Putting House up for sale before finding a new one?

-=[$iMoN]=-

Hi,

We are currently looking for a new house, but are very selective so it can take a while before a new house gets listed that fits our criteria.

Is it common practice to put your house up for sale and get the ball rolling before actually finding a property that we would consider purchasing.

And if someone was to put in an offer for our house before we have found somewhere, what usually happens in this situation? I guess they would have to be told at viewing stage that we haven't found anywhere and they would make their decision.

Thank you

lee111s

There's not point in finding a house and falling in love with it and not being able to make an offer as you don't have a buyer. My understanding is that you put your house on the market and only once you have accepted an offer should you start looking to make an offer on somewhere you'd like to buy.

Otherwise you might find the vendor of the house you're going to buy will keep their house on the market as you're not in a guaranteed position to be able to buy and by doing so, they may get someone come along in a much better position to buy and move quickly.

kingstreet

-=[$iMoN]=- wrote: »

Is it common practice to put your house up for sale and get the ball rolling before actually finding a property that we would consider purchasing.

And if someone was to put in an offer for our house before we have found somewhere, what usually happens in this situation? I guess they would have to be told at viewing stage that we haven't found anywhere and they would make their decision.

Thank you

Marketing your house first is essential.

Would you take an offer on your home from someone who had not started to market theirs?

Negotiating a house purchase/sale is an honest process. Tell someone viewing yours that you have not yet found somewhere and that it may take a while. Then, the future is their decision based on a truthful appraisal of the situation.

cramg

We are in the same position as the opening paragraph.
Our property is on the market, one offer received but not yet accepted.

There are no suitable properties within our desired location that we like so once we accept an offer on our house, we plan to canvas a select number of houses we like. But i guess, from accepting an offer on ours, we will allow maybe 3 weeks before we choose to go into rented rather than buy. This will ensure the sale of ours and allow us to wait for that special house to come along.

phill99

You must put your house on the market. If you make an offer on a new house but haven't even put yours on the market, you won't be taken seriously and your prospective house may very well stay on the market for other people to offer on, who may well be in a far better position than you.

If you are really fussy about a new house, you may well be advised to sell yours and move in to rented accommodation for a while, while you look around. As you will have nothing to sell you will be in a better negotiating position.

ognum

If I was selling I would not accept an offer from you unless your house was under offer or sold.

What you are risking doing is finding the dream house and then someone else buying it!

You cannot have all the cards in your hand I'm afraid unless you can afford two houses for a while.

phoebe1989seb

Ditto what the other posters have said.....

When we sold our last house two years ago we had a couple view as soon as it went onto the market. They adored our (one-off, period) house and put in an offer straight away......but - they weren't on the market yet themselves and even though they instructed our EA to prepare their house for marketing immediately, we weren't prepared to accept their offer and wait till it sold - especially as we were looking to move quickly to be closer to ageing relatives. Another couple viewed a few days later, offered, had an AIP and despite being in a chain of three themselves were good to go. We completed in a few weeks whilst the original couple told our EA they were hoping our buyers would pull out.....charming Suffice to say, they never did find a buyer and withdrew theirs from the market once we'd exchanged......

What's more, we were also very *selective* - wanting a good-sized period house for renovation in an expensive part of Southern England. We thought we'd have little chance of finding a suitable house and tying it in with our sale - especially as we didn't expect to accept an offer on ours within two weeks. In the end (and after a couple of false starts) we found the perfect house 4-5 weeks after we'd accepted the offer on ours and completed on both transactions about a month later.......so despite our fears, it was possible

Definitely put yours on the market first - who knows you may receive an acceptable offer quicker than you think and paving the way for you to offer on the dream home should it come along.....good luck!

Tancred

I've accepted an offer on my house from someone who has yet to get a firm offer on his, but I am still marketing the property and would sell it to someone else who made a similar (or better) offer. Sadly, the dire state of the residential property market has forced me into this position; ordinarily I wouldn't even have talked to anyone who hasn't got an offer on his house yet.

sunshinetours

It does depend really. You don't "have" to have yours up for sale/sold etc to view houses, especially if like you say you are particular about what you want exactly.
Teh danger is you may find somewhere you love and not be able to buy it because you can't sell yours quick enough.
I would certainly have yours ready for sale and appraised by a couple of local agents and ensure you have finance available in principle.

If you are able to sell yours at a competitive price and its in a desirable loacation you probably will sell pretty quickly, so yes it can be done

WATTY1978

We took this approach but agreed a timescale with our buyers. if we hadnt found our dream house within four weeks then we would proceed and move into rented. luckily they were very patient and a suitable hoyse came up six weeks later.
Good luck

poledancer49

I would agree with the above posts. We are hoping to sell our house first and then rent if need be until we can find the house we like. Good luck.