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Property/DIY

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Original poster

Want to move, In what order should things be done?

16 replies

Dillie · 30/04/2010 12:54

I am a little confused.

We have decided to move into a bigger propery and have seen a few on the market we like.

Now my question is, do we

Get the mortgage approved in principle for the value we are looking for, put ours on the market, then look

look, find one, put ours on the market, then get a mortgage approved in principle

or a mix of the two?

My head hurts ......

OP posts:

LIZS · 30/04/2010 14:57

You really need to be on the market first and preferably have an offer before offering on a new one. Whether you have a mortgage in principle is less relevant until you make an offer.

noddyholder · 30/04/2010 15:03

Yours needs to be on and under offer before you can make a serious offer.Yo apply for teh mortgage when you have the offer accepted as you will know exactly how much you need.You can always get a rough idea of how much they will lend you though by jsut phoning them

OrmRenewed · 30/04/2010 15:07

Have just done this. We are on the market as of today. We have our eye on a house so we know roughly what we need to spend. And we have sorted a mortgage because obviously we need to know what we can borrow and what it will cost.

Get your house valued. See what you need to spend. See how much it will cost.

OrmRenewed · 30/04/2010 15:08

Just to add I am not even viewing houses until we get an offer - don't want to fall in love and then lose it.

hippipotamiHasLost92lbs · 30/04/2010 15:45

We are just starting out on this road. Have had house valued, spending the weekend sorting garden etc in preparation for estate agents to take photos next week.
Have a rough idea of how much we can borrow as dh phoned mortgage lender. Have tentatively looked online at local houses and there is one I really really like. But I don't want to view and put in an offer until ours has an offer on it. Like Orm, I don't want to fall in love and then lose it.

Heart is pounding at the thought of it all though - will be glad when this is over....

[wibble]

OrmRenewed · 30/04/2010 16:14

Me too hippo. Hate this whole process But we need SPACE!!

I have vowed that I will remain calm and detached. But can already feel the tension building...

mumzy · 30/04/2010 18:27

Head or Heart?
we're in the process of moving to a new area for schools and buying a bigger long term property. All the properties we've seen have had a compromise which we can't do anything about mainly being too close to main road or parking issues or not being in the borough of the schools we want. However on the EA websites there are some lovely period houses which have been sold STC recently but before we started looking. We've seen a not particularly nice looking house which ticks most of the boxes but you can hear the very noisy A road on windy days and the garden is quite narrow. My dilemma is do you go with this house as its the best out of whats currently available or do you wait for your dream house and how long would you wait? We do have time as dc are 2 years from secondary school but I really want to move by the end of this year

mumzy · 30/04/2010 18:29

sorry Dillie!
thought I was on the new topics section

hippipotamiHasLost92lbs · 30/04/2010 23:29

I know Orm - I am already feeling stressed (I do get overanxious too easily ) and we are not even officially on the market yet....
It does not help that there is so little on the market, am terrified we find the one house suitable only to end up losing it... [fret]

vacaloca · 01/05/2010 19:22

We just did it the other way round, even though it's not what is usually recommended. But I didn't want to risk selling our house and not finding anything else we liked as there doesn't seem to be much coming up. We saw a house we liked, made an offer and were told they wouldn't accept it until we had an offer on our own house, which wasn't even on the market. Luckily we sold within 3 days, went back with an offer again and this time it was accepted.

jonicomelately · 01/05/2010 19:25

I would recommend not viewing until you've sold but keep an eye on Rightmove etc for what's available.

Also, sort out a mortgage in principle at least now because if you don't you may find you are looking at houses out of your price range. Lots of people being caught out with that atm.

OrmRenewed · 02/05/2010 10:08

Just out of curiosity (and not at all because I am impatient) did sellers get viewings quite soon? And how many? Round here things don't seem to be moving. We have priced ours quite low but I am still thinking nothing might happen.

hippipotamiHasLost92lbs · 02/05/2010 10:17

I would like to ask that too Orm...

I have to say, in our road 4 properties went on the market in the last 3 months. One had an offer within 3 weeks, one within 6 weeks and the other two within 2 months. So am drawing hope from that.

My main worry is that we are on a very very tight budget in in our price range there really is nothing on the market we would like. That is going to be the problem....

OrmRenewed · 02/05/2010 10:19

We're in the opposite postion hippo. There are several properties that would suit us that we could afford but nothing is moving atm. I am holding myself back from viewing the one we really want but it sooooo frustrating!

There are houses in our street that have been on sale for over a year But very overpriced.

hippipotamiHasLost92lbs · 02/05/2010 14:05

Oh no - both our situations are not ideal...

There is one and only one property for sale which is exactly (well almost) what we are looking for. Right location, bit above what we would like to pay, but on the whole it ticks all boxes. Am refraining from viewing because it will be sods law that we take a while to sell and lose it...

And just because houses in our road are selling at the moment - ours may not. You just never know...

Ohforfoxsake · 02/05/2010 14:15

I found that estate agents didn't take us seriously until we were under offer.

No harm in looking and registering an interest, but to have an offer accepted as a serious buyer, you need to have a buyer I think.

Get yours on the market. Estate Agents will actively market it for a month or so, then things might dry up. Don't be afraid to switch agents if you think your one isn't working for you. A fresh approach might get things moving again.

Don't leave it to the agents to sell your house. I found it far more productive to be there and show people round so I could comment on all the positive points. But maybe our agent was just a bit rubbish.

I lit candles, fresh flowers, cleaned the windows etc. I don't know how much difference it made, but we got a buyer in about 10 weeks. Not bad considering we had Christmas to slow things down, then the snow set us back weeks. I think now is a good time to test the water.

Good luck!

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