Anyone put their house up for sale before finding a new one?

[Mirage]

We have been having our annual 'we are definately moving this year' debate & DH has suggested putting our house on the market before we have found somewhere else,bearing in mind that most properties around here sell in 2-3 weeks.

I am a bit nervous about doing this,as the village we want to move to has a limited supply of affordable houses & they sell very quickly.I am worried that we will find a buyer & then not have anywhere to go.

On the other hand,if we have a buyer for our property,would we be in a better position when making an offer on a new one?

I'd welcome any opinions & experiences as this is the first house we bought & it was a long while ago now-I can't remember much about the whole process.

Also,has anyone sold privately? Our neighbours daughter has often said how much she loves our place,so am thinking of mentioning it to her,but don't know if I will be getting into something that should best be left to professionals.

TIA

Tbh, I would be tempted to at least test the market before looking for another property. What happens if you find your dream property and then yours takes months to sell? Also, most agents won't even consider an offer on a property unless you are in a position to proceed, which you won't be if you haven't found a buyer for yours.

Yes, we did this and it was fine - we sold in 3 days!!! Don't sell privately - part of the estate agents job is to sort out any hassles up your (possible) chain - it will be very hard for you to do this. Also, from a safety point of view, the estate agent will check that people viewing are who they say they are EG: live at that address and use that phone number etc. remeber Suzie Lamplugh? I wouldn't let complete strangers wander around my house unaccompanied (all your viewings should be accompanied by an estate agent - part of what you pay them for - why do their job?) or who weren't genuine. YOur estate agent will also be able to guide you through the process and sort out any hassles.

WE sold privately... I don't think it's such a bad thing to do.
But I have reservations with people who only put their house on the market because they've seen a specific place they want to buy elsewhere... as a buyer, I just think, "Oh right then, you really aren't serious about moving, are you?" "As soon as that sale falls through, you'll take your house off the market and I'll have wasted a lot of money on surveys and searches".

When we sold we were willing to rent subsequently, we would have done almost anything to make sure a chain wasn't a problem at our end. But we were selling because we had to move. Where we are living now, people seem to put their houses on the market and take them off again on a whim... A house we bid on in February (offered 98% of asking price, no chain on our end, they wouldn't take it because they couldn't find somewhere they wanted to move to!) has just now off the market... boy am I glad they didn't say yes. WE would have waited months, paid out for surveys & searches, only for them to only change their minds and never move at all.

Mirage - when we sold our last house we were looked around a bit first but were told by several estate agents that they would not show us around a lot of houses unless our own was on the market first to prove we were serious. TBH, thinking about it, I wouldn?t want people coming and seeing my house if they were just "testing the market" as it is such a hassle getting the house tidy, kids organised, hopes up etc. to only be told afterwards that the people weren?t really potential buyers, not yet on the market and only "thinking" about it - it would really pee me off. Have a look in estate agents windows, get the property details of a few to check that it is viable, obviously, but personally I think you shouldn?t view houses unless you are genuinely interested and in a position to move at a reasonable speed - ie. had own home valued, at least in the proceeds of having it put on the market and have a clear idea of your financial status.
Would never go privately - too much at stake to get it wrong and you will put off a huge amount of buyers for the sake of trying to save a few quid.

I think that is important to test what it is in offer before you sell your house, but you can start looking for a house while yours is for sale. Agree with freckle comment though, most agents would not even consider yur offer as serious if you are still waiting for your house to be sold.

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agree with twiglett, round our way most agents won't take an offer from you on a house unless you already have a decent offer on your own place. good luck it's all very stressful.

we have always put our houses up for sale before finding a new one. The option is you could rent if you didnt find anything to buy but most buyers will be patient and let you find something.

If you have found a house you really want I would be inclined to say you are not reliant on a sale as you are thinking of renting your existing house out. Then stick it on the market and hope it sells quickly!!!!

When we sold our last house we were offered a really good price and we weren't completely sure whether we wanted to live in the new area, so we sold and rented for 6 months. It put us in a fab position when we bought our current flat as we could time the completion to suit the sellers. It does mean moving twice though and, depending on whether where you rent is furnished, furniture might have to be put in storage.

we're just about to put house on the market and I'm not even going to start looking until we have at least an offer on ours. Depends where you live but there is such competition for houses where we want to move and not being in a chain puts you in a much better position.

Most people would put their house on the market, and start looking when they have had an offer accepted. Like most others have said, there are very few buyers who would be willing to take the risk of accepting an offer made by a purchaser who was yet to take an offer on their property.

Selling your house and renting while you find another one requires serious consideration, in our area waiting six months could cause that you end in a house that is not better than the previous one, in only 6 months our last house went from 90,000 to 115,000, our current house has gone more then 50,000 up in two years.

I thought that was the norm too, unless you are very specific but not under any pressure to move when something happens to catch your eye.

you pretty much have to before agents give you a viewing on any other property, we were denied viewings as our house was not on the market.
Since then all has gone well, found the house we like, our house is under offer, although we have just heard buyers sale has fallen through but still in early stages...

Thanks for the input so far.

I didn't know it is the norm to put your house on the market before looking for a new one.In our case,we have been looking on & off for 2 years,but not found anything that we liked enough so far,which is why I am being a bit cautious about it all.However,it makes sense that we will be in a better position to buy if we already have a buyer,so we are going to take the plunge & do it.We have set ourselves a target of getting it on the market by the end of the month.

Renting is not really an option for us,as I have never seen any houses to rent in the place we want to move too.Plus prices are spiralling so fast,we would be priced even further out of the market.For instance,a house that I viewed 12 months ago has just resold at £30k more than it was on for last year.

Any more opinions/comments that may help? I really am very rusty on all the ins & outs of moving.

Hi, Mirage, we are currently waiting to exchange contracts - selling our place to move into rented for a while (depending on what the market does). We're having a month between exchange and completion to find somewhere to live. if the market keeps rising, we'll buy back in after about six months. if not, we'll stay put and wait for it to fall. Quite scared, though, especially as expectign second baby soon and we have to move around the same time. ARGH!

ps. Being a buyer without a chain will be helpful when you come to make an offer on a house you like.

I have never known an agent or seller that has accepted an offer on their house off someone who isnt already under offer themselves (if that makes sense?) I know here they wont even let you look at houses if you havent sold because ity wastes peoples time!

A neighbour-friend tells me that his neighbour has put her house on the market and will only consider cash offers. The house we are buying now they would only let us view if we were in a 'proceedable' position.

Admittedly, we must be cr*p at buying and selling. Never had an offer accepted for less than 98% of asking price (this is different types of properties, in different parts of the same town or different parts of the country!) -- even though supposedly the average house goes for about 94% of asking price. But of course, when we went to sell, we only go 94% ourselves... Actually, we sold for £110k in Feb, and very similar (nicer, but still quite similar) houses on the same road are now marketing for £140k.

zebra how are things going with your sale and purchase? If its any consolation the house we bought we paid 100% of the asking price and even though it is a wreck and loads of stuff came up on the survey it was still valued at the asking price, so no bargaining allowed. Our buyer on the other hand managed to knock us down loads and still wants more money ver