When should we start looking for a new home before selling?

[cremantdebourgogne]

We have just asked estate agent to put our house on the market. It currently has tenants in who were leaving anyway. (We have been staying with family and can stay until we find new place.) In the current market is it possible to look for a new place and make an offer even if you have not sold yours? I’ve heard that you have to be good to go? At what stage would you start properly looking? Once an offer is made? Or is it better to wait until we’ve completed then we are in great position to make an offer and move quickly? We can stay with family indefinitely but we would rather not - we are keen to be in our own home by next spring at the latest. What would you advise?

Property we are selling is in popular area where houses are going fairly quickly still despite the sluggish market but of course you never know!

How long until your tenants move out? That will put people off.
We started looking at houses when our house went on the market but only put an offer in on the house we wanted when we received an offer on ours. There didn't seem to be any point offering on a house until we knew how much we were getting for our house.

@cremantdebourgogne sellers always prefer buyers that are proceedable ie have a buyer /cash buyer/ nothing to sell/ mortgage in principle obtained. Some will stipulate viewings only if proceedable.
On the other hand, some sellers don't start looking for their next house till they have a buyer in hand.
So the answer really is it depends!
As long as you're actively marketing you should
be OK to start looking.

I would spend a good amount of time on Rightmove, OnTheMarket and estate agent websites looking at available properties and recent sold prices to see what you can get for your budget range. This will give you a feel for which properties are good value for money and which are overpriced.

But I wouldn’t aim to buy a particular property yet as there’s a good chance you’ll be disappointed. Most sellers will only consider offers from proceedable buyers.

Also, many properties which are currently for sale have been overvalued, either by the seller or the estate agent, so be realistic when estimating what your property will sell for.

@EstoyRobandoSuCasa I have been a rightmove obsessive for years, and seen many a ‘dream home’ come and go - I have a good idea of what they’ve sold for.
Tenants are going back to home country in three months… in theory!
@ThinAir7 I think we will do similar and not make any offers until we have accepted an offer on ours. I’m not very good at waiting but have come this far!

Thanks all.

We had a few viewers who hadn’t sold. It is such a lot of effort - pets out, rushing home from work, delaying dinner….I’d just monitor rightmove until you are closer to making an offer. The worst one was someone who pulled up, didn’t like our road then pulled away before viewing. Pity they didn’t do a drive by first!