Moving Home Tactics
Discussion
I'm a single fella who plans to move about 20 miles or so from SE London into Kent some time later this year. I own my house outright and plan to buy one a bit more expensive by adding some cash.
Has anyone any views on selling up, renting a small flat (and possibly some storage as well) while looking for a new house to buy? It's more for the practical advantage of selling and then buying as two separate deals, rather than because of a clever plan to make money doing it. Cheers.
Has anyone any views on selling up, renting a small flat (and possibly some storage as well) while looking for a new house to buy? It's more for the practical advantage of selling and then buying as two separate deals, rather than because of a clever plan to make money doing it. Cheers.
Randy Winkman said:
I'm a single fella who plans to move about 20 miles or so from SE London into Kent some time later this year. I own my house outright and plan to buy one a bit more expensive by adding some cash.
Has anyone any views on selling up, renting a small flat (and possibly some storage as well) while looking for a new house to buy? It's more for the practical advantage of selling and then buying as two separate deals, rather than because of a clever plan to make money doing it. Cheers.
My thing would be what is the cost likely to be. Speak to some removal companies as some do offer a storage service. Added to that is the rental cost.Has anyone any views on selling up, renting a small flat (and possibly some storage as well) while looking for a new house to buy? It's more for the practical advantage of selling and then buying as two separate deals, rather than because of a clever plan to make money doing it. Cheers.
The plus is of course you are not part of some chain that may end up collapsing.
Yes.
Did exactly this (sort of) and I have posted on here on the subject. Sold in 2023 and assured buyer that we would be moving out and renting so no forward chain.
Spent about three months in holiday cottages at various locations in Somerset/Devon and put most things in storage.
Interest on money in the bank paid for about half of the cottage costs, plus no Council Tax/Home Insurance/Utility Bills etc. all added up. It also meant that as buyers with no chain behind us we could haggle hard, and ended up getting another £7.5k off of our purchase. Overall I estimate we ended up about £4k better off than had we been in a chain.
You can pretty much only do the above if you have no children to worry about (which you clearly don't), have no pets, and can work (if work is required) from anywhere.
The advantages of holiday cottages are no contracts, no bills, usually decent locations and many reviews will give you a pretty good idea of what the place is like.
Would do it again in a heartbeat.
p.s - It was also a lot of fun. Felt like being on holiday for an entire summer.
Did exactly this (sort of) and I have posted on here on the subject. Sold in 2023 and assured buyer that we would be moving out and renting so no forward chain.
Spent about three months in holiday cottages at various locations in Somerset/Devon and put most things in storage.
Interest on money in the bank paid for about half of the cottage costs, plus no Council Tax/Home Insurance/Utility Bills etc. all added up. It also meant that as buyers with no chain behind us we could haggle hard, and ended up getting another £7.5k off of our purchase. Overall I estimate we ended up about £4k better off than had we been in a chain.
You can pretty much only do the above if you have no children to worry about (which you clearly don't), have no pets, and can work (if work is required) from anywhere.
The advantages of holiday cottages are no contracts, no bills, usually decent locations and many reviews will give you a pretty good idea of what the place is like.
Would do it again in a heartbeat.
p.s - It was also a lot of fun. Felt like being on holiday for an entire summer.
Thanks to both of you.
As well as no kids, as of a month ago .................. I dont even have to do a job.
For my one previous experience of selling and then buying a home I went back and lived with my parents. With most of my things in storage. Sadly they are no longer around, so now I have to be a big boy and look after myself. For heck's sake, I'm only 60!
As well as no kids, as of a month ago .................. I dont even have to do a job.
For my one previous experience of selling and then buying a home I went back and lived with my parents. With most of my things in storage. Sadly they are no longer around, so now I have to be a big boy and look after myself. For heck's sake, I'm only 60!
Did the same earlier this year. 7 weeks at an airbnb in Stratford on Avon. We treated it like a holiday. Lots of good rate reductions on airbnb if you search for a longer term rental. It allowed us a couple of weeks to get the new house in order(decorating/carpets etc). Massively reduced stress on completion days.
You have to understand how you feel about the risk factors of your subsequent purchase dragging on or falling through completely.
