Best way to be first in the know.....

[HenryCatPic]

..... About new houses coming onto the market?

We know exactly where we want to move to, but it is a very small area and houses rarely come on the market. I check rightmove almost hourly, but should I be registering my interest with all the local estate agents too? I've seen Kirsty and Phil mail shot particular houses but I'm not too keen.

The other thing is I don't want to put our house on the market until we find a house. Is there anything I can do to prepare in advance?

Hoping someone has been there done that

Very unlikely that anyone would accept an offer from you unless your own house is on the market and under offer...

(Unless you're able to proceed without selling your property !)

Register with all the local agents. Talk to them about your requirements. Keep talking to them regualalrly. Give (helpful) feedback after viewings. Stay friendly and polite at all times.
Often houses are sold before they've even got time to go on Rightmove!

But PP is right - I have never accepted an offer from someone whose own house is not under offer. Unless you have the money to proceed via a bridging loan or whatever, you need to get your house on the market first.

Register with all the local agents. Talk to them about your requirements. Keep talking to them regualalrly. Give (helpful) feedback after viewings. Stay friendly and polite at all times. Often houses are sold before they've even got time to go on Rightmove!

Yup. We recently had an offer accepted on a flat that I saw together with the agent for the first time - she'd not been in before either. They knew I was serious, I had clear requirements, and I responded promptly to their calls and emails. This is in London - even in busy areas agents can have favourites

Thank you! The problem with putting it on the market now is that i think it could take a couple of years for a house to come up! We might be able to buy without selling ours, so will look into that.

Best start ringing the agents

We were in this position - a small village with not many houses coming up
We put ourselves on the books of all the local estate agents; put notes on our local Facebook spotted page and on a site called streetlife. Asked all our friends to look out for anything. We leafleted all the streets and houses we liked and got two that weren't yet on the market to view and offered on one which was accepted.
We didn't initially put our house on the market but when we saw a house we liked and wanted to offer on it we put it on saying we could always take it off again if we couldn't find anywhere. When we put it on the market we got a buyer who wasn't in a hurry to move so could wait for us. We're now waiting to complete - there's a few hiccups (!)
Go for it

In our village family houses go like lightening. Registering with the local agents seems to be the best way to go. We sold first, and emphasised our exchanged status to the agents. We were prepared to rent, but fortunately the sale of a suitable property fell through and we got our offer in quickly.

Definitely look into whether you can buy without immediately selling - if not then for a tiny search area/sought after property it can be worth selling up and moving into rented so you're poised for a quick sale.

Being the most proceedable plus pally with the agent gives the the best chance.

We sold and were in rented. Registered with all the agents and popped in every one at least once a fortnight to say hello. Were the first people into this house - it did go to sealed bids but we got it. Bid set out all our details (were in rented / serious / had been looking for that particular area for x months / would move to their timescales) and I think because the agents knew us they could back all that up.