Is it worth viewing a house before selling your own?

ironman1

Hi all,

We have lived in our new build since 2009 and put it up for sale on Tuesday. We have since seen a nice house locally that is within our price range. However they have no chain. We asked the estate agents about viewing it and they said they have already booked in 12 others to view the place! We are the first and are having a look tomorrow.

My question is, what are the actual chances of us getting anywhere? We have not sold before and now we have a second child on the way we really need to move out of our two bed for a three.

We won't have any problems selling our place which has been valued at 300k. The new place is up for 315k. London prices and all that...

But I do wonder if it is even worth it as at least half the viewers of the house we are going for probably have the cash up front whereas we need to wait for a buyer on ours. I would be more optimistic but as the other property is chain free I can see a bad outcome.

Anyone have any advice? Or is it a case of not worth the hassle until we find a buyer?!

Thanks

Brown_Eyed_Girl

I'd go view it, what's to say that they want to do things quickly?

And if the EA has 12 viewings for that place then as you say, it hopefully shouldn't take you long to sell yours.

Daerve

You're not proceedable so any offer you make would be subject to selling yours first and any seller would be insane to accept an offer from someone who isn't proceedable.

They may however be willing to accept your offer but keep the property on the market until they find someone proceedable or you become proceedable.

We viewed a house prior to having an offer on ours and our offer was accepted subject to us becoming proceedable but obviously the house we are buying was still marketed until we found a buyer. We were lucky/desperate and accepted an offer on ours not long after and our offer was accepted.

Just be mindful that if you love it you will be desperate to sell yours and may take a hit on the price, we certainly did and while I have no regrets I may have done it differently had I known.

ironman1

Wow thanks for the quick replies!

I know we will sell ours quick as it is basically a new build lego type set and two others identical to ours sold in the last month and was only on the market for a couple of weeks. For some reason the area seems to have places that get snapped up as soon as they go up for sale. It is a fairly decent quiet area in London and next to a train station which gets you into the city within 15 mins.

Ours is only a flat so the money is quite obscene! The other place is a house and needs a little bit of work. It might sound naive but I would definitely take a little hit on ours if we had to. The house we are viewing is in an ideal location for us and the sort of place I would be happy to stay in for a good few years.

I know the seller is in no rush bur sort of resigned to the fact a first time buyer will probably offer them the money as soon as they view it. The horrible thing is its about 30k less than other similar type properties around here and within our price range whereas the majority aren't. So it sort of feels like missing this would be a mini disaster

Daerve

In that case I'd be very honest with the vendor, offer the asking price as minimum and pull out all the stops to flog yours.

They may be willing to go with you but don't be surprised if someone who is proceedable pips you to it.

Hoploz

Go and look. You never know, you might set one foot inside and hate the place ... It does happen!

You'd kick yourself if you got an offer on yours and you hadn't given it your best effort.

ironman1

Oh we are certainly not building our hopes up. I would honestly be amazed if we got the place. The only thing in our favour is we will definitely sell ours quickly. The vendor will know this as he lives a five minute walk away. But as you say, someone will no doubt be proceedable (I only just looked up that word such is the novice I am with this home buying and selling lark!).

Daerve

ironman1 wrote: »

The only thing in our favour is we will definitely sell ours quickly.

I don't doubt it but you can offer zero guarantees on this, which is the problem.

As someone else said, go and view it, you may hate it.

ironman1

Very true regarding the zero guarantees. I am not suggesting it will sell easily because it is amazing, just that these places go very quickly. However you are right. It sounds a bit cocky reading it back...I suppose I am just trying to reassure myself and trying to be a bit more positive!

Daerve

ironman1 wrote: »

trying to be a bit more positive!

Sadly most of us on here are jaded in the extreme from the harrowing process of flogging your pad in E&W so positivity is rarer than yeti steaks.

ironman1

Well I truly appreciate the advice and replies. As you say we may not even like it. But to be honest as long as it has the extra bedroom and a garden we will be easily pleased. We can buy for up to around 340k so will just keep looking at more expensive places I suppose!