House purchase fallen through, now what?

[ISO51200]

Hi all,

I'm in the middle of a chain at the moment, all parties agreed to exchange Tuesday and complete Friday only to find out an hour before the chap has decided to let out the home I was buying instead.

The people buying my home are due a baby in 3 weeks, I've decided to continue with my sale as I have a flat I can occupy for around 12 months if I need to.

So it looks like on Friday I'm going to end up with around £100k coming back to me, while it's a nice problem to have, I'm kind of stuck with what to do with it.

I have no other savings or investments and will be debt free apart from a small car loan.

Forgive my naivety, but am I best to sit in the flat and wait to see what happens with Brexit next year and maximise my ISA allowance in the meantime?

[Jockman]

Is it your flat?

[ISO51200]

Jockman said:

Is it your flat?

It's my Fathers, luckily its empty

[Heres Johnny]

Look around, you're a cash buyer. some will find that an advantage both in terms of less chain agro and the ability to move quickly and that in itself may give you an edge when buying. When you find somewhere you like, buy it. Trying to out smart the market is full of stories of people who got it right, and stories of people someone knows who got it wrong (funny how few people talk about getting it wrong themselves).

I'd looking at how fast stuff is turning over in my price bracket etc to gauge the market, and if stuff has been sat around a while maybe a cheeky offer, although stuff thats been on for ages seem to be like that because they are over priced and/or the seller won't deal. New stock coming on and priced to sell would be a better bet. Thats my view, others will have different ones.

[SCEtoAUX]

Max out your premium bonds and install property tracker on Chrome. Sit back and enjoy.

[ReaperCushions]

I'd agree, possibly a blessing in disguise.

Would you have to pay rent to your father? If so, maybe 12 months rent free (Or low rent) would help bolster the funds for the next buy?

Or flip a few houses in the mean time to grow the pot?

[Tebbers]

I’d say this is a real blessing in disguise. House prices are falling across the UK, so sit on your cash for a year and then see where the market is post Brexit. I’d expect you to do rather well.

[Heres Johnny]

Tebbers said:

I’d say this is a real blessing in disguise. House prices are falling across the UK, so sit on your cash for a year and then see where the market is post Brexit. I’d expect you to do rather well.

Not where I am. I live in rural britain and of the 3 houses that came up within a 3 miles radius of me in the last 6 months, 2 sold at good money within a month. A colleague at work is trying to buy in Birmingham and he's been gazumped twice in the last 3 months on apartments in desirable parts of the town, I'd accept a Barratt box on a housing estate may be different.

It depends a lot on location and the type of place you want.