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Original poster

I’ve just seen my dream home... but ours isn’t on the market

24 replies

greenfingers5 · 01/03/2021 19:45

DH and I are hoping to relocate about 250 miles away from where we are now. We’ve been planning to put our place on the market but decided to wait until lockdown is lifted. I’ve been keeping an eye on the market and nothing has come up for months in our favoured location, until now - when the perfect property just flashed up on my screen. It’s absolutely beautiful and ticks all our boxes.

HOWEVER... as mentioned, we don’t have ours on the market yet (though properties in our area are selling fast at the moment), it’ll be very hard to view as it’s a 500 mile round trip and we can’t stay over due to Covid (we have two very young DC so would need to stay the night), plus we don’t know if the bank will lend us the money yet, although it is about half the amount we’re currently paying on the mortgage.

Is there any chance whatsoever that we can get this property?

OP posts:

Dinosauraddict · 01/03/2021 19:56

You need to get on the market ASAP to be in with a chance. I wouldn't view the other one yet. You need to be proceed-able first.

DareIask · 01/03/2021 19:58

Travel is allowed in order to buy and sell property..

DavidsSchitt · 01/03/2021 20:01

Perfectly possible, just crack on. Price yours sensibly and it'll sell.

The same happened to us and we got the house! Good luck.

Original poster

greenfingers5 · 01/03/2021 20:12

Travel is allowed in order to buy and sell property..

@DareIask I don’t think staying over is allowed though is it? Even with the sole intention of viewing a property

OP posts:

Original poster

greenfingers5 · 01/03/2021 20:17

How long does it take for an estate agent to do the photos and put a property on the market? I’ve never sold before so don’t have much idea about this stuff!

OP posts:

Habdab · 01/03/2021 20:23

If it's meant to be it will happen. A decent agent should be able to get you on the market in under 48 hours and you can get a mortgage AIP in a couple of hours. Can you ask for a video tour of the property you are keen on?

Pugdoglife · 01/03/2021 20:32

You could get your house on the market straight away and view the property, just be honest with the estate agent that you have only just listed if/when you make an offer.

DareIask · 01/03/2021 20:33

@greenfingers5 yes I believe you can stay overnight. The guidance says you can if you can't reasonably return to your main residence

ANewDawnANewDay · 01/03/2021 20:39

Do a virtual viewing - with the estate agent or owner walking through the house 'live'. Then you can ask them to pause and turn this way or that, ask questions etc.

It makes a huge difference and gives a better feel than just a video.

ANewDawnANewDay · 01/03/2021 20:41

I'm not saying to buy it on the basis of a virtual viewing - but it will give you a better idea of whether the hassle of going over is worth it.

DareIask · 01/03/2021 20:41

Or share a link and we can all have a look and share our thoughts?! 😄😉

bilbodog · 01/03/2021 21:00

We did it 18 months ago! Saw our dream home in november 2018 - went home, put ours on the market immediately. Had lots of viewings but was clear very quickly that we had over priced by £25,000 so dropped the price in january 19 and got close to asking price from a FTB and at that point had our offer accepted on the dream house. Moved in may 2019.

So it can be done - we are very happy in our dream home!

foxhat · 01/03/2021 21:02

We saw our current house when our old house was not on the market. We were not really planning to sell but immediately decided to try and sell before our current house sold to someone else. Obviously it worked as we now live here! We got it on the market v quickly but that was pre-covid so not sure how things would work now. We did tell a fib to get to view the house as some estate agents are very protective about viewings. We said we might be renting our old property out. Thing was we were not really in the market, we would only have moved for this house so we really need to see it to decide whether we were going to sell our old one. When we put an offer in we were clear that we were selling and not yet under offer. Got an offer within about a week of going on the market though.

DespairingHomeowner · 01/03/2021 21:16

You can get your house on market and even be having viewings before photos taken (am sitting in a flat I viewed and bought without photos thanks to a persuasive agent)

I think you can go & also stay 1 night in Airbnb. Get a video tour in as others suggested. It definitely doesn’t sound impossible to me

thetigerthatcamefortea · 01/03/2021 21:36

This happened to us on Saturday! Saw a house that ticked all the boxes.
I got an AIP from the bank online on Sunday morning. Emailed it to the estate agent this morning.
I've got a viewing this week and our house is being valued tomorrow.

HarryLimeFoxtrot · 01/03/2021 21:41

We looked round this house (mostly out of curiosity) when ours wasn’t on the market. It took us 6 weeks to go from that point to having sold our house and having our offer accepted. We’d moved in within 4 months of that first viewing.

bumbledeedum · 01/03/2021 21:58

@greenfingers5

Travel is allowed in order to buy and sell property..

@DareIask I don’t think staying over is allowed though is it? Even with the sole intention of viewing a property

Yes you can stay over night if it's a necessary part of moving home which this would be. We've had to do the same for our relocation, we kept written proof of our viewings in case we were questioned (we weren't). You may be more limited in accommodation choices but there's definitely some places open for reasons like this.

FoolsAssassin · 01/03/2021 22:01

I guess it depends on how fast the market there is moving. We were have kind of been trying to move home since last year. Perfect one Ca,r on Friday and they are on second viewing today. Agent said there are loads of people who sold and rented and are waiting for things to come on.

whatisthislifesofullofcare · 01/03/2021 22:03

bumbledeedum

we rang a premier inn in the area we’d seen a house but viewing would mean an overnight stay, and the Premier Inn person said that viewing a house was not an acceptable reason so they couldn’t accommodate us.

BiBabbles · 01/03/2021 22:52

whatisthislifesofullofcare Though Whitbread's guidance on this has been...sketchy at best (much like some of Boris's speeches), my spouse and friends who work for Premier Inn say the person you spoke to was not following them as house viewing is viewed in the same category as business guests who need to stay if they cannot reasonably return home.

Persipan · 02/03/2021 07:03

Bear in mind that at the moment due to covid, many agents won't allow you to view at all until you're in a proceedable position - not just on the market but with an offer accepted. Before you do anything else I'd give the agent a call and ask what they're doing regarding viewings at the moment.

Midlifephoenix · 02/03/2021 17:09

This is the problem of looking when you can't do anything about it! It is nit a good idea to travel so far if you are bit even in the position to make an offer - as stated, agents are reluctant to show unless you are at least under offer.
Get your house on the market- this may take a few days if you are like me and need to do some decluttering etc! Agent may take them a few days to get photos done and layout and listed on the online portals - plus you need yo get a few around first to get a sense of value and best one for your needs. Once you are on the market then, if other agent is willing, you can go view.

Saz12 · 02/03/2021 17:51

Be straight with the vendors agent. If they don’t allow you to view, then that’s that!

OverweightPidgeon · 02/03/2021 17:59

Agents in our area are doing virtual viewings first and only rl viewings if you are in a position to proceed too , they want a mortgage in principle and for the buyer to have an offer on their house.

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