What to do with this offer?

[Kate88kate]

Viewing today, they loved it. I think they will make an offer, however they haven’t sold.
What happens in this situation? Do we keep having viewings until they are ready to proceed or if we accept do we then just wait?

If it were me I would keep marketing the property until they are actually in a position to proceed, which to me means offer accepted on their property and agreement in principle from the bank. Without that, any offer they make, even if made with best intentions, has high potential to fall apart and/or leave you hanging indefinitely.

Completely up to you, but in your position I'd continue to have viewings and if someone else if a more proceedable position also makes an attractive offer then go with them. We recently sold somewhere and estate agents weren't even allowing people to view places until they were under offer themselves.

I was in this situation. I had been messed around so much and was honest at the viewing and told them I was reluctant accepting an offer when their house hadn't been sold. They had a large deposit and managed to get a 2nd mortgage so our house went through whilst theirs went on the market and got sold. They moved in October and their property sold in the March so we would not have been able to wait this long. We accepted their offer in the August. See what they come back with.

I would not accept an offer from anyone who was unable to proceed with the purchase and as previous posters have said, it may affect you viewing other properties yourself because you won't be proceedable either.

We made an offer before we had our house on the market. Ours was one of several offers that were ‘accepted’ but the house was still on the market until someone went SSTC. We won that race so we bought the house. I’d recommend you do similar, i.e. accept the offer, keep the house on the market until they sell.

Bear in mind that due to the terrible Engliah selling system, even a cash buyer can mess you around for many months (as happened in my case - he then switched to mortgage/s), let along MIP people or FTB with no chain - so I wouldnt discount anyone who is genuinely keen.
Obviously best to find out where are they selling - if that's in fast market area, no problem, just wait a couple of weeks and see who else is interested but maybe give then a chance, but if slow - then yes, keep doing the viewings actively.

Thanks all that’s really helpful.

Agree as above. I'd say thankyou very much for the consideration, but would keep on marketing until someone proceedable came along - whether that's the same people or someone else.

Wouldn't entertain it till they'd sold their property. In my area estate agents won't let you view anywhere unless you are proceedable (FTB, cash buyer, already sold etc)

Same here. Been looking for 2 years and cannot even get a viewing unless you have MIP.

I’d ask the EA about their house and whether it’s likely to sell quickly. We are in the position of trying to buy before selling and it’s purely because we are confident our house will sell so fast that we won’t be able to find something in time to keep the buyer happy. In this market unless it’s a problem house I wouldn’t give it a second thought that they’ve not sold yet.