Is It Better To Buy Or Sell A House First?

Should you buy or sell your property first?  A constant debate home owners have with themselves.  There’s no right order in which to buy or sell your house, but to help you decide what’s right for you, here’s a look at the pros and cons of both options:

Buying a property first

Pros of buying first

• Buying first means it takes the stress out of the process. You can take your time finding the right property and potentially negotiating a better outcome because you’re not in a panic to find a property
• You may be able to negotiate a delayed settlement to give you a bit more time to sell your current home
• If you buy in a rising market you could potentially make more from selling your home later
• You have security knowing you have a property to move in to

Cons of selling first

• If you’re unable to sell your other property you may find yourself having to take out a bridging loan and have to cover the costs of two loans…and that can be expensive.
• If your first property doesn’t sell for the price you need, you might find yourself under financial pressure
  
  

Selling a property first 

Pros of selling first 

• Removes the risk of owning two homes at the same time and having to find money to cover both loans.
• You know exactly how much you’ll have to spend on your next property reducing the risk you’ll pay too much for it and be unable to afford it.

Cons of selling first 

• There’s a time pressure to find another property to move in to.  Most people want to move from one property to another seamlessly and this scenario puts pressure on you to find another property quickly.  The result is you may pay more than you want to, or you settle for something not quite right. 
• If you don’t find somewhere by the time you need to move out, you may need to find interim accommodation, which means moving twice!
• Property prices fluctuate and you may find the prices have increased since you sold and therefore it’s harder to get back into the market

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