News Blog

The property market is more competitive than ever. The shortage of homes available means there are multiple buyers looking to snap up the same property.

So how can you avoid missing out when you find ‘the one’?

According to the following, taken from a report published by Rightmove, if you’re going to be selling your home in order to move, the advice is to put your home on the market NOW. This is because many sellers are choosing buyers that have already had a sale agreed on their own property......

1. Avoid missing out on viewing your dream home

While getting your property on the market before you buy may feel like a leap of faith, it makes sense. If you like a property you’ve seen advertised, it’s likely in this market that another buyer in a position to move forward with the sale will also like it.

Many sellers in a busy market like today will instruct their agent not to complete viewings with buyers who have a property to sell but are yet to begin marketing themselves.

2. Sellers will take your offer seriously

In a market where there’s a shortage of stock, it’s important to show sellers that you are committed and motivated to move.

Competition to secure the perfect property is fierce.  To be considered as a buyer when you finally find your perfect home, you need to be able to proceed. Ideally having your own property under offer, for a bid to even be considered as a potential buyer by many sellers.

Having your existing property “in play” (e.g. at least on the market) will frame your offer on an onward property in the best possible light, and give you the best chance of securing it.

3. Avoid rushing to sell and having to accept a lower offer

If you do find your dream home in a market as competitive as this, you might be tempted to submit a high offer in order to secure it. This is a stressful scenario which agents are seeing often.

When the right property does become available, the clients that have not prepared for marketing are often the ones that end up offering a very generous price trying to secure the house of their dreams – and then end up rushing into preparing their property as they don’t have time on their hands. This also tends to result in them accepting a lower offer on theirs  – and end up back to square one.

4. Get an accurate budget for your next purchase

With properties achieving record values at the moment, selling first not only puts you in the strongest position to buy, but will also provide you with an accurate budget for what you can afford to buy next.

If you set out with £350,000 in your mind and you achieve £375,000 for your property, you now have £25,000 more to spend. The extra money can really open up more property for you to look at which you wouldn’t have considered affordable if you hadn’t gone to market and sold.

5. There’s everything to gain

If the scenario arises where you have an acceptable offer on your sale, but are yet to find a property yourself, your estate agent can help.  It is our task to manage your buyers’ expectations around timings, reassure on your seriousness, begin the conveyancing process and encourage patience.