Waiting for the right house...ready to sell but not on market. Anyone else?

[OUB1974]

We have decided to move from our end terrace. It's a nice house but we never settled here and we don't like the street (mainly due to neighbours). We can stretch to around £50k more than we end up getting for our current house.

We're in the situation where there's no point putting our house on the market as there's nothing to buy. We've had photos done and we're ready to go once something comes on, and I'm worried about missing out, but on the other hand if we went on the market there might be nothing for a year and we'd lose our buyers anyway.

A lovely house came on a few months ago, which prompted us to get the photos done, but it went too quickly. Other houses have been put on at high prices and aren't selling. Some local agents will let us view and some won't before we sell.

We're stuck in this catch 22. We are quite specific about what we want and can just about afford it but there's nothing on the market! There could be something tomorrow or not for 6 months.

Has anyone been in this situation and how did it work out? The agents all have different opinions. Some say to go on the market, but then they don't tell you how to manage it if we can't find an onward purchase. I'm registered with most of them so we hear about them early. I just want to move!

I had an offer accepted yesterday and mine went on today. We have been given 2 weeks (I think it’s unrealistic). I’ll let you know how it pans out 😂

I was just about to ask if you'd let us help you, then saw your username and realised we probably already had 😂

I remember your house. It's beautiful.

Lol, thanks, the name change never changed back 😂

I viewed a house Saturday, phoned same agent when we got home asked them to put us on the market.
Cleaned and tidied Saturday. Photos and contracts done Monday morning, will be online by the end of the week.
The house we want is fucking weird and ours is prime landlord/ftb territory so fingers crossed it works out.

Put it on the market. But when you get a buyer let them know that you won’t be going anywhere unless you find the right property. Assuming you are in England you have nothing to lose. When we did this we told our buyers not to instruct a solicitor or survey until we had an offer accepted - the buyers knew they were potentially wasting time if it all fell through, but at least not wasting their money.

We have decided to go on the market! We'll just have to see what happens and make sure we're honest with any potential buyers. There are so few houses on the market at this time we might have people willing to wait in the absence of anything else. Fingers crossed it all goes well...Good luck to anyone else in the same situation.

@OUB1974 You’ve done the right thing. At least now you should be allowed to view properties you are interested in, and if you are honest with buyers about not moving until you have found somewhere then you have absolutely nothing to lose.

That sounds ideal OP, the property we bought before last, told us unless they could buy a particular property they wouldn’t be moving, thankfully it all went ahead, we lived there and raised our family for nearly 18 years. Wishing you all the best for your move.

As a seller, if I had an offer from a buyer who's found their buyer for their own house already, or a buyer who's not yet got their house on the market, it's clear whom I'd pick. The buyer not yet on the market might only find a buyer for their house who also needs to sell their own house, and you'll end up in a very long chain. A buyer who's found their own buyer already might be able to tell you their own buyer's chain free. Huge difference in timing. I.e. put your house on market and tell your buyer you're still looking for your next home whilst they get busy doing a survey and making sure they can get a mortgage etc.

We were in the same situation.

Found house we wanted (luckily they were struggling to sell)

Put ours on a few weeks later then took another 8 weeks to find buyers but they are cash and chain free, we then had our offer accepted. Looks like we will be exchanging in 2 weeks it's all been super quick

Not everybody is able to rent/have family to descend upon and very few actually do.
It's by no means ideal, but it is what it is. Nobody forces the buyer to wait. The only reason I'd hold off putting my house on the market is if I knew for sure it would sell instantly, otherwise I'm going to miss out on a potential purchase by not being proceedable. I'm also not going to spend hundreds of thousands on something that isn't "right".

*I completely understand the catch-22 situation that trying to move house presents.

From an estate agents perspective it's equally frustrating as I speak to a different person each day doing exactly the same thing. Wants to move, but won't put their own on until they find.

I'm really not sure what the answer is.*

(Newbie and not sure how to quote so used *'s, apologies for getting it wrong).

I have been thinking about this for a while now and the only solution I can come up with is probably unlikely or practical.

