Has anyone ever sold a house and bought a new one? I'm unsure as to what order everything needs to be done in

LOL well if you get it right then you sell yours at the same time you buy one!

You should put your house on the market and look for somewhere new - but obviously cant offer on new house til you get offer, and then figngers crossed yours go through and then you can buy the new one.

Other option,. is sell yours, rent and then look - which has to happen sometimes otherwise you risk losing a buyer on your own house

(Ive not bought/sold but parents own alot of houses)

first thing I would do is to get a couple of valuations on your place, then go and see a mortgage adviser (there are lots out there that don't charge fees) to see how much you can borrow for your new purchase so you know how much to look for and they'll run through how much you'll need for fees etc. If everything matches up then instruct an agent to put it on the market and start looking yourself for something else. In an ideal world someone will offer on yours and you'll find something you like around the same time. Then you need to get your mortgage in place for your new home, instruct a solicitor and get going x

We've found one that we like already which is asking for less than what ours is worth. Theirs no chain as the old lady died jan '10. Do you think we'd do well by saying to the estate agents that if they sell ours then we'll buy this house that is with them??

It won't really make any difference to them although they may give you a reduction on fees. You could put it on with more than one agent (multiple agency) but they'll charge you a higher fee than if you do it sole agency. I would speak to a couple of different agents, get a couple of valuations, see what fees they're going to charge and whether they have a lot of quality active housebuyers registered with them and then decide which way you're going to go x

Cool, so I need to :- Speak to the bank/mortgage advisor nicely, get the agents in to value ours, pick an agent, wait for someone to make an offer and then place our offer on the new one? Is that right??

Get a pre-approval for a mortgage and at a decent rate and that way you sorta have the figures to work with when you start looking for houses. Have a real estate agent come in and give you a comparable value for your home and any slight cosmetic advice that you may need to make it "show" better to bring in more buyers. Painting, cleaning and decluttering(box up stuff that you don't need or use) the house is pretty much all you need to do. Once it's ready..list it and make sure the agent's contract is more in your favor than in yours..3 month term is all we let them sign on for..so if they do squat..it's easier to get rid of them. xxx

'nother question!!! What are the pros/cons of renting out this house??

pro's is that you dont need to wait to buy and you could make money in the long term on the house. Cons, no guarantee you'll always have a tenant or the tenants could wreck the place or not pay rent, you'll have maintenance costs and agency costs plus you have to pay income tax on any earnings from it although you can offset the mortgage and other costs against this, you may also be liable for capital gains tax when you sell

Was thinking of renting it to my sister and her OH....hmmmmm....

Gah..sell it hun! Renting out would be a huuuge headache..especially to family! xxx

You can offer on the other house first if you want and they may accept. We got a buyer in nov who needs to sell and her house wasn't even on the market. We agreed to take ours off for a couple of months. Its back on now but we'll still sell to her if she sells without us getting another offer although we have been trying to move for some time. Hope it all goes well. Can be so stressful. We had a buyer who dragged out the sale for 6 months and then pulled out on exchange day so the whole chain fell to pieces so if you do sell i'd keep nagging to make sure everything is going through fine. I think the best thing to do is look for a really good solicitor

Keep it open to all offers as well..so you aren't tied into a waiting game. Be very leary of someone who is trying to sell their house to buy yours...even if the offer is awesome..it could hold you back from getting the house you want. You can make possession date as long as you want..if you don't want to start looking until your house is actually sold. Longest one I've seen was 3 months. xxx

If you rent out, your mortgage company will need to know and will want you to go on to a buy-to-let mortgage. This usually involves only being able to hold a mortgage for about 75% of the value of the house. It made our minds up for us when we wanted to rent!

Personally I think if you can afford to rent out the hosue your in currently and it will cover the mortgage on that then go for it! I wish I'd kept my flat before I bought my house but it would've been too much hassle for me with being so far away but I think it sounds good. You can always put your current place on the market if your sister decides to get somewhere else!

Edited to say - house prices are low at the moment too so ieven if you rented to your sister for a year you'd prob get more for it then than you would now x

^^^ what they said!

I have always waited on getting an offer on my house before looking for a new one. Once the offer is agreed, I then get searching for the house I want.

After that, I would put an offer in, get mortgage, bla bla bla. Although that was ages ago when I used to move a lot. I think you would need to get a pre-approved mortgage now, as many estate agents wont accept an offer without seeing the mortgage in place.

x

I am all in favour of going with multiple agencies if you are selling - the fees will be slightly higher but they do have to work for them because there is a chance they won't get the sale. Keeps them on their toes.

On renting out. I have a rental property and have had a fantastic tenant in it for a few years now. I bought a flat specifically to rent out in a rising market and before mortgages went silly so it is extremely profitable for me.
I would ask some agents what rent you could expect and see if it covers the mortgage first. The bank will expect you to move to a buy-to-let mortgage and having two mortgages may affect the amount you can get for your new house. If you can do it I would while the housing market is so flat because you will probably be able to sell your house for more in the future. You need to weigh up whether the return is good enough to make the hassle worthwhile. I would avoid renting to family though because it is fraught with danger and upset. There are plenty of people needing properties to rent so finding a tenant shouldn't be too difficult. If you go down this route I can chat with you about ways to minimise your tax liability on the rental property.

Thanks for all the help and advice We have decided to sell our house and we are going to put an offer in for this house we've viewed as soon as Mr Bank says we can Soooo excited!!! A house that's bigger than a cupboard, woohoo!!!