Is it normal to wait for your house to be surveyed first before you book your survey?

[Cazwa]

In other words, if you are selling your house and are buying another, is it normal practice to wait for your buyers to do their survey before you go ahead and book yours on the one you are buying?

We are nervous that if we spend a fortune on a survey (we are getting a structural) and then our buyer pulls out that the house we are buying goes back on the market if they arent prepared to wait for us to find another buyer. I just dont know whether to reveal we are waiting for our survey first, whether this is normal or whether they will get arsey and say get the survey or it goes back on. We had a bidding war with another buyer who was in the same position as us. We only just got the house and Im nervous that if we drag it out then they will start pushing us.

I should add we already lost a sale due to our survey coming back with problems so am extra nervous that this will happen again.

Okay this is might seem silly, but how about telling the buyers up front what is wrong with the house, and assuring them that the work wouldn't be that expensive/disruptive with builders quotes (if this is true!), and also making it clear that you have accounted for the problems in the asking price.

That might save you a lot of hassle in the long run, even if you lose the buyers or more likely have to renegotiate the price of the house.

Just a thought. Good luck with the sale - I know how nerve wracking it can be

If you are in a chain and everybody waits for the buyer below them to have their survey done it'll take you a year to move, depending on the length of the chain and negotiations on the outcome of surveys!

If you know that your survey is going to throw up problems, then either fix whatever is wrong (assuming fixable/not ridiculously expensive) or tell your buyers. Have you reduced the price from previous asking to take account of the problems?

Our house has had movement in the past. Not something you can fix or make go away.
Its obvious when you look at the front of the house so I am loathe to point it out further. Every survey will mention it, its the degree of how they put it and the buyers view of it.

We had a structural survey and it didnt put us off buying it, but it put off our first buyer a couple of months ago. This time I will be there to brief the surveyor on what work we have had done on the house and a copy of our structural survey which says its all historical movement.

OK, so our sellers will be expecting us to do a survey straight away? Damn. Feels a big risk.