Which Comes First: Selling Your Home or Buying a New One?

Perhaps you will receive a job offer in another city and you need to relocate. Or your family will grow significantly and require more space. There are many reasons to sell your house and buy a new property. But in this process, you need to understand what comes first: selling a house or buying a new home. In both cases, there are points to think about.

If you are going to sell the house first

This solution has many advantages. Here are some of them:

  • You will have a more secure financial position. You have the capital to buy a new home when you sell your old property. Having a specific amount, you know what to expect and whether you need to take out a mortgage.
  • Mortgages may become more affordable. By selling a house, you are released from the financial obligations that come with it. This means that you become a more desirable candidate for a bank to provide a mortgage.
  • If you want to take advantage of the Shared Ownership scheme for buying a new home, then, in any case, you need to start the process of selling the previous house. Unlike Help to Buy, this scheme is available not only for first-time buyers. You can use the scheme if you provide documents stating that the house is in the process of being sold.

There are also several disadvantages regarding selling your property before buying a new one:

  • It could mean that you will have nowhere to live for a certain period. This will incur additional costs for renting temporary housing.
  • Finding and buying a new home can take a long time. It can cause inconvenience for the whole family, as well as high costs for renting a home.
  • Renting temporary housing also means that you and your family will have to move at least twice. If you have many household effects, including furniture and household appliances, this is inconvenient and pricey. 

If you are going to buy a new house right away

Let’s say you decide to first buy a new property and then deal with the old one. What are the benefits?

  • You do not need to rent temporary accommodation, which avoids additional costs. Your family can immediately move from the old house to the new one and begin to settle down on the spot. It eliminates the inconvenience of multiple transportations of overall furniture and equipment.
  • If you have found the house of your dreams, you will definitely have a chance to become its owner, overtaking all competitors. And if you haven’t found the best new home yet, you can do so using an online real estate platform like https://korter.co.uk/.  These kinds of websites contain all up-to-date information about new developments, images, floor plans and available infrastructure.

It is also worth familiarizing yourself with the possible disadvantages of buying a new home before selling.

  • If you haven’t had time to sell your old house, you may find that you don’t have enough capital to buy a new property. Furthermore, financial obligations regarding the old house can be an obstacle to obtaining a mortgage.
  • Keeping two houses simultaneously is a complicated process, not only financially but also in terms of cleaning and upkeep.
  • The process of selling an old home can take longer than you planned, which can lead to a lack of funding to pay for your new home.

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