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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To think this is a ridiculous way to sell a house?!

43 replies

PenguinBear · 31/12/2012 14:35

My SIL is trying to sell her house. She has the neighbours from hell. She hasn't reported to council as apparently you have to declare this to potential buyers.

She has decided that she will get an offer for hers and then look for somewhere to move. .

IMO, that's silly as she has a huge list of requirements for her new home that are very specific.

We've advised her to look at the same time but she won't as she claims this is 'unfair' on those she is buying from/selling to.

I'm my experience, estate agents push your house more when they know you have a sale. especially if the house is on with them as they want their commission.

Surely it's worse to accept an offer and then hold up their chain while you look?!

OP posts:

ILoveSaladReallyIDo · 31/12/2012 16:36

I've always had a few days between exchange and completion, not many though

Ilovesunflowers · 31/12/2012 16:39

It took 18 months to sell mine. She's sensible not to look too early.

DontmindifIdo · 31/12/2012 16:45

suggest she looks on line and gets an idea of what she can get for her money, perhaps make a short list of places she'd like to view, but not to bother wasting anyone's time until she's had an offer (or at least is getting some second viewings)

teacherwith2kids · 31/12/2012 16:53

We have moved a lot

It USED to be that you found somewhere you wanted, got an offer on that accepted, then looked to sell your house.

For our last move, we could not have an offer on a house accepted until we were 'proceedable', in other words that we had accepted an offer on our house from proceedable buyers.

So your advice is out of date, IME, and your SIL is doing what is now the norm.

We looked at houses while ours was on the market. There are at least 3 houses that we wanted to buy but could not - heartbreaking at the time but it did all come out in the wash.

LynetteScavo · 31/12/2012 17:00

And this, people, is just one reason the housing market is so slow.

And anyone who won't allow viewers who aren't procedable are just being silly, IMO, but some people are just like that.

financialwizard · 31/12/2012 17:10

I disagree Lynette the housing market is slow because of the stricter lending policies.

BrianButterfield · 31/12/2012 17:15

We looked around some houses before ours was even on the market. Estate agents were a bit pouty but we didn't want to sell u less we knew we could get the type of place we wanted in our price range. Rightmove is all well and good but we needed to see inside the houses to see that what we'd thought we wanted was not, in fact, what we were after at all, and we needed to rework our budget. Doing that after we had sold would have added a couple of weeks on (we ended up with a market-to-move time of about 8 weeks, which is nearly miraculous!)

impty · 31/12/2012 17:16

sell yours then look. Its the best way. BUT you can research and check out areas schools etc before you get an offer. We have rejected offers because the buyers hadn't sold their house yet. We bought this one even though it had a higher offer accepted on it... we were in a position to move which had a £ value.

LynetteScavo · 31/12/2012 17:18

financialwizard - yes, that is indeed another reason.

Heifer · 31/12/2012 17:18

we had planned to sell ours completely, get the cash and then start looking (living with family in the mean time),that way when we went to buy somewhere we were more likely to get a lower offer accepted as we didn't have a house to sell..

As it happened I couldn't hold off that long, and found somewhere we wanted. but still thinks it makes financial sense to sell first then look.

Butkin · 31/12/2012 17:19

Get offer and then look (although they should scout out suitable areas).

That way they are in a better position to bargain on the house they want to make an offer on. People love buyers who are cash rich and not in a chain.

If worst happens they could always go into rented accommodation if sale goes through quickly.

Pandemoniaa · 31/12/2012 17:22

Nowadays (and round here anyway) you always put your house on the market first and then look for somewhere else to buy. It makes sense to accept that this may mean renting temporarily if you get a quick sale but it's madness to go out and find another house when your own could take months and months to sell. The process is enough of a nightmare without adding in additional false hope.

SarahStratton · 31/12/2012 17:25

I've bought and sold a lot of houses, the DDs and I have lived in 8 houses in the last 15 years. I would never look for a house without having a firm sale to a buyer who can proceed. Complete chain means that I can haggle from a position of strength, and I'm less likely to lose the house I want to buy. Plus I'm in a strong're position with my buyers, as I'm not already in love with another house and desperate for a sale.

SarahStratton · 31/12/2012 17:27

Stronger. I can spell, apparently my Kindle can't.

teacherwith2kids · 31/12/2012 17:31

"And anyone who won't allow viewers who aren't procedable are just being silly"

We only had one person who didn't allow us to view because we weren't proceedable - my post said that we couldn't make an offer and have it accepted until we were proceedable.

In many ways, it worked to our advantage, as we had a very good knowledge of the local market by the time we finally sold our house, and that enabled us to make a much ore appropriate offer on a house that we (on paper) couldn't afford - and know that our offer would be accepted.

LynetteScavo · 31/12/2012 17:39

On the other hand I am bemused at people who view 227 houses before they find one they like.

Using the internet means we usually only view 2 houses before finding the one to go for.

5Foot5 · 31/12/2012 17:40

Well you can look around at the same time as yours is on the market - probably a good idea to get a feel for what is out there in your price range - but in my (admittedly not recent) experience estate agents won't even pass your offer on unless your own property is already under offer.

Last time we moved it was a bit simpler as we were buying new from the developer so they were happy for us to reserve our hole in the ground before we had a buyer confirmed.

ILoveSaladReallyIDo · 31/12/2012 17:43

and estate agents stop taking you seriously and stop telling you about new not yet online properties if you look for too long (even if there's a good reason like you HAVE offered and vendors have pulled out)

and you get house-hunting fatigue and nothing looks good after a while if it drags on too long

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