Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Property/DIY

Join our Property forum for renovation, DIY, and house selling advice.

Flip

Original poster

Did you sell first then look to buy or put on offer on and then sell your house???

25 replies

Cassie258 · 01/05/2015 06:57

We are looking to sell our house. We are doing lots of work and hope to have estate agents come round next week to give valuations/put on the market. After we have done that we may look into houses to buy but won't seriously until our house is under offer. We do not want to get our hopes up or cause other people to wait if we put in an offer but have no buyer ourselves.

Our neighbours have just sold but did the exact opposite. They put an offer on a house and THEN put up for sale. This strikes me as dangerous, if they couldn't find a buyer. They think our way of doing it is odd incase we struggle to find a home.

Which did you do/are you doing? Is there a norm?

OP posts:

PolpoPolpo · 01/05/2015 07:14

It's very hard to say what is the right or wrong thing to do as markets vary significantly across the country.

My house wasn't on the market but I found a house I loved and offered on it. There were three other equal offers on the property, so it was unlikely I'd get it, but everything ended up lining up and I'm now in my lovely home. It's total and utter luck.

Lots of people do offer before their own house is under offer. The owner will know your circumstances and will decide whose offer they take.

Yes you might get your hopes up and lose a place you had your heart set on but it's equally likely you may end up getting a house you would have missed out on otherwise.

Also, the earlier you start looking the better as you'll get a really good idea of the market.

Good luck, it's a fun but frustrating process.

tumbletumble · 01/05/2015 07:19

In our case we started off doing what you're doing, buy ended up selling our house very quickly and not finding anywhere to buy. We weren't prepared to rent, so we had to pull out of our house sale and let down our buyers. So when we tried again, we found a house first and then put ours on the market and that worked well. It depends - we we're selling

tumbletumble · 01/05/2015 07:20

Sorry

We were selling a property in a very popular location so it was snapped up as soon as it appeared on the market. Obviously that's not always true.

RoganJosh · 01/05/2015 07:21

I think it depends what you're looking for, I think. I think it's normal to sell first, but then you need to rush round finding something to buy.
If you're looking for something unusual, but have something bog standard to sell then it can work to find a property first.

Rebelheart · 01/05/2015 07:26

I find agents won't let you view the properties on their books unless you have your house on the market. It's the first question they ask when you call.

So the only way round to do it is put your house up first. That's what I'm going to do in the next couple of weeks too.

Rebelheart · 01/05/2015 07:28

There is the risk then of course that the timing won't be quite right and you will have to rent for a period. I am considering buying a new property not even built until 2016 so may well have to do that but not looking forward to it.

NonDom · 01/05/2015 07:32

We've registered an interest in the house we want to buy, but won't make an offer on it until we are under offer.

rockybalboa · 01/05/2015 07:42

It depends what the market is like where you are. We sold in an area where houses get snapped up in days for well over the asking price and buyers pretty much have to be in rented in order to get a look in. You wouldn't stand a chance of being able to make an offer if you had a house to sell, even if it was under offer. New area is much much less fast paced, house we are buying was on the market for two years. We still couldn't make an offer until we had a confirmed agreed offer on ours though.

Mopmay · 01/05/2015 07:45

Totally depends on market. We got offer accepted then put ours on but I knew it would sell immediately. In our area now the agents often won't let you view unless you have sold your property as the demand is so high they only want people who are ready to proceed

wigglylines · 01/05/2015 07:52

I'd start looking once I knew we were about to out the house on the market to get a feel for what's available, and in case your house does sell quickly.

That's what we did and agents were perfectly happy to show us around when we said we were about to go to market.

We then stepped up the search once the flat was up for sale.

SqueezyCheeseWeasel · 01/05/2015 07:59

We started looking properly (viewings) once we were under offer, every time, as without a buyer we weren't in a position to make an offer.

SunnySomer · 01/05/2015 08:01

We did both simultaneously - we're moving areas and had a date in mind we want to move and decided we would be prepared to rent until we found the right house in new area - but just happened to find the right house quickly. Knew our house would sell quickly (location, type of house and realistic price), and had a choice of three buyers so we could choose the one with no chain to mess up our plans.

PeaceOfWildThings · 01/05/2015 08:02

The first time we sold a house, we were moving from a cheaper housing area where prices were stagnant to an area where you didn't get as much for your money, and prices were rising fast.So we had the property on the market and looked for what we wanted. We were able to accept an offer quickly so I think we must have found the house we were going to buy and just waited until the offer was confirmed before putting an offer on ourselves. There ended up being a 2 week gap between selling and getting keys for new house which was a nightmare fortnight and seemed to be endless, but got there eventually.

