Moving home mortgage advice in Sheffield
When you’re moving home in Sheffield, you may come across all sorts of different hurdles and obstacles along the way. Whether it’s something to do with your offer not being accepted straight away or your application being stuck in the pipeline, there’s always something.
A common problem that homebuyers come across are property chains. Getting stuck in a property chain can often slow down, if not put to a halt, your home moving journey.
What is a property chain?
A property chain is a string of house purchases that rely on one another to complete the chain. If you’re a first time buyer in Sheffield, you will always be at the start of the chain, whereas, if you are selling a property, you’ll be at the end.
Picture it as an actual chain linking houses together. For a buyer to move into the property that they’re buying, they need to wait for the seller to move out first. However, the seller is in the same situation as you! They too are waiting for their seller to move out so that they can move in.
Depending on the property chain that you’re linked with, the link could go on and on. If you’re lucky, you may only have a couple of purchases linked with your property chain or even just one!
How long will the process take in a property chain?
The answer to this question is completely situational. You don’t know what situation that your seller’s seller is in (complicated… we know).
You may not even know that you’re in a property chain, the whole process could run smoothly, and you wouldn’t know any different. Everyone hopes for this situation, who doesn’t want a quick and simple moving home process.
If things don’t go your way, you may be stuck in a waiting scenario. As a mortgage broker in Sheffield, we recommend that you begin your process at least six months of preparation. This means that you have plenty of time to search for that dream home and allowed time just in case you get stuck in a property chain.
What happens if my property chain breaks?
Unfortunately, if you’re linked with a property chain and one purchase doesn’t go through, the whole chain behind it could suffer. When a property chain breaks, you will have to wait or look for another property.
If the property chain breaks at your purchase, if you act quickly, you may be able to stop it from breaking the entire chain. If you’re selling, you could contact the people planning to buy your property by contacting your estate agent; this way, you can inform them of the situation sooner rather than later.
Whether it’s something wrong on the seller’s level or on your level, there are still ways to prepare for a break in the property chain. For example, you could try and buy a property that isn’t in a chain or in a small chain, sell your property and rent temporarily or buy a new-build property, etc.
For more moving home mortgage advice in Sheffield, contact our expert mortgage advisors in Sheffield today.
How can a property chain break?
A property chain can break for many different reasons. It could happen at your’s, your seller’s or even your buyer’s level:
- The buyer’s mortgage application was declined
- A seller decides that they don’t want to sell their property
- A buyer/seller loses their job or becomes ill
- The property survey that was carried out on the property highlighted some major damages and structural issues
These are just a few examples, there are many more reasons. Depending on the length of the property chain that you’re in will depend on how drastically these situations impact your ability to move home.
How can I avoid a property chain?
It can be hard to avoid a property chain; especially if you’re buying a busy time of year or when the market is hot, for example, January.
Moreover, you could do your research and talk to your estate agent so that you know exactly what your position is during the application stage. Arranging your finances as early in the process as possible would be smart. The more that you are prepared for things that could wrong, the better.
If you manage to avoid a property chain (also known as ‘chain-free’) you should be able to continue straight through the moving home process. This is assuming that you provide evidence that you can afford a mortgage and provide a deposit for the property.
Thinking of moving home in Sheffield?
If you are buying and selling your home, let our moving home mortgage advisors in Sheffield help you through your process.
You can book your own mortgage appointment for free online. Get started today and we can help you get through the moving home process stress-free. We can’t wait to hear from you.
Date Last Edited: September 15, 2023
