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?

It’s not legally binding until you exchange contracts. Even with STC sign outside. The house is still for sale until contracts are exchanged. I believe if someone offers a better price the seller can change their mind on your offer. On the other hand you can also renegotiate if you find something costly/wrong on the survey or if the bank values the property at a cheaper price than you offered or sales wanted.

My guess would be it's just a lazy/disorganised agent.

I moved into my house last summer and the For Sale sign wasn't taken down until a month after I moved in. I was just starting to think of removing it myself (except I am too lazy to go to the skip with it!) when it vanished...

I took down the sign outside my house the day I moved in and shoved it behind the wall. About 6m later, it went in a skip I had for some work being done.

No-one takes any notice of them, they're only there so you can find which house it is when you go to see it. I wouldn't worry at all.

When we sold our house, I refused to let the agent put the 'sold' sign up until it all went unconditional. I could tell he wasn't happy with that, but tough, it was still our house until 2pm on the exchange day. Thankfully all went well and the 'sold' sign went up two weeks later after the standard two week conditional period had passed, so the sign was up for a further two weeks after that (or until the new owners took it down I guess) during the standard two unconditional/watertight part.

standard two unconditional/watertight part.
*standard two WEEK unconditional/watertight part.

Most agents use it as advertising and to drum up interest for other houses of that type in the area. To the person who stated that no-one pays over the asking price, it depends on the area. We paid £40k over the asking price as there was so much competition. Low asking prices are usually set to drum up interest.

What is a "standard two week unconditional part", I've never had that?

Ours wouldn't take the sign down until they had the proof of how we were financing the move, so we had to show that deposit was coming from proceeds on current house sale and our mortgage in principle.

When we brought the sign was changed to "under offer" with a week or two of having our offer accepted. As others have said make sure they agree to take it off the market and change the sign.

What is a "standard two week unconditional part", I've never had that?
Not in the UK. Honestly, from what I've read on here, it's a wonder anyone ever moves house in England (and Wales?) as it takes so long and things can go wrong at literally the last minute.

Where I am, all contracts are generally 30 days from agreeing on price (which can take minutes to a couple of days), to exchange of keys. First 14 days are for building inspection, maybe renegotiating price if faults are found etc. After that it's all locked in (unconditional).

Whenever I have sold a house, the agent never puts the SSTC sign up until all the legal checks etc have been done - I think they have to pay for someone to go out and amend the sign so to avoid extra fees (cos of course they don't make enough from us sellers!!) they wait until its unlikely for either side to pull out.

Welcome to the world of house buying and selling!! Its horrendous! But I hope you will soon be settled in your new home x

We recently moved and the sign stayed up the whole transaction, however, the estate agents came and put the 'sold' part up about 2 weeks after we'd accepted the offer. Contact your estate agent and ask them when it'll go up and to clarify anything your confused about.

We sold our property for 7k over the offer Two couples got into a bidding war. We were moving to a new build which was not going to be ready for a few months and though they were renting it took a while for their mortgage to finalize as they were going for co ownership. The sign stayed up for a good while I remember but was down before we moved.

Our buyers accused us of being still on the market and got their solicitor to tell ours they were concerned because our house was still on the estate agent's website. We wrote back saying it was on there but listed as Under Offer which is totally standard. It means nobody else is being taken to see it but contracts have not yet been exchanged.

They did change our board to Sold but I've no idea if they buyer saw that. I wouldn't take any notice of a board. As long as website shows it as Under Offer its nothing to worry about.

I would get a friend or put on a silly voice yourself to call the estate agent and say that they've seen a house on X Street with a For Sale board and could they have some more information?

If it's showing as SSTC on Rightmove though it is more likely that the Agent or the Sign person is just being slow/lazy.

Blobby10 said: Whenever I have sold a house, the agent never puts the SSTC sign up until all the legal checks etc have been done - I think they have to pay for someone to go out and amend the sign so to avoid extra fees (cos of course they don't make enough from us sellers!!) they wait until its unlikely for either side to pull out.

Indeed. We allowed the agents to put a 'sold' sign on our house, only for the buyers to pull out. The second lot couldn't get a mortgage and that took a couple of months. Thereafter, we insisted they leave it as 'for sale', but told anyone enquiring that it was under offer but they'd take their names and put them on an 'interested' list if the sale fell through (again).

from what I've read on here, it's a wonder anyone ever moves house in England

Indeed, it's incredibly stressful.