Do you buy or sell your house first?

Pandilex

I'm thinking of moving house, which I have never done before.

The place I want to move, houses come up on the market but only at a rate of maybe 1 per month.

I want to buy a house that's twice the value of my own. I have a bit of mortgage left to pay.

I am wondering, do I put an offer in first (after getting a mortgage in principal) then try to sell my house? Or should I be selling first?

Or is it better to sell and move into rented accommodation?

I even considered buying a cheap flat and living there during the sale/purchase, then later renting/selling it - although this would affect my LTV on the mortgage on the new house...

I can't seem to find any information about this. Many thanks.

marksoton

Most vendors and EA's won't even entertain an offer unless your current place is in the process of being sold.

Pandilex

marksoton wrote: »

Most vendors and EA's won't even entertain an offer unless your current place is in the process of being sold.

Thanks. So if I sold it, and advertised that there was a chain, would it be normal to expect the buyer to wait around potentially months until something comes up I want to buy?

Thanetia

Something like this - there are a few wrinkles in how this might pan out and some people successfully reverse elements (like find a new place to but before selling current place), but this usually works out OK)


Get your place valued - realistically.
Work out how much equity you have left after you've paid off your outstanding mortgage
Work out how big a mortgage you might need to buy a new place, taking into account the equity you have.
Work out if you can afford to borrow that much - DiY or speak to a Broker .Maybe get an AiP
Work out if you can afford the assocciated costs of moving - legal, stamp duty, estate agent if you use one etc.
Keep an eye on new places.
Put your house on the market - get an offer
Revise your calculations above if offer higher or lower than anticipated.
Find a new place, offer and get accepted.
Work out how big a chain you're in
Do all the legal and paperwork stuff
Move

Sounds so simple when you break it down !!

hazyjo

Just to add, make sure that chain is complete before spending a penny on a purchase (same goes for your buyers, and everyone else in the chain).


Jx

NicNicP

We viewed a house we liked and then put ours on the market. Luckily we sold within 24 hours (we were confident of a quick sale but wasn't expecting that quick!) and then offered on the property we wanted.

agrinnall

I sell and move to rented for a while before even starting to look for a new place to buy, I've done that 3 times now, the only time that I didn't was when I was switching from owning 1 big place to 2 smaller ones and could buy the first (a studio flat) before selling the original and live there while looking for the second.

walwyn1978

We sold our house and rented whilst we looked for our next house. We did this because:
We were changing regions and didn't want to rush a decision and regret it - we wanted to research the area properly rather than just look a couple of times and go 'yes, that all seems fine'
We felt it meant we weren't in a longer chain and were therefore a quicker resolution because we had nothing to sell - we could present as an easy buyer, with a good deposit from our house sale.
It also meant we didn't rush a purchase with the risk of buyer remorse afterwards 'because otherwise our buyer would walk' because we'd already done that aspect.

Davesnave

If a suitable property comes up around once a month, that's not so bad, but if people are looking for something much less easy to find, or changing areas, I'd recommend selling and renting.

We found a commodious house which allowed us to store all our less essential belongings, ready packed, ready for the 'proper' move. This was almost as cheap as renting a smaller place and paying for storage.

We were there 9 months, and much as expected, when the right property came along, it was a case of acting swiftly. We couldn't have met the seller's deadline if we'd had a property to sell. Later, there was also another party, very eager to buy if we didn't.

walwyn1978

That bit about storage I'd forgotten, but yes, that can also be useful (we rented a house that came with a small garage and used the garage to store all our things for the time we lived there)

Pandilex

Thanks for the responses this is very helpful