Buying a second home

[furryleopard]

I'm just wondering if someone can explain the process of buying a second home to me? We have our home that we purchased in 2011 so we've paid a bit of the mortgage off. We now want a bigger garden so I've been looking and seen a possibility that's just come on the market. What do we do now? Do we get ours on the market now and hope that house or a similar one is still available when ours sells? Surely you could end up homeless? Do we (assuming we like this one) make an offer but then what if ours doesn't sell? Do we gets ours officially valued before we start looking- even though I know what ours is worth. I just don't understand how it works the second time around. And presumably the people who own the new house will be looking for a new to them house as well so won't we end up waiting for them but again what if we end up selling ours really quickly? Am I over thinking this?

[Namehanger]

Put your house on the market, be realistic, don't get fooled by the estate agent who comes up with a silly price.

Make an offer on the house you want, tell them your house is on the market.

Then it is just luck, circumstances and communication. If no one offers on your house then you can't buy theirs, they might wait, they might be looking for a quick sale. It is impossible to sort all the unknowns in advance.

[furryleopard]

Thank you - yeah I know realistically what our house is worth which is useful as I know estate agents can go over the top to get your business. It just all seems very up to luck and we are a bit risk averse.

[lalalonglegs]

Get mortgage advice to make sure you can borrow enough for the move. Try not to use a financial adviser associated with an estate agent.

[AgathaF]

Get yours on the market for a realistic price. Most sellers won't accept an offer unless you have sold, since obviously they might end up waiting months or even longer for you to get a buyer. Don't forget that you can pull out of a house sale at any time up to exchange of contracts, so if things go wrong along the chain, it is unlikely that you'd end up homeless.