What happened to only being able to view houses when yours is already listed??!?

[Chancingtheirarm]

We’ve been on the market since mid October. Not a huge amount of viewings but a second viewing today from an interested party.
It was all very positive, just had a call from the EA. They’ve offered 30k under asking price (final offer). When I asked are they able to proceed I was told no, their house is going on the market in the next day or two.

Eh?? So you want us to accept your offer, remove our property from the market and wait for you to sell yours?

Have I missed something here? I’ve not sold in many years but previously you couldn’t even view a property unless you’d sold, had a property on the market or was in a position to proceed. Certainly you wouldn’t make an offer unless you could proceed?

Is this normal now?

When we bought our house (16 years ago) we didn't put our old house on the market till we'd found this one. Because we knew it would take longer to find the right house than to sell ours (we were right).

If you stipulated to the EA that you only wanted people who were already on the market or sold then you should point that out.

Both times I’ve bought it’s because I saw something I wanted. Put in an offer (to find out exactly how much they wanted) and then sold mine.

There’s no ongoing chain, it’s a house that weve been renting out.

Did you show these viewers around, OP, or did EA show them around?

I agree, cart before the horse! We sold a few years ago, our EA were told NO viewing unless ready to proceed. It was a different market then though. I know a few people that have tried to sell this year, no luck, withdrawn from the market and trying again next year. Buying and selling is very stressful.

I can't imagine why people look before even putting their house on the market. Its a complete waste of everyone's time.

Just tell them thanks, come back.when they're in a position to proceed

previously you couldn’t even view a property unless you’d sold, had a property on the market

Whilst that might have been something that people abused there's no rules about this

I am quite pleased about this. From a different perspective we are looking for quite a niche property. We've sold our house twice this year and kept buyers hanging on so that we a proceedable but as the market has slowed and nothing has come up we haven't found anything. We are currently without a buyer and can't face it in the run up to Christmas and if our dream home comes on the market we are stuffed but I just hate the idea of letting down another buyer.

Sorry not 'abused' should be abided by. Weird autocorrect

I didn’t put mine on the market until I’d seen one to buy. Mine sold in 3 weeks and the one I bought had been on the market 6 months

That’s probably why the EA hasn’t assumed you want only certain viewers. Not the same chain stresses.

Did you tell them you only wanted cash buyers or people who were sold or on the market?

Well no, because you've got all sorts of people who don't need to sell a house to buy another one, and people who don't need to buy a house to sell one.

Examples: Probate sales, first time buyers, cash buyers, landlords selling up, buy to let, second home buyers, people moving here from abroad, property investors.

All these will be qualified buyers (ones ready to proceed) without needing to market a physical house. So stipulating that people who need to sell their house to proceed with a purchase have actually taken steps to do that is supposed to hurry things up. Just like most of us would expect a landlord selling up to have asked his tenants to leave if he's not doing a landlord-to-landlord sale, and we would expect probate sales to have applied for a grant of probate or be in the process of doing so.

Some people do it the other way around, but it's more usual (and less annoying up the chain) to put your house on the market and get an offer before offering on another house.

Differences between buyers' and sellers' markets. Been in both, neither are great

It might be worth taking a chance. Same thing happened to us and then our buyer's house was marketed and sold within 7 days.

Not a happy ending though as our vendors pulled out and our buyer's buyer pulled out as a result!

I’ve not sold in many years but previously you couldn’t even view a property unless you’d sold, had a property on the market or was in a position to proceed. Certainly you wouldn’t make an offer unless you could proceed?

You absolutely have always been able to do this, except in exceptional periods when things were flying off the market.

I personally wouldn't accept an offer unless someone was ready to proceed, but there's nothing to say someone can't offer. As others have said, people sometimes see "the one" and then put their house on the market.

I can't imagine why people look before even putting their house on the market. Its a complete waste of everyone's time
Not really.
Not everyone who is considering a house move is in a situation where they have to take whatever they can get.

Some sellers seem to have an obsession that the only people who are seriously looking are people with properties on the market. They miss the section of potential buyers who are looking for a property but are happy to wait until the right thing comes up and then move quickly.

It's never been the case here that you can only view houses if yours is on the market already.
My DD viewed the house she is in now before hers went on the market.

Also I have viewed houses and mine isn't on the market yet. Because of where it is it will sell quickly. And because we have very particular requirements it will take us a long time to find something suitable. I don't want to sell our house and keep someone waiting for many months unless I am sure I can find something I want

I can't imagine why people look before even putting their house on the market. Its a complete waste of everyone's time

We are having to do exactly that.

, our youngest daughter is going to need more adaptable (or already accessible) space as she gets older. More equipment. Bigger equipment. Space for carers all on the ground floor.

It’s going to take time to find somewhere that will work for us, whereas where we live atm houses are still selling in a very short time. Our friends put their house, very near ours, up for sale last Monday and accepted an offer on Friday.

Yes absolutely, it was the ridiculously over heated covid market that brought in this ‘rule’, having sold many properties over the years and worked for five different estate agencies it was perfectly normal to view a property you liked before putting your own on the market.

You always get these people who offer on other peoples houses before they have sold theirs or even put it on the market in some cases. The usual advice is not to respond because who knows how long a strangers house will take to sell? Keep accepting viewings on your property and if they do manage to sell quickly, they can repeat the offer and you can consider it at that stage.

I’d imagine as no chain, it was worth a punt. Accept if you want to but not remove from sale.
A friend of mine had the most long and stressful house sale with the chain falling apart a few times. It took over a year from the first offer being accepted for her to move.
If you don’t want people not in a position to proceed quickly, stipulate that.

I always find it interesting how house buying/selling brings out different behaviours in people. I viewed a house before I’d even gone on the market and fell in love with it. But I recognised that no matter how much I wanted it, I needed to mobilise quickly and get under offer before offering. In my view at the time the only offer from me that might have been tempting was full asking price, and ultimately I had no idea what I’d get got my place so held back.

It was the only house I viewed, but about six weeks later I was under offer and able to secure it. When doing viewings on my house the EA asked if I only wanted proceedable buyers and when asked to explain she described this as being on the market or chain free - sign of the times as to being a buyer’s market.

It's ok as long as the vendor knows the buyer's position when the viewing is booked. Many will decline as there's a lot of effort involved in tidying up for a viewing if it's not a really serious one.

As for making offers!? Well, yes, that can go in the file. Come back and talk to us when you're in a position to proceed. Meanwhile we'll continue to fully market the property you absolute clowns.

As a PP said, there are no rules about this. In a very hot market the agent is much more likely to say no viewings from people who aren't proceedable, as they are still expecting to get lots of interest from people who are good to go. When the market is more stagnant, it makes more sense to allow anyone to view.

I think it all sounds very weird. I'm not in the UK, but no-one here cares if someone has listed their property before they look at yours.