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Property/DIY

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Original poster

Buying before Selling

20 replies

Iamblossom · 25/02/2019 13:02

Hi all - it's a while since I did this, so can't remember, but is it quite normal for you to make an offer on a property but then still have your house to sell, and even not yet on the market?

If they accept your offer in this knowledge, do they have the right to accept another offer from a person who has already sold their house or is a cash buyer?

TIA

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AmazingGrace16 · 25/02/2019 13:04

No houses would do this for us. We had to sell first. The one that did accept we offered over the asking price and then they accepted another offer who was ready to proceed.

Bluntness100 · 25/02/2019 13:06

They can accept your offer, but they are not proceedqble, and they can accept another offer or pullout, as can you, at any time until you both exchange contracts...unless you're in Scotland?

TrickyKid · 25/02/2019 13:06

Some estate agents won't let you view if your property isn't on the market already. If they do and you put in an offer if course the seller can accept an offer from someone in a better position.

Original poster

Iamblossom · 25/02/2019 13:07

argh! We would only sell our house for this other one. What do we do if we sell ours but not quickly enough?

I see stress ahead.

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Original poster

Iamblossom · 25/02/2019 13:09

I guess we then have the option to pull out of any sell of ours if the owners of the house we want do that to us...

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Bluntness100 · 25/02/2019 13:16

Yes, either party can pull out out until exchange, but right now you're not proceedqble, there is also a high chance they will not accept your offer until you sell. Right now. you're not in a position to buy their house. So thr offer is no more than indicating your intent.

If you wish to buy it, you need to get your house on the market and sold. If they get another offer from someone who is proceedable, then clearly they would go with that,

If your house isn't even on thr market, then there is a high chance the agent will not let you offer, but you can do an expression of interest

Bluntness100 · 25/02/2019 13:21

I guess we then have the option to pull out of any sell of ours if the owners of the house we want do that to us...

Do what to you? You are not in a position to buy. You cannot realistically think they should wait for you to sell, and ignore any other offers. Some houses can languish on the market for a year or more if the sellers are unrealistic about the price.

KitKat1985 · 25/02/2019 13:22

Honestly, even if they accepted your offer in principle, since you are not proceedable it's almost certain they would keep their house on the market and still be open to offers from other buyers.

Your best bet is either to get it on the market asap and price it to sell, or if you are really desperate for this house and willing to accept a below-market price for your current home, then you could look at something like National Homebuyers.

But I wouldn't get your hear too set on this other house yet, as you are in a risky position.

SassitudeandSparkle · 25/02/2019 13:24

Is that what you are planning to do, OP? You (despite not even marketing your house yet) would be happy to accept an offer from someone who hadn't put their house on the market yet and therefore couldn't actually buy your house?

BalthazarsAThirstyBitch · 25/02/2019 13:28

Get your house on the market with the same estate agent selling the house you like.
Explain you want to sell ASAP for that house only, they should then work to find you a buyer quickly as it will be a double sale for them.
Be realistic about your selling price too.

Bananasarenottheonlyfruit · 25/02/2019 13:33

We had a house on the market, which we needed to sell to finance the next move. (We were in rental at the time). Found our house and put an offer in, but didn't get an offer on the other one for several weeks. Our offer was still accepted, and the house taken off the market while the vendors looked for somewhere and we tried to sell ours.

Honestly, I think it depends on the agent, the vendor, how serious they think you are etc. If yours is priced realistically to sell quickly, and only moving for that one house, you might be a much better prospect that someone else.

Original poster

Iamblossom · 25/02/2019 13:43

Yes @BalthazarsAThirstyBitch that would be the plan I think

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Desmondo2016 · 25/02/2019 17:22

We did this last week, viewed house, loved it, went straight to estate agents (same as vendor), listed house which was live on their website 24 hours later, 3 viewings within 3 hours and second viewer offered over asking price. We then had our offer accepted on the house we loved, approximately 48 hours after first viewing it. I think we were very lucky tho!

Original poster

Iamblossom · 25/02/2019 19:27

Wow @Desmondo2016 !! Well jel

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Squirreltamer · 25/02/2019 20:39

I put in an offer and was accepted. This was because the estate agent and seller knew my house was one which would be STC within the 1st few viewings. Sure enough it was and the estate agent got double commission.....

mangocoveredlamb · 25/02/2019 22:07

We did this last year, was super stressful as we hadn’t planned to sell and our house was a tip, needed building work finished etc etc.
We went on with the same EA (and I think that was our saving grace really) and got ours on the market in ten days.
We then agreed a price that they would accept once we were under offer.
It got even worse as the only offer on our house was from a couple selling a shared ownership property.
It all came good in the end, but I think it helped that we were crystal clear we were only selling for that one house, and we were also exactly what the vendors wanted in that we were a local family with small children who wanted to stay local for years and years!!

Original poster

Iamblossom · 26/02/2019 11:33

@Mango yes that does sound stressful.

We are going to list with the same EA. They have told the owners we would only sell to buy theirs. EA have suggested we find out by offering what they would sell at and then price our house accordingly.

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DustyDoorframes · 26/02/2019 14:18

We did what you are doing! But in setting the price we went by what our flat was worth, keenly priced. When we got an offer we negotiated up and down at the same time (once we'd got past declining the first lowball opener). Eg:
Agent: "you have an offer of x!"
Us: "will our vendor accept x+TheAmountWeCanAdd?"
When he said yes, we said yes too. Our buyers position helped our position. We ended up with someone who had sold and was in rented. The couple who still needed to sell didn't get anywhere with our vendor or us...
It took us 3 days to get on the market, and 5 to sell. Yes, we could have got more for our flat. But the house was about the only next step which would have worked for us, so we would not have had anything to buy for the extra.

superking · 26/02/2019 14:23

Balthazar has the right idea. We were in an identical position (would only sell to buy this particular house). We were upfront about our situation from the start, made a sensible offer which was accepted and the vendors agreed to give us a few weeks to sell, immediately put our house on the market with the same agent (at a sensible asking price), accepted an offer the following week, moved in four months later.

So yes, it can work and you won't know unless you try.

Original poster

Iamblossom · 26/02/2019 16:05

really encouraging thankyou.

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