Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Property/DIY

Join our Property forum for renovation, DIY, and house selling advice.

Original poster

Am I mad to think we can make offers without having listed our house?

41 replies

cakehoover123 · 12/07/2023 17:29

I've never sold a house and don't know how this works - so please be gentle.

We want to upsize, but don't actually have to move. We've started viewing houses. We haven't put our house on the market yet.

Estate agents seem amazed that we haven't listed our place yet, and are warning we'll never get an offer accepted.

I'm surprised by this, but then perhaps I'm an idiot.

Do chains generally work bottom-up - i.e. typical person in chain first lists and sells house, then tries to find somewhere quickly that they like to make an offer on?

I'd assumed they'd work top-down - i.e. typical person in chain first finds a house they like, then looks for buyer for their own place.

It seems so implausible that we'll find, offer and be accepted on a house we genuinely like in the precise 2-4 weeks after finding a buyer for ours. Feel a bit trapped.

But we're looking for a certain type of house in very particular area. What do people do in our situation? Sell then rent for a bit while waiting?

As I say I'm new to all this, so please be gentle.

OP posts:
Replyingtoyou · 12/07/2023 17:31

The estate agents are correct

sodthesodoff · 12/07/2023 17:32

It's not often I say this. But I'd listen to the estate agents.

JeanBodel · 12/07/2023 17:32

You are not in a position to move until you have an offer on your house. Unless you have a lot of cash in the bank, you don't even know how how much you can afford to offer on the next property as you don't know how much you will get for your current property.

Any offer you make before you are proceedable is only hypothetical.

CharlotteSometimes1 · 12/07/2023 17:34

They’re correct. Would you agree to sell your house to a stranger who has no idea how long it’ll take to sell theirs? No, many EAs won’t let you view until you’re under offer.

Needcoffeeimmediatley · 12/07/2023 17:36

I'm amazed that your being allowed to view houses at all, that would not be allowed where I am.
You have to either have the cash in the bank, an offer on your house or your house on the market at least.

Aria2015 · 12/07/2023 17:36

When we were looking last year, you wouldn't even get a viewing unless your place was on the market as places were getting snapped up within hours. Now things have slowed down because of interest rates etc... you might potentially get an offer accepted if the people selling were keen and hadn't been getting other offers, but it's still fairly unlikely.

Caitlin991 · 12/07/2023 17:36

We had an offer on our house from buyers that weren’t yet on the market. The EA wouldn’t let us formally accept the offer, but we’ve given them a couple of weeks grace period to get on the market and sold whilst we pause viewings (as per EA advice).
Not really ideal for us though as it means people also won’t be able/want to accept any offers we want to make.
Honestly we wouldn’t have provisionally accepted if the market were busier & the buyers were with a different EA. (Also I needed a break from viewing for a bit 😂)

KievLoverTwo · 12/07/2023 17:38

You are not ready to proceed until your house is sold STC. Until you are, you can view properties, but agents won't recommend your offer is accepted.

It's quite common for people to sell and move into rentals, unfortunately.

HauntedPencil · 12/07/2023 17:39

Another vote for the EA - no one will be that keen to accept an offer from someone who's house isn't even on the market.

m00rfarm · 12/07/2023 17:40

When you say you don't have to move, do you mean you don't have to sell in order to purchase, or you are not that fussed about moving. If you need to sell to purchase, then you need to have an offer on the table otherwise you cannot be taken as a serious buyer. Not only will you probably not have an offer accepted, but you probably won't even get a viewing!

JulieHoney · 12/07/2023 17:43

It’s been like this for many years, OP. The estate agent is right, unless you’re on the market they will ignore you.

You won’t be in a position to proceed on buying a house until you have sold STC. The very least they expect is your house in the market

Idrankyourbananamilk · 12/07/2023 17:43

We had an offer accepted without being under offer ourselves, but we’d only just listed when we viewed our perfect house. Owner accepted our full price offer and stopped viewings on the proviso if we didn’t get an offer within 2 weeks he’d go back out to viewings.

