Should you find a buyer before you look at houses

hazyjo

MatthewAinsworth wrote: »

It worries me that people may not actually find something to buy, and then have to drop their buyer

PS that's also why it's advisable not to spend a penny until the chain is complete

2bFrank

If you're not ready to proceed just use the same estate agent as the seller, their vested interest will push it to happen

This might be difficult as we are looking at a different area, and we have already got the process started on putting the house on the market,

It worries me that people may not actually find something to buy, and then have to drop their buyer

I am hoping that is not the case, we have seen a few houses on right move that we love so fingers crossed when we actually view them once we have a buyer they look as good as the photos

marsman802

Did this earlier in the year.

Went and viewed a house out of curiosity and loved it but we hadn't even considered selling our own...

I proceeded to negotiate the purchase price down whilst I arranged for our house to be marketed. I managed to instruct agent and get a hard offer inside 5 working days by which time I had locked down the price on the purchase.
I phoned the vendors agent and said I'm able to proceed and they cancelled viewings that evening.

It got better because then they decided to move into rented accommodation whilst they figured out where they wanted to move to and we exchanged last Wednesday - move in two weeks today!

LittleMax

I think there are so many variances there is no one best answer.

It depends on what is driving you to move, as well as how desirable your own house is to buyers.

If I was relocating to a defined area I would sell first, even if that meant ending up in rented before I found somewhere. However my next move is all about finding that one house that we can make into our perfect home. I am looking all the time, and never know when just the thing will come up - for that reason there is no point at all marketing our property until we have found the dream.

phoebe1989seb

We've bought a couple of houses where if we hadn't been successful we would have withdrawn from our own sale, so important was it to us to buy *that particular* house That means we identified the house we wanted first, then marketed our own.

In the first instance we had been planning to sell, but the house we wanted went SSTC before ours was ready to market. Turned out an acquaintance had a relative that owned the house next door (only 3 were built of this design) and arranged for us to view as he was thinking of selling.

We were in a relatively fast-moving area (south coast), but it still took a while to find a buyer as our house - whilst a sympathetically restored period detached - had a few issues due to being located on a busy main road with a bus-stop and double yellows outside, 200 yards from a set of traffic lights......and no ORP - and our vendor - who did accept our offer before ours was even on the market, understandably started to get twitchy.

This was a private purchase transaction though and as the vendor lived overseas - and the house was tenanted - it was an exceptional situation. In the end we found a buyer, completed and moved in with my parents as the vendor/his tenants were going through the eviction process, but all came right in the end!

Next time we knew we wanted to sell, but due to me being overly keen, [STRIKE]we[/STRIKE] I found the perfect house on RM once again before our restoration works were completely finished. The house in question was about 150 miles away, but we trotted off to view it, fell in love and made an offer about a month before ours was ready to hit the market. As expected our offer was declined - even though the house had been on the market 18 months and was in a very slow moving area - so we set to getting our own place finished, but in the end listed it for sale with a couple of minor things outstanding. Our area wasn't the fastest either (rural Wilts) but due to a very high level of finish we found a buyer in 5 weeks rather than the predicted 12 months. The house we wanted was still available and we got it for less than our original offer

Otoh, when selling another house we had plenty of viewers - including a few nosey parkers, such as those that thought the house was haunted and wanted to see inside - who weren't proceedable themselves. One couple who viewed first day it was on the market, admitted they only viewed out of curiosity, but fell in love with it and put theirs on the market the same week. When theirs failed to sell - and we found a buyer in 10 days - they decided not to sell.

When selling we never refuse to let anyone view though as you never know how things might turn out. Last time we sold our EA warned us that a lady that wanted to view was considered a bit flaky - turned out she made us an asking price offer on the spot and completed 9 weeks later........

gibsonviolet1

If you do sell before you buy, make sure as many things as possible (mortgage etc) are organized beforehand so you can buy quickly

steph2901

I started looking on Right Move before mine went up for sale. Once mine went up for sale, I looked at a couple of houses but wasn't in a position to make any offers. Now I've accepted an offer and can now go back and have second viewings of the houses I like and hopefully offer on one. But we've decided that if there's nothing else we like, we'll have to rent and keep looking as we have to sell this house.