This is it. Estate Agents (or a wealthy landlord), in a given area, band together and buy, say, a block of flats to rent out on a short term basis to those wishing to sell their own properties. Strictly time limited (may be different for each part of the country). No staying for years, keeps people moving on.

The EA's put into the pot a %age that they can afford to buy the flats or whatever, and get similar %age of flats to let out to their clients. But with the option of offering them to the other EA's if they are not needing them for a while.

People move out of their homes new people move in bottle neck eased.
Tell me the problems I have obviously missed, or someone would have done this by now.

Sorry I meant "impractical". I did edit too but missed this one.

We'd be better off moving to a system more like Scotland or elsewhere in the world where the transaction gets locked in earlier (survey done by the seller) which would put an end to a lot of problems.

I can think of many reasons why EAs buying a block of flats wouldn't work:

• Not many people want to move twice. We did and went into rental to break the chain. Moving twice is stressful and expensive.
• Vast differences between buyers' needs. A single person selling a small flat might be fine to temporarily move into a different flat. Less so a family of five selling a large property full of furniture and contents of outbuildings.
• Physical requirements - what about people who need ground floor or lift access for prams, wheelchairs or other mobility equipment?
• Paying for inspections, maintenance of flats with a high turnover would be expensive. Difficult to maintain at high occupancy levels whilst allowing people flexibility.
• What about registering with a GP or school places whilst temporarily living in this block of flats? The local GP and school would see a lot of churn or may not even have spaces.
• Costs vs income. Someone who had paid off their mortgage may have quite a low income (eg retired) and be unable to pay rent even for a short period and need their cash to buy a house.
• Length of time. One person's short term looking for somewhere to buy will be different to another's. Some people may only need a week or two if sale/purchase lines up. We were in rental for 18 months. What happens if they still don't find somewhere to buy?

Ultimately if someone is determined to sell and buy they will have to find a way to make it work - we had to as we were a work relocation and simply had to get there. That might mean moving into a rental house or buying a less than perfect property.

Interesting to see more replies on here...An update: we had an asking price offer on our house very quickly, from buyers that understood our situation. Our estate agent was very good and we looked around a house even before it went on their books, about 2 weeks after we sold ours. Obviously we didn't get a bargain, but it was an OK price. Our sellers already had a house they wanted so were pleased to get a quick proceedable buyer. The chain was completed and we moved in last week!

I have been suggesting the same idea 🤣
Kept seeing houses I liked but couldn't get an offer accepted until mine was on the market and had an offer. I knew mine would sell quick (May 2023) as a desirable area and priced for 1st time buyers and fairly quickly I had two buyers and went with the lower offer who wasn't in a rush as I had nowhere to go.

I offered on two houses but both withdrew from the market. Very little came up thar ticked many key boxes.

A couple of months later they pulled out as they found somewhere else. Back on the market and accepted a lower offer but still reasonable. Then I offered on another house but outbid and then offered on a crazy sealed bids one and lost out, despite offering way above bigger better recently sold properties on the street.

Jan this year my buyer gave me an ultimatum and I could face the hassle of starting again so moved all my stuff into a friend's garage, and took my general day to day things to my partner's miles away from work, friends and hobbies, thinking it would be a short term arrangement. 6 months later, now back in another sealed bids house 🤮

There has to be a better way as I've nearly had a nervous breakdown and it's felt so unsettling as I really loved my flat bur wanted to re-locate and have outside space.

The last house we sold we said only procedable buyers to view, EA sent everyone even those not even on the market. Really annoying

I've bought 2 houses without having sold first (Scotland). Both times assumed worst-case scenario sales price, and looking for something v specific /niche. Worked out well both times, for all parties. But arguably overpaid for Perfect House each time... fortunately buyer also paid more than anticipated so came out in the wash.

Exactly the same position here. Don’t want to leave a poor buyer hanging, especially as they’re likely to be a first time buyer so able to move quick. But EAs won’t let us look round or if they do we won’t have an offer accepted 🤷🏻‍♀️

Weve changed our search area and found the market more active there so hopeful we can find something we like and not keep a buyer waiting.

Those who’ve had photos done without being on the market - who did these for you?

You could register with yopa or purple bricks & they do photos which are reasonably priced

But Yopa & PB are often utter crap at being estate agents