'Off the market' = Under offer or STC?

[QueenoftheNights]

One of my DCs has put in an offer which has been accepted. (First time buyer.) The agent offered to take it off the market if DC offered the full asking price (initial low offer rejected.)

It's now showing as Under Offer.

I know that different ages use different terms when an offer's been made and accepted and I know an offer is not binding ...but I imagined the property would be 'taken off the market' by being removed from Right Move altogether or showing SSTC.

Obviously the worry is gazumping as long as it's showing Under Offer. Comments?

Under offer is the same as Sold subject to contract. There isn’t any diffference and the offer is not binding on either side until exchange.

However your DC can ask the agent to remove the under offer listing from the internet, if they are able to proceed with the sale.

That's what I meant- remove it from the internet. They are able to proceed.

Even sstc houses aren't removed from the Internet. The question is not whether it is on rightmove but whether the agents are now declining any further requests for viewing appointments by other househunters. Get a friend to pose as a buyer and ask for a visit. They should be told "sorry that one has now been sold - here are some similar ones that you may be interested in". If on the other hand the friend is given an appointment and encouraged to decide quickly and get their offer in then the property is still on the market.

Your offer has not been accepted and you should not spend money on surveys and conveyancing fees until it is properly off the market.

It's back up for the vendor to keep the listing up - the EA should not allow any other viewings, but if the sale falls through for any reason, the details will have been looked at by potentially interested parties and it should be quicker to get people through the door for viewings if necessary.

+1 to what Imchlibob said. Learnt it hard way and got guzumpted as we just believed agent's words.

we have bought and sold a few times obviously- are in our 60s.

What I am querying is the best thing for DC to do. I know that there is no legal agreement until exchange.

But if the property is now 'off the market' I assumed it would be taken of R Move.

You can't say 'the offer hasn't been accepted' when the vendor has accepted it , verbally. Because legally either party could pull out at any time - until exchange.

But what next? DC has started to contact her solicitor because otherwise it doesn'tl ook as if she is serious. The EA would not even agree to put Under Offer until DC forwarded her sol's name and email to them.

I can't see what else we can do but I know some agents use SSTC and some UO- they mean the same but superficially SSTC gives the impression it's moving along.

Why doesn't she ask them whether they will change the status to SSTC once her survey has been carried out? I think you are potentially making a mountain out of a molehill at this stage of things. It is totally normal for properties to still be on Rightmove but not being actively marketed. They only come off once contracts have been exchanged.

I think the agent has been a bit cheeky. Houses stay on rightmove, etc right up until the sale has gone through. You can search for SSTC properties. If someone wanted to there's nothing to stop them from contacting the agents and offering over asking on a SSTC property and I believe the agents are obliged to pass this on.

IME property listings remain online until exchange of contracts. It's only on Location x 3 that anyone ever tries to insist otherwise. As long as the agent has stopped marketing the property and refuses to facilitate any further viewings then it is off the market.

Your DC should have confirmation in writing from the EA that their offer has been accepted subject to contract by the vendor.

Both sides need assurance that things will progress so make sure DC follows up every request and keeps in touch.

They keep on rightmove in your DC disappears/changes their mind/drags their heels. All normal, everyone wants to protect their backs. I would get a friend to enquire about it just to check the EA are refusing viewings.

It would be quite normal for a property to remain on right move until the sale is completed , it gets removed a day or so after actual completion , the reasons are - it costs money to put a property on right move and therefore acts as backup should this sale fall through also its good advertising for the agent to have property that is sold / under offer / sstc etc it shows they are able to get results to prospective clients

'Sold subject to contract' and 'under offer' as well as 'sale agreed' all mean exactly the same thing - that an offer has been accepted by the vendor, and the conveyancing process has begun, but contracts have yet to be exchanged.

It would be somewhat unusual for a property to be removed from Rightmove after offer acceptance, but before exchange.

On rightmove when you do a search for an area there is a tickbox to 'include sstc' which you untick if you only want to see properties that are still fair game. Does this house get displayed when the box is unticked?

The EA for our purchase used them differently. Under offer was for when we had a offer verbally agreed, SSTC used once we had our AIP in front of them. Took them a couple of days to change it, even then, then it stayed up as SSTC until the day we moved in (they changed the sign outside to sold fairly promptly).

We are SSTC and not doing any other viewings but no way would I take it down from rightmove.

Thanks all. I know ALL of what's been posted:)

What I was querying was the EA said 'we will make sure it's taken off the market if you offer the asking price'. This implied it would disappear off RM or whatever. Obviously putting UO says what it means, and yes, the vendor wants to keep all options open, but you can see my point can't you. If 'off the market' means the EA won't continue to show new people around, fair enough , but legally there is no obligation on them to do this. I have not checked RM by ticking the UO and SSTC box but will do.

I don't really understand what you wanted, OP.

You expected 'off the market' to mean 'all marketing materials removed from the internet'. Everyone on the thread has told you that that is not their understanding of the phrase, just as the board wouldn't normally come down until exchange at the very earliest.

well the agent was saying something odd then!

The 'deal' was - offer the asking price and we will take it off the market'.

That should mean no more viewings as long as the buying process is taking place.

As people are gazumped a lot, it seems there was no 'deal' at all just the usual 'offer accepted' and UO showing on the site.

So, no different to offering a price which is accepted and the UO/ SSTC being displayed. We thought it meant disappearing from the web to protect against gazumping.

I've bought and sold houses- no one needs talk to me as if I've not- it's just this agent implied they were doing something more than putting up the usual UO notice on RM.

@Rexmanning Boards have either For Sale or Sold. As soon as an offer is accepted the board says SOLD (not UO), although people do know it's always SSTC.

Under offer is of the market. If will be sstc when she has arranged the finance and is waiting to exchange contracts.

"Off the market" means that the agent is no longer "marketing" it. That means they won't show the details to people looking for properties if that type or arrange viewings. It doesn't mean it will no longer be shown online in exactly the same way that it has ever meant it won't be displayed in the estate agents's physical shop window (both marked "SSTC" of "Under Offer" or similar.

You say you've sold houses and you know all of what people have said but this is the basic point that everyone has been repeating! The estate agent is following normal practice.

In many areas and types of market (like the current one which is uncertain at best in some areas) gazumping really isn't that common, so I do think you are over thinking this.

Oh and on every property transaction I've been involved with (4 in the last year, due to family bereavement etc - one completing soon) the words "off the market" have been used when both buying and selling and all of these properties have remained online (with a mix of sstc and UO).

The point is that the EA said if the asking price was offered, the property would be taken off the market ( as if this were something different to the usual UO / SSTC info shown online.)

Because if you offer the asking price and the vendor accepts then yes, of course it's off the market.
That is what anyone would expect. If the vendor wanted more they would not accept the offer so why would they carry on marketing it?

The fact the agent stressed this implied she was going to do something over and above this!

Maybe I wasn't clear because I am fully aware of normal practise. She implied she was doing something extra.

When we bought our house as first time buyers last year we were told they’d take the house of the market if we offered a particular amount. In reality this meant they changed the listing to ‘SSTC’ and stopped marketing it, which I just thought was the norm. It was removed from RM when we completed.

Oh and it was stressed to us by the agent too, as though they were doing something over and above the norm. They weren’t though. It’s just estate agent tactics I think!