Process of buying or selling

kay_1

We are putting our house on the market in the next couple of months but I'm a bit confused how to go about things. We bought our house of my parents so it was a really simple process.

Do we sell our home before we start looking for another or do we look for a new house before we put ours on the market? What if we sell our home and then can't find a house we like - how long will we have to find our 'dream home' once we've accepted an offer on our house?

Or if we put an offer in on another house before we put our house on the market what happens if our house takes months and months to sell?

So really I just want to know in what order to do things. Hope that makes sense!

curedham

It really depends where you're selling and where you're buying. In general your offer won't be considered/accepted unless your own house is under offer.

Lincoln_Imp

Are you able to finance a house purchace before you sell yours ?

If not then how can you put an offer in for one you want if you havent sold yours as worst case you might not sell your at all

If you sell yours then see one you like pretty quick then all well and good if not then you will probably have to move out and rent until such time as you find a suitable property

Malks

I would start to causally look on Rightmove etc, but not book any viewings until you at least have an offer on yours. This way you can start to rule out places and styles and be ready to start viewing places when you do get the offer.

Most sellers won’t accept an offer unless you are proceedble and have the finance in place ready to move, as this will hold up their move.

mrsmchapman

I would from now start looking at properties in the area you would like to buy, get a feel for prices and locations etc.

Once you put your house up for sale, you could if you wished start to view other properties (i didn't as in my eyes i wasnt proceedable even if i'd have loved the house).

Once your property has an offer, then you will be proceedable to place on other on a home you'd like to buy. No-one really would accept an offer from you until you have sold your own home.

kay_1

Thank you for your help! Sounds like the sensible thing to do is wait till we have an offer on our house. Do we then get a set amount of time ie 1 month, 2 months to find a house we like? And if we don't I guess we have to be prepared to go into rented accomodation until something we like comes up...

mrsmchapman

For us, we decided that could we not find a property in a suitable time (one month to us) then we would go into rental. However don't forget if you do this you may have to pay a redemption to your mortgage provider for settling the mortgage early. As to how long you have really there isnt a time, but be honest with viewers. Some will have patience, ive waited for the house i'm buying to find somewhere for 2 months, however some may not be willing to wait. Hence it pays to start doing your research on properties in the area you want to buy.

curedham

mrsmchapman wrote: »

However don't forget if you do this you may have to pay a redemption to your mortgage provider for settling the mortgage early.

If you're porting your mortgage lenders often give you 6 months grace period between completing your sale and your next purchase.

Moonraker71

I'm porting my mortgage and I only get 31 days so be sure to check.

mummyroysof3

Well we found 2 houses we liked before ours went up for sale. Ours only took 10 days to get an offer on but but both houses are now not available and we might lose our offer. I think you just have to hope it works out but then it depends on what you are looking for and wether you have many options.