To want the sign taken down

[koolkidsss]

First time buyer here, so not too clued up about how this all works.

We had an offer accepted on a house nearly 2 weeks ago. We offered the asking price; but the seller took a while to make a decision as apparently they wanted £10k over asking. There was another offer but they went with ours as they've found a house they want to buy and we are FTB.

We are getting the mortgage and legal stuff sorted now, but there's still a For Sale sign outside the house. This concerns me - are they still holding out for £10k over the asking price? I don't want us to waste hundreds on legal checks if they pull out but I know that can happen.

Is it normal to still have the sign up and does this show they're still looking for a buyer with a higher offer?

Dis you agree that it would be taken off the market?

Yes ask them to take it down and say your offer was subject to the property being removed from the market. is it still on rightmove?

It says Sold STC on Rightmove

I can't help but think they accepted our offer as they want a quick sale but still are open to offers. It also seems a bit off they advertised it at x price when they want £10k more

I think until they have all the paper work they need (copy of your mortgage in principle etc) then it still stays up. Once that’s received it changes to ‘SSTC’.

Tbh sometimes it’s the estate agent sends people round to change/update them so maybe they are waiting on that?

Don't they normally put a 'sold STC' banner on the sign rather than taking it down altogether?

the sign should say sold so get in touch with estate agent and say its a requirement of your offer

Some estate agents can be lazy when it comes to removing signs, or changing signs to sold/under offer. Last house I bought before this one it took two weeks after me moving in before they came and took the sign away. This was after me threatening to put it in the bin.

I don’t understand why they want more than asking? Nobody ever pays that, you advertise for what you want or a bit above so you can drop, surely? You don’t put it on at say £240K if you actually want £250K?

Are you in England?

We sold our house and insisted the for sale sign stay up until all the paperwork went through.

We are currently buying. We made a couple of offers , last offer it was accepted and the sign was changed to sold the next day. Yours should at beast say Sold STC.

We moved recently and our for sale sign stayed up until we have exchanged contracts - then they put a sold sign up. As long as it’s sold subject to contract on the website then don’t worry. It’s also common practise around this part of London to not even do that on the website. It gets people ringing up about a property and then the agent has the chance to say ‘that’s gone unfortunately, but we do have x y and z’

It's usual, if an offer has been accepted to put an 'under offer' board up as the house hasn't actually been sold yet.

I had the opposite situation when I sold my last house as they estate agent did exactly what you want and changed the for sale board to a sold board. I told them to change it back to for sale or put up an under offer board.

Anyone seeing the sold sign on my house at that stage would have assumed it was sold and I could have lost the interest of potential buyer, which as it happened was very unhelpful as two buyer on two different occasions backed out.

Until everything has gone through and the sale has been completed the house hasn't been sold.

The estate agents don't do the boards, local subcontractors do it

some people put 'offers over' is that what you mean

Agents will leave them up as long as possible as the signs act as advertisements for them. And technically the house isn’t sold - you haven’t even exchanged contracts.
Why don’t you get a friend, posing as a punter to ring the agents to enquire about a viewing of the property? That might give you an idea of the line they’re taking.

We moved last year and accepted an offer on our second day on the market before the For Sale sign had even gone up! By the time they came back to put the sold sign on our buyers had already had the survey done and mortgage approved! We had no intention of waiting for a high offer it just took the sign people a while to catch up!

Yes England @sprinklesandsauce and it confuses me too. I think they started wanting more as they had about 5 viewings within a week and probably had more interest than they predicted

Why would anyone stop advertising something they wanted rid of before they'd actually got rid of it? Come on...

I wouldn't be bothered about the sign, most people find houses online anyway and very few actually drive round and look for ones on sale do they?

I see your point @hereforthecrack but I'm a bit worried as we are about to pay for the legal checks etc and I don't want to lose this money

Check with the agent as to the status. The estate agent should have issued a Sales Memorandum (contains vendor's name, price agreed, purchaser's name, solicitor to be used etc.).

When we have made an offer on a house we always say we want it off the market. Call them tomorrow.

I also think if it’s a sought after property I wouldn’t hang about with the paperwork.

could just be a useless agent. we sold in four business days from going on market before board went up. dude came round a week later to but the for sale board up. i told him we had sold already but he insisted on putting up board. called agent to complain and he had to come back the next day to add a "sold" bit. agents want the board as long as possible up as its advertising for them

I would ask them to change the sign. I have done this as a requirement to the offer and the estate agents have always complied.