Someone bought the house I didn't get a chance to view. Feeling down

[MapleLeaff]

This property just got advertised on Thursday last week. As soon as I came back from work I called them up and he earliest viewing they could do was 5pm Tuesday (today). Just got a call someone had had their offer accepted before I had the chance to view it. The estate agents said they offer education more than the price - something we probably wouldn't have done.

I really had high hopes on this one - haven't seen a good one like this in my price range for about a year.

I'm a first time buyer with no chain just feeling down!

We had one house like that. It was a blow because it was the first Rightmove link we agreed on! We ended up buying a bigger house in a better village for 25k under budget. Also the house we missed out on went for over budget after a bidding war so we never could have had it anyway. Another better one will come along for you!

Happened to us all the time... We wanted to have a house with two toilets and a nice kitchen diner, potentially a utility. But if any of them came to the market we didn't even have a chance to view them. They were all sold on the same day coming on rightmove.

We bought a house with none of the above mentioned and are now renovating it to suit our needs.

Happened to us as well, it's devastating isn't it? :( We are first time buyers, we were trying not to get out hopes up too much but really liked a property - it was beautiful, ticked all our boxes and was under our budget in a lovely area. Booked a viewing for the next weekend and received an email saying the seller had accepted an offer on Thursday. It had been for sale for nine months, I just wish we'd seen it sooner and had a chance to see it. Nothing else we've seen compares.

We had the same. Gorgeous house, full of character and just the right number and style of original features, but also with some fantastic modern features. Right number of bedrooms, full of light, huge garden etc etc. Came on whilst we were on holiday and sold before we could view.

Had a phone call on a Saturday morning a couple of months later. Sale fallen through and house back on the market, were we still looking? We were, but were away at a wedding so couldn't do the same day viewing they wanted. Again sold before we could get there.

Six months later, house comes back on the market because the couple who bought it were divorcing. This time we got a viewing and were so excited, we had practically decided to buy before we walked through the door. Walked in and hated it!

A better house is out there for you OP!

I know it's cliché and annoying but the right house will come along, this wasn't it.
Had a similar situation, house seemed perfect, booked viewing, they accepted an offer before we had viewed. Ended up falling through and we ended up viewing, didn't like it in the end.

Also I think it's bizarre people don't let the booked viewers still come and have a look, surely they could make themselves more money by starting a bit of a 'bidding war'?

Estate agents love this. Some underprice to get an immediate sale. That means they have do almost zero work for their commission. One large chain of agents actually sells before advertising as a matter of principle unless there's something wrong with the house, in which case it can linger. If they have a "preferred buyer", they will set a viewing in the middle of the week and push the vendor to accept immediately by outlining the inevitably amazing qualities of this particular buyer. I've learned this the hard way.

We had this... house sold same day it listed I was devastated so I walked round the corner knocked on the door and asked if I could buy their house for 10k more.
They let us in, we viewed and made the offer stood in their kitchen lol. The previous buyers didnt up theirs so we got it. Dont bother offering theogh the estate agents tho, when they mark it as sold i dont think they will carry on submitting offers, needs to be to owners directly.

Unfortunately, the typical 2 bathroom, 3 bedroom and utility type houses fly round here.

I missed out on a couple of houses in a similar way. Really glad I did in the end because I found the house I then bought and it shits all over the ones I missed out on!

Bit brutal but couldn't you put your own bid in?

we were the people who got the house we looked at it on the Saturday there were other viewings lined up mid week we moved heaven and earth to get our paperwork together that day and two hours later we were the buyers so the other people didn't get to look at it sometimes that's the way it goes

We had a similar situation with a lovely house that I viewed on a Saturday, but DH couldn’t view till Tuesday. I told the EA first thing Monday that we were very interested and chain free cash buyers and would very likely make an offer. The EA then confirmed that the vendor had accepted another offer on Monday lunchtime. I cried, thought about upping our offer, but actually the house wasn’t worth more than other person had offered.

About 4 weeks later, we found a much better house, more expensive (needing a mortgage etc), but it’s a forever home whereas the other one was only a 5-7 year house.

A couple of weeks later, the EA called me to say that the chain had collapsed on the first house and asked if we wanted to make an offer. By then the answer was no.

Hopefully you will find a much better house! Sometimes the ones that looks amazing on paper just don’t work in real life. Good luck with your search!

Similar to a PP we got our dream house by being the first viewers in the door. It was advertised on a Thursday afternoon, I saw the property alert and made an appointment for the Saturday morning. Advised the EA same day that we wanted to make an offer, then sent in an offer letter first thing Monday, including a copy of our bank statement and mortgage in principle document. They then cancelled all of the other viewings lined up for that week. It definitely helps to get in quickly with a viewing and having your interest formally noted and supported with evidence

I wouldn’t wait for things to come on Rightmove, you need to be in touch with agents regularly. The house we are now in I had a viewing booked before the listing went live.

We have been in your position and even to this day, it is the house that got away. However, we are now in a house we love and we soon got over the last one. We eventually did become the people who bought a house and all the other viewings and an open day were cancelled as a result of our offer so we have been on both sides of this situation.

After we lost the first one, we ensured that we had registered with the local EAs so were on their list of people they called to view houses before they appeared on Rightmove. As it turned out, there was a lot of houses like this.

However, with our current house, it appeared on Rightmove just after midnight on a Friday night, I had drunkenly spotted it while randomly opening and closing apps on my phone but I knew there and then this was the house. I quickly sobered up, woke DH up to have a look and we drove to PIL's house by 8am on Saturday morning. The house was a 10mins walk from their house. EA told us that it wasn't ready and that there was an open day in a week's time.

PIL also thought it was the best we could get for our money so they cheekily went and knocked on their door. The owners weren't sure about what was going on but as it turned out, the EA had listed it by mistake and that it wasn’t meant to go live until Tuesday. PIL left our contact details with them to think about it and contact us while we were still in town if they wished.

2 hours later the house had disappeared off Rightmove. We received a phone call from the owner who had called the EA and described us, EA remembered us and told the owner that maybe they ought to give us a viewing as we were keen buyers. We had previously made an offer on another house with same EA but it had been rejected and still on the table when this house came up.

We viewed it Saturday afternoon, and within 30 seconds, I knew this was going to be my home. I was still stood in the hallway. We made an offer 10 mins later while stood in their dining room. It was rejected. The asking price was one of those ‘£225k - £250k. We already had a AIP in place, 1st time buyers whose rental was almost expiring. We made our official offer Monday morning. We wanted to pay just enough to tempt the vendor to cancel the rest of the other viewings and the figure we agreed on was between those two.

By the time our house appeared on Rightmove, it was already marked as sold. We are starting to look again now and I’m noticing that 50% of the houses we like the look of are coming up on Rightmove already sold so the EAs must have a list of buyers they can call once they have an instruction.

Before we had children, we had "one that got away" like that. We ended up buying another property for a similar price a few streets away, but every time I passed the first house, I wondered what might have been.
Several years later my eldest DC ended up in the same class as a child whose parents had bought the house, so I became a regular visitor there and found I had no regrets whatsoever: although it was detached and we ended up in a semi, it really wasn't that nice inside; unsympathetically renovated and the garden was teeny. We found something much better and I'm sure you will too.