Selling a house within months of purchase

Samsadei

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Hi there. Looking for people's thoughts/advice. Apologies for the essay that follows.

My husband and I recently purchased our first home so that I would have a 15 minute commute by car to work. We have a toddler.

The dilemma...I have just been offered my dream position literally 10 minutes walk (!) from my husband's dream location.

Obviously, I'm going to take the new job but my head is a bit wrecked given that we've just bought somewhere else an hour away close to my current work. I'm wondering what do we do with our current house? Does it look terrible to try to sell a house so soon (within a year) after purchase? Should we become accidental landlords for a year or two and try to recoup some of the loss we stand to suffer on fees etc.

It's great to be getting towards where we want to be in the long run, just wondering what people would do? I think ideally we'd sell asap, accept a loss of up to 50k (25k on sale price and say 25k on the duplicate fees). I'm just worried about scaring potential buyers off that we're moving on so soon if we try to sell straight away and maybe it would be better to hang onto the house for a year or two.

Any thoughts or anyone been in a similar situation where a change in circumstance meant selling a house much earlier than planned? Our mortgage is small (potentially 70k at year end with over payment) and could get 1300 per month in rent. Thanks in advance.
 
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25k in fees seems really large to start. Also why would the price fall? I’d sell.
 
I'm presuming you're in Dublin or a big city and I too would wonder at such big fees. When you say dream location does that mean he might have family there or lived there once? Are properties expensive in the new place and will you have a problem selling your newly bought property? With such a low mortgage you guys might have had a substantial sum to pay towards the property and you might like to think twice about throwing away 50k, you won't find it too easy to put together again. Then again I might be wrong in everything i've said.
 
Some questions i would have:

Any fear of not being kept on? Might waiting until you're permanent make sense
Is there a dream property available in your dream location or would it make sense to wait and see what properties become available? No point selling unless there is something you're interested in
How well do you know the new area, would you benefit from renting there first? A year renting might give you a much better idea of the places you want to live and those you do not.
What are rent levels like where you bought relative to dream location? If you decide not to sell immediately how much of a cost would there be too you renting relative to the potential loss.
How competitive was the bidding on your current house? How are prices now?Might give you an idea of the market. Renting may be academic of market is still strong.

All going well financially you may not need to rush to make a decision. It might be the cost of renting/renting out might be cheaper than selling in the short term.

How recently did you purchase, could underbidder in your deal still be searching? Might be worth asking estate agent to check. Assuming its not been long and you didn't blow their offer out of the water you could get lucky.
 
It could look like one of Akerlof's lemons.

A buyer could think that the only reason someone wants to sell after a year is because they know something about the house that the rest of the world doesn't. This could be a serious structural problem or very bad neighbours.

Houses that come on the market so soon after a previous sale can put buyers off and often trade at a bit of a discount.
 
Thanks for the replies. House bought in March, job offer in the last week. New job 10 minute walk from site on husband's family farm. We are not in Dublin. House bought for 300k, small mortgage 100k. Getting this job offer like lightning bolt, unlikely to come around again. I did probably way over estimate fees to include some things such as new boiler we've purchased, mortgage interest and furniture that we could throw into sale as required. Job is civil service position (70k) so permanent after 1 year. Rents in these parts for our current house between 1300-1500 per month. In new location could rent for 400 per month off husband's family while building. Husband would have to quit job (27k) to provide childcare, is happy to do this. If we stay put for a while (50min commute for both to new location) we would retain childcare from relative for 400 per month. I don't want to do this to my child who is so young to add another 2 hours per day away. Would need 300k for self-build. Savings of 20k and 20k inheritance due soon.

Would be Keen to sell but was thinking along the lines of NoRegretsCoyote. It would put me off if I were buying to be honest, my husband feels differently but I am a naturally suspicious/paranoid person and he's the opposite and was interested to see what others think. It's a nice house, nice estate with nice, quiet private people for neighbours.

I think we might get in touch with an auctioneer to get their opinion or are they likely to just advise to sell to get the fee?

How long to retain the house NRC, to avoid Akerlof lemon scenario?

Thanks again for the replies.
 
Have a quiet chat with the auctioneer, or a few of them. You never know who might be looking for what you have and go about their search in the same quiet way
 
Just an opinion, though I have bought a number of houses over the years, the worry of being seen to sell soon after buying has no basis in reality. No one cares why you are moving.

Any auctioneer will tell you the same, though of course they have an interest in sales.
 
If the original underbidders were really keen to buy they would have bought by now anyway so I believe the fact of reselling so quickly will not even be noticed. Ask the auctioneer to give you a price and if it's good then use them but I doubt using the same one will be a help of hindrance.
 
Just an opinion, though I have bought a number of houses over the years, the worry of being seen to sell soon after buying has no basis in reality. No one cares why you are moving.

Any auctioneer will tell you the same, though of course they have an interest in sales.
This! Lots of people sell quite quickly after purchasing. Not everything works out, situations change. A real estate agent will tell you that. You don't have to explain why you are moving, although you have a super valid excuse with the new job. If the figures work out, I would go for it - btw, I'm selling after a year & half, again we have our reasons, location mostly!!
 
Your situation is not unique. As other posters have indicated, it is not that unusual for a property to come back on the market again with a 12 month period. You may be overthinking the situation. As a landlord with a number of residential properties, my advice is to avoid becoming a landlord in Ireland. The gross rents you have outlined are very different from the net amounts after tax and other costs not to mention the risk you are taking on dealing with the ever changing tenancies legislation. Landlords are little more than tax collectors for the revenue commissioners.
 
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