What happens if you can’t sell your house but want to buy another. If your house isn’t selling, but you still need to move, what are your options? Let’s take a look…
I Can’t sell my house but want to buy another in brief:
If you can’t sell your house but you want buy another, consider dropping the price of your house to encourage interest. But if you can’t wait for it to sell using an estate agent, your quickest and best option is to sell to an investor. But then you don’t have to sell at all, you could instead let it out to tenants.
My house isn’t selling what can I do to still move home – What are your options?
These are realistic options if you can’t sell your house but want to buy another, and include:
Practical solutions to get your house sold quickly.
Sell for ‘cash’ to an investor using a lease option.
Use an auction to sell your house.
Drastically reduce your asking price – by at least 10% off the asking price or market value.
If you’re buying a new home, look for builders that offer a part exchange deal.
Consider an assisted house sale.
Depending on your situation and reason for moving, may help you to decide on which of the above solutions are realistic for you. But you may decide not to sell your house at all, see below for more on this option.
But assuming you choose to sell, rather than not in order to move to another house, let’s look in a bit more detail at the above six solutions.
Sell for ‘cash’ to a ‘cash home buying company‘ or investor
If selling your home to an investor or cash home buying company means you’ll have cash in your bank possibly within 28-30 days, you may opt for this solution. This is by far one of the fastest ways to turn your house into cash, to aid the purchase of another house, but there’s a catch.
The catch in this example, is that you’ll have to take a hit on the asking price. The investor (which in this case could be us by the way) or cash house buying company will usually offer somewhere between 75-80% of the asking price and possibly lower.
The priced offered will depend on a number of factors, one of which is the speed at which the transaction needs to take place. Another factor will be the state of repair of your house, plus what the options are for improvement or uplift in value.
For more details on this subject, please read the following article.
If the concept of lease options is new to you, then you may wish to read some of the more in-depth articles I’ve already written on this subject. These include articles, as follows:
I’m hoping that you’ll take a read of the above articles first, if you’re interested in this solution to selling your house to buy another. But the basic concept of a lease option contract incorporates two elements.
These two elements are:
A ‘lease‘ and;
An ‘option‘.
The combination of these two elements into a property lease option contracts means that a buyer pays you an upfront amount (the option fee) so they have the right to buy your home at some point in the future.
The main benefits of this fast home buying solution includes:
You get to sell your house fast.
There are no mortgages involved.
There’s no chain.
You can often achieve market value or more, depending on how long the term the option contract is set.
No estate agency fees if you come to us before you’ve signed up with an estate agent first.
All terms included in the lease option contract are agreed upfront.
Lease options are a win-win solution for you as the seller of the house and for us as the home buyer.
Once you understand the concept of a lease option and wrap your head around how they work, lease option contracts are a great way to solve your problem, and fast!
Selling by auction, reducing the asking price or looking for a part exchange for your house
These solutions are something you could opt for, but along with the benefits of these options, there are disadvantages too.
For example, selling by auction relies on there being a reasonable turnout on the day and a good level of interest in your property. But selling at auction can be costly and there’s no guarantee your house will be sold at on the day.
Having said that it does still remain as a good alternative to selling your house fast to avoid being stuck in a chain if you sell using an estate agent.
Reducing the asking price
Of course by reducing the asking price you’ll not get as much as you’d hoped for. This may affect how much you can put towards the other home you’re looking to buy. It may also change how much you can afford to buy for.
Part exchange properties with certain developers
This solution relies on the fact that you are wanting to buy a brand new house. But if not, then this solution will not work. But also, not all developers offer a part exchange and it might be that the deal offered doesn’t suit you in any case.
Consider an assisted house sale
If you are able to run with this solution, an assisted sale is a fantastic win-win option for both you and the investor.
As with lease options, I’ve previously written articles on assisted sales. To make it easy for you to not lose your place in this article, I’ve made these links open in a new page.
