To thinks it's bloody stupid that estate agents are only letting cash buyers, or people under offer view properties?

[fishonabicycle]

Surely this will just slow the market until it almost sizes up? Or is not happening everywhere?

That's normal isn't it? I didn't even bother viewing till my house had an offer as it would be wasting time. Mine and theirs.

A lot of sellers stipulate those terms to stop time wasters

I think that seems reasonable, tbh. There are so many time wasters who make a hobby of swanning around other people's homes with no real intention to buy that I think it's entirely sensible to cut that crowd out. First and foremost, the market needs to remain open and so a slower market might well be preferable than providing entertainment to covid carrying day dreamers.

I think it makes sense, don't want time wasters in this climate.

I didn’t want anyone viewing who wasn’t under offer.

I can see it your point. We're about to put out house up for sale. I'm worried we will get an offer and then won't find somewhere we like (I'll admit I'm very picking!). But everything on the market here is going in days at the moment... can't believe how fast it's moving.

I do think it's a bit daft, yes. We are only on tge market because we found our dream house to buy. I wouldn't sell up and move for anything less then a perfect house now, so would need to view it to know if I wanted to be on the market or not.

I moved last year, we were only able to view properties once we were on the market and needed to be SSTC to offer.

Always been the case with E A, if you aren’t in a position to proceed, what’s the point, you can see pics online anyway.

We want to move no way would I agree to a viewing unless the person was in a position to make an offer.

because it makes sense to have procedable buyers years ago when we bought in a different town we went to look when our house went on the market but it took another 3 months to get an offer so all the houses we had looked at had sold by then so we had to do another trip as we coulld actually put in an offer second time rond

It’s depending on the agent. Ours will show people round who aren’t on market if seller is happy.

We’ve said don’t need to be under offer would like them on market but will accommodate if they aren’t if can be fitted other viewing.

We are in this position, need to put house on market but have already started viewing properties. I just told them we were cash buyers.

It’s just wasting people’s time to view without a serious intention and it’s bloody annoying preparing for viewings that are just doing it out of nosiness or a hobby

It's everywhere because you cannot offer on a house if you are not under offer or a cash buyer. They are trying to limit the amount of cleaning they/ seller has to do.

It's totally reasonable.

I can see the idea of deterring time wasters but at the same time, what happens if you are only wanting to move house if a specific house comes up for sale. You can't sit with your house permanently on the market on the offchance that the house(s) you are interested in come up for sale.

It’s very normal and often at the request of the vendor.
Also everyone always thinks their house will fly off at the first viewing, and it rarely happens so they could be waiting for you for an age to sort an offer.

At this moment in time I probably wouldn't want people coming into my for just a casual nosy, I'd want to know they were serious buyers. Hopefully it would minimise the amount of people coming into the home but without cutting down on opportunities to sell

We bought and sold last year - and most places we wanted to view were only available if you already had an offer agreed on your own home.

It made sense in all honesty because ours was on the market for over a year - we couldn't expect a chain to wait that long for us!

I think the market is headed that way regardless of the pandemic (and inevitable Brexit double-whammy)

We had this years ago.

We were pushed to put the house on the market in order to be in a good position to move should we find the right house.

After two offers, we were no further forward.

We had to let our buyers down in the end, and here we still are.

It makes sense if you are moving to the other end of the country or something, but if you want a bigger house locally and the market is slow, it doesn't.

I think it's a relatively new thing (ie last 20 years). When we bought this house and sold our old one we were told we couldn't offer until we'd sold our own but that wasn't the case when I was a child - you could offer and then sell your own (obviously you had to have it on the market or at least be fairly sure it would sell quickly).

I am kind of with you OP - it does mean that every chain has to be built from the bottom up rather than filling in the gaps as and when.

That's certainly not the case here. (Scotland) .

Friends put their house on the market a week ago, 8 viewings on first day, followed by three notifications of interest and a closing date this week.

@Melroses

We had this years ago.

We were pushed to put the house on the market in order to be in a good position to move should we find the right house.

After two offers, we were no further forward.

We had to let our buyers down in the end, and here we still are.

It makes sense if you are moving to the other end of the country or something, but if you want a bigger house locally and the market is slow, it doesn't.

You articulated that so much better than me!

We've been keen to move to a bigger house within our village for several years but it's not that often that a suitable one comes up. We won't actually know if we want to move until we can view a house and see if it's any better than what we have (photos online can be very misleading when it comes to size). So we'd be timewasting in a different way - putting our house on the market and accepting an offer when we might realistically have no intention of actually selling.

We didn’t view until we’d got an offer in our house, as there was no point falling in love with somewhere if we might not be able to sell quick enough for it

I think it makes sense. When we were due to move we had an offer from someone who had been a bit misleading about their position.

By the time they instructed an EA, got photos done and got their place on the market, then done all the work needed to make the place marketable, then got new photos done and started getting viewings it was 2 months down the line.

If we ever moved again I'd never entertain anyone not at least part way down the line again. I'd also pull out the second it emerged they weren't cash buyers/they'd mislead on their status.

Why do you want time wasters. We had someone who hadnt even put their own house on the market. Were just looking around, asked to use the toilet with their child and then left a real mess in there. Or people whose family come on masse just for a day out. I had an extended family of 12 who wanted to come round, and I told them no unless they could prove very serious intent. There is also the security risk of 12 people wandering around your house.

Open Days can be very useful, sold a relatives house very quickly this way as the buyers can see other buyers interest but the EA told me at least 30% of the visitors were just wanting to have a look around. It was an unmodernised house in a very desirable area and I think they thought they would be under the radar because it ended up being packed!