The second time, we were selling the house in the more bouyant area, but the market was just on the turn and properyproperty prices were predicted to plummet. I found schools and a house to rent in the area we were moving to (we had a relocation package through DH's new job to cover removals etc) got the house decorated, empty, ready and on the market within 2 weeks and left the lovely estate agent (like hen's teeth but found one I could trust) and he found us a lovely buyer a few weeks later. We ended up renting for a year, by which time our lives had been turned around in every direction and we really needed to move to another town. We then bought somewhere close to school for our oldest DC. House prices continued to fall after we bought, but we had our home and that's what mattered.

SqueezyCheeseWeasel · 01/05/2015 08:03

I had 'looked' on right move and registered with estate agents and got loads of relevant property details, prior to the days of RM so I knew what was available, where I wanted to be and whether it was in budget.

In these days of rightmove and Google maps & street view, I'm not sure it's necessary to view to 'get a feel for the market' anymore.

TheEmpressofBlandings · 01/05/2015 08:08

It depends. We've done both, what's the market like where you are? When things were going quickly, we found a house first then got ours on the market and sold within 5 days. Things are much slower where we are now, things take months rather than days. So we sold first, we're currently renting and in the process of buying.
Some houses we have found won't let you view unless you are at least on the market, preferably with an offer.

OwlBeeBack · 01/05/2015 08:11

Sold first. We couldn't put a proceedable offer on anything until we'd sold.

I did have a short list of houses I was interested in ready to view as and when we did sell.

BeaufortBelle · 01/05/2015 08:12

I think you need to do six to twelve months of research, checking what houses have actually sold for too rather than just looking at the asking prices.

Apart from that I think it depends where you are and what you are buying and selling. If you have a house that will sell quickly and you know that because of condition and how quickly they go in your road then you can look at other houses and your agent will tell the vendors agent everything will tee up.

If you are under offer already with an agreed chain behind you then a vendor will think you are a dream and might accept a lower offer from you than from somebody else who isn't in such a good position.

But.......sale and offer are just the start of the story

Original poster

Cassie258 · 01/05/2015 08:57

I think exactly what most of you have said. Without an offer, you don't know exactly what you will be able to afford and you won't be able to buy.

My neighbours house was extremely quick to sell. Three days. It's exactly the same house as ours apart from decoration. I'm hoping we will be similar and a friends house in the next postcode area also sold in three days.

I have been looking on zoopla etc for months as I'm not quite as pessimistic as DP.

We only have two prerequisites for a house. A driveway and two toilets. Shouldn't be too hard.

OP posts:

Lasvegas · 01/05/2015 13:38

In G London. some places we wanted to view wouldn't let us until we were under offer. there are a lot more buyers here than houses.

nickEcave · 01/05/2015 14:29

We're currently buying and selling in south London. Agents here wouldn't show us properties until we were on the market ourselves. We are now under offer and I'm on the phone to about 10 agents every other day to make sure they are sending me their new stuff before it hits the internet. We went under offer after just a week on the market so it now feels very rushed to find something and very much down to the luck of what is available at this particular time. I saw loads of lovely, well-priced stuff online last autumn but we weren't in a position to offer then and now there is very little that is good and it goes so quickly!

RaphaellaTheSpanishWaterDog · 01/05/2015 14:40

When we last sold/purchased (2014) we were selling a very niche house in a relatively slow moving area and looking to buy another niche house in an even slower moving area. Our neighbour warned us we might take a minimum of twelve months to sell. We started looking before our house - a project we had worked on for three years - was either completely finished or on the market, because we knew what we wanted would be hard to find.

Unfortunately we found the house we hoped to buy almost immediately. Having explained our position to the EA, we viewed it and fell in love. We put in an offer that we didn't expect to be taken seriously - and it wasn't.

However, we then pulled out all the stops to get our house ready to market and within five weeks we had accepted an offer. We then went back and made another offer - slightly lower as the house had been in the market two years and it was obviously overpriced - which was accepted. Our sale and purchase went through in eight weeks.....

RaphaellaTheSpanishWaterDog · 01/05/2015 14:42

on the market, not in!

HereIAm20 · 01/05/2015 14:58

Having lost 2 properties because ours wasn't under offer previously this time we made ourselves chain free so we were in a good position. The house we are hoping to get had 3 of us bidding and we were chosen as we are chain free. We have now waited for 8 weeks for our seller to find somewhere and today they have had an offer accepted on a property so fingers crossed it will all start to happen now. We hope to move in Summer hols as its is for new school in September. I am trying not to get too excited after the previous disappointments (and cash expenditure!) but I can't help it.

hereandtherex · 01/05/2015 15:37

Hmm, I'd be very careful on the terminology used here.

Sold - You have the money in your hand. No house 'sells' in 3 days.

Under offer - Someone has placed an offer and will give you money if/when their house sells. Some houses go under offer in 3 days. Than back to avilable, then back to under offer etc etc etc.

Original poster

Cassie258 · 01/05/2015 18:32

Very true hereandthere.

A sold sign went up after three days.

Is that under offer or sold stc? Are they the same thing?

OP posts:

Flip

Swipe left for the next trending thread