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Original poster

Do we sell our house before we look/put offers in on others?

16 replies

CMamaof4 · 21/03/2017 10:32

I was having a discussion with my husband about this, We are planning on moving away and want to put our house up for sale in a couple of months( We need to finish off some little jobs in the house first as we bought our house four years ago and are nearing the end of refurbishing it all.)
I thought we had to have an offer accepted on our house before we look at putting offers in on a house, he seems to think that we should look before we put it up for sale, as he thinks our house will sell quickly as its really nicely done and the market doesn't seem to be too slow in our area.
We are going up to visit the place in about 8 weeks what do we do?

OP posts:
Poosnu · 21/03/2017 10:37

Vendors would be unlikely to take any offers you make seriously until your own house is under offer. As far as they are concerned you are unable to proceed at the point of making your offer.

This happened to us when we were selling our house - someone put in an offer without an offer on their own house. We continued to market the property (while the interested parties searched for a buyer for their house). In the end someone else offered slightly less but was a cash buyer so we accepted their offer.

FormerlyFrikadela01 · 21/03/2017 10:51

Agents round here won't even accept offers unless you have an offer on your own house first.

namechangedtoday15 · 21/03/2017 11:14

Most people think their own house is lovely and will sell quickly Smile! Most sellers may allow you to view / make an offer if yours is not under offer, but they will not take it off the market and will still continue to market it / do viewings and are highly likely to accept another offer if it comes from purchasers who can proceed (i.e. who don't have anything to sell or are under offer).

So whilst in theory you probably can offer, there's no point as it means very little.

PJBanana · 21/03/2017 11:14

You can look, but it's horrible looking when you're not in a position to buy. I speak from experience.

Sod's law you will find your 'perfect house', and then be unable to have your offer accepted, in which time someone else will snap it up.

Best to wait until you're at least on the market, then you can start looking. If you really think your house will sell quickly then it will do no harm.

All depends on the market in the area you're buying in too. If it's extremely slow, vendors may be more likely to accept an offer from a buyer who is currently on the market.

MissDuke · 21/03/2017 11:16

Same with us - we were advised by our EA that we needed to have an offer on ours before we could offer on another. In fact when we got an offer on ours, he requested evidence from the buyer that they were in a position to buy - was a cash buyer.

When we viewed houses the first thing we were asked by each EA was whether we were actually in a position to proceed.

MadisonAvenue · 21/03/2017 11:22

I always think it's unfair on the vendors when someone who isn't in a position to proceed with a purchase views their property.

We were in an unusual position a few years ago in that we were in the process of selling our house to the house builders we were purchasing our new home from but they'd already actioned estate agents to sell it (two weeks before we'd actually completed on them buying from us). It was a lovely house and had a lot of interest - 20+ viewings booked in for the first four days, and it sold within two days - but the majority of those I showed around were basically time wasters as they hadn't had offers themselves.

purplecollar · 21/03/2017 11:23

I don't think it's fair to look until you have an offer myself.

Because for each one of those visits, someone has to clean up. Even if your home is relatively tidy, you've still to ensure breakfast pots done and away, stray socks and drying laundry away, bathroom and kitchen wiped down, quick vacuum - it takes me two hours to do that and only if the house is relatively tidy in the first place.

I expect our EA to vet people to ensure this is the case before they arrange visits tbh. It's time wasting otherwise. It could take them a year to sell their home. There are no guarantees anywhere at the moment.

Bluebell9 · 21/03/2017 11:29

Its a horrible balancing act in my experience.

I spotted a house for sale that I loved, so I put in an offer and got mine on the market. Someone else put in an offer and had a buyer for their house so I lost the property I wanted.

My house stayed on the market but I didn't really look at ones for sale. Then I got an offer and had to quickly find a house to buy. Luckily I've found a gorgeous one (fingers crossed it all goes through) but i was panicking for a bit.

MissDuke · 21/03/2017 11:37

We did spot our dream house for sale and literally spent two weeks non stop prepping our house - painting/papering/deep clean to try and get a quick sale on ours. It worked - it actually sold before it even was listed as the EA had a few buyers in mind for it. We had an offer accepted on dream house and are now in the long stressy waiting bit whilst all the legal work is done. It was horrible tbh - I think it was just luck that it worked out for us. I honestly think it is better not to get your heart set on a house until you at least have it for sale are are getting viewings and positive feedback!

I only had one day of viewings and it was the same day the pictures were taken - I literally spent the morning cleaning and tidying while the kids were out and then didn't let them home again until it was all finished Grin It definitely isn't nice to waste peoples time by having them prep for viewers who cannot buy it at that time.

Original poster
CMamaof4 · 21/03/2017 11:57

Yes I thought we should put it up, The ones in my area have been going quite quickly lately and as mine is alot nicer and needs no work (all new bathrooms and kitchen and in a better position) I'm hoping it will go quickly!!
I think my husband has the view of waiting as where we are looking the market seems alot slower so his thinking was if we get an offer and accept how long will the buyers of our house wait for us to be able to find another house? Is their usually a set time of the offer being on the table for your home?? This is the first time we are selling as we were first time buyers before so trying to figure out how things work second time round

OP posts:
Original poster
CMamaof4 · 21/03/2017 12:02

Am I better off getting a few estate agents to value it or do u think one will do?

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JoJoSM2 · 21/03/2017 12:06

The length of time your buyer might be prepared to wait depends on their position. It's good to sell to a first time buyer or investor and they might not mind a delay. In terms of valuing, if you don't know what it's worth, definitely ask more than one person.

Original poster
CMamaof4 · 21/03/2017 12:35

OK thanks everyone for your advice and opinions, Will try and get it on the market soon, Hoping its all not going to be too stressful....

OP posts:
sunshinesupermum · 21/03/2017 12:53

Three agents is normal and take the middle valuation but also look on websites like Zoopla to see what prices other houses in your road have sold for.

MissDuke · 21/03/2017 19:49

Well in that case, start looking - just don't offer until yours is agreed Smile

Original poster
CMamaof4 · 21/03/2017 21:12

I'm not sure if they will be up on zoopla by the time I put house up forsale as they have only just recently sold, I think it comes up as sold online 3 months after its been put on land registry doesn't it?
I hope ours sells as quick as your missduke, I'm dreading doing the viewings :/

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