Selling/Buying - can some explain to an idiot?

[damekindness]

I've lived in my house for over 30 years - first house we purchased (in the days when young people could actually afford a mortgage for a house)

I now want to downsize as finally the kids are gone and before they might want to come back

BUT I've never sold a house and purchased one in one go and I'm a bit clueless how this works. I've got about 60K left on the mortgage with equity of around 240K. I would probably still need a smallish mortgage (but I'm not sure what the costs of moving might look like)

Is it better to find a house, then put the house on the market or vice-versa? Easier to sell/rent/buy? Reading some people experiences on here is a bit scary

(Apologies for being clueless- normally I'm a sensible, professional person with quite a high level of responsibility in other areas! )

A vendor won’t accept your offer (usually) until you’re proceedable - is you have a buyer for yours. So have a look by all means but you need to get yours under offer to move forward if you see something you like!

We did it like this.

1. Talk to mortgage advisor about how much we could borrow
2. Get house valued by three estate agents
3. Pick least offensive estate agent, get photos etc get on to right move
4. Look at houses on right move
5. Deal with viewings etc
6. Start viewing houses
7. Accept offer on our house
8. Get offer accepted on new house.
9. Deal with conveyancing nonsense

Exactly as glittery frog advised

Also, find a decent law firm with a good conveyancing team to do the legals for you before you start. You should get some quotes for an idea of the costs. The cheapest is not necessarily the best.