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Original poster

How can I pitch accepting an offer without ours being on the market?

57 replies

FTEngineerM · 18/12/2021 14:42

Is there even a way?

We’re going to see what is essentially our dream house Monday and ours can’t go on the market until after Christmas now. The estate agent was pretty pumped about our house and lots are selling quickly where we are for asking price too.

But obviously to the sellers of the house we’re viewing it may not be so appealing..

What’s the done thing? How can I make us sound more appealing 😂?

OP posts:
senua · 19/12/2021 17:12

How can I pitch accepting an offer without ours being on the market?
Aren't you getting a bit ahead of yourself? You haven't even viewed yet!

I'd take heart from the fact that they are allowing you to view. Take it one step at a time. Do you know their situation and how much of a hurry they are in (or not)?

beguilingeyes · 19/12/2021 17:19

@Heronwatcher

Honestly your only chance would be to offer significantly over the asking price but it is high risk- they may still refuse to take the property off the market and just use it as a bartering tool to other buyers to make them offer higher. The other thing would be to put your house on the market with the same agent selling the property who will back up your claims that yours will sell quickly (and it’s in their interest for you to buy the other house too) or to try to get a bridging loan agreed in principle so that technically you’re proceedable but again a cash buyer would probably still be more attractive. I would get yours on ASAP at a reasonable price and hope no-one offers on the dream house in the meantime.
We've just bought a house like this. Our dream house re-appeared on the market and we weren't at all ready. The vendor's estate agent said he could sell our house in ten days and sold it in six The whole process is so fraught and lengthy anyway that I can't see that it makes a huge difference. There could still be many slips along the way. Also factors like length of chain, size of deposit etc. All house purchases used to be this way. It still seems insane to me to sell your house without having found somewhere first.
Macmickmoo · 19/12/2021 21:29

It’s a funny old market where you end up feeling lucky to get the opportunity to view something you’d like to buy. From the alternative perspective I suppose, we refused to bid on a house if the owners hadn’t found another property to move to. We threw money at the offer we had accepted after stupidly assuming that being cash buyers entitled us to some kind of special treatment - there were too many other people lining up beside us!

Original poster
FTEngineerM · 19/12/2021 22:13

Right, can’t sell with their agent they only market properties in their town.

This is another nail in the coffin.

I’ll call ours again tomorrow and see if they can come take pictures. They’re known for their fantastic marketing/quick sales.

I know it sounds like we’re jumping the gun but we’ve driven by multiple times, seen the area in all sorts of conditions, MIL (who is childcare) is a few streets away, it’s new build
(20yo, we lived in a similar house before buying ours on the same estate) and has everything we need now and in the future (extension plans approved with council) so viewing is going to serve as a double check. I’ve already checked our furniture fits with ample room, the suns arc across the garden in summer and winter, the amount of driveway left after our two cars are parked and where the coffee machine will go. What teams play on the sports field nearby and when.

OP posts:
Loti92 · 20/12/2021 20:13

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Guttedbuyer · 20/12/2021 20:22

Hahaha at the ones saying they wouldn’t let you view.

I did exactly what you did and you know what? We are now almost four months down the mine, I have a buyer desperate to get into my house and the arsehole sellers are messing us around and can’t find a house to go to.

Unproceedable buyers my arse!!! What a bloody joke. You can sell a house 100 times over at the moment and have 100 people wanting one house. Get with the times people.

Guttedbuyer · 20/12/2021 20:22

And yes it’s a touchy subject at the moment …

Original poster
FTEngineerM · 20/12/2021 20:26

@Guttedbuyer sorry you’re in that situation!!

There were 6 of us viewing today alone, agent said not all have sold theirs though. I think we were the only plonkers without it on the market yet😂

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Guttedbuyer · 20/12/2021 20:30

I’d be more concerned about their position tbh. People can’t find houses to buy.

I’ve got everything crossed for you. We will be back in the ‘thick’ (not that there’s anything thick about it at the moment) of viewings and offers come the new year and I’m not looking forward to it.

didireallysaythat · 20/12/2021 20:36

Can't you get photos with the tree up and then update them in a couple of weeks time if you haven't sold by then?

Original poster
FTEngineerM · 20/12/2021 20:41

@didireallysaythat we called them today but they can’t do it until Jan 😢, signed the sale contracts though so - it’s happening at least.

