To find your dream home, you have to be in a position to proceed!
Why it is imperative that you are in a position to proceed once your dream home hits the market....
We are often asked "Should we sell first, or should we try to find the house we want to buy first?"
In our opinion, there is only one answer here and that is, you need to be under offer to even stand a chance of buying your dream home when it comes to market. We have seen so many cases where properties have come onto the market with us, and we are then inundated with enquiries. As an agent, we are looking at applicant's positions, but more importantly, so are the vendors and if you are not even on the market, let alone under offer, then most vendors will not take you seriously. So you will already be on the backfoot compared to other buyers who will be viewing the same property.
We had a case recently where we took on a beautiful semi detached home set in a prime road in North Ruislip, where we had a full day of viewings. This produced nine offers in total, but four of these potential buyers had not yet put their property to market. As much as our vendors were willing to accommodate these viewings, once they had nine offers, the parties that weren't on the market unfortunately never stood a chance.
There are also cases where we are able to arrange one off viewings for those "under offer" buyers on our books for properties that have not yet even hit the market, as our clients know that we are showing around a serious buyer. If you are not on the market, these opportunities rarely come up for you.
People also ask, "What if we can't find anywhere?"
Our answer to this is, as long as you are honest with your buyer from day one and let them know that you cannot vacate until you find somewhere to move to (which may take some time), then your buyer can make an informed decision. The majority of buyers are willing to wait.
If you would like further advice on this subject, or have property related questions, then please do book in a free market appraisal, or speak to a member of our friendly sales team.