Help, my house sale fell through!
Buying a new house is stressful enough with viewings, surveys, solicitors’ fees and last-minute bids. What’s even more frustrating, though, is being in a property chain: you can’t sell your house or buy your new one until every last domino is perfectly in place. That’s why house sales fall through last minute.
It’s inevitable that unless you want to live in the same house forever, you’ll have to deal with property chains. And if you do, it’s inevitable that you’ll be in one that collapses. Here’s what you should do if you are.
Rent a Property Short-Term
Let’s say you’re in a standard property chain, around five houses long. You’ve picked out and viewed the house of your dreams; you’ve paid for a survey, and it’s come back clean; your finance is in place, and in short, everything is ready to go. The only problem is that there’s a hold-up somewhere along the chain stopping everyone from moving.
Even selling a house with no chain takes two to three months. So, depending on the length of the chain and the cost of the property, problems like these can drag on for months, hold-ups like these can go on indefinitely. How long is a piece of string?
With that in mind, one way of tackling property chains is to sell your house and rent another property short-term. This helps in several ways:
- Instead of waiting until you sell your house to have your deposit ready, it will be sitting in your bank.
- The chain won’t have to wait on anyone buying your house. You’ll be similar to a first-time buyer in that sense.
- You can rent a property near where you’d like to move—useful if you want to go on lots of viewings.
Moving into a rented property isn’t stress-free either. But you can keep lots of your things in storage to lessen the effort it takes to move, for example, or move in with family or friends. But for you, this may be the lesser of two evils.
Take Out a Bridging Loan
Another option is to take out a bridging loan.
Bridging loans are a form of short-term finance that can help people looking to move house. The idea is that they bridge the gap between two events, like buying a property and securing a mortgage. They normally have short, reasonable terms (e.g. 0.5% interest per month with repayment terms lasting a year).
The point is that a bridging loan can help you overcome certain difficulties in your chain. Let’s say your seller is looking to pull out unless you can buy their property within the next week, but your buyer isn’t able to complete before then. You could take out a bridging loan to cover your deposit. The same applies if you’re waiting to hear back about a new mortgage.
Again, this isn’t the perfect option. But you may consider it the lesser of two evils. Always take financial advice before committing to a financial decision.
How to Avoid Being in a Property Chain
By far the best way to deal with property chains is to avoid them altogether!
At British Homebuyers, we believe that nobody should be forced to wait for months on end waiting for a chain. That’s why we offer the option of buying your house at a fair price, for cash in the bank, in just a few days.
There are only three steps to the process, too. The first is your free valuation, the second is our formal offer, and the third is the completion of the sale. If you’ve been stuck in a chain for long enough, you might not believe us, but it’s true—we could help you move on with your live by the end of the week.
So, what are you waiting for? Give us a call at 0800 566 8164, text ‘Homebuyers’ to 88802, or get an offer on your property today!
