Getting a bridging loan.

archiesmith

Yes, a good solicitor can help you with the whole process, including finding a bridging loan. They can manage everything from making offers to sorting out the loan for you. Some estate agents might also offer this service to help get your house on their list. Just make sure to discuss your needs with them upfront. Also, remember bridging loans have higher interest rates as compared to other loans.

I think the problem is sorted. This was posted a year ago

Yes, a good solicitor can help you with the whole process, including finding a bridging loan. They can manage everything from making offers to sorting out the loan for you. Some estate agents might also offer this service to help get your house on their list. Just make sure to discuss your needs with them upfront. Also, remember bridging loans have higher interest rates as compared to other loans.

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Definitely taken advice on here re Bridging loan. its a no no. what a ghastly story, Nanatuesday2

Ah..having sold/bought 6 houses and one flat in my life I am up to the tricks of estate agents - and the charges.

In fact her valuation was spot on as regards Zoopla predictions and also who might be interested in the house - its small and cheap to run.

I can only speak locally, but we've had the same as much of the country - in September houses selling in 3 days, suddenly all in chaos, the market went dead.

It has only just started picking up (apart from what she said, I can tell by the "sold" notices locally). However, prices have remained more or less the same as September here. Dont ask me why, I dont know. One more month should have things moving a little better.

Of course, anyone can get involved in a nightmare like you describe. But my house is within range of divorced singles and first time buyers, is all I can say. I am prepared to sell lower to get a sale from the right buyer financially.

But I have stopped the rushing feeling - she pointed out one or two things worth doing before going on the market that won't cost much, and I can continue to de-clutter,

but since my major life de-clutter was a few years ago in the last purchase, its not what a lot of us face at our age. I've done the difficult shedding of things past and DS taken what he wanted and I kept a bit and that's been resolved.

Wyllow3
I like others would not advocate a bridging loan . Although I have not been in the same circumstances my MIL & BIL & SIL are in this predicament to some extent .
MIL's house went on the market March/April 22. We all knew it would sell quickly (!) Famous last words, more than one potential buyer messed MIL around MIL by the way was 88 at the time & was moving into a retirement village . The property owned by a charity offered a cash incentive on completion within a certain time frame.
anyway to cut this long story short as the house is still not sold my BIL & SIL loaned MIL the funds to be able to move into the retirement property . She moved with her partner also aged 88 in September .Sadly he passed in February . MIL is very happy in her new place & it was a good move for them both .Unfortunately house is still not sold & bills are still being paid for said house ,which in theory is owned by BIL & SIL as they loaned the money . the biggest thing of this is also that as its now taken 9 months ,the money loaned has incurred capital gains tax of some £10k which MIL is having to pay .
So ,all in all stay away from the bridging loan you may find yourself out of pocket in more ways than one .

Wyllow think you are being a little naive when you feel you will be more in the know once an Estate Agent has been round to 'value' your house. If only.............

So many EA's have their first duty to themselves!!! So, will try to persuade you to give them Sole Agency and will 'value'
your property higher than it has any real chance of selling for. You sign with them for three or six months sole agency, and wait......wait......wait. A few weeks time they will come back to you telling you that your property is overpriced and needs to reduce if it has any chance of selling.

Do your own research into your property price, so easy with computers. You can easily search what properties in your post code has actually sold for in the past year or so, and RightMove will show you what properties are on sale in your area at what price.

The market is very slow now at all levels. Families looking to purchase houses are either being refused or reluctant to take on higher mortgages as they have no way of knowing what they will actually be paying over the next year or so. With them not buying, those selling those sort of houses both to go bigger or to downsize, are stuck - so both of those markets are also at a near standstill.

Once you have a good offer on your property, I am sure you will find a suitable - that is the easiest part. In the meantime, look at your existing house and think about how you can make it as nice as possible when viewers come to look at it. AND......as you will be downsizing declutter.... declutter..... declutter.

I don't believe a loan to be a good idea, wait to sell.

Germanshepherdsmum

When a property has been on the market for a long time there’s usually a reason why it hasn’t sold, even in a slow market.

Its not uncommon for these retirement blocks, and McCarthy and Stone type properties to have flats they can't sell atm, tho it does depend on the competition in the area.

But I'm waiting to hear from the manageress as it looks as if the flat has been withdrawn from the market -

don't know why, its not been on more than 6 weeks: there are two other flats in the complex been empty for longer but they dont get the afternoon and evening sun and I must have sun.

But a wait till another one comes up won't do any harm as I dont really like to rush. Still got the valuer coming round tomorrow so I know where I stand.

But the reason isn't always something disastrous. the house we live in had been hanging on the market for ages because it was a big house with a tiny kitchen (8ft x 8ft). We took one look realised the problem could be resolved by knocking some rooms together and moving a bathroom upstairs, much more convenient.

