Looking at other properties when an offer already accepted - WWYD?

[Towerofjoyless]

So we offered on a house at the start of July and it was accepted, our house went on the market almost immediately after (we are in an area where its not really a thing to have sold your own place first). Almost four weeks on, we have had no offers yet. Ten viewings but nothing has come of them, the school holidays end next week (we're in Scotland) and EA says it should pick up after that.
Our vendor's EA contacted us a couple of days ago to say that the vendor is getting 'nervous' that we havent found a buyer...he had an offer accepted on a new property of his own last week and is hoping to move out by mid October. We're feeling that's a bit tight time-wise, seeing as we don't even have an offer on our place yet.

Anyway, a couple of houses within our budget have come on the market this week which we like the look of, would it be really unethical of us to go and look at them when we have an offer accepted on somewhere else? Think I'm worried our vendor might get fed up and remarket his house, in which case we will be back to square one with househunting. Neither of these properties are being sold with the vendor's EA.

I think I'd wait til you have an offer on yours.
We've managed to keep our chain going, but are currently the very skint owners of 2 houses, praying it's third time lucky on our sale.

It seems silly to me op - you could have 5 houses you've viewed and would love to buy but that's no use if you can't sell yours.

I would look at your house and your price and concentrate on that. With ten viewings and not a single offer in today's market, something is wrong. Has your EA been pushing for feedback from those who've seen yours?

Almost four weeks on, we have had no offers yet. Ten viewings

I'm not familiar with the Scottish market but is this normal? I understand it's been the holidays, but a month with no offers and only 10 viewings seems pretty quiet, and I wonder if you maybe need to think about reducing the price.

Viewing other houses is pointless if you aren't able to sell yours.

Hi we've been getting good EA feedback, I have an online account with them where I can see what they've been doing to get people through the door. Something which is putting a few people off (house is elevated) is not able to be changed. House is on at offers over around 10% under HR value (here the homeowner gets the survey done) but EA has said if it doesn't pick up we can fix the price instead.

It's pretty normal here to offer on a property then sell, we are in catchment for the best state schools in Scotland so its a very popular area.

No real advice @Towerofjoyless but we're in a very similar position, although haven't had any pressure yet from the vendor. EA is reassuring us that things are progressing well, and that is always quieter during the holidays. I wish it would speed up though, as I'm a bit ambivalent about the house we've offered on and this is giving me time to see keep browsing. I'm dreading seeing another place that I love more.

I think you need to stop looking at other properties and potentially even pull out of this one if you can't sell.

@girlmom21 the problem is if you try and sell your place before you've found another home, you risk making yourself homeless! We've been looking for somewhere bigger for more than two years. There's been nothing suitable (other than a lovely flat we lost out on last year). So if we'd sold our flat before now we'd have had to either rent (virtually impossible in our city) or pull out of selling our flat.

No you just delay the sale.
In England almost nobody will accept an offer before you have a buyer with a mortgage in principal and memorandum of sale

We're not in England 🤷.

And if we'd done that we'd have had to delay our sale by two years. Pretty sure the buyer wouldn't wait that long.

I didn't say you were. I specified England as the OP said things are done differently in Scotland.

You pull out of the sale if you can't find somewhere to buy. Your search must be pretty specific if you've not found somewhere suitable in 2 years!

Not sure what the point is in offering your advice about the English system? I'm confused!

And no, our search wasn't very specific. The problem is that there's generally been a "stand off" in the market, with hardly anything becoming available as everyone is waiting to find somewhere to buy before putting their place on the market.

Because you suggested a problem that isn't really a problem because it works

I'm even more confused now! 🤣 Are you saying that there's no problem, and that we should pull out of the purchase, sell our flat, and wait (most likely many months) until we find somewhere to buy?

Pulling out of a sale because you're unable to find somewhere to move to is a much worse option as a) you're committed to paying your EA a load of fees and b) you're messing your buyer around. Most vendors are aware that it's going to take a bit of time for their purchasers to sell, and if they're not happy with that they tend to choose a cash buyer/ first time buyer at the point of offer.

No because my advice wasn't aimed at you. You said your vendors are fine. OP's aren't.

But in Scotland where we have a sensible fast moving property selling system it’s perfectly normal.
I’d hold tight till maybe after next weekend then look at going fixed, you’ll get your hand bitten off for a FP at HR these days

OP's vendors should have chosen cash/first time buyers if they can't wait a month for the property to be sold

We're going to prioritise selling position over price when it comes to choosing which offer to go for.

Hi all I wouldn't say it's overpriced, it was valued at 175k and got put on the market at o/o £160k, which is fairly conservative for the type of house and area. I'd happily fix at HR value, where I live houses are usually going at 10 to 15% over asking but we only really need HR value for out own purchase.

Whilst legal, once you’ve had an offer accepted (or accepted an offer yourself) in Scotland it’s usually viewed very badly if you then pull out, unless you have an amazingly strong reason to. A lot of agents will tell vendors if the purchaser has done that on other properties, and they all keep an eye out on what the local sales are doing so they will know.

Agents prefer you to sell before buying, as do vendors, but if you’re somewhere with few properties (ie rural) or a time when not much is on the market it’s a bit of a risk. We looked for ages before finding something to buy because we are in a small village with little property movement. Fortunately we were right in our thinking and our house sold very quickly, but there’s a big risk that it’ll not.

We wouldn't pull out of the sale but more likely it would be that the vendor would choose to remarket, which we wouldn't blame him for doing. However, I'm not sure how likely it is he would get remarketed, an acceptable offer and someone able to move quickly all in the space of 9 or 10 weeks. Our offer was £40k over asking, the house needs a lot doing to it and others may or may not be willing to match that, he could refuse a lower offer etc etc - a lot of variables in this situation, and we would probably stay in the background just in case we are still the best option for him!

But if he does get a new buyer, we need to keep our own options open. We'll stay on the market and see what the coming week brings once thr schools go back. Thanks for your comments everyone.

Yeah, we ended up saying that only buyers under offer/cash can look round as everyone seems to want a nosey.

This is why it really works best to have your own house sold first before then looking as your chain is all back to front and isn't currently working op. By all means go and view the houses but you may still not get a buyer for yours and you'd be in the same position. I'm quite shocked you got an offer accepted when yours hadn't, that would have out me off personally when inwas selling. Good luck with the move anyway but if hold off until you've sold and you know more about where your up to etc c

The systems and 'rules' are so different between Scotland & England that saying what you'd do in the other system is pointless.

it's like giving advice on the strategy in a netball game to a football team.

Any luck yet @Towerofjoyless ? We've got one more viewing this week 😕