Let’s take a look at the BIG reasons why your home needs to be up for sale at the very least before you start seeking a new one.

Take a moment to picture this scenario.

You’re house hunting and have been trawling the internet for what seems like forever. Then one day your eyes are drawn to a beautiful home that ticks all your boxes and a space you can really see yourself living in.

You visit the property and boom, fall head over heels with it. It’s the one!

You make your offer and start dreaming about waking up in this place you would love to call home.

If this all sounds too good to be true, it’s because in this scenario, it often is IF you’re making that offer without your current home being on the market already.

Why?

From experience, when people start searching for a new home before their existing one is under offer let alone listed ‘For Sale’ it creates several potential issues that can mean being thousands of pounds out of pocket.

When you see a property you love, you can be blinded by emotion and pay over the odds for it.

And while you may be smitten with it, sellers usually find buyers who already have their homes under offer much more attractive than those who don’t. Put yourself in a sellers shoes, do you want to wait for someone to sell or do you want someone who is already committed to their own sale?

The downside

The real downside in this scenario is at times you may feel pressured to accept less for your current home because you don’t want to miss out on the one you’ve fallen for. However, if you pay more for your new place and get less for your old one, you can see how that creates a crater-like dent in your finances.

So, here’s our advice for homeowners on why it’s a wise move to sell first and seek later.

Firstly, put your home with an agent who is going to market your home properly and not just place it ‘On The Market’. Most traditional high street agents do the bare minimum and quite often you’ll find yourself in the latter. Have a clear plan and strategy to achieve the best possible price for your property.

Once your property is under offer, it puts you in a much stronger position when offering on a new home. This is because you now fall into that attractive buyer category in the eyes of sellers, ultimately you won’t have that pressure of being in a rush to sell your home and potentially accepting under asking price offers because you’re desperate to move to the new place you love.

We’re on your side

We’re here to help you make the best decisions when it comes to moving home. And as always we’ll gladly give you advice on buying and selling.