Buying a property

Hope you get some answers to this. I’d quite like to buy my daughter’s bungalow, if and when she decides to sell. On the open market, it would sell in a minute. My house - probably /possibly not so, although I don’t know for sure.
Anyway, in Spring last year, I thought I’d ask about bridging loans to get some ideas of cost. Virgin Money hadn’t heard of them and thought I wanted to buy a bridge! My own Bank was helpful, a few calls were made and I was told that I needed X amount of money to hand to qualify! Had I anywhere near that amount, I could’ve bought the bungalow outright without a loan - it was madness.
Although I’m not keen, would an option be to sell your existing property, downsize the furniture and rent somewhere smaller until the right house for you comes onto the market and you’re then in prime position to offer a 28 day completion on the purchase?
The Government brought in a scheme where banked funds from a house sale going towards another aren’t subject to tax for a certain period of time. You’d need to get advice on that, as it might’ve changed.

I haven't specifically, but have come close to it, and I hope others will come along to help.
I think your main issue is your financial stability (this is what stopped me). If you are very certain of your finances (maybe a solid pension, good savings etc.) then I would see a financial advisor - but do be wary and double check their advice.
This is what I would do in your position:
Begin by looking now - even if you're not quite ready, even if peoperties fall through because the chain won't work - looking now will help you clarify what you want and where. That helps you to make quick decisions when the time comes (which happened to us).
Consult a good estate agent - get a valuation and ask how easy it will be to sell your property. If it desirable, then you can begin to look without putting your house on the market. If it may take awhile to shift, then ask about putting it on the market quietly now. You can ask that it is not advertised, but that if the estate agent gets a likely client, they ring you and ask if they can bring the client round.
If you get a sale, but don't find anywhere suitable, you can let the sale fall through.
If you do this for awhile, you will get a good feel for likely properties, and likely sales. Then, you may decide that you can sell your house and go into rented property until you find somewhere that suits you.

There is another option - look at self-build and renovation magazines, go to shows, and talk to a local builder. Speak to local planning department. You might be able to alter your present home, or even build in your large garden, and finance it from the sale of your house, or part of your garden. There are specialist finance companies to help with that.

Good luck!

Sell your house, sell or store furniture, rent somewhere in the town you want to live in, then buy when something you want comes on the market. As a cash buyer, you can secure the property more easily.
Don't delay! Prices are falling in most areas, less favorable for down-sizers.
And another thought: if you expect that your knee problem is temporary, think about getting a house rather than a bungalow. Bungalow dwellers get "bungalow legs". Stairs are good for you!

To Georgesgran
Yes, I remember bridging loans being extortionate many years ago buying this place. Selling then renting is a possibility. Thank you.

To Nonnarose
I will make an appt with financial advisor when I’m back on my feet (literally). I didn’t know you could put your house ‘quietly’ on market. I like that idea. We did get valuations last year but heart overruled head. Thank you.

To Romola
Good point about stairs. Hopefully temporary injury. It could be a house as long as there’s scope for a bathroom and bedroom downstairs to future proof it. Thank you.

We sold our home to put ourselves in a good position and had a good buyer. We rented for 6 months but it was touch and go as to whether we would complete before the lease expired. Of course you can usually go month to month after the 6 month period. It can be expensive as obviously you have to move twice. We only unpacked the necessities and left boxes in the garage until our final move. It enabled us to be in the best position to negotiate and get exactly what we wanted. I think that it may be less of risk than an interim loan.

To bridge in an uncertain climate is very very risky.
I would sell and rent.
Germanshepherdsmum will hope see this and give professional advice.

Thanks Sago.

My advice is never to take out a bridging loan before exchanging contracts for the sale of your house. Indeed you may well be refused if you haven’t. We have done it just for a couple of days to ease the move and I would do that again even though bridging loans are very expensive. Absolutely don’t consider taking out a loan to buy another house without having exchanged contracts for the sale of your present home - not only would you need to have cash to fund the deposit on the new house (if - and it’s a big if - you got a loan for 75% of the price that means 25% deposit) plus legal and moving costs, if stamp duty is payable on the new house there will be an extra 3% to pay as you own two homes, though you can reclaim the excess if you sell the original home within three years. Then you have to make loan repayments for an unknown period - the market is incredibly slow at present - and outgoings on two houses.