I don't know the market in your area, but right here right now, I'm looking at a market where things are discounted, so I'm unwilling to sell at a discount without nailing down a purchase at a discount. It would only a take a chain to drag on, and then fall apart, to be ending up as a buyer next year in a different market.
This could of course work in some people's favour, but it's not a risk I'm in a rush to take right now.
In the past I've bought before selling, in the very distant past, I sold, rented, bought, but I was young and less committed then.
These days, market seems a bit broken, lots of people having deals fall through or take many months.
Some friends sold their place and were technically homeless living in random airbnbs and staying with friends for 2 or 3 months, but they'd signed on the line for a new build so were just waiting for it to be finished.
There's also the question of what your lifestyle is actually like in an interim period of being 'homeless' with limited access to your stuff. Could be anything from a complete wind-up to a great opportunity to travel. Possibly both at times!
I don't know the market in your area, but right here right now, I'm looking at a market where things are discounted, so I'm unwilling to sell at a discount without nailing down a purchase at a discount. It would only a take a chain to drag on, and then fall apart, to be ending up as a buyer next year in a different market.
This could of course work in some people's favour, but it's not a risk I'm in a rush to take right now.
In the past I've bought before selling, in the very distant past, I sold, rented, bought, but I was young and less committed then.
These days, market seems a bit broken, lots of people having deals fall through or take many months.
Some friends sold their place and were technically homeless living in random airbnbs and staying with friends for 2 or 3 months, but they'd signed on the line for a new build so were just waiting for it to be finished.
There's also the question of what your lifestyle is actually like in an interim period of being 'homeless' with limited access to your stuff. Could be anything from a complete wind-up to a great opportunity to travel. Possibly both at times!
I'm in a similar position to you. Own my house outright. Single and no children/pets etc.
I'm seriously considering doing the same. The issue with my next House purchase is I do have quite a specific house type and it's only in a fairly small area, local to me so there isn't a massive amount of houses that come up and when they do they do sell quickly hence thinking if I was a cash buyer, I would stand better chance. I think my house will sell very quickly but I don't want to then be messing people around while I wait for the house. I want to come on the market hence trying to break the chain.
I'm seriously considering doing the same. The issue with my next House purchase is I do have quite a specific house type and it's only in a fairly small area, local to me so there isn't a massive amount of houses that come up and when they do they do sell quickly hence thinking if I was a cash buyer, I would stand better chance. I think my house will sell very quickly but I don't want to then be messing people around while I wait for the house. I want to come on the market hence trying to break the chain.
Thanks for the various further comments. I am pleased there does seem to be a generally positive reaction. My lack of ties certainly helps there.
But I do also appreciate OutInTheShed's point about things possibly dragging on and possibly causing problems with price changes. My home is a fairy straightforward and modest house in a built up area and I'll be looking for something equally straightforward further out of London but still somewhere fairly built up. I'll not be looking for a quaint village home or anything like that.
But I do also appreciate OutInTheShed's point about things possibly dragging on and possibly causing problems with price changes. My home is a fairy straightforward and modest house in a built up area and I'll be looking for something equally straightforward further out of London but still somewhere fairly built up. I'll not be looking for a quaint village home or anything like that.
Randy Winkman said:
Thanks for the various further comments. I am pleased there does seem to be a generally positive reaction. My lack of ties certainly helps there.
But I do also appreciate OutInTheShed's point about things possibly dragging on and possibly causing problems with price changes. My home is a fairy straightforward and modest house in a built up area and I'll be looking for something equally straightforward further out of London but still somewhere fairly built up. I'll not be looking for a quaint village home or anything like that.
It's a very logical idea, especially as it puts you in the driving seat as a buyer as you'll be one of those evil older people able to use your purchasing power to rob younger people of their dream first home. And in theory, a London property tends to sell quicker and cleaner than a Home Counties one and you'll be removing that risk of your buyer getting fed up with being held up by the slower pace of your purchase. But I do also appreciate OutInTheShed's point about things possibly dragging on and possibly causing problems with price changes. My home is a fairy straightforward and modest house in a built up area and I'll be looking for something equally straightforward further out of London but still somewhere fairly built up. I'll not be looking for a quaint village home or anything like that.
