How long to buy a house?

silja

We currently own a flat outright (= no mortgage on it). We are looking to upgrade to a small house (2-3 bedrooms, near Dublin city). We will have some cash from savings, plus the sale of the flat (though it is not even on the market yet), plus are in the process of arranging a mortgage. My question is what sort of time frame are we looking at from viewing a house, putting in an offer, it being accepted, selling our place and moving?

I realise there are lots of different factors to consider, but I'd like to know whether it would be possible to do all that in 3-4 months, because I am 2 months pregnant with twins and really don't fancy moving when I am heavily pregnant

Victor

Striaght out, to be honest, you don't need the hassle of moving house and selling property while pregnant. Moving house can cause a nervous breakdown.

If you are willing to put up the money and spend heading into an unsettled market that might fall, its could be easy to buy at the moment.

Correspondingly, it is difficult to sell at the moment.

Pa ElGrande

If it helps according to Mark Keenan in today's Sunday Times - "Homes took an average 50 days to sell last year and 112 days to sell in the first quarter of this year." You might find apartments a more difficult sale in the current market.

Del2005

silja wrote:

We currently own a flat outright (= no mortgage on it). We are looking to upgrade to a small house (2-3 bedrooms, near Dublin city). We will have some cash from savings, plus the sale of the flat (though it is not even on the market yet), plus are in the process of arranging a mortgage. My question is what sort of time frame are we looking at from viewing a house, putting in an offer, it being accepted, selling our place and moving?

I realise there are lots of different factors to consider, but I'd like to know whether it would be possible to do all that in 3-4 months, because I am 2 months pregnant with twins and really don't fancy moving when I am heavily pregnant

It's like asking how long is a piece of string. I bought an apartment that was vacant and I'd already had mortgage approval. Still took over 6 months and that was with a lot of chasing. Know others who took longer and shorter.

You may get good deals on houses now, but you also could have trouble selling the flat. If you spot a place you like make an over and then look into renting the flat(if possible) and using that to cover part of the mortgage on the new place.

One thing is that it may be hard to move while pregnant, but what chance have you when the twins arrive?

undecided

OP you should definately move now moving with kids is a disaster! can't pack alot of stuff until last minute etc. As for time span I put a deposit on in first week of April and still the deal isn't closed in sayin that looks likely to in next two weeks hths