Hopefully I have convinced you that this is a very bad idea even if you could find a willing lender. If I were acting for you and you were insistent on doing this you would be receiving my advice in writing in words of one syllable. Either synchronise your sale and purchase or sell and rent until the right place comes up.

Thank you Cadenza123 and Sago. My dream way of doing things doesn’t seem to be the way things are done ie get a mortgage in place so if an ideal property came up we could proceed with it. Put this house up for sale while moving things into and sorting out other property. The expense would be paying a mortgage until this place sold and funds released to pay off mortgage on other house. I need to ask financial advisor but wondered if anyone had experience of this happening. I can’t find anything online so perhaps it’s not a feasible option.

Agree with others, sell, rent for a while, buy as cash buyers.
I know several people who have done that. Good luck

We’ve lived in our bungalow for 24 years and haven’t got Bungalow legs yet…….

My parents lived in their bungalow for almost 50 years, they didn’t have bungalow legs - but had a very big garden and were always on the go,

Sell first. Buy second. End of.

Oopsadaisy1

We’ve lived in our bungalow for 24 years and haven’t got Bungalow legs yet…….

Agree.

How often are older people wanting to buy a bungalow because they can no longer manage to climb their stairs?

That’s why bungalows are in great demand.

A GP put me right about "bungalow knees" when I was laughing about it (it sounded so ridiculous).

And yes it is a thing apparently.

I suppose you wouldn't know till it happened.

To Germanshepherd’smum
You have totally convinced me to put that idea to bed. I appreciate the succinct way you have put the options: synchronise sale and purchase or sell and rent, waiting for right property. Thank you and everyone else who has contributed.

We live in a bungalow, have done for 23years and still manage to stagger around. Other ways of exercising are available.
Good to be aware though.

Thank goodness, Brigadoon. We all have dreams but some are best left as such! 😊

I live in a bungalow but I am active daily. My legs are strong enough to allow me to walk 5 miles every day

I think it's specifically stairs that need a different leg action which needs keeping going. Obviously lots of people in bungalows have stairs elsewhere that they use anyway - but if you are fit and active the knee/leg issue will be mitigated I expect.

I know I thought it was a joke originally!

*Brigadoon - think the very first thing for you to do is to start to collect ideas as to what sort of property you will wish to move to and where.

Start making out your own lists - WHat is absolutely necessary, what you would like, what you can cope without. You will probably change these priorities as you actually start to look at properties.

Then, with this in mind (and also some idea of how much you can afford to pay), look on line at properties. Can get a good idea as most have room maps, and roomszes.and many have video films of those properties. Do remember that videos and photos are taken, often with special lens to make rooms look much bigger than they actually are.

You may also need to have some idea as to the real price your existing house is likely to get on the market. Estate Agents will almost definitely give you an inflated price, so, do knock off at least ten percent of what they say. Also note the other costs involved, Solicitor fees, estate agents fees, removal cost, and usually a move involves quite a lot of new furniture, etc. etc. Many people who move find that the first year in a new property can easily involve twenty to thirty grand of costs . So be realistic.

Location is so important. Work out what you require in your new location, shops, parks, cinemas, public transport, hospital (east to get to), Doctor, pharmacist, etc.etc.

Having done all this over some months, and also a good look at your existing home to think about what may require doing before putting on market (not just de-cluttering, but decorating, repairs, etc.), then you can think about how you will go about all of this.

To Franbern.
Thank you for outlining all this practical advice. It’s such a huge thing to do after so many years in one home. Another query I have, not sure if you can answer it. If the house sells, and we go into rental while waiting for the right house to buy, where do you put such a large sum of money meantime? I know banks and building societies cover up to £85,000. Do people split it among several different banks? Or just hope it will be fine in one lump sum deposit until it’s needed?

Just another thing to add to Franbern's advice and which I found useful when moving. You can write down the address of a property that you like and then google map it to look at location properly. I know they do street views on some agents particulars as well.. but a really good look at the surrounding streets can save wasted viewings

Brigadoon

Re your question about where to put the cash.

Yes, split it amongst the best paying, easy access accounts.

Building societies much better rates than the banks usually.

You can get over 4% easily, probably more.

Just make sure your £85000 is with separate institutions, different names maybe, but some come under the same provider’s umbrella for the protection.

Remember it’s £85K per person per Bank - so, as you’re married that would be £170K.
There’s also a scheme where you can bank the lot - totally protected for six months.