Buying a house and selling this one - which way round?

[PicadillyCircus]

We're wanting to sell our house and buy another one. Which way round do you do it - sell your house first and then look for another one or the other way round?

I feel we should sell this one but what if we can't find another house to buy? At least we are buying where we live at the moment so looking for new houses isn't too bad.

probably won't be taken seriously if you make an offer on a house you like without having accepted an offer on yours. depends how fastmoving yr local market is, but we did it in parallel and spent mad few weeks dashing out of London to look at houses (and talked up interest on ours with local agents) before rushing back for viewings on our london house. the internet is great for viewing property details in advance though so can save loads of time there. also even if you accept an offer on yours not 'sold 'so could ask buyer to wait until you've found a new one - they will if they like it enough.

Having done it twice now, I have put my property on the market, while starting to view places for sale - so that if you get an offer, you're ready to pounce. Told the Estate Agent if I'm really interested in making an offer - even though it won't be accepted until my house is under offer, then gone into a viewing fenzy once my house is under offer.

I have always had an offer on ours before making an offer on another. IME most people wont accept offers if you havent got an offer iykwim

Thank you - guess it's time to put this house on the market. How do you decide which estate agent to go with? It was much easier buying this house when we were first time buyers

We've just had an offer accepted on a house in principle, ie subject to us selling this one. It'll stay on the market, but low key. But really, even if that one slips through our fingers, we saw 3 we liked in a week, so I'm sure we could find another. We had a hiccup, because we went with one agent for the sale of this, and he did nothing for 4 days because his secretary is on hol and the pc wasn't working properly! So we've scrapped him, luckily before we signed the contract, and have instructed another. It s costing a bit more, but will be worth it.
I'd say, when deciding on an agent, consider

1. Their commission; pin them down to a figure and dont be palmed off with talking about it later. 2.The location of their office; will people who look in the window want to live where you do, or will they be looking for a different area?
2. how quickly can they do a valuation? If it takes a few days to fit you in, this might be representative of the service you'll get throughout.
3. Which website and papers do they place ads on and in?
4. Do they have similar properties on the books? This could be in your favour as viewers of one property will also be alerted to the existence of yours. 6.Are they willing to show you round similar properties, so you can judge your competition?

Cant think of anything else at the moment, but HTH.
You may have noticed that property is my favourite subject at the moment!

Just thought of another thing. Never trust an estate agent who tries to ingratiate (sp?) himself with you by saying 'oh what a cute baby' etc. Lying swine. As if he cares!
Actually, never trust an estate agent full stop.
Howver, they are a fairly necessary evil, unless you want to do a private sale.

I would advise waiting until you have accepted an offer and the wheels are in motion before putting in an offer.

WE put in an offer on our new house before receiving one on ours and it has been the most stressful time of my life. Luckily we received an offer on dp house about ten days later and managed to catch up just but the estate agents we were buying off were extremely peed of with us and the vendors kept threatening to drop out.

To top it all we were supposed to be moving in tomorrow but got a phonecall from the solicitor today to say the somehere along the line a cheque from our buyers had been misfiled and therefore not banked!! This has held everything up again for a few more days much to the annoyance of the vendors of our new house. I have had to spend today reorganising removal vans, gas and electric supplies and childcare.

Grrrr this is the most stressful thing I have ever done in my life.

We've just put ours on the market too, not going to start seriuosly looking until we have an offer but we are registering with some estate agents in the new area and going to have a look see.

I know what you mean last time we were first time buyers movung into a brand new house and that was stressful enough.