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I'll try and keep this short. My mother in law is looking to move from Dorset to Scotland next year. She wants to be closer to her daughter and also release some equity. She owns her house outright but doesn't have much in the way of savings, certainly not enough to buy somewhere first then sell her current house. I know there are bridging loans but they are expensive. She could rent somewhere up here but that would involve moving twice and she has a lot of 'stuff'. Are there any other options we're missing?
Put stuff in storage?
Best answer would be to sell and buy at the same time, but this is always tricky unless you have no rush.
Could perhaps get a mortgage on the current house to buy up north, and then pay off when the house in t'south is sold?
When we moved we just arranged a mortgage that could be paid back early with no penalty. Go through a mortgage advisor as they'll have access to deals you or I won't.
Easy, sell current house, move her and stuff in with you for many many months until she finds a place she can buy.
As above, put the stuff in storage and she can move in with you for "a couple of months" while she finds somewhere she likes
You should most definitely suggest that to your mrs.
Storage for the stuff & definitely rent for a bit imo...if i was relocating again I'd always rent first as you get the chance to really learn the new area you've moved to so when you're ready to buy you'll know exactly where you do and don't want to buy down to right/wrong streets
No space for her stuff at ours and she'll only be moving in with us as a last resort and for a short spell. She has spent plenty of time up here and won't be living too far from us, it's just a case of finding the right place.
A firm like pickfords will pack and store as well as move. Not the cheapest option but by God it's stressless.
I know of a local Borders company that does the same.
Then only one move, as far as you're concerned, and renting furnished is sometimes a lot easier.
Any removals company worth their salt will store, we used a Buckinghamshire company when we moved up to the Borders.
They also had a depot in Carlisle so did us a good deal as they often had empty wagons moving between the two areas. We weren't time-critical so moved out and then they delivered to our new place a few weeks later.
These guys:
http://www.momentousrelocation.com/
They'd previously taken us to Germany and back.
Car boot sale for all the stuff?At least some of it?
she'll only be moving in with us as a last resort and for a short spell.
Sounds like you can't wait .ha.
As above I'd be using some of the cash that's hopefully freed up to make it stress free and have Pickfords or similar sort it out.
It's really the buying process that we are looking at and confused about. I suppose the distance isn't that relevant but it does make it difficult re viewing and choosing. If we were to do it for her we'd inevitably pick the wrong one. Four days is about as much time as we have her visit for at the moment, I think we could cope with a couple of weeks but no more than that.
Hence why renting first would make a lot of sense, she has as long as she needs to find her own place.
What area in Scotland?
Folk on here have good recommendations for solicitors to help the buying process.
I have a similar dilemma with my parents. They were going to move up from Eastbourne to Lancaster so I could help them out a bit. However, my old man passed away before we managed it and now my mum appears to be losing her short term memory and it may never happen.
In my mind you need to be in an area for a little bit to truly know what you want and where you'd want to be. For that reason I'd suggest putting existing house on market and renting a furnished flat from which viewings of new properties can be arranged. If existing house sells, put contents in storage until new home found. It will be much easier to buy a property as a cash buyer ready to deal and no inter-dependent chain of solicitors, mortgage companies, surveyors etc.
Buying a house is not like shoes or even a car that can be swapped or exchanged relatively painlessly. The only real way round the distance issue is to rent somewhere for 6 months - so I guess £600-800 x 6 is £3,600-£4,800 - which is less than estate agent and solicitor fees for most house transactions.
We stayed with my folks when we moved up and put our stuff in to storage.
If it's like us,she will probably sell quicker with no chain and being a bit more flexible with entry dates,always good and can make the buying a wee bit easier.
Advantage to selling first is that you are then in a stronger position when buying as you have no chain.
tomaso +1. Move out of her house and put it on the market. It'll sell better with vacant possession. Move into rented for now to make buying easier. Easier to get to know the area, easier to view properties, easier to buy as a cash buyer. Its a pain to move stuff twice but not twice as hard and it'll be simpler over all.
IME older people don't like disruption, move, rent, move won't be attractive so shoukd be avoided if possible. Stage 1 is to get Dorset sold (may require some redec, tidying etc and this could involve getting rid of some unnecessary stuff). Then with that sale in progress try and get a purchase lined up in Scotland or as a backup a rental or stay with you with stuff in storage. As an aisde we are just trying cut down on things we have in storage as we've spent £1000 storing stuff which we now won't use and have little value. So be brutally honest about what is needed
She'll be living near us so already has a very good idea of the area as we've been here for almost 10 years. I did suggest renting up here for 6 months before she commits to moving but that hasn't happened. She's been told about getting rid of as much stuff as possible but that's proving to be difficult. I also think emptying the house before selling is a good idea as I'm sure it's very cluttered at the moment, I'm just not sure she'll have the money to put her stuff into storage and rent somewhere before she sells.