Help calm me. House buying and selling stress

tanith we rented before buying. We sold our place in October 2019 and the contracted settlement date was the end of February 2020. We thought that would give us plenty of time to buy something. However, as the market was not far short of dead and to be fair we did have some requirements which made it harder to find a suitable place we realised that we were not going to be able to find a home to buy so decided to find a rental. That in itself brought some challenges as Mr Spice had to have a triple heart bypass operation as we were trying to find a rental. We were fortunate enough to be able to find a suitable rental and take up the lease a few weeks before we had to be out of our old place.
We really believed we would be able to buy no later than mid 2020 and be out of the rental early. Then along came COVID ( and a total knee replacement for me) and the house market went dead as far as suitable properties for us was concerned. Fortunately just before Christmas 2020 our new home popped up and we were able to move a week before or lease officially ended. This made it much easier to move and then be able to clean up at the rental. It also made it easier that no one was moving into either our old home or the rental immediately. Our old home was bought by a developer and demolished so no one coming in and the owners of the rental wanted to do renovations before they moved in.

Pros for us: * time to wait for the right place to come up to buy
* we had time to move into both the rental and the new place before the settlement (completion?) date which made the actual move a lot more relaxed as there was no great rush

Cons: *Time and effort in finding an acceptable rental and being selected as tenants

*The uncertainty of tenancy - we had a 12 month lease which at the end of 12 months could go onto a month by month agreement, however, our landlord decided to move back into the property at the end of the 12 months. This meant we needed to either find a new home or another rental. Fortunately we managed to find our new home. We were also given notice that the lease would not be renewed 4 months before it ended so it was not sprung on us at the last minute.

* the cost involved - rent, moving costs
* we found renting hard as we had never rented and it was totally foreign to us that if something needed doing or we wanted something fixed we had to seek permission before we could do it.

Had we not found our new home when we did then we would have had another move and the costs involved not to mention the stress of it.

In spite of there being more cons than pros I think the rental option is worthwhile BUT I think you need to know the lease will be extended after the initial period of time if needed because doing a second move into a rental is not ideal. Last year threw a lot of curved balls at a lot of people, but it was a good lesson that things can and will impact on what we think should happen.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

Thanks Spice101 very informative, after reading some of this thread I realise just because other house are snapped near me doesn’t mean the chains are problem free so forgive my naivety.

There are a lot of people looking for quick transactions at present as there is no Stamp Duty to pay on completion before the end of June. The market may quieten down after that.

Tanith just a word of warning, just because houses in your area - seem to sell, at present, like hot cakes, unfortunately does not mean that those sales actually complete quickly and easily. Wonder how many fall through - have a look to see how many of those properties come back on the market a few weeks down the line.

Lovely idea that you will be taking little in the way of furniture, with you. Think you will still be surprised at how many boxes you will need to go into storage with - just 'stuff'.

Not saying that it may not go realy easy and well for you. We do hear far more of the stories when things do NOT go well, as those that do go well do not get reported.

I agree with Butterfly re renting, as very expensive thing to do & it would mean 2 moves!

Well I have a new buyer, all agreed and 10k more than the buyers that pulled out 2 weeks before completion
Fingers crossed now that nothing goes wrong this time.

Very anxious about getting everything as good as I can before move. Need to fix a few torn lining panels in the attic, loads for the charity shops when they open, stuff for the dump, that hasn't sold on 'Market place' and 5/6 boxes I have stored for someone else needs picking up soon. Once that's all done I will breath more easily and get on with the packing up for the removal van, which I've yet to book

My move before this one I did move into temp accommodation after selling. A very large studio type place at the top of a holiday rental. It was lovely though, overlooking fields with horses & cows. We were there for 6weeks. But had to pay 2 lots of removal even though everything stayed in the van and was only unloaded when I moved into my new home.

Fingers crossed for you Yogi. Do hope it works out this time.
I think I need to move but living in social housing is another minefield altogether!

Yogi So very pleased that it looks like it could be working out well for you. Similar to what happened to me. Buyers pulled out, when I had removal companies coming in to give me quotes. Sold house less than a week later for five grand more, and the flat I wanted was reduced by ten grand.

I know - it easy - after it is all completed to realise how well things do turn out, but difficult at the time.

Good Luck that this time it will all go through reasonably easily.

Congratulations Yogi, great news! I'm coming on here to have a rest, I've been unpacking my clothes and am trying out the new washing machine. It's spinning now and sounds like it's going to take off! Seller originally asked for £175 and I questioned this, its a really old Beko, she let me have it for free in the end.

