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Original poster

Can someone put in an offer on a house if they haven’t sold?

25 replies

IloveSooty424 · 21/05/2021 11:14

We’re FTBs and have just put in an offer on a house that belongs to a couple that are divorcing for the full asking price. She had said yes and we’re now just waiting on her ex-husband to agree.

The house has been on the market for a while and isn’t part of the insane bidding wars that are currently going on. However, the estate agent said that there is another interested buyer and she really wants the house, but hasn’t sold her house yet. This buyer has her house on the market with the same estate agent. Can she make a formal offer on this house when she hasn’t sold? I’m a bit worried she may try to outbid us if she knows there’s another interested party.

Obviously I have told the estate agent that one of the conditions of our offer is that the house is taken off the market and has no more viewings.

OP posts:

Spiderplantsoutside · 21/05/2021 11:16

Yes they can. But the seller is less likely to accept them

readytosell · 21/05/2021 11:20

@Spiderplantsoutside

Yes they can. But the seller is less likely to accept them

Exactly this, it's not an offer so much as an expression of interest, but nothing to stop them.

Personally as I seller I wouldn't even consider such a thing, as you have no idea of timescales until they become proceedable.

AzkabanPrison · 21/05/2021 11:25

I've just had an offer accepted before I even put my house on the market. I know that if someone comes and bits an higher offer in than me than I stand I lose out but it's the house we both love and the sellers are really understanding.

leekandpotsoup · 21/05/2021 11:54

As far as the seller and estate agent are concerned you are not proceedable. They may agree to accept your offer on condition that you have accepted an offer on your property that has been agreed within an agreed timescale eg 4 weeks. After which they will consider other offers . It happened to us and the estate agent made a note of our offer but wouldn't present it to the sellers until we'd got a buyer for ours, fortunately we got a buyer quite quickly otherwise any other more proceedable offer would have been accepted by the seller

ThereIsNoSuchThingAsRoadTax · 21/05/2021 12:40

@leekandpotsoup

Did you bother to actually read the OP?

user1471538283 · 21/05/2021 12:51

Yes they can however, I doubt they would be accepted because they are not proceedable. If this other interested party really exists!

eurochick · 21/05/2021 13:08

Yes you can. But a vendor might not accept until you have sold.

DespairingHomeowner · 21/05/2021 14:27

There are a few things going on:

she is not proceedable (if she exists)
the agent may well be making her up!

Fastforwardtospring · 21/05/2021 14:34

We sold a house back along which went to sealed bids, we didn’t accept the highest bid or the cash buyer, we went with the FTB who had their mortgage offer, you are in a very good position, not even cash buyers can access all their money quickly, advised by our estate agent at the time. You are in a very good position, assuming you have a mortgage offer, good luck.

Livingintheclouds · 21/05/2021 14:35

I'd take your offer over a higher priced offer from someone who hasn't sold. And you've offered what they've asked - what reason could they give to refuse?

DespairingHomeowner · 21/05/2021 14:38

lastly, WHY is this house not part of a bidding war, is there an issue, has there been a failed prior sale etc?

Original poster

IloveSooty424 · 21/05/2021 19:37

@DespairingHomeowner

- lastly, WHY is this house not part of a bidding war, is there an issue, has there been a failed prior sale etc?

I really don’t know. The house across the road sold for £15,000 more but it has a bigger garden and is not as overlooked. Some houses here are going like hot cakes, others are sitting on the market for 4 weeks plus. There’s no logic to it at all.

The only thing I can think of is the vendor works nights and is a single mum and it took us two weeks to get a viewing. I think other people are impatient to view. She’s going through a divorce which is why she’s selling and needs to downsize. I’m a bit worried that she may take her time to find somewhere else, but she will sell as her ex will want his share of the equity.

OP posts:

LawnFever · 21/05/2021 19:42

We put an offer in on our current house which was accepted before we’d sold ours.

It was on the market and we had viewings booked in and the people we bought from had lost their previous buyers and were just keen to accept an offer I think, and we met them and chatted which I think can help sometimes.

