AIBU to think we should be able to view a house even though we aren’t selling?

[HolidayHun2020]

So a house has come up for sale near us, we’re in a position that it’s not the ideal time for us to buy BUT for the right price and property we could make it work. Our house isn’t on the market but if we wanted to go for something we would put it up straight away. We plan to look at selling and actively trying to move within the next 6-12 months. I want to go and see this house as I saw it a couple of years ago and fell in love with it. It’s come up again, but the estate agent has said that we can’t view it unless we proceed with putting our house up and then if it’s a no from us on the house we are viewing we would then need to get out of the contract to sell our house!

AIBU that this is ridiculous? We just want to see this one house on the off chance it’s the one? If we offer and they say no under the circumstance fair enough. Should we just walk away until we are definitely ready to move.

I’d just knock on the door and explain your position and the pressure the EA are putting on you.

I really wouldn't do this. The owners will not appreciate a buyer without funds or an appointment and could find themselves black listed by the agency.

@budgiegirl, yes and if the EA had understood it was that house or no house we may have done that. They clearly didn’t as even when we went on the market only for that house to sell, they couldn’t understand why we then refused 3 very quick offers; one at asking price. Accused us of breaching contract to sell etc. They also constantly tried to get us to view other houses in the same price bracket as the sold one. It ended up acrimonious which I was trying to avoid in case something else we’d like comes up in the next 10yrs. We had been buying, flipping and selling houses continuously until about 2011 when we bought this house. So we’ve been through the buying and selling process many times. This house is big and spacious and in a very sought after area. It would and will sell very quickly. I’m perfectly happy here and only want to sell for the type of house we see locally once every 5-10yrs. But if we sell and move to rented we’ll get left behind financially if it takes 5yrs+ for the next one to come on.

So what’s the point of the seller going through an EA if anyone can just rock up and knock on the door. A lot of the time the EA will be acting on the sellers’ instructions to not allow viewing to anyone who hasn’t at least accepted an offer on their own property. And EAs record details of viewers they send - would you really recommend people taking the risk of allowing unvetted viewers into their homes ?

But you did breach the contract to sell. The EA introduced a buyer who offered you the asking price and you refused. Had they had a ‘ready willing and able’ clause in your contract, you would have been liable for their fees at that point. Many EAs in our area still have this clause.

Very common in the market for this to happen near us as there’s so few properties occasionally it all comes together a lot of the time it doesn’t. We were always really honest with our buyers and this was all under the EA Ada ice this was the only way to do things ! Most people have to break the chain and rent for a while , or rented theirs and take the equity or get lucky !

Those clauses are pretty much unenforceable because proving that the person is ‘ready, willing and able’ is pretty difficult . I have never heard of anyone paying out on one.

At the point where the buyer makes an offer the EA will ask them to provide proof of funding - proof of mortgage offer, cash buyer, or sale of property proceeding. The EA also has a legal duty to comply with money laundering legislation and ensure that the funding has not been obtained by criminal means . So this would be the proof they need that the buyer is ready, willing and able. Not difficult, and the clause is enforceable because it’s part of the contract you have presumably read and understood before signing.

This. EAs discourage any direct contact between vendor and buyer. We had a very persistent buyer on one property. He was on to the EA regularly from day one, pestering for a quick sale - wanted us to move out into rented so he could complete quicker. He rocked up on our doorstep a couple of times to make his point, and when we complained to the EA they were very clear that we shouldn’t talk directly to him, but refer him back to them. We told him that if there were any more attempts to pressure us we would take the property off the market. Dealing direct with a prospective buyer when you have engaged the services of an EA is like having the proverbial dog and barking yourself !!

The customer is always right. You are the customer in this scenario. Look at any house you want. Take as long as you want. It's your money, and if you are borrowing the money, you'll be paying it back for a long, long time. I can't believe people think it acceptable to rush viewings in 15 minute slots for a purchase that they'll be paying off for 25 years.

The seller will want to get the best possible price for their wares, and if that high-roller is you, they should accommodate any of your whims and wishes. If they don't, they run the risk of putting off a motivated buyer and having to accept a lower price from someone else.

Oh, and estate agents? They are staff. They work for the seller. Treat them like the seller's staff. No need to be rude, but don't worry a jot about what they might think of you - they don't care about you and you've no need to care about them.

@Rosscameasdoody, which is exactly why we wanted to view before going on the market. I like my house. I’m happy living in my house. I only wanted to move for that house. I explained this to them many times. If they had let me view the day it came on the market, we’d have offered and instructed them to sell ours immediately then taken an offer on ours within 3 days and everyone would have been happy. Instead, they refused to let me view for weeks then insisted I put mine up for sale then wanted me to sell to someone else knowing I had no interest in looking at any other houses. 🤷🏼‍♀️

In law the purchaser can withdraw without penalty for any reason up to the exchange if contracts. This might happen for many reasons; survey, death, divorce or most likely they just change their mind or find something they like better. Until the point of exchange the EA cannot prove that this would not have happened.They cannot prove beyond doubt that the sale would have concluded, as just because the purchaser was willing and able at that point does not prove that they would still have been ready and able at the point of exchange .

In 2009, we went to view a house purely on spec. Our house wasn't on the market but the EA never asked. We viewed the house and I fell in love with it there and then. We put our house on the market that week and eventually, 7+ months later we finally moved into the house we'd viewed.

