Can I view a house under these circumstances?

[Skypatrol]

We moved house about 18 months ago. We have no plans to move. However there is a house come up for sale on the street that we originally wanted that I like the look of. It's closer to schools which is a big plus and they don't come up often.

If we liked the house on viewing it then we would consider putting ours on the market (though it might sell before we even had chance).

Would the Estate Agents think we were time wasters viewing under those circumstances? I know they usually ask loads of questions when you ring up to view.

We do have a buy to let for sale but couldn't transfer the mortgage as we'd be intending on living there - I don't think.

We viewed houses before we put our flat on the market. Once we worked out our budget, we found an areas we could afford to buy houses in. We then did further research, spent time in the areas, and narrowed it down to one area.

We then viewed some houses in that area, to ensure that the places we could afford to live were places we wanted to live. We probably saw around 6 or 7 houses.

Then we put our flat on the market, and started making offers when we had an offer.

So yes, you can view it.

We saw our dream house last october and put our house on the market just for this house - got an offer on ours in mid jan so then offered on the dream house - hoping to exchange contracts next week. You are much better to be honest up front with the agent and make sure you put your house on the market at a price to sell and be prepared to accept offers to get the house you want. Good luck!

Skypatrol, this is exactly how we ended up moving last time. We loved our house, had no intention of moving then a real house-porn place came up and we took a look. Put in an offer (they knew our circumstances) and they said they'd take if off the market for 6 weeks while we got ours up. 8 weeks later we'd sold our place and were on our way.

That house had been on the market 2 years though so I think they were desperate by then!

Go and see it. You don't need to have a property on the market. You could be buying a property as an investment. We have gone to see a lot of houses. We have put in bids on a few places. We were involved in a couple of bidding wars. We were never asked for a specific address but they all (EA) asked if we had the finances to purchase. If we are interested, we place a bid later that afternoon or the next day. If we don't call, the EA usually rings the day after viewing to see what we thought of the property. You are under no obligation to put in an offer or to buy a property you have viewed. It's not time wasting to view with the intention you may buy. The vendors who think it is, need to familiarise themselves with the process and understand buying a property is more than looking at badly taken photos on rightmove.

Just to update; EA has just phoned and told us the the people who put on the offer have just accepted an offer on theirs. So it’s all go.

Good news roomchanging.

We viewed a house under such circumstances - I had a Rightmove habit when I saw it and liked it but our house wasn’t on the market. This was the only house we viewed and we live here now. So it can work out!

Good news roomchanging.

We viewed our current house before ours was on the market, and once our offer was in the agent used it as a bit of leverage to move both sales and the house our vendor bought was with them too. It's in their interests and the interests of the chain for one agent to be the link between you all so it's not always a bad thing. Just ask- they can always say no.

We viewed and had an offer accepted on a house before ours was on the market, obviously on the condition that it sold fairly quickly. It’s pretty normal to want to see what’s out there before you put your own house up for sale, I think.

I think it must be a regional thing as in my area we certainly don’t have sellers refusing to let potential buyers over the threshold just because they haven’t sold their own house.

I offered on my current house before having put mine up for sale and the offer was accepted in principle (but obviously the seller retained the right to keep theirs on the market) until I had sold mine. Luckily I sold mine on the first day of putting it up for sale (actually luck had nothing to do with it) and despite a few hiccups later on in the process everything went through.

The people we bought our house from had already found a property they loved when they weren't even looking to sell and so put there's on the market. We put an offer in before details were even written up. So not all time wasters!

First time buyers can be time wasters, as can those who are on the market and have sold.

Personally, I would let whoever wants to view a property view it as this gives you the best chance of selling for the best price.

I've bought and sold houses in the UK and now moved to the opposite side of the world and EA's work very differently over here and made me realise how little UK agents actually do to earn their money (I hope I'm not offending any EA's on this thread!). They absolutely should organise a house viewing or even better advertise an open house to get as many people through the door as possible. Why wouldn't they show a prospective buyer a property?!

I did exactly this 5 weeks ago today! Fell in love, no previous plans to move at all! My house listed and under offer within 24 hours (use same estate agents as the vendor, make it clear that you need a quick sale and why, and accept that therefore they know how much you want it and you're not likely to get a cheeky offer accepted!!). We got an over asking price offer from cash buyers within an hour of it being on rightmove and exchanged in 4 weeks! We complete next monday, six weeks after deciding to put our house on the market I have to keep pinching myself! So, it IS possible!