Buying before selling

[Jinpix]

We've been keeping an eye on houses coming up for sale for about a year, but not much is fitting our criteria. Reluctant to list our house for sale when there seems to be little out there to buy.

I've been doing some sums though and I think we could put down 20% deposit on a house without having to sell ours. Our current mortgage is 300 a month so presume that would reduce affordability on any mortgage but is there anything else I'm missing? I think stamp duty on second homes is refundable if we sell within a certain period. Any other pitfalls, would a bridging loan be a better option? The thought of not having to be in a chain and not having to do viewings until we've moved out is also very attractive right now.

Don't go for a bridging loan. They are the worse thing ever. If there is nothing you want to buy I would hold on for a bit. Especially as prices are dropping.

Surely you’d be safer selling/renting short term then buying.

Bridging loans can cost a fortune! Prices aren't going down where I live.

Rentals are in very short supply, expensive and it puts us under pressure to find somewhere to buy. If we can buy first, we can just wait for something suitable to come up and then be in a position to move quickly.

We did this - because our sale fell through and we wanted to keep the chain.
It was EXPENSIVE. Double mortgage, double council tax. Also 2 sets of water/gas/electricity but they were pretty minor as noone was in the house.
We also had to go visit the old house weekly for insurance purposes.

I don't think I'd want to get as far as moving out before marketing - empty houses look smaller imo, and less inviting.
But if you can borrow enough (yes, the stamp duty is a killer, but you get the excess back), and market your house as soon as your offer is accepted, it could work. You will need to declutter for viewings or moving!

A year of continuing to pay mortgage, council tax, utilities etc would cost us around £5000 which seems doable, especially if it makes us more attractive buyers.

Our house is a typical first time buyer property so likely be able to sell chain free too.