The optimum? Sell house first or offer on new house first

[NomChanged]

We have found a house which we really like in our (tiny) desired area. They don't come up often. We haven't sold our house yet - we didnt want to be homeless in case there was a gap and we had no idea when a house in our desired area would come up. So it's only going on the market now. Should I have put it on before now?

We've never bought and sold in a chain before and now I'm getting cold feet about temporarily owning two houses! I'm not worried about selling our house - it's a good house in a good area... I'm just worried in case there's a delay. What is the banks' attitude generally towards this sort of thing - will they generally advance the funds on the new house even if you haven't redeemed the mortgage on your old house? Do they look to see if the sale of your old house has been agreed with a purchaser or do they take the view that it will sell for market value even if it is only under offer?

You are very unlikely to have an offer accepted on a house if you don't have an offer on yours
Unless you are a cash buyer and are not using a mortgage to buy your second house

When we sold ours we wouldn't accept offers on it unless the buyer already had an offer on theirs and was in a good position. You need to get yours on the market fast!!! You've really done it the wrong way round..my friend has done something similar, was told that their house would sell fast, went out and fell in love with a new home. And now they can't shift theirs quick enough and have so lost the dream home. Get yours on the market fast!!!

We've just done exactly the same. Saw a house we liked, put ours on the market and incredibly it all went through okay. But we were so so lucky, there is so much that could go wrong.

We couldn't put an offer on the house we wanted until we had an offer on ours. So we're lucky that no one else beat us to it. And not sure why you would temporarily own 2 houses? The sale and purchase will happen on the same day.

You won't be homeless or own two houses.

The system is set up so that your solicitor completes the sale of your house simultaneously with buying the new house, and all the money changes hands accordingly electronically.

Most vendors will want to know that any buyer has an offer on their house before accepting. So put your house on the market, and be looking at the same time.

As soon as someone offers in your house, you are in a very strong position as a buyer.

Though some people will accept an offer while you market yours.

Unless you're not in the UK? As stated above, in UK (although not in Scotland actually), you generally won't have your offer accepted until your house is under offer. Then the whole chain works to one timescale. That's why it takes ages.

Technically, you are unlikely to be able to have two mortgages as you'd need to have double the deposit and affordability. Also a bank probably wouldn't lend 2 residential mortgages as they'd assume you're trying to let the other house out illegally or something.

Are you in a position to buy another property without having first sold your current house. Depending on your financial status including your existing mortgage balance, some people are not dependent on selling their current property before buying another and. can either keep it and rent it out or sell at a later stage. If this is the position you are in, you can proceed to offer stage. It will depend on whether you have mortgage approval/the criteria of your mortgage approval and the amount you have been approved for.

To put it simply, your original question can't be answered without knowing a lot more about your financial circumstances.

I would add that if you are, like the majority of people, in a position where the current house has to be sold to qualify for the new amount you need to borrow, bear in mind that regardlessless of how perfect you think the new house you have seen is, another house will come along. Put your house on the market. If you set it at a reasonable price or lower if you are willing to take the loss in order to sell quickly, it might shift sooner than expected.

But don't panic and get swept away by your 'ideal' house. That is the path to impulse decisions you may regret later.

Got it - thank you all

We found a house, loved it but they wouldn't accept an offer unless ours had an offer, so we put ours on the market and it sold within a day
But in that short space of time we lost out on the house
Devastated
But a much much much better house came up and we are moving in next month (touch wood)
As it turns out the original house sale fell through and they rang practically begging us to reconsider buying it

I would get yours on the market, secure an offer then you are in a very good position

Good luck

I accepted an offer on my flat from a buyer who hadn't listed their house yet. I know plenty wouldn't have done that, but I liked her and it actually all worked out brilliantly.

She and a cash buyer both offered asking price in the same week. I accepted hers and not the cash buyer's because I really liked her (and the cash buyer was kind of annoying - he kept going on about how he was paying cash so wanted this that and the other).

I know it shouldn't matter that I liked one potential buyer over the other - but it did. I wanted someone lovely to live in my beloved flat. Plus I hadn't found anywhere yet so wasn't in a rush.

In the end, the whole thing took about 3/4 months from start to completion.