One agent conducting viewings at a property listed as “SSTC” by a second agent

[ZigAZigAhh]

Hi all

Last week DH and I arranged to inspect a property which is listed on Rightmove with two agents (A and B). The viewing was scheduled for yesterday through A.

On Friday, I looked at B’s listing of the property and saw the property was now listed as “sold”. Shortly after that B’s Rightmove listing disappeared.

DH called A’s office and mentioned B’s “sold” listing. The person he spoke to was surprised and said they had not been instructed that the property had sold but would look into it and let us know if the viewing was cancelled.

We didn’t hear anything further and viewed the property as planned yesterday. The agent from A said there had been lots of offers on the property but the owners weren’t going to consider anything below £X. We were happy with this as it is within budget and we loved the property. We didn’t think to ask him directly about B’s listing given the owner was clearly happy for viewings to take place yesterday.

We are going to contact A tomorrow to arrange a second viewing with a view to making an offer. However, given the property is still listed as “sold” on B’s website and now on Zoopla, we are worried we are wasting our time.

We will be speaking with the agent at A to seek assurances that the house is indeed still on the market but we are feeling quite uneasy about it all. If an offer has been accepted through B, then why is the owner still happy for inspections to take place through A? Why wouldn’t the owner have instructed A if an offer had been accepted through B? Or is A/the owner hoping for us to gazump the current offer (which we definitely want to avoid doing)?

Has anyone been in this position before?

There’s a good chance that they are waiting for surveys to be instructed before taking it off the market. There’s still chance that the offer falls through or is one of many made by the buyer etc and this normally takes 2 weeks to become ‘no viewings’. That’s my take, there may be other reasons but I would be quick if you are interested and make sure you can get your surveys etc booked in quick should you decide to offer as it may be first past the post!

It's because in England and Wales 'SSTC' is meaningless. The advice to book a survey ASAP is horrible as it assumes that most people have principles and aren't blinded by greed. Many buyers get gazumped after shelling out 2k on solicitors and surveys. In this case either the seller is still hoping for a higher offer or the other agent is trying to get the commission. My friend was gazumped twice after spending close to 4k in total. In the house she ended up buying she decided against getting a survey and unfortunately it backfired horribly.

Or it could be that whilst the seller had an offer that they were happy with, they might have agreed to your viewing as it was booked before they got the offer?

Thanks all! I suppose I’m just a bit confused about what to do next. We love the property but I don’t want to gazump anyone. But then I don’t want to not put an offer in if there’s a chance we could get it without gazumping someone! We’re not sure how much agent A will be able to reassure us given he will be relying on instructions from the vendor, who may well be out to get as much as they can.

When we bought our current place we made an offer, the vendor took a few days to respond and in the meantime let other viewings take place, then accepted our offer and stopped viewings (the listing still stayed up showing as “SSTC”). We’re not quite sure where we fit in this process here!

Masses of 'SSTC' fall through. A house near me has been SSTC 3 times in 6 months, and is now on the market again. To me a place is only sold once contracts have been exchanged - so hefty penalty if buyer pulls out - which can take many weeks.

Presumably the vendor doesn't feel sufficiently certain of the offer they've had - there's many a slip....etc. to take it off the market.

Very true. I think we will speak to agent A tomorrow to express our interest and ask for a second viewing but also ask him to seek direct confirmation from the vendor that the property is still on the market. If it is, then great, we will go for the second inspection and see what happens. If it’s not (or if it’s not completely clear whether it is or not) then we will just start searching again and hope we find something just as nice!

Why don’t you call agent B in the morning and enquire about viewing. They then tell you if it’s under offer or not presumably.

Spoke to B to enquire about a viewing and was told the property “had been sold”. It has also been completely removed from their website (no “SSTC” listing). DH is due to speak to A later this morning to line up a second viewing but I think it’s looking less and less likely that we will get anywhere with it...

Spoke to A - it seems that a “very low” offer has been made through B which the vendors are really not happy with. The vendors are instructing A to continue to advertise the property and arrange inspections. We are booked in for a second viewing later this week. I’m trying to work out whether this is a good idea or whether it’s going to become a messy bidding war!

I wouldn’t. Presumably someone thinks they are buying that house and the vendor is willing to pull out of that sale. It doesn’t sound like they’d be loyal to you either.

@ZigAZigAhh told ya. You should tell the story in another thread on here where they are currently bemoan OP bad entitled attitude.

*bemoaning

It’s really put me off to be honest - I keep imaging the other people being so happy they have found their dream house and potentially starting to spend money on surveys etc. We would be heartbroken if it happened to us. I’m sure there will be other properties around that don’t feel “ick”.