The estate agent said we were the first to see the solution.

But times move on, 25 years later, the kitchen we made, considered a real selling point when we did it, would have been a problem when we sold, very long, but narrow with little family space, so we have just done an extension to give us a big family space and huge wndows onto the garden. We love it, and when we come to sell it will be a selling point. Mind you 25 years from now who knows how desirable it will be!

When a property has been on the market for a long time there’s usually a reason why it hasn’t sold, even in a slow market.

I would not suggest that any individual let out property on a DIY basis as landlords now have to conform to very strict laws and regulations. You would need to do it via an agent who will charge from 12-15% of the rent and howevermuch more they can get their hands on. Letting agents do vary considerably in quality and some are completely incompetent. Landlording is not for the faint hearted.

If the flat is only for over 50s and has been empty for some time, then you got time to put your house on the market and try to sell it without resorting to a bridging loan.

My daughter and her partner lives in a village. He put his property on the market two weeks ago and it was sold straight away to first time buyers at more than the asking price.

They have not found a place to move into yet. Not many family homes in their village, so they are looking at other areas but they will not be pulling out of the sale.

Worst come to the worst, they may have to come and live with us temporarily.

I got the impression that there is a rental crisis in the UK especially in London. Landlords selling their portfolio because they reach retirement age causing a shortage of rental properties.

Its an empty flat, so unlikely, but you are right bridging loans too dodgy for my purposes.

I don't think I could cope with renting, a double move, changing everything 2 times, tho that does put one in a strong position. See what Estate Agent says about the realities of how my house would fare on the market and how much to get a quick sale.

Sell outright first, aim to rent for several months until you find a place you like, as you are downsizing you will have surplus stuff sell some of that.
The problem with a bridging loan is that if your seller pulls out you are stuck with the loan and no new house.

We bridged, but only over a weekend and after we had exchanged contracts. We wanted two days to move out, so we completed on our purchase on the Friday and got the first pantechnicon of goods from old to new. On Monday we completed on the sale of our house and complete dthe move. The loan was for three days and both sales were secure because we had excahnged on our sale and our purchase.

That is what bridging loans are intended to do.

We made all our own arrangements for the bridging loan. Spoke to our own bank, where we had held several accounts for over 30 years. They also knew we had just inherited some money, even though probate was not through.

I didn't think of that Forsythia. but its not local to me so transitioning not "down the road"
I'm not in a "rush" to get there its more not losing somewhere meets my requirements that may not come up again (ie stuff like sunny, top floor, and so on).

The flat is the market with an estate agent not the retirement flats management company. Its an over 55's block but not the M and Stone type.

You can rent a retirement flat before you buy. I don’t know if you know this? McCarthy & Stone offer this option. I am sure others would too. Might that help,you?

Foxygloves houses have now stabilised in the area but at a lower price than they were in September of course. But then that goes for what you buy, too

No pot!

You don't need that much Georgesgran, the current rate of interest is about the same as a mortgage at the moment but I haven't checked the small print. However I am duly warned and won't go down that route.

I've been coming round to what you said Siope given the circs. Ie the flat is clearly not being snapped up and if I really do have a house that could sell with no chain its making the offer and seeing how it goes. Such thing as an honest estate agent? Well, we'll see - I'm not new to that bit of the "game".

Don’t do this - for all the reasons upthread. Prices are volatile and you may find that your present home goes DOWN in price/value while you have bought at a higher price. Of course the bridging loan company will make it seem attractive, that’s their job
You can come very unstuck indeed, even when it doesn’t go belly up it’s a very expensive form of finance and exceedingly risky.

I asked about a bridging loan in Virgin (just a flight of fancy) and none of the staff had even heard of it! Out of curiosity I asked in Halifax and was told I’d need savings of £250K to be eligible!!
If I’d had that much, I would have had no need of the loan!

It really isn’t a good idea - so many pitfalls, unless you have a pot of savings you don’t mind losing.

While you’d be in a stronger position if you had sold, a vendor may well consider an offer from you once your house was on the market, particularly given the flat has been for sale for sometime.

Whether they do or not, I wouldn’t touch bridging finance with a bargepole. You may as well burn money.

(and) she sold to cash buyers at less than market value (about 10K less) but they weren't first-time buyers, they were divorced and remarried.

Have you considered selling up, then renting for a short period until your flat is available? A neighbour did that and rented my garage for storage (for three months).

Their rent was high - as it was really a holiday let. Still, it was a far safer bet than what you're planning. She could have stayed with her son's family - but didn't want to.

I'm listening hard! x

Yes, market is very slow. However it is starting to move locally after the sudden "stop" in the autumn - properties are selling.

The flat I want has been on the market for some time also so I suppose they may accept an offer if my house is in first time buyer territory, cost wise being in the north it is.