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Original poster

Buyers making an offer on my house before even viewing it

53 replies

livingasimplelife · 15/03/2019 14:58

I put my house up for sale this week and it went on Rightmove yesterday. I've had one viewing and have another 2 booked in for next week.

This morning, less than 24 hours after going live, my estate agent informs me that one of the viewers booked in for next week wants to make me a good offer even though they haven't viewed the house yet. They say they 'know' my house but I've no idea how or who they are although they are local.

As far as I understand, they have taken out a bridging loan in order to buy mine as theirs is not on the market yet. I've suggested that they go ahead with the viewing first before we discuss any offers etc.

I've never heard of anything like this before. Does anyone have experience or knowledge of something similar please?

OP posts:
Livelovebehappy · 16/03/2019 09:55

We did this only a couple of months ago. We are renting but now in a position to buy. Really like the area so looking for something nearby. I got an alert via rightmove that a house had come up, and I loved the pics online and didn’t want to lose it - when we rang the agents they already had viewings booked in prior to ours so we offered the asking price over the phone without viewing. Whilst the vendor was thinking about it he had a viewing where it was a cash buyer who offered and so they got the property over us. I still keep looking out for it though on the off chance the sale falls through.

Bluesheep8 · 16/03/2019 13:06

I'm with a pp. Could they have lost out on it when you bought it and felt they lost their dream home?

Foxmuffin · 16/03/2019 13:07

My husband has done this and gone onto purchase.

BibbityBobbityEars · 16/03/2019 15:07

This happens a lot where I live, particularly with older family houses. People have their eye on houses for years and snap them up the moment they come on the market (if they’re fairly priced)

mrsdaz · 16/03/2019 18:31

We made an offer without viewing. We knew the house as it was a friend of hubbys parents and he sadly passed away. It’s the same house as in laws in the next street. We could tell from the pictures that it needed work doing but went for it anyway! We complete next week :-)

Ariela · 16/03/2019 22:55

Friends of mine bought the house 2 doors down (so identical semi) to one they missed out on, they made an asking price offer the day it went on the market before viewing it.

Shaytoon · 17/03/2019 00:34

We made a few offers on houses without seeing them because estate agents wouldn't let us view the property - they didn't have any time available.
They would say, no the house has x viewings next week and we expect one of those people will want it, so there's no more viewings available for this property.
If we were serious about wanting that house we made an offer and suddenly they would be able to find time for us to view it.

Movinghouseatlast · 17/03/2019 16:09

I offered on the house I am sitting in right now before seeing it. The offer was subject to a viewing, and we reduced our offer by £5k after the viewing because the garden needed a lot of work not evident from the photos, e.g. the deck was unsafe, there were pipes of rubbish every where, all fences need renewing. It has cost a lot more than 5 k so far.

I think we paid too much for it. Everything needs doing, and we didn't factor in the cost of 3 new bathrooms. However, it is perfect for what we wanted. We are using part of it as a business and it has a lot of land. We probably paid about 7% more than it was worth.

It will be gorgeous when it's finished!

tootyfruitypickle · 17/03/2019 16:52

With the bridging loan - won't they end up paying extortionate stamp duty charges due to owning a second property? That is what would make me wary, you definitely need the agent to do a good job checking out the finances properly. Sounds like your house will be in demand though which is exciting!

chandylier · 17/03/2019 19:36

It's not such a crazy idea. They get the offer accepted then if anything turns up in survey they just back out then

Original poster
livingasimplelife · 17/03/2019 21:58

It's nice to learn that some of you have done this and it's worked out well for you.

The bridging loan aspect of my possible buyer does concern me. At first I thought they must really want my house if they've gone to those lengths. But I've since learned that they also offered on another house in the next village before viewing it but their offer was considerably lower than the asking price and it was rejected by the vendors.

I know nothing about bridging loans but I would imagine the interest rates would be pretty steep. As Tooty says, they will also be liable to stamp duty on a second home although I think that can be re-claimed if one house is sold within 3 yrs or so.

