Putting House up for sale before finding a new one?

mrsmchapman

We were in the same position, we chose to sell but hadn't found a house we liked, I don't see the point in finding somewhere you like anyway before putting your house on the market, as they might sell and your still sat sitting and waiting.

Anyway we sold our house, but we didn't want to lose a potential sale as this was more important to us than finding a new home, it's easier to buy than sell, and so we had agreed with the buyers should we not find anything quickly we would move into rented accommodation. As it stands we have found somewhere, so the chain isn't held up.

vet8

The days of hoping to buy and sell simultaneously seem to be gone.

When we bought our last house we did not put our previous one on the market until we had found a house we liked and it all went well, but when we came to sell this time we soon realised that it no longer works that way. We sold and moved out and literally lived in a tent for a month! That meant we had no onward chain which is a good selling point.

One guy who really liked our house and offered nearly the asking price had not even got his on the market and a month later still had not, so we told him to stick it, much to his amazement, and sold for a lower price to someone else who was ready, otherwise we could have waited until doomsday for the first guy.

Hailstorm

I would put yours on the market and start looking at the same time.

Yes, there is a chance that you might see somewhere you like which is then gone by the time you get an offer on your house. In my opinion though, you make yourself much more attractive to potential buyers if you say you have seen somewhere you like and will make an offer when you get an acceptable offer yourself, as opposed to saying you are waiting for an offer before you start looking.

When I bought my current house it came down to a choice of three properties that all ticked my boxes. Two of the vendors said they already had properties in mind, the third were waiting for an offer before they started looking. The third choice house was third choice for that very reason.