Looking at house when ours isn’t for sale

[SellingHouse]

We’ve been ‘renovating’ our house since we bought it but it’s currently looking awful because we’ve run out of easily accessible money that we’re willing to spend right now.

I’ve seen a house that looks amazing for us. It should be ok mortgage wise etc but what’s the rules about viewing a house of yours isn’t even on the market yet?

If we had to we could get our house into decent enough condition to sell with some very hard work but we wouldn’t want to do that until we knew we wanted to buy a different one - if we were staying here we’d not rush finishing it off.

Is it worth going to see this house?

No harm in going, however if they sell quick the estate agent may not let you visit as you sent serious buyers- it could sell by the time you finish and put yours on the market

I’ve seen houses when mine wasn’t on the market, I think they know a lot won’t put theirs on until there’s something they might want. I don’t live somewhere where things sell quickly though, I imagine if you’re in the SE it might be different.

Very good point. It might be worth waiting a few weeks to see if it’s going to linger for a while before we make any big decisions. Although knowing my luck it would sit there for 4 months then sell as soon as we put ours on the market!

I assume you can go and see it but as you are not able to proceed, I can’t imagine any offer you make being taken seriously.

I wouldn’t personally. I don’t see the point in window shopping.

I'd be miffed if someone came to view mine and didn't even have theirs on the market yet. It's not a quick 5min thing having a viewing.

Definitely worth looking, I'd say.

We started viewing a few houses before ours was on the market, because we wanted to see if what sort of houses were in our budget and if it was worth it yet.

Since listing we've had a few people view ours in a similar manner.

If the owners of the house you potentially want to purchase are wanting to move quick, it might not be the house for you. But if they are willing for it to be a slower process while you sell it could work. But no way to know that until you view it and speak with them!

Surely you need to get your own house in order first? No point in falling in love with a house and yours still needs renovating, unless you sell it in that condition and reflect that in the price you ask of course.

We went and viewed, loved it, put our house on the market.

I suppose it’s a bit of a chicken or egg thing isn’t it?!

Totally understand some people might see it as time wasting though.

Looking at the pictures it looks to me like an older couple downsizing - just because there’s no kids paraphernalia AT ALL even though it’s a big (to me) house.

@BettyBooJustDoinTheDoo it’s a hard one because the things we’d do to the to sell it we’d do much better/nicer if we were staying here so I wouldn’t want to half arse it. It’s not like I desperately want to move, this house has just caught my eye.

We did this and ended up buying the house, but I'm not sure it would work in your case as you want to renovate before putting yours on the market.

We made an offer on the house we wanted and put our house on the market immediately with the same agent - we were under offer within 10 days and the sale went through smoothly. Our vendors were prepared to give us a couple of weeks to get our house under offer as they weren't in a huge rush to move and knew that we were serious. I'm pretty certain they would have gone for it if it meant waiting for us to renovate!

I agree with a pp, you can certainly ask to view the house but I think you would have to be prepared to put yours on the market immediately and factor the work that it needs into your asking price.

Sorry I should have said they would NOT have gone for it if we had to renovate!

Wow that sounds like it all worked out really well for you!! We could put it on as it is but the photos would look awful there’s holes in walls etc

We went to view without being on the market but we had decided we were moving regardless the week or so before. Also our house was done. Loved the house put in an offer, it was a probate house with 2 rounds of bidding. Between the 1st and final offer we listed and sold our house so we were lucky.

I think OP you have got itchy feet, so if it’s not this house it will be another that catches your eye, if I was you I would either put it on the market as a renovation project or scale down your renovation from what you were planning with the aim that it’s then ready for market should another house come along.