Found our dream house but ours isn't on the market, do we have a chance?

[koneko]

On a walk earlier today I spotted that a house I've been lusting after for a long time is on the market, it's just as perfect on the inside as I'd hoped it would be and we could afford to move there without needing a higher mortgage (I have an investment which has always been earmarked for our forever home).

Our house isn't on the market (we weren't intending to move for another year or two) and this wouldn't be the best time to draw on my investment as it's slightly down following covid, however the stamp duty reduction is swaying me to wonder whether it's worth trying.

Does anyone have experience of finding a house they love but not having sold theirs? We are in the tricky position that I wouldn't move out of our village so I'd prefer to sell our house knowing that we had a decent chance of getting one we'd already seen.

[duchy]

Depends how saleable yours is ...
Probably better to ask local estate agents than dibbers who don’t know the market in your village or if you are prepared to accept a quick sale price.

[welshmum]

Could you consider changing your current mortgage to a buy to let and then get another mortgage on the new house?

I would go and speak to a mortgage broker to see what your options are

[Twin mummy]

We almost did this 2 years ago- to complicate it even further we were finishing renovating ours and it wasn’t quite ready!
Luckily ours was very saleable. We went with the estate agents who were selling the house we wanted and priced it realistically. We got 2 asking price offers on ours from the first 2 people who viewed it. Our offer was then accepted in the house we wanted.
In the end it all fell apart as the sellers of the house we wanted withdrew and we couldn’t find another house we wanted.
We were moving because of noisy neighbours who saw how much we had got for ours- put theirs on the market and the people who wanted ours bought next door (and are lovely) so it all worked out!
But for your initial question I guess it depends how fast things are moving in your area and whether someone wants your house before someone else wants the house you want!

[koneko]

Originally Posted by Twin mummy

We almost did this 2 years ago- to complicate it even further we were finishing renovating ours and it wasn’t quite ready!
Luckily ours was very saleable. We went with the estate agents who were selling the house we wanted and priced it realistically. We got 2 asking price offers on ours from the first 2 people who viewed it. Our offer was then accepted in the house we wanted.
In the end it all fell apart as the sellers of the house we wanted withdrew and we couldn’t find another house we wanted.
We were moving because of noisy neighbours who saw how much we had got for ours- put theirs on the market and the people who wanted ours bought next door (and are lovely) so it all worked out!
But for your initial question I guess it depends how fast things are moving in your area and whether someone wants your house before someone else wants the house you want!

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Thank you, I would say that ours is very saleable - the only reason we are looking to move is for a little more discs for our growing family, the location, neighbours etc are all fab and if it was possible to extend then we probably would. This was our first home so we've never had any experience of selling and buying before and I find it all quite confusing with chains etc.

[Twin mummy]

Originally Posted by koneko

Thank you, I would say that ours is very saleable - the only reason we are looking to move is for a little more discs for our growing family, the location, neighbours etc are all fab and if it was possible to extend then we probably would. This was our first home so we've never had any experience of selling and buying before and I find it all quite confusing with chains etc.

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I’d suggest having a chat to the estate agent- we were happy to go with the same one and we felt it gave them an incentive to push ours as then knew they would potentially get 2 sales and commissions fairly easily. It seemed to work!

[baggers]

Go for it. If it’s your dream house you might regret not trying to buy it. Yours might sell quickly.

[ERICSMUM]

Originally Posted by koneko

Thank you, I would say that ours is very saleable - the only reason we are looking to move is for a little more discs for our growing family, the location, neighbours etc are all fab and if it was possible to extend then we probably would. This was our first home so we've never had any experience of selling and buying before and I find it all quite confusing with chains etc.

See more...

Put yours up for sale now, with the same estate agent handling the sale of the other property. It might put you in a better position than going through another one.

Good luck. Strike while you won’t have to pay stamp duty

[mskitty]

Try it...you never know.

My friend was in a similar position to you and it turned out the owner of her dream house was downsizing due to divorce and didn't want to move out of the village and they ended up doing a house swap!

[VeryexcitedH]

We went to look at a house in a street we were interested in moving onto. Our house was not on the market and not in an area where it would have sold quickly if we had. We went to see a financial advisor who suggested putting an offer in on the house and renting our house out. We did this and while the scenario wasn't perfect because we had to top the mortgage up for three years, we sold the house eventually and are in a much better position in our forever home. I would never have considered this so it's certainly an option as a means to an end.