Tanith, as Franbern said, I rented before I purchased and I'm sure that is why the seller chose me as I was a chain free cash buyer, three other people offered asking on the bungalow and I had to offer over to get it.

I was lucky that I found a cottage with a garage, and did not have to pay storage costs. I would recommend decluttering ruthlessly and sell all your big furniture, I definitely wouldn't have been able to get my wardrobes into this bungalow. I also miss my kitchen table, but wouldn't have been able to move here if I'd kept it. Renting did cost a chunk of my capital at £600 rent plus bills, and I was there longer than anticipated because I wanted to have a good look around before choosing where I lived.

I meant to add that house sale funds are protected by the FCS for a year after sale during lockdown, you don't have to worry about the £85K limit at the moment.

Sorry Tanith looks like they've changed it again as lockdown will be eased soon -

www.fscs.org.uk/how-we-work/claims-process/temporary-high-balances/

tanith, we moved north to south to be closer to AC , sold our house and moved to an unfurnished rented house for a year as we weren’t sure of the area in which we wished to buy. We left many of our possessions already boxed in an unused room. We spent time looking around and as we were cash buyers got an excellent reduction on the price of our chosen property.

Thanks all useful tips

Thanks very much all. Franbern Didn't you do well

Well this has been one of the worst & most stressful time in my life. I can't relax till I actually move into my new home and everything is signed and completed. My last move was very stressful too, hence why I've put it off for so long this time.

Finished the attic, my son did a great job, just need to clean up there, did too much yesterday so left for another day. Trouble is have lots of boxes stored for another and lots of stuff for charity shop, so if I clean up there now, will probably need to again once all the boxes and stuff are gone.

My spare room is full as well, same stuff, plus lots of my stuff. Shoes in their boxes, have bought storage boxes to put them all in. Hats in their boxes will go to charity shop and lots of boxes from my mum & dad's bungalow that I can't part with.

Yes lots of useful tips on here.

One of my daughters managed a move from North Ireland to the English South Coast a few years back, with hubbie and two young children.

A real marathon!! She, firstly, got a job offer, postponed (at her request by six months to start), hubbie had to sell his business. The first EA they used did very little, so they changed Agents and quickly, got two buyers. One was a cash buyer, the other offered higher - and against my advice they went with the second.

Then they had to get an address in their new town in order to enrole girls into schools. They moved when the N.Ireland schools broke up in the summer, which is earlier than those in England.

So, they had to have a flying weekend visit to their new town to find a rental house in order to get an address. Discovered that nice, larger, unfurnished. rentals there, at that time, were difficult to obtain. When they viewed one, that seemed 'okay', with at least six other people viewing it that day, they just paid over the deposit then and there,

She flew over with the girls, leaving hubbie to drive over accompanying the removal van, ad also bringing the family pets. He then had to return in order to bring over their second car!!! So, she started her new job, immediately upon moving in, girls went to their new schools for the final few weeks of term. Hubbie had all the problems of trying to fit their stuff from a much larger house into this rental one.

Their own house sale, collapsed at the very last moment, - they were fortuante, the the other original would-be purchaser was still available and happy to go with his original offer (as I had recommended they did)!!!

The maor problem with the rental was that there was a plain cream carpet laid throughout. Difficult with young children, They purchased some large cheap rugs to put down. Used one bedroom to store unpacked boxes, and for some reason the landlord objected to this. First of their arguments with the landlord. They had further ones when they moved out, leaving the place spotless, but with the renter refusing to return their deposit - and they had to take a (successful) legal action against them.

They had to stay there for six months, my SiL found a good job, but they never felt the house was home. Were not permitted to put anything up on any of the walls. BUT, it did give them the opportunity of, eventually, finding a new build house in the area they wished to live, and had a week with both houses, so made that move much easier. Back then (2016). they were paying well over a grand a month for that rental and have said they would NEVER, do that again.

Okay, they were both much younger and able to cope with all this stress, which they both did remarkably well, did make me feel a little guilty when I got so stressed out with my move in 2019.

Wow I found it hard enough moving ten houses down from the station Franbern, your daughter and SIL have got grit!

