true net increase in property value, so be careful.
 
Unfortunately it's groundworks that we've been advised by our solicitor and two auctioneers will have to be completed before we try to sell. PP is underway for this and some minor retention stuff. All delayed by engineer - we thought the works would be underway by now which is why we started looking for a property

My question is about the feasibility of managing two houses for potentially 6-12 months - has anyone here any experience of doing this? Are we mad to even consider it?
 
I recently had the same dilemma, but my issue was that the new property I was buying would not be ready for some time, and I had to decide whether to sell up and rent in the interim or stay put while I waited and sell after.
The question you need to ask yourself is one of timing - can you afford to buy the new place and hold onto the other taking into account the risk of house prices falling in the meantime? Basically are you comfortable with the risk of buying and selling in potentially two different markets. Sounds like the works on yours are already taking much longer than you anticipated.
 
LLB123 said:
I recently had the same dilemma, but my issue was that the new property I was buying would not be ready for some time, and I had to decide whether to sell up and rent in the interim or stay put while I waited and sell after.
The question you need to ask yourself is one of timing - can you afford to buy the new place and hold onto the other taking into account the risk of house prices falling in the meantime? Basically are you comfortable with the risk of buying and selling in potentially two different markets. Sounds like the works on yours are already taking much longer than you anticipated.
Click to expand...
House prices falling is certainly one consideration, but yes we can afford it. In a way our situation is enviable but I'm concerned that buying at this point is taking on more than two older folk can cope with. On the other hand, the longer we leave it to find somewhere that suits us, the more difficult the move. It's a quandry.
 
It's good to be in a position to Buy first as most people don't have the luxury to afford two places even for few months. In this market when finding a house for rent is extremely difficult, buying first makes sense. In case something wrong with purchase, your family is comfortable in current house. Plenty of examples where purchase gets delayed or worse cancelled while buyer puts pressure to move out. We did the same - it took three months to sell the house so we lost rent of three months in total.
 
bish123 said:
It's good to be in a position to Buy first as most people don't have the luxury to afford two places even for few months. In this market when finding a house for rent is extremely difficult, buying first makes sense. In case something wrong with purchase, your family is comfortable in current house. Plenty of examples where purchase gets delayed or worse cancelled while buyer puts pressure to move out. We did the same - it took three months to sell the house so we lost rent of three months in total.
Click to expand...
That's a good plus point you make about the safety net of buying first. Whatever the stress from managing two houses for a while, having nowhere could be much worse. We should probably just be grateful we have the option instead of trying to predict the future. And even if we never find a suitable new home, staying here really isn't a terrible prospect.
 
We did it, found it very convenient for the run up to the move and move itself, you have a huge amount of flexibility. The Sale Agreed period was less convenient as we were having to return to the house to check it, mow, worry about damage etc. On balance though I would recommend it.
 
1) Will you be mortgage-free on both properties?
This is the first consideration. If you can buy a second property without first selling your own, then it's well worth doing. It dramatically reduces the stress of the move. Moving from one property into another is stressful. But moving from one property into a rented property for an unknown duration while you are looking to close on a new house, magnifies the stress.

Moving from your current home to your new home at a time that suits you, allows you to do up the new home without moving in.


2) Whatever you do is risky.
If you buy first, the housing market might cool, and you could find it difficult to sell your existing home. This is not a big risk for you as you appear to be mortgage-free on both.
If you sell first, house prices may rise before you buy, and you could well lose out.

As you are mortgage-free on both, take the risk of buying first.

3) Try to minimise the risk of owning two houses.
In your case, you won't be able to sell your house for, say, 6 months. The longer this period, the greater the risk. And the greater the expense of owning two houses.

Don't rush to buy the new house. You offered the asking price and they refused. Don't rush in with another offer. Wait until you see what happens.

If you do make an offer to buy it, ask the auctioneer what their timescale is. They might well want a long closing period. That would suit you perfectly. Or they might want a quick close and you would be in a good position as a cash buyer.

Put your own house on the market as soon as possible. I am surprised that you need to do groundworks before selling it. But can you put it on the market while the groundworks are underway?

4) Put the costs in perspective.
mct1 said:
there's the extra cost of utilities, insurance, LPT, anything else?
Click to expand...

If the asking price for the new house is €400k, you might be paying anything from €400k to €450k.
If you think your current house is worth €700k, you might get anywhere from €650k to €750k
6 months of utilities insurance and LPT are immaterial. They are simply not a factor.
 
Brendan Burgess said:
1) Will you be mortgage-free on both properties?
This is the first consideration. If you can buy a second property without first selling your own, then it's well worth doing. It dramatically reduces the stress of the move. Moving from one property into another is stressful. But moving from one property into a rented property for an unknown duration while you are looking to close on a new house, magnifies the stress.

Moving from your current home to your new home at a time that suits you, allows you to do up the new home without moving in.


2) Whatever you do is risky.
If you buy first, the housing market might cool, and you could find it difficult to sell your existing home. This is not a big risk for you as you appear to be mortgage-free on both.
If you sell first, house prices may rise before you buy, and you could well lose out.

As you are mortgage-free on both, take the risk of buying first.

3) Try to minimise the risk of owning two houses.
In your case, you won't be able to sell your house for, say, 6 months. The longer this period, the greater the risk. And the greater the expense of owning two houses.

Don't rush to buy the new house. You offered the asking price and they refused. Don't rush in with another offer. Wait until you see what happens.

If you do make an offer to buy it, ask the auctioneer what their timescale is. They might well want a long closing period. That would suit you perfectly. Or they might want a quick close and you would be in a good position as a cash buyer.

Put your own house on the market as soon as possible. I am surprised that you need to do groundworks before selling it. But can you put it on the market while the groundworks are underway?

4) Put the costs in perspective.

If the asking price for the new house is €400k, you might be paying anything from €400k to €450k.
If you think your current house is worth €700k, you might get anywhere from €650k to €750k
6 months of utilities insurance and LPT are immaterial. They are simply not a factor.
Click to expand...
1. Yes mortgage free on both properties and comfortable. Starting to see the definite advantages of buying first.

2. The risk of our home taking longer to sell is a real one as it's far from standard. And a neighbouring property took 9 months to sell recently, though ours is better in many ways. It's unknowable of course.

3. About not rushing in with another offer, we were slowly coming to the same conclusion. it's early days. I fear that by offering the asking price so soon we've given them the idea that they can easily get more. Maybe they can, we'll see.

We can probably put our house on the market once we have a definite start date for the works (which are essential and not uncommon here pre-sale).

4. Good advice not to sweat the small stuff.

Thanks Brendan - and other posters above - for the great advice. Starting to see things in perspective now.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top