Selling - Where to start?!

[ImInStealthMode]

Forgive my naivety here please MN, I own my flat but was a first time buyer, and my parents still live in the first house they ever bought, so I've no experience at all when it comes to selling a property in order to buy another.

DP and I currently live in a one bedroom flat I own, and in the next 6 months or so we want to sell it and buy a 2 bedroom place together.

Where do we start? Do we have mine valued and listed for sale before we start looking? Can I put in an offer on something else before mine is on sale or under offer? I've literally got no idea of the proper and most sensible order of things 🤦🏼‍♀️

As an aside, where we live is not subject to the UK stamp duty holiday (boooo) and properties tend to be snapped up very quickly; I offered on mine less than 48 hours after it went on sale, and the same has happened with several in my building.

It’s a juggling act, but it’s very unlikely anyone will accept an offer from you unless you have a sale in the hat.

Choose an estate agent (look for good quality Rightmove listings + personal recommendations), start the conversation with them. Get mortgage advice at the same time. Try to identify a good solicitor, again word or mouth or estate agent recommendation but do get costings (cheapest not always the best).

There is a whole set of businesses out there looking to help you, but it can still be really really stressful so have realistic expectations.

Good luck!

Generally you would have your property valued and put it on the market before offering on another property.

You can offer as long as you have a decision in principle for your new mortgage, however if properties are being snapped up quickly then the seller is unlikely to accept as the sale is at risk of falling through if it's dependant in your sale.

That said, we offered on our current house before even putting ours on the market and had our offer accepted. Luckily the seller was moving to a new build which wasn't going to be ready for another 6 months so they were planning on renting in between anyway which gave us a bit of breathing space in terms of giving a completion date.

Luckily our flat sold within 2 weeks so we were able to move 8 weeks after our offer was accepted (which is the norm) but we were lucky.

Thank you!!

Get your financial sorted - talk to a mortgage broker about how much you can borrow and get approved, then get three agents around to value your flat (after you have done all minor repairs, decluttered and cleaned it). Once you decide on a sale price and armed with info from mortgage broker you know what price you are looking to buy for. Start monitoring on rightmove and as soon as you accept an offer hit the ground running!

I'd get the three (ish) estate agents in first - who has sold the flats in your building? If they got a good price try them first. You can try and haggle on their fees but if they get you a better price (maybe they have a ready list of buyers) then their fee is worth it.
When you have an idea of the price you might obtain then you'll have a better idea of what you'll be looking to buy and how big a mortgage you might want. Try a fee free broker (London & Country?) as well as your own bank/building society.
Make your flat look like a show flat, but inviting, flowers can be good - go for the low pollen variety just in case you have allergic buyers!
Look around the internet and even your local library for how the selling and buying process works. It will make it easier to inderstand what is going on.
Keep on top of your estate agent and solicitor - they work for you, they're often 'happy' to be a bit laisez faire with time scales.

Thank you! My current mortgage is a 5 year fixed and I'm only 2 years in so I think that means I have to stay with the same provider and port the mortgage over?

Not necessarily, there will probably be a redemption (penalty) fee? Check the T&Cs on your documents or speak to your provider. Speak to a broker, and/or do some research online for mortgages available, it could be you'd save more over 3 years than it costs you to buy out of your current mortgage.
Speak to 'experts' then decide what is possible, don't assume. :)