Offer from someone who hasn't viewed property

[pretendingtocare]

Has anyone had an offer from someone who hasn't even viewed the property before?

They say they know the area well and it's exactly what they looking for but I just laughed. I should add I've already accepted offer but only last week.

Is this how mad things have become?

Is the agent familiar with this person?
I've had similar but the agent basically warned us the person had form and was very unlikely to end up proceeding (specific mental health problems).

That said my dp has viewed a property but was certain beforehand he'd be offering (never usually found anything he's that sure on). And did, and moved in!

Friends trying to buy tell me the market is so ridiculous at the moment that strange.
They phoned the agent to view a house a few weeks ago to be told that there were slots for viewing on Friday morning, and that was it. No choice. No consideration that people might actually be at work.
They were lucky enough to have a trusted parent they booked on to see if they saw anything in person that wasn't apparent on-line, but you can see how / why people would.
Especially now you can see a lot on line, and if they know the area / road. Potentially have even seen other houses on the same road.

I wouldn't - you can't tell if it smells of smoke, for example from a picture - but I can understand how buyers get pushed into it. Even more so if they live a distance away.

We sold our last house to someone who hadn't seen it, and this was getting on for 20 years ago. Our sale had fallen through, then the Estate Agent said he knew someone who was looking for a property in one of a few streets, to let out, as an investment. This was before on-line estate agency, so they really hadn't seen it. He knew the area, and knew the Estate agent (local, independent) had a good reputation, and bought it unseen.

I'm interested in buying a house on a specific number of roads. I've watched video tours of several houses located on them which were sold just before I was ready to proceed, and looked at floor plans of both extended (on local authority planning site) and unextended houses there.

If I saw a house online on one of those roads that had a decent floor plan and a video tour, I'd definitely offer without having viewed in this market, on condition they don't do any more viewings! The current market is insane, and nothing is coming on where am searching now, so I can see why people would do this. If you've done enough homework, it's not such a crazy idea.

We're expats and bought a house in Jan after a Zoom viewing. Still not seen it but perfectly happy with our decision.

I’ve been in my house almost 25 years and whilst I did have a quick walk around with the agent before I put in my offer, I could have done this without. It was a new build estate house was about 5 years old and I had lost out on the same house 10 doors down and was just waiting for another to come on the market.
Recently we have started looking to relocate and whilst we will view properties it might be as we narrow down the area and wait for a suitable house to come to market we offer without viewing

My DD and her husband just bought house like that. Just settled last week. They had previously lived in the area, a couple of streets away, knew the house since DD had always loved it ( it's a unique design). A friend went to inspect so they knew it was a good buy .Made an offer and it was accepted, they still haven't been to see it since they live 1,000km away at the moment !

I wouldn’t. I’d reckon there’s a good chance theyd come and see it midway through conveyancing and hammer the price or pull out