to be annoyed by not being allowed to view a house unless my house is sold.

[LemonSwan]

I found a house I potentially really like, although its very unusual so absolutely have to view it to be able to be certain. It could be a disaster.

Apparently I need to have sold my house to view it!?

Our non negotiable requirements are very unusual and do not come up regularly (c. once every 3 months). I have been looking for a long time and only viewed 3 houses which were discounted because one was riddled with damp smell, another the seller was just pretending to sell (trying to get the agri tie removed), and the other looked bigger in the pictures.

What would you do in my shoes?

Voting:

YABU - Put my house on the market and sell it just so I can view this house which may be a complete non starter.

YANBU - Or just forget it and move on.

[InfoInfoInfo]

If you haven't sold and not even on the market then you are a time waster IMHO since you are not a serious buyer.

Many sellers only want people that have sold or on at least on the market to view - particularly if they want to move quickly sinc eyou are not even on the market yet!

[RufustheSniggeringReindeer]

Im not a timewaster

Im just not moving unless I actually want the new house

And in this area property moves very quickly

[Rewis]

I really dislike this rule. I know quite a few people that are casually looking and when they find "the one" then they get the ball rolling. Yea, it might take years to sell a place, but it can also be hours. In my case just last moth. Made a conditional offer on a new place on monday but they could keep selling the place. The estate agents did their photos etc. put the place up for sale on sunday and it was sold by monday.

I feel like part of selling a house is accepting the risk of time wasters. If someone not having sold their place makes an offer, you can negotiate to make the deal worthwhile while the buyers sell theirs. You also don't know people financial sitaution or risk taking. Some could be happy to make an offer and have enough fianncies to have their own house empty for some time etc. I think it is just unnecessarily limiting.

I wouldn't sell my place just in case. I would contact seller/agent and ask. if they say no, then it is their loss. You'd think after selling it for such a long time tney would be willing to show it.

[blackrimmedspecs]

Pretty standard practice even before lockdown, if you don't even have your house on the market, you're not really in a position to buy unless you're a cash buyer and no need to sell.

[GinaJaffacake]

On the market is fair enough but sold? That’s just ridiculous. If I’m sold then I’ll need to go into rented which will surely be for a minimum of 6mths. How does that benefit anyone? And if I accept an offer on my house it’s because they’re all ship shape ready with a solicitor and an agreed 8wks. We like to do it in 6wk. I always, ALWAYS, have everything ready to go straight to the solicitor. So what happens if I wait until I’ve accepted an offer? Does the vendor if they accept my offer then pay extra for a super efficient solicitor to ensure they also get it done in the maybe 5 or 6wks left of the 8wks I’ve agreed? I just don’t understand how EAs expect the time frame to work.

[Alsohuman]

You can’t agree six or eight weeks. The average length of time from offer to completion is 22 weeks right now. Even a no chain transaction - cash buyer purchase of a probate property - takes more than eight weeks.

[NuclearDH]

Last time I bought a house we weren’t thinking of moving
I saw a house advertised which I loved, we viewed it the next day.
Had ours on the market a week later, sold in 24 hours.

We moved in 9 weeks after we saw the house. Luckily the owner didn’t turn us down for a viewing or they’d have lost a sale.

I’ve been turned down for viewings for the same reason before and even after we sold our house a couple of weeks later didn’t bother trying again to view it. We’d seen quite a few others by then.

[Grimbelina]

If you want/need to move, you need to sell and be prepared to rent. I wouldn't entertain viewings from anyone who couldn't proceed now.

[stevalnamechanger]

Get a buying agent . Then they will let you !

[GinaJaffacake]

@Alsohuman, I fully understand that’s the case at the moment. But pre covid, we’ve twice agreed an 8wk completion. The key is to ensure you have a solicitor who is vibrant and in the ball rather than one who’ll take weeks to answer and forget about you. We’ve moved many times up and down the country but have always used the same solicitor. She’s keen as mustard and in top of everything. I only accept offers from people who have already sorted a solicitor never someone who will then go away and spend a wasted week finding one. I also ask the EA to ask any vendor we’ve bought from to ensure they have all paperwork ready including any planning permissions and building regs etc. Pre covid it absolutely can be done in 6-8wks.

