I've seen a house I like...

[ApocalypseNowt]

..on the street i'm living on at the moment.

We're in a 2 bed house, love the location, etc and a 3 bed house has come up on the same street - it would be ideal. Our house isn't on the market at the moment so my question is what do i need to do next?

View the house? Talk to our mortgage lender? Get ours on the market quick?

I've not got much experience of how the process works so any advice would be much appreciated.

[karron]

I think talking to the agent might be the best bet. I get the impression that what you should do depends on where you are and how close you are to getting your house on the market.

Might be worth checking you can afford to buy it by seeing a broker and even get the agent that is selling it round to value your house. If you are confident you can afford it then I wouldn't bother doing this yet.

Some areas it's not unusual to offer before you have a buyer for your house but the sellers may be reluctant to except an offer if you haven't even got yours on the market. They might except but not take it off the market and continue to have viewings etc.

In other areas they won't consider an offer unless the person can proceed.

Not much help but good luck x

[ApocalypseNowt]

Thanks Karron that's kind of what I was thinking.

I'm pretty sure we could afford it but i've contacted our IFA (whose helped us with a few things in the past) and asked them to give us a ring.

I think i'll phone the estate agents and see what they say.

[apermanentheadache]

Check out whether they're downsizing and whether they'd like to swap?!

[ApocalypseNowt]

apermanentheadache that would make life so much simpler! I'm going to try and suss out the situation this thursday when we're going to view it.

[RelocatorRelocator]

I take it there's no scope to extend your current house? Might be more cost effective than moving?

If you think you can afford it then I'd arrange a viewing and see it properly for yourself.

[ApocalypseNowt]

Unfortunately not Relocator - I have thought about it but it's just not feasable. I've arranged a viewing now so i'll have a look round and go from there.

[Mintyy]

Arrange to view the house through the agent selling it, telling them you will put yours on the market with them immediately if you like it and want to offer. It is good to have the same agent at two points in a chain, it really motivates them to keep the chain holding together.

This is what I did when I spotted our current house in a magazine 10 years ago.

[ApocalypseNowt]

Thanks Mintyy - on the phone the agent said if we liked it we could arrange with them to gets ours valued. Makes sense to keep it all together if possible.

[Mintyy]

Ooooh, exciting. Please report back after the viewing!

[ApocalypseNowt]

So.....I've seen it and I like it. I want it. Trying and failing to not get too excited.

My plan is as follows:
a) speak to estate agent. tell them we like it and get them to value our house.
b) email estate agent with questions about the house (when the boiler was put in, etc, etc)
c) hopefully our house is worth what i think it's worth (or thereabouts) and then we can put an offer in (conditional on us selling our house)

I am sure i will need advice on what to offer to start with but i'll see what the estate agent says tomorrow when i talk to them. Managed to find out that the guy selling isn't living there any more and wants rid of it quickly. This might work in our favour as i think it's a bit overpriced at the moment.

[Mintyy]

Eeeeeek. Well done. How exciting. Am jealous .

[HauntedNoddyCar]

Definitely go on the market with the same EA if it is the only reason you will move. They have 2 lots of commission tied up in the sale so there is an extra incentive to hold it together. We saved more than our EA's fee when they did some fast talking to get a chain together.

[ApocalypseNowt]

Have spoken to the EA and they are coming to value our house on tuesday. After that I guess we'll be able to see if the figures stack up. EA sounded very positive but i guess they would as if we pull it off they'll be getting 2 lots of commission!

Told my IL's about it and they said they might be able to help out money wise too. So super generous of them - I think it's because out of my dh's siblings (he has a few) we're the poorest but also the most self-sufficient and never ask them for anything. I think they feel bad because they've helped out the others significantly over the years and haven't given us much really. Tbh that's the way i like it - if we can't afford something i'd prefer to go without rather than ask for money!

[meadowquark]

I feel so jealous of the fact that you live on a (and area) which you love and want a bigger house on the same road. Good luck!

[Kerberos]

We did this. Used the same estate agent and it worked really well for us. Now sat in new house - and can virtually see old house from here. :)

[ApocalypseNowt]

That's good to hear Kerberos! Fx we can do the same.

[ApocalypseNowt]

So to update EA have been round to look at our house - they reckon at putting it on the market for £150k, would probably go for around £140k.

The house we want to buy is on the market for £200k - I think that's definitely a bit overpriced.

The figures i used when discussing with my IFA were ours going for £135k and us buying new house at £180k. The affordability stacks up using these figures but we wouldn't be able to go any higher (unless of course ours sold for more)

Any advice on what offer to make (if we decide to make one)?

Situation with the new house is the guy selling has already moved out and i got the impression he probably would take less than asking as at the moment it's costing him money.

[jaynebxl]

We were in the same position a couple of years ago. It may not go in your favour if he wants to sell quickly as you are not in a position to proceed, and he will probably be looking for offers from people who have already sold / aren't in a chain, so that doesn't give you much bargaining power to lower the price, unfortunately. All depends on how fast you can sell your house I guess. Where we are houses sell quickly so we knew we would get a buyer really fast but even then we were the sellers' 3rd choice of buyer, just because the others were ready to go. However it sounds like you are doing all the right things. Just don't offer too low.

[ApocalypseNowt]

jaynebxi thanks for the advice. Out of interest what would you offer considering £180k is probably our ceiling but we definitely think £200k is OTT (even considering you expect houses to be priced a bit above what will go for). Would £170k be too low do you think? I don't really want to go in at our 'top' offer iykwim.

We're in an incredibly sought after area - the location is great. Most houses go for £500k at a minimum though they are very big very nice houses. Our street is a bit of a quirk in that it's made up of smaller townhouses they are more like starter home type level. Everywhere else round here is occupied by doctors,bankers,accountants,high up managerial type people. The schools are excellent which is why i'd hope we'd be able to shift our house quickly if we set it at the right price.

[jaynebxl]

I would go for 170 then and that gives you a bit further to go if they turn it down. Then hopefully you would be able to sell yours quickly. And you can at least tell the owners that you are about to put your house on the market and have already had the EA round. Good luck!

[YvyB]

Have you had a decision in principle from your lender? To be honest (ex estate agent talking here), without a dip and an offer on your own house, any offer you make at the moment is just words. Once you are in a position to proceed, your position becomes much stronger. If I were you, I'd bide my time and focus on marketing your own house and getting your finances, legalities etc ready to go. Once you've had an offer, you're in a much stronger position to negotiate.

The golden rule is - any house is only worth what someone WITH THE MONEY is prepared to pay for it at that moment in time. A vendor then has to choose whether to take the money or wait in the hopes that someone with MORE ready money will come along. Successful negotiating is when a purchaser with money in their hand persuades a vendor that it is not worth waiting any longer.

I know it's hard when you feel excited but play it cool, hold off naming any sums and push your EA to get yours sold. Good luck!

[Lelivre]

I was thinking along the lines of the pp having gone through something similar. It is agony if you are looking at your idea house every day on top of it!

Try to get your mortgage offer ASAP based in expected numbers. And put the responsibility to push your property heavily on your EA.

We hope to exchange this week on the house we went on the market for many months ago but it has been a bumpy ride!