Buying without selling home

Herzlos

Assuming you've got the funds for a deposit and a mortgage agreement in principle, you can make a chain free bid. 

If your house sells quickly enough, pay from the proceeds. If not, take out the mortgage and pay it off when your own house sells. 

The only risk is that if the old house takes a while to sell you're stuck maintaining and paying tax/bills on both. 

Ms_Chocaholic

Are you one of a couple, re the Council Tax could you have one resident at the new home and one at the old home thereby taking advantage of the single person discount for both.  Depends on how far apart the properties are and what the requirements are for staying in your primary residence.  Might be unlawful though.

user1977

Ms_Chocaholic said:

Are you one of a couple, re the Council Tax could you have one resident at the new home and one at the old home thereby taking advantage of the single person discount for both.  Depends on how far apart the properties are and what the requirements are for staying in your primary residence.  Might be unlawful though.

I know it's a money-saving forum, but not sure we've reached the level of recommending couples separate for tax reasons.

Bedspring

If you can raise the cash, bid them 10% lower than you had planned, if they accept, great, if they do not, no worries, plenty more houses.

Buying first can work well as you can get the new house all sorted out.

Council tax, often you can get 6 or 12 months free, check.
Whatever house you buy, consider a council tax apeal

Albermarle

JazF said:

The seller actually has to have a firm offer/buyer because he wants to buy a new build. 

I’m debating that if we make a cash bid by the time everything has gone through perhaps my home will also have an offer on it. 

If we do get a quick sale I would be prepared to move in with my parents until the seller is ready. Lots of things to consider. 

Keep in mind that new builds often get delayed, so you might have more time than you think.

Also there are regular threads on here from people under pressure from a developer to exchange without a firm completion date. So a flexible buyer like you could be a real advantage for them.
It depends on the developer to some extent, they all have their own way of working/procedures.

grumpy_codger

JazF said:

...

I am mortgage free. It could be possible for me to scrape together the cash (from savings and family) to buy without having to sell my home first but I am worried what complications could come from that. 

Does anyone have any experience of buying a home that way? Any insight would be appreciated.

Has anybody mentioned AML?
The checks are typically more serious for cash buyers - and this includes cash from family.
As I said many times, the main question when chosing a solicitor is how deep they normally do the checks, not how much they charge.
And I believe a small mortgage makes this much easier.