Your risk, in this market, is that you will still be at risk of chains collapsing and rents are silly high so you'll have that monthly bleed heaping pressure. And if you try to minimise that rent you'll inevitably be living in a potentially grim location.
Is there any mileage in speaking to the estate agents local to where you are now and seeing if there is any BTL demand for your current place and whether they have a client on their books who would have you as their first tenant? This used to be a viable option many moons ago but I've no idea if professional landlords are still interested in that type of sale and leaseback deal.
Decoupling sale and purchase indeed has some significant advantages as most posters above suggest. One advantage that has not been mentioned is the ability to rent in your chosen target purchase area to see if it really is where you want to be. Unsurprisingly, some areas of Kent are more “interesting” to live in than others.
Did this 7 years ago. Was finding it hard to find a buyer for our 1850 house so when one appeared sold & found a house to rent. No mortgage so all money from sale put in a deposit account. The interest was within £50 of the rent on the rental we found. Took our time finding a house we really wanted - rented for 22 months. The rental had a large double garage so all our furniture, etc. stored in there.
Only once have i moved somewhere else and put furniture into storage etc and i would not hesitate to do it again.
So much easier and less stress.
The current property we are in we were unable to get the keys until 3pm due to incompetent agents, when we turned up at the property they were still in the process of moving out!
Was pissing down with rain too, not a great day.
So much easier and less stress.
The current property we are in we were unable to get the keys until 3pm due to incompetent agents, when we turned up at the property they were still in the process of moving out!
Was pissing down with rain too, not a great day.
We did this 9 years ago when we last moved, although we hadn’t set out to do it as we were originally in a traditional chain.
The house we were buying was a messy divorce case and wasn’t progressing, we had a very good cash offer on our current house so we went into rented for 6 months but that ended up as 11.
We found a house quite quickly, but the sellers hadn’t found somewhere. Our position worked well in that we could let the sellers find somewhere and we could offer a lower bid to give them that flexibility- sometimes being in a rush to complete isn’t necessarily a good thing.
I should add that this was when rental prices were lower and we could get a decent house for the 4 of us (and a dog) for not much - I reckon it would be 75-80% more to rent the same house now.
The house we were buying was a messy divorce case and wasn’t progressing, we had a very good cash offer on our current house so we went into rented for 6 months but that ended up as 11.
We found a house quite quickly, but the sellers hadn’t found somewhere. Our position worked well in that we could let the sellers find somewhere and we could offer a lower bid to give them that flexibility- sometimes being in a rush to complete isn’t necessarily a good thing.
I should add that this was when rental prices were lower and we could get a decent house for the 4 of us (and a dog) for not much - I reckon it would be 75-80% more to rent the same house now.
Glosphil said:
Did this 7 years ago. Was finding it hard to find a buyer for our 1850 house so when one appeared sold & found a house to rent. No mortgage so all money from sale put in a deposit account. The interest was within £50 of the rent on the rental we found. Took our time finding a house we really wanted - rented for 22 months. The rental had a large double garage so all our furniture, etc. stored in there.
A large double garage? What I need is a studio flat with one of them. 
I am pleased I asked about this though as it does seem like a runner. I will consider asking estate agents but always assume they will just tell me what suits them. No offence meant to estate agents though.
Randy Winkman said:
A large double garage? What I need is a studio flat with one of them.
I am pleased I asked about this though as it does seem like a runner. I will consider asking estate agents but always assume they will just tell me what suits them. No offence meant to estate agents though.
Also worth considering that if the sale of the current property is releasing a large amount of money then that can be put on secure, short deposit, ie gilts, a tax free yield of around 4.0% can be achieved. For example, £500k would achieve £1,600/month. That offsets one's rental costs partially. I am pleased I asked about this though as it does seem like a runner. I will consider asking estate agents but always assume they will just tell me what suits them. No offence meant to estate agents though.
In years gone by such yields almost entirely covered the rent and while we aren't back to those days as rents have spiked so badly, it's a normal tactic that has returned after the QE demise.
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