Bidding without having my own house for sale

Until very recently we had no intention of trading-up but have just seen our dream house (actually we have put a bid of 10% below asking which was rejected - the asking price is the bottom-line we were told). The EA selling this house thinks that we should at least have our house on the market for our bid to be taken seriously. Also we have had our own house valued by two local EAs who both concur that we should put our house up immediately (surprise surprise).

I am uncomfortable putting our house on the market without having sale agreed on the new house as we could easily be outbid if others are interested. How do you explain to neighbours that you are moving but don't have anything to move into yet?

If we don't successfully buy the dream house we could always take our house back off the market but then we will have lost about 800 or so on advertising fee's!

Any advice greatly appreciated

Can you afford to purchase the new house without selling the current house. If yes there is no problem purchasing the new house. But if not there is no guarantee you will sell your current home easily or for the price you need in order to purchase the new house.

I've been trying to selll my house for nearly a year now with no success.

I wouldn't tie yourself into buying new house without selling your own first.

Forget about before when houses were snapped up - the market has changed completelt.

There'll always be another dream house.

You are not in a good position to bid at the moment because its the equivalent of going shopping without any money. If you are set on a move you should put yours on the market and at the very least it will put you in a stronger bargaining position. At the moment you may not seem like you are very serious about the purchase to the Ea dealing with it

We have recently gone sale agreed on our house- but are still waiting with bated breath for the money in the bank!! Over the course of the last few months, we have had 3 people who have put in offers -but still had their own house to sell. They would not be able to close sale until their own house was sold. We told them - thanks - but no thanks! When you're in a better position i.e house sold and money available - come back and we'll talk. None of them have sold yet!!! P.S we are in a similar position -houses in our estate rarely come up. We're the only ones selling and thought we would be in a good position but the market has definitely changed! Don't count your chickens. Best of luck.

Agreed - you should definitely put your house up on the market. At the very least, the interest generated will give you some indications of what you might get for it.
Certainly be mindful that property can be on the market for a long time, but even in the current market, things can move fast - my neighbours just sold last month for over the asking price and had it sale agreed within 3 weeks of going to market, with three separate bidders, so it is possible....

Thanks for the replies I guess I could be selling. However, I have been thinking about Bronte's question....can I afford to buy without selling? Actually I don't think so, but I don't know. The house we are selling has been valued at 350k and we have 170k left to pay. The house we want to buy will cost about 550k in total (stamp duty solicitors etc).....between us both we are on 90k pa (with about 20k in savings and no debts) and one bank is willing to lend us 400k.

Would they be willing to lend us more if we rented our current house out? Would they allow us to release some of the equity?

Sorry, but no. You would need to have the savings to cover the differrence between what they are willing to loan you (400K) and the new house price (550) = 150K.

The banks do not take potential rental income into account when determining how much that you can afford to pay. And rightly so.

If you release equity to cover the 150K above, then it would reduce the amount the bank would be willing to loan you (the 400K).

Your only option is to get in touch with a mortgage broker and try and see if they can help you to find a bank that will get you more money. Im not advising you to do this - only you know how stretched you would be if you were to take on the new mortgage without selling your house.

Id like to add that the example above is exactly what is happening to the housing market "slow down" at the moment. The OP wants to buy a new house. The OP feels that he can afford the new house. The banks are not willing to stretch anymore to lend to these type of trader uppers (the house rich and cash poor).