[Aha85]

We were in the same position as you OP. We asked the estate agent who was selling our dream house if they could put our house on the market too and they suddenly let us look around the dream house (before ours was even officially on the market, let alone sold). Worth a try!

[YoyoRiot]

Get over it, in these uncertain times, it is not just about proceedability but mitigating an unnecessary health risk to the agent and the vendor.

[Sparklybanana]

Just phone the estate agent, tell them you've sold and you're living with relatives. No one will ask for proof. It's what we did (although true in our case). If you aren't a serious seller until you are a serious buyer then you are going to have to be sneaky. I'm all for covid protection but you're exposing just as much risk if you have viewers for your own house and also piss people off if you break the chain. Just don't offer until you do put yours on the market (perhaps with a different estate agent!)

[DancingQueen85]

Perhaps covid has changed things but I've always left it to our estate agent to decide who looks around and haven't asked two many details. If viewings are booked in back to back surely it isn't inconvenience to have someone who is not yet on the market look around. Also there are plenty of people who have sold who are complete time wasters. It's an unknown quantity really.
On our last house purchase it wasn't an issue that we weren't yet on the market. We offered asking price, went with the same estate agent to market our existing property, and the sellers agreed that we could have three weeks to sell before they put it back on the market.

[LemonSwan]

Sparklybanana This is what I will be doing going forward tbh if I ever find another one in that area again.

I am not sure if I want to chase this sale now. I feel its tainted already. I did offer to just view the outside areas and that was also a no; so if they dont want to sell it I am not wasting my time. Perhaps shes just 'selling' also.

[NovemberR]

Many estate agents will ask to see proof of funds if you tell them you've sold your house.

If it is a requirement for you to be proceedable in order to view the property, then they will want evidence that you are.

Honestly.

[Slippy78]

On the market is fair enough but sold? That’s just ridiculous.
When the EA says 'sold' they don't mean that the transaction has completed. They mean 'offer accepted from a procedable buyer'.

[LemonSwan]

Many estate agents will ask to see proof of funds if you tell them you've sold your house.

Before you view?! Hahaha this is hilarious.

No wonder the house has been on for 2 years. Bless I feel pretty sorry for her now.

Well I suppose its a good education for when I come to sell of who not to list with.

[Wanderlust20]

I've never heard of this before... How would they know?

[Slippy78]

Before you view?! Hahaha this is hilarious.
Not hilarious at all, it's standard practice from all EA's.

[GuacamoleParty]

We've recently bought a house and yes some people wouldn't let us view unless we were proceedable (under offer). We stipulated the same in the end for viewings on our house because we had a lot of time wasters round. Pretty standard at the moment to be honest. Obviously depends on the housing market where you are, things are selling v quick round us.

[NovemberR]

Before you view?! Hahaha this is hilarious.

? Not sure why you think estate agents haven't come across plenty of time wasters. If they or the vendor have made being in a proceedable position a condition to showing buyers around then of course you need to demonstrate that you are.

Otherwise, as pp have said, lots of people would just say, oh yeah - we're cash buyers because they are nosy or fancy a day out.

[sporky]

@NovemberR

Many estate agents will ask to see proof of funds if you tell them you've sold your house.

If it is a requirement for you to be proceedable in order to view the property, then they will want evidence that you are.

Honestly.

Yup, ours did exactly this when we sold last year. Still got 2 days of back to back viewings and several offers.

We were actually in the same position with a house coming on the market we'd always admired and we weren't on the market so we weren't able to view or offer on it. House was photographed, listed and sold in a week.

[LittleMG]

Unpopular opinion... if it’s been on the market for two years they should let u have a look tbf if this was my house and I’d been trying to sell for two years I’d let let anyone come and have a look round.

[LemonSwan]

It is hilarious. It is absolutely not standard practice for any house viewing I have ever been to before. Apparently in this other area where we havent looked before it is standard.

Well I hope this lady manages to sell the house eventually. I think we have dodged a bullet here. I will keep an eye on it and come back and inform the thread.