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Sparklespangle · 20/12/2021 20:41

Offer to take your own photos and talk to them on the phone about description. That's what my mum did when they put theirs on the market in the depths of lockdown.

Get it on the market asap, say you are happy to facilitate viewings if they don't have agents available too.

BlackAndPinkNose · 20/12/2021 22:16

This is a bit deceitful but a friend in the same situation got a buy to let mortgage for their own house and said that they were proceedable on the basis that they were in a position to let their house out in order to move if they couldn't sell.

Whammyyammy · 21/12/2021 09:40

I wouldn't allow a viewing, let alone consider an offer. Sorry

dinkydino123 · 21/12/2021 11:52

Could you put yours online through Purple Bricks or Strike or similar? You wouldn't necessarily have to sell with them - could just be a stop gap until you can get yours for sale with their agency. At least that way you could say you were on the market. I'm not sure what the listing costs are with Purple Bricks etc. but might be something to look into...?

Original poster
FTEngineerM · 21/12/2021 20:04

Didn’t go for our fantastic over valuation offer obviously 🤦🏽‍♀️

Thanks anyway. Now I’m not going to look until ours has sold😂

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Sluberry · 22/12/2021 08:05

We’ve tried to do this twice, one time it worked, the other time it didn’t. The time it didn’t the seller needed to sell very quickly and even though we put in the highest offer she just wasn’t interested until we were under offer ourselves, which was fair enough. The other time we were very close to putting on the market anyway, the seller wasn’t in such a rush, and as others have suggested we asked the sellers estate agent to market our house too- this probably bought us an extra 3/4 weeks I’d say. So it can work for sure, with a bit of luck on your side.

LizziesTwin · 22/12/2021 08:11

Tell the agent you are still interested - we were outbid on properties before buying this house & each time the agent approached us saying the higher bidder had fallen through.

Twiglets1 · 22/12/2021 08:35

[quote FTEngineerM]@didireallysaythat we called them today but they can’t do it until Jan 😢, signed the sale contracts though so - it’s happening at least.[/quote]
They probably can’t organise the photos until January as the photographer may be off work until then now. But you could ask them to still list it in Rightmove as For Sale...awaiting photos.
I have seen a few of those on Rightmove

Didiusfalco · 22/12/2021 08:43

@Heronwatcher

Honestly your only chance would be to offer significantly over the asking price but it is high risk- they may still refuse to take the property off the market and just use it as a bartering tool to other buyers to make them offer higher. The other thing would be to put your house on the market with the same agent selling the property who will back up your claims that yours will sell quickly (and it’s in their interest for you to buy the other house too) or to try to get a bridging loan agreed in principle so that technically you’re proceedable but again a cash buyer would probably still be more attractive. I would get yours on ASAP at a reasonable price and hope no-one offers on the dream house in the meantime.
When I tried this tactic, this is basically what happened. They used our offer to get more money out of the people who bought the house. We also said we would market immediately with the same agent - still didn’t work. My friend managed it once where the elderly couple wanted a nice family to live there and didn’t want to be rushed with finding somewhere themselves.
cloudchaos · 22/12/2021 09:11

Do you absolutely need to sell in order to buy the new property? We've made offers in the past on the basis that we didn't need to sell, and would take out two mortgages and then sell the old house at our leisure, then in the mean time we did manage to sell the house before moving so we didn't need two mortgages in the end, but it might be an option if you think yours will sell quickly.

PegasusReturns · 22/12/2021 09:33

All the comments along lines of “you couldn’t even view here”

What happens if you’re only moving for a particular house? Surely lots of people are in that category? How is that manageable?

EmmaC78 · 22/12/2021 16:54

@PegasusReturns

All the comments along lines of “you couldn’t even view here”

What happens if you’re only moving for a particular house? Surely lots of people are in that category? How is that manageable?

It is possible sometimes but not likely at the moment when it really is a seller's market. I renovate properties so buy and sell a lot.
fuckoffjournalists · 22/12/2021 16:58

You haven't even seen the house yet, take things slow, there is no such things as a dream house in reality.

Original poster
FTEngineerM · 22/12/2021 17:06

There is @fuckoffjournalists, it was even better in real life 😩 but that’s a moot point because it’s gone now to someone who has actually got their shit together 😂

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