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  • So I'm looking to sell my flat and upscale to a proper house in the burbs. I have the option to sell and buy together, as per the norm, or do them separately and staying with my folks in the interim. The later enables me to be chain free for both the sale and the purchase.

    My question is, is that worth much? I risk house price movements and a large chunk of money potentially becoming less valuable if I don't find anywhere fast enough. Conversely I may gain better sale and purchase prices due to chain free status.

    Anyone have any advice? I have no idea.

  • Pure speculation and my guess of the markets is no better than anyone else's, but isn't there as much chance that values are going down and so selling sooner / buying later might get you a better not a worse deal?

    Guess it depends on relative pricing trends in London / outside London as well as the crystal ball gazing that is the economy over the next 6m+

  • How long would it take you to go bonkers living at your parents? Or before they go bonkers?

    The danger being, with less drive to find somewhere to make the chain work, the more likely to you to be picky, making it take longer, making parental bust-ups more of a likelihood?

    Personally, I'd like to avoid moving twice. That said, if I could sell most of my stuff, and effectively start again, and have a bit more leverage when making offers on a place, a short stint at the parents might be viable.

  • Think it depends where. When we were looking to move out of London, even though our place was on the market, some agents wouldn't take an offer until we had accepted an offer - so it could stand you in good stead.

  • We're about to complete this process tomorrow...
    Plus points:

    • Got the sale over and done relatively quickly, for slightly more cash (<1%)
    • Less stress once the sale is over.
    • Transition period between London/non-london life.
    • Allowed us to get finances in order and plan properly.

    Minus points:

    • 'Homeless' for six weeks. It's a weird feeling and quite unsettling.
    • Storing stuff. We minimised costs by filling up my in-laws house and using borrowed vans but it's a ballache.
    • Spent a lot on travel/food due to moving around sofa-surfing with friends and staying with in-laws outside London, whilst continuing to work here. Admittedly not as much as rent/mortgage payments.
    • Had to lend our cats to friends/in-laws.
    • With no chain there's no pressure on the sellers to hurry the fuck up.

    I think the risk and reward depends on the gap/overlap between the two processes. In our case we had about 6 weeks gap between moving out and moving in, which means there's a lot of overlap with the processes and very little risk or reward. Particularly as we knew the house we wanted but had to wait as the agents wouldn't accept an offer without an offer on our sale.

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