The best assisted sale is where you as the home owner end up with more than you would otherwise get. This is because we as investors look for ways in which we can add value to your house.
Essentially, we agree a price with you for your property as it stands. We then work out what could be done. This could include a simple renovation project, or it could be building an extension. Or it could be to convert your house into flats.
Which ever route is the best, we will work with you to maximise the uplift, which we share with you on an agreed profit split basis.
The uplift is the difference between what we agree is the present value and the uplifted value once all the works have been completed, less the cost of the works to transform your house and selling costs.
If you don’t like the sound of any of these solutions, let’s take a look at the options that include not selling your house at all.
2. Options that include not selling your house at all
If you do decide to go down this route you need to consider the tax implications of this solution, as the UK government have made significant changes that will affect you. Not least the extra 3% Stamp Duty you’ll have to pay on a second home.
I have already explained the tax implications of buying a house before selling in the following article, which I recommend you read first.
I hope you’ve got something from reading this article on “I can’t sell my house but want to buy another“
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Also, if you have any questions, please feel free to comment below too. Alternatively, if you need more help, please feel free to contact us on our contact us page here. Or join the discussion and ask your question in the property forum.
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Article written by Russell Bowyer who has been investing in property since purchasing his first commercial property in the 1990's for his own Chartered Accountancy business. But his first property investment project was to turn an old dilapidated restaurant into a large 5-bed home, which he purchased for £117,500 and sold for £450,000 (to see an "after" photo of the house before it was sold see here: About). Russell owns a number of investment properties, which includes houses, flats and HMO's. More recently he has turned his creative side to investing in property using lease options. His largest lease option deal to date was to acquire 12 properties worth over £2 million for just £12, which means he paid just £1 to acquire each property!
4 thoughts on “I Can’t Sell My House But Want To Buy Another (What Are Your Options?)”
We have our house on the market to sell! But with estate agents messing us around with the wrong buyers ,time is passing fast and we need to go to France as soon as possible because houses in France seem to be selling quickly because I think people have had 16 weeks to sit and think about there home during the covid virus!
So now we find every time we see a house in France we like,the next day its gone!
We though our house would sellquickly because its in a very good area,near school.,near bus stop ,near high school, pleanty of green to ride bicycles to sit and have a pic nick.
So now we have to move soon because Brexit ends the 31st December an we have to be there 3 months from when we get there to fil in the resident card,So we need to sell because my husband has to have a hip replacement and cannot come out of hospital to still look for a house that’s why we been looking, so we can get settled soon, also winter will be coming and it will be cold,so we need help to sell and need to sell very soon.
Hello Peter, please let me have your number by sending a message on the contact form on the contact page. Let me know when it’s convenient to call too.
Hello Peter, yes there are good companies that can help when selling a house, and we are one of those companies. If you are interested to find out more, please complete our contact us form. This way we can discuss your situation privately to see if we are able to help in your case.
We have our house on the market to sell! But with estate agents messing us around with the wrong buyers ,time is passing fast and we need to go to France as soon as possible because houses in France seem to be selling quickly because I think people have had 16 weeks to sit and think about there home during the covid virus!
So now we find every time we see a house in France we like,the next day its gone!
We though our house would sellquickly because its in a very good area,near school.,near bus stop ,near high school, pleanty of green to ride bicycles to sit and have a pic nick.
So now we have to move soon because Brexit ends the 31st December an we have to be there 3 months from when we get there to fil in the resident card,So we need to sell because my husband has to have a hip replacement and cannot come out of hospital to still look for a house that’s why we been looking, so we can get settled soon, also winter will be coming and it will be cold,so we need help to sell and need to sell very soon.
Hello Peter, please let me have your number by sending a message on the contact form on the contact page. Let me know when it’s convenient to call too.
IS there any good companies that can help when selling.
Hello Peter, yes there are good companies that can help when selling a house, and we are one of those companies. If you are interested to find out more, please complete our contact us form. This way we can discuss your situation privately to see if we are able to help in your case.