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Written by McCarthy's Team on April 11, 2015

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We all know moving house can be extremely stressful – and one of the most stressful things about it can be the dreaded chain.

A first time buyer is buying your house – hurrah! – but you’re buying a house from a family relocating halfway across the country, and they’re buying a house from a couple separating, and they’re both buying their own apartments….and so it goes on….

Apparently 85% of house moves contain a chain of some length or another. And the problem is, the longer the chain, the more possible ways it can break. It’s something that’s hard to measure but according to some sources, anything up to one in four property chains break. This can be for a variety of reasons – banks are stricter than they were 10 years ago, and finances can fall through. Someone changes their mind or finds a better property. One of the surveys reveals serious problems. Someone is gazumped or gazundered.

It may be nothing at all to do with the property you’re selling or buying, but suddenly the whole thing collapses like a house of cards.

So what can you do to minimise the possibilities of the chain breaking? In reality, a lot of it will be out of your control. But some things to consider are:

• If it’s appropriate, target your property at first time buyers, taking away the downward chain.
• Make sure your own finances are firmly in place before putting an offer in on a property – don’t be the weak link!
• Only accept an offer once you know the potential buyer has done likewise – and don’t accept an offer from someone who has yet to sell their own property. In reality they can’t buy your home until they have the money from theirs – and if theirs isn’t sold yet, who knows how long that might take?
• Ask yourself whether you would consider selling your home and moving into rented or temporary accommodation so you become the equivalent of a first time buyer – one way of shortening any future buying chains.

A situation we see quite frequently at McCarthy’s is when the timing doesn’t line up – one end of the chain completes before the other. So you find your buyers are insisting they have the keys in two weeks, and the house you’re buying definitely won’t be ready for two months, and they won’t budge. So do you break the chain below you by saying they can’t have it when they need it, potentially losing your sale?

An option many people take in this circumstance is to go ahead and move out of their home, and put their possessions in storage whilst they temporarily stay with family or friends for a few weeks. We can help by acting as your removals firm and then putting the crates straight into storage for as long as is needed – whether it’s a matter of two days or two months. So you don’t have to worry about unloading until your new home is ready and you have the keys in your hands!