Lost out on a perfect house for a buyer that hasn't even put their house on the market yet!

[Pipsqueak83]

We accepted an offer on our house yesterday, and the three houses we had our eye on also sold this week. ( such bad timing as 2 had been on the market for 7 months!)
One of the vendors have taken their house off the market (stc) for a buyer that is only in the process of putting their house on the market. I didn't know you could actually do this?!! Would it be unethical to try and contact the buyer to register our interest? Our buyers are in a short chain, and I really don't want to lose them, and we really don't like anything else on the market at the moment!

Have you even seen the houses that you say you are interested in?

I think it's a normal reaction to want something a bit more, once there's confirmation other people want it too!

You could try leafleting the streets you're interested in, to see if that flushes out any sellers. A lot of potential vendors are waiting until after the election.

There's nothing to stop you contacting the seller (directly, via a note through the door or via the agent) to make an offer. You never know...

You wouldn't make an offer without seeing it though.

In such a slow market, a buyer who hasn't yet put his house on the market is better than no buyer at all. Where are you, OP?

I assumed the OP had viewed the houses!

It's their choice ,maybe they aren't in a rush? How do you know the purchaser isn't under offer though. An estate agent shouldn't be divulging circumstances to 3rd parties. If you were to offer they are obliged to put it to the vendor but no guarantee of success.

maybe the purchaser doesn't actually need to sell their house to buy the other house? It could be why they have been able to put an offer in and have it accepted? Friends of ours were lucky enough to be able to do this some time ago - they had no intention of moving, but their dream house came up for sale, so they begged and borrowed to raise the money to be able to purchase without the sale of their house. They put their house on the market straight away, but were essentially proceeding without a chain. Like LIZS said, you will probably not ever know the full circumstances.