Do you view houses when yours is for sale or wait until you have an offer?

[CrapBag]

Currently have our property up for sale (shared ownership and I am anticipating a fairly quick sale as the houses are few and far between, especially with the low share available).

Do you wait until you have an offer before you go and view houses or do you view before? I would have thought that if you look before and find one you really like, you can't put an offer in anyway as you haven't sold yours yet?

Second time buyers so not quite sure what to do this time around. Was easier the first time!

It is sensible to keep in touch with the market so that your expectations are reasonable and you can progress quickly.

Keep a file of particulars and your comments on the ones you have viewed.

You can look and even make an offer before you sell but any seller would be a bit crazy to take the house of the market for you in that position. They could however indicate that it would be accepted subject to you selling yours. We didn't view any before selling because I didn't want the disappointment of losing a house but as soon as we sold we viewed the ones we'd had our eye on - and offered - within the week.

We looked before we had an offer on ours as we knew from the market that it was likely to sell reasonably quickly. Didn't find anything we wanted to offer on until after we'd had an offer on ours in the end.

We've looked at three as we had a really strong feeling they'd be what we wanted. We didn't rule any out - two have gone, but our favourite is still on the market. If something looks a real possibility I'd view. You may think you want something, to find it doesn't really work for you and gives you a real feel of whether the final one you want is really right for you.

We looked before so that we could make offers as soon as we got an offer on ours. Houses were not selling quickly in the area we were buying in so we weren't too worried about getting our heart set on somewhere and losing it.

I think it's a good idea to have a bit of a look before you get an offer. Yes, you risk disappointment if "the one" sells before you can secure it, but it gives you a feel for what your money might buy, and therefore the compromises (or upgrades) you might have to make. And once you have a buyer, you don't really want to piss them off by dithering about finding a place... Or rather, not if you can help it!

That's what I was thinking. Guess I may be about to look at some houses! Exciting!

We didn't view anything until we had an offer, no point. We did however get lots of details from the estate agency's so we had an idea of what type of house we could get (we were looking to move to a 4 bed detached from a 3 bed semi). Having established that we could do it we put the house on the market and waited for an offer. I hear about people who panic that they won't find anything but if you don't you can always rent. We have moved four times and never had a problem finding the next one.

We looked at our current house before we put our old one on the market. Our offer wasn't accepted until our old house was under offer though. However we knew old house would sell quickly (sold in 4 days despite being put on market the week before Christmas).

What PigletJohn said and also look for houses you like, definitely view. It's difficult but when you find the ideal new home try not to get your hopes built up in case it sells before yours.
You can always put in a ridiculously low offer on a property if you haven't sold yours.
Also, viewing will give you more of a feel of the market. keep checking what similar houses are being sold for, this will help you know what offers to make.
Just do your homework and treat it as a project until you have moved.
Can you tell I've moved a lot?

Ha ha, yes you do sound like you know what you're talking about.

I do like a project and it will give an excuse to make lists! I love making lists. Yes I am aware I am in need of a life.

CrapBag

There's newt wrong with lists.
I read an article many years ago that talked about how people were quicker to make the decision to buy a particular house than choosing a pair of shoes.
This really worried me for some reason, sort of filled me with dread in case we chose the wrong one.
Another bit of advice that I was given. When you find your perfect home or just before, get in touch with local planning office and check out any future plans agreed for your exact location, this is very important if there is spare land anywhere near you. Better to know about the multi storey car park planned at the back of your house. These things never show on your survey.

That's a good idea. I wouldn't have thought of that.

Information on planned developments won't be on your survey, but will be covered by the searches that your solicitor does as part of the purchasing process.