asking for info on buying and selling property?

[Daddypigsgusset]

I probably am but a day of googling has proved useless and I'm sure some of you lovely ladies will know!

When we bought our house we were ftb and the vendor had no chain so it was very straight forward. We're looking to sell and I've found my dream house but what order do we do things? I thought maybe putting ours on the market but do we not need to apply for more money on the mortgage first? What if we sell ours and then get knocked back for more money? We would be homeless. What if we get ok'ed and nobody wants to buy ours, we'd be out of pocket just by applying and do you get so long before the offer expires and you have to apply again?
When do we make an offer on another house? Once ours has sold and the mortgage has been approved? What if some bugger gets there first?
I am totally clueless, could somebody give me a to do list and put me out of my misery please

I think that the place to start is your local friendly estate agent - the ones with your dream house would be a good start but don't take only one opinion. Get your house valued, talk to a financial advisor etc You can put an offer in at any time but they seller will want to know your position before accepting so I would have something solid by way of how much you are likely to get mortgage wise first - you wont get a firm mortgage offer till way down the line but you should at least know how much is realistic

Feel exactly the same, have no idea how anyone coordinates the whole thing, so worried I won't find anything I love at the right time too

Depends on how quickly the market is you are buying and selling in and how unique the properties are and how fussy you are.
I'd go to the bank get an agrent in principle and talk to agents about marketing your house before starting to look. If you can show the people that you are buying from that you have a mortgage agreement in principle and are easy to sell you are in a reasonable position to put an offer in, all things being equal. Or sell, move to rented, then purchase separately.

Agreements in principle for mortgages are free. It's only confirmed mortgages you pay for, then he offer lasts usually 90 days before you have to begin again. So don't go beyond the agreement in principle stage until you have offered on a new property....