I've just popped in to say I've finally found my two precious pots - in the wardrobe where I'd put them for safety on completion day I haven't been able to get into the wardrobe for weeks as I'd stacked my stained glass panels against it, I'm so pleased I've found them. Only my son's camera and I think I've got everything. I'm finding that as I'm unpacking my pictures and clutter I'm feeling more relaxed. I've also started feeding the birds, I'm pleased there are birds here even though it is very built up. There really is no rush and I'm glad I enjoyed the sunshine with my dog today, it's already turned very wintry here again.

Phew! Fern your poor D&S.i.l

Had a lovely day on the beach yesterday, not crowded as I thought it might be, aside from the section with the paddling pool for the little ones.

Need to ask what did you do with your dog on moving day? My daughter would have him but as she tends to leave the front door open when she goes to her car [same here on visits] I'm afraid he will shot out the door and try to run home [7miles] Also difficult for her with the school runs.
I was thinking of putting him in a cleared room, curtains closed & radio on. What do you think?

I took my dog to kennels for two nights Yogi. I had considered putting him in the car and glad I didn't, it took four hours to pack the rental cottage and I had to drive back and forwards to the bungalow twice during that time. I also didn't have the energy to walk him that day. I was able to get his food/water bowl, basket and toys organised for when I collected him. I completed on the 11th and bought him here whilst it was empty, then took him to kennels, so he had at least seen his new home before going.

We also put our dog in kennels. As it turned out she was there for a week. It meant we could concentrate on what had to be done without worrying about her. Made life much easier

I've finally got my vaccination appointment for next week, locally at my Health Centre, yay!

I've been looking at the NHS site about six times a day and late last night found somewhere 35 miles away I considered going to on the bus. Very glad I missed it because I went off to look for the bus timetable!

Had my second jab yesterday, locally. Messaged in the morning telling me to book it and there was one slot left for yesterday evening, which I took. My daughter was able to drive me there and accompany me whilst I had it. No after effects (so far)this time.

The long-serving Chairman of our flats Residents Association has just handed in his resignation to me. Not totally surprised, I had managed to talk him down from doing this when he tried to do so a few weeks after I became acting secretary. Think he finds the new cttee a little strong for him!!! Sad that he is going, but during that interim period, he had been handing over his various roles to other people. Definitely keeping me busy and on my toes this committee work. Having to deal with Solicitors, etc. when flats get sold. My regard from them - which started out as low - with my own sale and purchase, has now falled to Very Low. So many silly questions - I pointed out to them that Iam not a Solicitors Clerk, or a para-lega, etc . just a retired lady carrying out a voluntary role.

Glad for you having your second injection Franbern, almost there

Same old same old with your experience as acting secretary - sorry you're being dumped on. The Chairman should have had someone lined up for a handover, hopefully someone will step forward (or be pushed!) .

Evening everyone, I've had a great day doing nothing and I'm just off for a bath. I've been very bad and eaten my Oreo creme egg - quite crunchy!

Two things connected with birds have happened today. I sat outside with my dog in the garden this morning, and saw a crow take a starling from the tv aerial on the house behind my garden. I know it's nature, and the crow has chicks to feed, but I can't stand suffering, hopefully won't see that again.

So I took my dog out for his evening dog walk at 6.30 ish, and as I walked down the path a crow jumped out of my front hedge - with a badly broken wing. Poor bird, I came back inside for a sheet and my cat basket, but when I went back out he'd gone. I walked my dog along the road and spotted him again, and managed to catch him with my jacket. He's in my car now with food and water, only a baby, his wing is completely broken and a gentle death at the vets tomorrow awaits him - better than the terror of a fox or cat.

Off for my bath, enjoy the rest of your night.

Rotten story about the birds Shandy. Hope you enjoyed your bath.

A few years back I was watching a family of sparrows with their newly hatched young, when a Magpie swapped in and took one of the baby birds! Then last year I watched a couple of pigeons building their nest in my tree, lay their eggs, only for about 3 Magpies to come and not only eat the eggs but take their nest too! I then saw the poor pigeons walking on my lawn looking very depressed!

I always feel upset when watching the lovely nature programmes, only to see same type species eat each other, like lioness eating a new born leopard etc.

Nature is cruel isn't it. What is more cruel is that every neighbour opposite plus people walking past must have seen this bird during the afternoon, and decided to do nothing about it. I was sorry to take him to the vets to end his life, but death by a predator would not have been as painless.

I've just melted the bottom of the kitchen cupboard with the toaster The cupboards aren't painted wood, it's like a thick plastic coating, lesson learnt!

Hope everyone has a good easter, cold or not!