Do I Put My Property On The Market – Or Find First?

A ‘Catch 22’ situation for many – once you’ve had your property valued, and you’ve selected an Estate Agent, you need to decide when you are going to market your property for sale.

This is a difficult question and of course the decision is always yours. Simultaneously selling, whilst looking for your new home is often a good strategy. What is certain is that if you need to sell a property to enable an onward purchase, then being on the market, or even better, under offer, significantly strengthens your position as a buyer. It is always advisable to at least browse potential onward purchase options before marketing your own property. After all, what’s the point of marketing your own property if you don’t know what you can afford to buy? The issue is if your own property is not on the market, Estate Agents and vendors will take you less seriously as a buyer. Also, if you did find a property you like, you may well lose out to another buyer who is already in a proceedable position, before you are able to market and sell to enable you to be in a position to proceed.

We find that buyers are more likely to wait for a vendor to find onwards, than vendors are to wait for their buyer to get under offer themselves. The vendor of the property you offer on may well accept your offer, but their property would remain on the market - to be tied to the first buyer in a proceedable position, which may not be you.

If your own property is on the market with us, and we sell your property to a proceedable buyer before you have found onwards, we are highly experienced in retaining your buyer whilst you continue your own onward search.

It goes without saying that if you are planning to sell without buying onwards, you can choose to market your property at a time that best suits you, and the current market conditions.