It doesn't sound to me like you're a time waster. We could've been perceived as such way back then and until I walked in to the new house, the thought of selling up seemed like too much of a faff. But here we are, 12.5 years later still in that house that we viewed on spec.

You know things are very different now to how they were 14 years ago right @FlugelHugel ?

And they’re going to be different again. The housing market might gently deflate or it might crash but either way people selling houses won’t be in a position to dictate terms for much longer.

It might? Who knows? But I'm not sure what that's got to do with this thread. I think EA have had it so easy for so long, with a sellers' market, that they simply don't see a need to entertain people "don't sound like a time waste", but could well be.

When we moved last our house was already under offer but this really forced us into finding somewhere quickly, which hasn’t really worked out. We just should’ve taken more time over it.
I can see why you wouldn’t let someone view without their house on the market, but does it need to be under offer.
dh saw a house locally he fancied the other day but I said no way, we are tied into our mortgage for another couple of years or so. No point looking at ‘dream homes’ unless you’re selling. Only brings frustration!!

We moved last year. It was up there as one of the most stressful experiences of my life (and I'm in my 60s) - and it was actually quite smooth, although long! When our house was on the market we only had viewings from people who had sold and who had arranged mortgages. To answer your specific question, once we had had offers there was huge pressure to find somewhere. We did - and are very lucky that our offer following our 20 minute viewing was accepted (we were one of many who viewed the house) and, having been here for 3 months we are happy with the house. There was very little on the market when we were viewing. I guess had we not seen anything, eventually our buyers would have got fed up and we would have either had to go into rented (which we weren't going to do, in practice) or pull out of the sale.

I wasn’t talking about the buyer withdrawing from the sale, I was talking about the seller. And you appear to be quoting US law not UK. In the US a person cannot be considered 'ready, willing and able' until a binding contract has been signed and exchanged, or even until the transaction has been completed. In the UK, ‘ready and willing and able' refers to the point at which an offer is accepted. Provided the EA has checked, prior to presenting the offer, that the buyer is prepared to enter into the contract on the terms offered, at the appropriate time (ready and willing) and has the financial means to complete the transaction at the appropriate time, (able) then they have complied with their legal obligations and under the law have earned their commission.

If the seller then withdraws from the sale after the offer has been accepted they are then liable for the EAs fees - either wholly or in whatever part is detailed in the contract. Sellers who have changed their minds have been known to delay until their buyer pulls out, to avoid liability under these clauses.

Thought I would send an update!
we went to view the house yesterday evening and it wasn’t for us. It was actually really dark inside and needed a bit more than a lick of paint. You couldn’t see from the photos that there wasn’t actually room in the kitchen for a fridge/freezer or washing machine so it would actually need an extension & for the price it currently is it just seems overpriced. We also trialled the walk from the house to the station and saying something is 30 mins is very different to walking it on a commute and just felt a bit too far. Looking around the market there are houses for sale for £50k less in better locations that would need extensions and that would seem to be the more sensible option for us.

Thanks for everyone’s input, I probably wouldn’t go and view something else until we are actually on the market in future just because I feel like after talking to the estate agent it seems like in our area and for our price bracket stuff will just move quickly and I would want to be ready to pounce if the right thing came up.

Also the EA said if we offered a little over asking we would be in a good chance as the sellers have only just started looking & not in a massive rush as want to find the right thing so having buyers who might slow down the process for them to find somewhere wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing!

I wouldn’t have you viewing my house unless you had sold. Sorry I think it’s a waste of the vendors time. Either put your house on the market and commit or forget about it, buying and selling houses is stressful enough without people like you making the process even more arduous.

I’m glad I didn’t put my house on the market. Didn’t like the house anyways 👍🏼

I have actually thought about this a bit more today when out for a walk. Are bridging loans not a thing anymore?

When we bought our current house, it was empty. The owners had moved to Norfolk so they moved before selling.

So why are estate agents putting off buyers who might want to do similar? You might be able to release equity from the house to buy something else and then sell at your leisure, depending on how the house prices compare.

When I sell I stipulate to the Estate Agent that only people who have sold subject to contact & have a mortgage offer can view. Too many rubber neckers. EA can get details of viewer's house sale from their agents. I can't do with time wasters who just want to get ideas, have a nosy whatever, not on my time. I've always sold quickly.

Nope. I’ve sold and moved half a dozen times since 2005. I’ve never rushed a viewer or held them to 15 minutes. Mostly I’ve shown them over the house and then left them to have a wander at their leisure and made myself available to answer any questions. I was also more than happy to accommodate second and even third viewings. Having said that I have never accommodated whims and wishes. If they like it, they like it and will put in an offer. If they don’t fine. But sellers don’t have to put up with shit, as some on this thread seem to think. The asking price is there, if a seller is in no hurry there’s no point in making a stupid offer because it won’t be accepted. If they’re motivated to sell, they’ll work with an interested buyer to find the best way forward. And as for your last point. If you treat the EA with disrespect you’ll find yourself getting a very hard time once word spreads that you’re a difficult buyer. I know from first hand experience, having had several ‘heads up’ from EAs not to get my hopes up for a viewer because they have a reputation as a time waster. The EA is not the sellers’ ‘staff’. They are professionals who are interested in getting the best deal for their client in return for the not inconsiderable fee they charge in return.