Most agents would have advised him to reject our offer until we were under offer but as we didn’t haggle and went straight in at asking I think we looked like a good bet. It worked out for us but if you haven’t even listed your house yet, you do look like time wasters unfortunately

UsingChangeofName · 12/07/2023 17:44

Agree with everyone else.
The EAs are right on this one.

It must be that the housing market has slowed down again in your area, for them to even allow you to view when you aren't even marketing your property.

When selling, I wouldn't entertain an offer from someone who hadn't sold (unless they proved to the EA that they had the funds to buy without relying on selling first.

I'm not saying you are 'mad' but you have definitely not understood how the property market works.

Twiglets1 · 12/07/2023 17:48

Not "mad"@cakehoover123 but the EA is right. No Seller should take you seriously until you have a Buyer for your property.

LittleRedYoshi · 12/07/2023 17:50

But we're looking for a certain type of house in very particular area. What do people do in our situation? Sell then rent for a bit while waiting?

You need to be prepared for the possibility of doing that, yes. If the kind of house you're looking for doesn't come along very often, you won't be the only one interested in it. The person selling will be considering not just the price difference of the offers they receive, but also the position. The shorter the chain behind you, the more attractive you are as a buyer.

SammySays · 12/07/2023 17:51

No you don’t have to be on the market yourself. We have literally just done this. Started viewing houses and I made it very clear to any agents that I viewed a property with, that our house wasn’t on the market and we would only be listing if we found the right house. I did then say that if we found the right house we’d list straight away with said agent (assuming fees were right 😉). We saw about 10 properties over 2 weeks and fell in love with a real renovation property. Saw on the Saturday, made an offer within the hour, that offer was negotiated and accepted on the Tuesday with a grace period of a month to sell our property. Our house went on the market on the Thursday morning and we received an asking price offer on the Saturday which we accepted. If you are willing to move very quickly and show that you are that type of person, the estate agents will allow it! I’ve done this with every property we have bought/sold.

Caravanvirgin · 12/07/2023 17:53

If I was a vendor I would accept your offer (if it was a good) but I would continue to market my property until you had found a buyer.

Ohmylovejune · 12/07/2023 17:54

They'd normally not let you view but are probably so desperate for buyers at the moment they are letting you view, and hope you find something you love and list yours with them priced to sell quickly!

Original poster
cakehoover123 · 13/07/2023 10:54

> It's not often I say this. But I'd listen to the estate agents.

@sodthesodoff 😆

Thank you for all the answers - pretty clear. Looks like we'd better get listing then!

OP posts:
Original poster
cakehoover123 · 13/07/2023 10:55

Also @SammySays thank you for your answer - so it is possible, with a lot of organisation, good comms and a bit of luck! I'm glad it worked out for you.

OP posts:
potplantsinparadise · 13/07/2023 10:58

Yup - chain up, not down. I'm at the other end of this - looking to buy with no chain (am renting), and the first thing I want to know of the places I'm looking at, if they're not already chain-free, is whether the sellers have found a place they want to buy.

DisappointingAvocado · 13/07/2023 11:05

What you describe is fine and normal in Edinburgh, we've done it twice. Made clear that our offer was subject to sale and we were given a deadline of 4 weeks to have listed and accepted an offer on our flat.

HorseyMel · 13/07/2023 11:06

You might want to buy, but you can't actually buy until your sale is further along. Your house isn't even available for sale right now. I wouldn't even let you view - as what's the point from my POV if you can't proceed?

User10486743 · 13/07/2023 11:08

It depends if it's a buyers or sellers market whether you can do this

Oldnproud · 13/07/2023 11:10

Make sure you have a mortgage in principle in place quite soon too (assuming you need a mortgage), so you don't end up wasting people's time and money further down the line, possibly even making the whole chain collapse.