OP posts:
TellerTuesday4EVA · 17/03/2019 22:22

I did this with a previous home, I'd bought it following a messy divorce & had a real emotional attachment to it for that reason & the work I'd put in to it. When I met DH & we planned to start a family we needed somewhere bigger, I wanted to keep it to let out but the finances wouldn't work without selling it. It came on the market 10 years later & I rang the estate agent the same day & we're the proud owners of it again.

HumptyNumptyNooNoo · 19/03/2019 06:29

What does it matter, you want to sell they want to buy. Whether they have viewed or not matter not .

ThroughThickAndThin01 · 19/03/2019 06:36

I wouldn’t take it off the market until they had seen inside it. People do this to try and secure it but then change their minds because it ‘doesn’t feel right’ etc. Unless they are abroad and can’t see it, but even then I’d be nervous right up until exchange.

flumpybear · 19/03/2019 06:53

I'd hold off til it's been seen by a few, are you sure it's on at the right price? Any similar houses sold in your street recently (Dane size house/garden/modernness etc ) check rightmove sold prices

anniehm · 19/03/2019 06:58

We bought unseen as we lived overseas, we did send my parents to have a look after the offer was accepted. The estate agent knew the situation so had sent footage and extra info on a few houses (this was pre fast internet so on a dVd). All worked out great.

HoneyDragon · 19/03/2019 07:03

Have they asked you to take it off the market? I’d say you can accept the offer but keep it on the market until they confirm they are proceedable.

MountainPeakGeek · 19/03/2019 21:12

Yes, we had that back in 2000. We instructed the estate agent to market our house and before the end of the day (so before they'd even taken photos) they informed us that they had a full asking price, first time (cash) buyer who wanted our place ASAP. The couple had already tried to buy a neighbouring property but had lost out to the vendor accepting a higher offer part way through the process.

It was great to sell so easily as we wanted to move quickly - and I know they were the ones who introduced this buyer to us - but I really begrudged the agent their commission when they didn't actually have to advertise at all!

DonaldTramp · 20/03/2019 09:54

I had an offer of £500k unseen, on a run down house I was selling (inheritance). It later turned out to be a developer friend of the agent.
We eventually sold for £580k to a family who wanted a project. I was glad I hadn't gone with that early offer.

Original poster
livingasimplelife · 20/03/2019 10:50

The couple who made me the offer have now viewed my house and are standing by their offer.

Another viewer is offering the full asking price which I wasn't concerned with at first as they had a house to sell. Turns out their house is now sold so they are still offering full price.

Another viewing is booked in for tomorrow, estate agent phoned them to cancel the viewing as 2 offers already on the table but they are adamant they want to view even though they know they would have to offer over the asking price to compete.

I certainly didn't see this coming!!

OP posts:
another20 · 20/03/2019 15:08

Sounds underpriced? Make the most of this one - yiu don’t need to cancel the viewings / you haven’t accepted it yet.

AgathaF · 21/03/2019 07:26

Continue with the viewings that are already booked. It sounds like a desirable property and is potentially undervalued. Consider going to 'best and final' offers to get the best price for it.

MeowthThatsRight · 21/03/2019 07:31

We did this for a house last year. We’d lived in our previous houses for a few years but it wasn’t our ‘forever home’. We’d spotted about 5 properties around town that we liked and just waited for one to come up. Having lost out on properties before while waiting to go for a viewing we just put the offer in straight away.

Original poster
livingasimplelife · 21/03/2019 08:34

It is looking as if it might have been undervalued. I had 3 estate agents value it before it went on the market and all 3 gave the same valuation.

I did think it was worth a little bit more so insisted it went on the market at £10k more than the agents' valuation. The estate agent was a bit pessimistic about it and said we would probably end up reducing it after a few weeks.

OP posts:
Littleonetimes2 · 21/03/2019 16:09

We have just done this, or should I say in the process of doing this, hopefully completing next week. It was the only property in the area we wanted with the amount of rooms/drive/garden for the budget we could afford.
I did it on a whim when I was bored and hormonal and just wanted to move, I didn't care what it was like on the inside. We knew others were viewing it and with what it had to offer for the price we couldn't not put an offer in. We of course went to view it after, and the estate agent would only pass the offer on with proof of what we could get on a mortgage.