But nothing is 100% until you get much further down the line anyway, the whole house buying process is such a nightmare isn’t it!

Flippyflops2021 · 21/05/2021 19:47

@IloveSooty424 so she hasn’t actually found anywhere yet? I guess you have to be prepared to wait etc. I’d want to find out exactly her/their position. If they need proceeds from this house to buy new smaller house, or if she’s willing to go into rented if nothing else comes along for a while etc. I’m always a bit wary of chains that have no definite ending (if that makes sense). She may find a house she likes, the sellers there may have to find something and on and on.

Hopefully this could be straight forward though

Level75 · 21/05/2021 20:06

We put an offer on our house, which was accepted, when we were not specifically looking - just liked the house and had a look. The vendor did say they wanted us to have a buyer for ours within 6 weeks.
We had to get ours ready to sell sharpish! Got it sold in the time specified.
All that said, there was no other interest and it was a very different market to this.

BeautifulandWilfulandDead · 25/05/2021 07:39

A buyer will usually only accept an offer from a non-proceedable party if there is nothing on the table, so I imagine it won't apply in your case.

PresentingPercy · 25/05/2021 08:42

So the vendor didn’t give keys to the agent for viewings? You waited 2 weeks to view???? She’s not a committed seller in my view. Also if your offer is accepted, no other viewings should be take place as part of your agreement to take the purchase forward. Press for an agreement to sell to you or you should keep looking.

Andthenanothercupoftea · 25/05/2021 08:48

@PresentingPercy if she works nights then she might not want to have people viewing when she's asleep etc so it might be a bit trickier than most. 2 weeks is quite a long time, but wouldn't be a massive red flag.

@IloveSooty424 they might not be able to issue the memorandum of sale without the ex husband signing something, which could be holding up it properly coming off the market. But the EA should stop other viewings.

I'd keep your offer on the table, but keep an eye out elsewhere (make it known that your doing that until it's off the market). If you're able to be patient/flexible sounds like you might grab yourself a bit of a bargain.

PresentingPercy · 25/05/2021 08:51

It would for me. No one works for 2 weeks on nights. If you are keen to sell, you allow viewings.

reallyreallyborednow · 25/05/2021 08:57

Yes they can. But the seller is less likely to accept them

This. We put in an offer for a house, with ours not on the market. We explained that ours was a highly desirable area and would sell quickly, but they went with the lower offer and someone who had an offer on their own property.

There choice of course, but we had an offer within a week of going to market, and had exchanged contracts within 12 weeks. The house we’d offered on still hadn’t completed 6 months later, someone down chain had lost their sale and the whole lot fell through.

It’s a gamble.

reallyreallyborednow · 25/05/2021 09:01

It happened to us and the estate agent made a note of our offer but wouldn't present it to the sellers until we'd got a buyer for ours

I thought agents were legally obligated to present any offer to sellers, no matter how ridiculous? It’s the sellers decision, not the agent.

Original poster

IloveSooty424 · 25/05/2021 09:14

Well we got our offer officially accepted yesterday and it’s now off the market. I’m so relieved and happy. The estate agent did say that the other interested party now had a complete chain but our offer had already been accepted by the vendor.

The vendor had problems with her mobile phone that’s why we had to wait two weeks to view. She is a motivated vendor and was already packing boxes to move when we went to view again on Sunday. She also already has a house to move into that she’s inherited so she’s chain free and we’re FTBs so also chain free. I can’t believe our luck!

OP posts:

Original poster

IloveSooty424 · 25/05/2021 09:22

@Andthenanothercupoftea we had a second viewing booked after our offer was on the table but was conditional on us seeing the house again. The estate agent had a viewing booked for Sunday morning but cancelled us it after we made our offer for the full asking price and let us go and view it again on Sunday instead. It’s restored my faith in estate agents!

OP posts:

Original poster

IloveSooty424 · 25/05/2021 09:24

*but cancelled it

OP posts:

ChicChaos · 25/05/2021 09:25

A chain-free sale and purchase is an absolute bonus OP, hope it all goes well and good luck in your new home!

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