We've recently gone through the process of moving OP, so have up to date experience. We had one person who wanted to view to see if ours was their perfect home, before putting theirs on the market. I'm afraid I said absolutely not! If people are genuinely keen to sell, the chances are that they will spend a fair amount of time, going around their home prior to a viewing, to ensure that the property looks it's absolute best. I'm disabled, and there was no way I was going to put myself to all that trouble, just for someone who wasn't even sure they were going to move, to come and gawp at it. So I'm afraid if you take that attitude, you're unlikely to get people to allow you to view their home. You might say, well not everyone is disabled like you, but supposing you want to view the home of people with kids, they're not going to spend their time cleaning and making sure that toys etc are put away, so that the place looks it's best for your either, they'll just say 'sorry, but unless they're on the market, I'm not going to waste my time'. As an ex estate agent, I have done my best for people like yourself, to try and get vendors to allow viewings, pointing out that you could put your house on the market and sell it the next day, but the vast majority of people would say, 'well let them do that then, and when, and if, they have a buyer, or at least have the chance of getting one by putting their house on the market, then we'll let them view'. So my advice is make up your mind if you really want to move, because if you'll only move for the 'right property', the chances are, if you're not even on the market, the one property that you might want, will have sold before you get your act together. Sorry if that's too blunt for you, but just telling you how it is, and at the end of the day, would you want to go to all that trouble, only for someone like yourself to waste all your time and effort, when they're in no position to proceed? I think probably not!