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Original poster

Offering when not under offer yourself

23 replies

Iggityziggety · 31/03/2024 21:15

Separating from partner, so need to sell family home. It's not on the market yet but has been valued and agreed on which EA to use. I live in a village where property (that I can afford) very rarely comes up for sale and I really want to stay in the village so my daughter can stay at her current school.
I've viewed a house which is on with the same EA that we will be using and really like it, it is chain free and the owner has moved in with a partner elsewhere. I know she is finding it quite hard to sell as it is quite unique and small. I will be getting mine on the market in the next couple of weeks but would like to know if I can secure the other place first ideally, because otherwise our house could sell and I'd either have to buy out of the area or wait ages for something else in the village to come up so could lose buyers and so on.
Would it be really odd to make the vendor an offer in these circumstances? I wouldn't think about it if they needed to buy on but thought if it's chain free and not selling she might be happy to be sold and wait for mine to sell..will be funding the purchase with proceeds of my house, small mortgage and cash gift, what I get for my house wouldn't affect my ability to buy this one either as I am able to borrow from family to make up any shortfall.

OP posts:

DonaldDuc · 31/03/2024 21:18

All you can do is try. Personally, I wouldn't take the property off the market but would provisionally accept on the basis you sell your property before i receive a proceedable offer

Ilovemyshed · 31/03/2024 21:36

You are not in a position to proceed with a purchase so its all hyperbole until you are. No-one will take you seriously.

TraitorsGate · 31/03/2024 21:39

You can put in an offer but I would expect the vendor to keep the property on the market and could sell to someone in a better position.

Ginandjuice57884 · 31/03/2024 21:41

So long as you can demonstrate that you have sufficient deposit and a mortgage offer, yes.

boredybored · 31/03/2024 21:41

We offered and had to sell our house to buy it .

We are currently sat in it after completing 2 weeks ago ..

This all started last May/june so it's all possible .

We offered asking and he only accepted when we were under offfer though but knew we were serious as we sold our house to buy his .

Candleabra · 31/03/2024 21:43

You can put in a note of interest on the property. I would be pleased with the positive interest as a seller, but wouldn’t even consider it to be a serious offer as you’re not a proceedable buyer.
Go back with a proper offer when your house is sold.

funnybunny2 · 31/03/2024 22:24

I would let the estate agent know, they are there to sell houses and if you are keen on a place I don't see any issue with letting the EA know you would be interested in making an offer if/when you have an offer.
I wouldn't disclose an amount at this stage as it would be very unlikely the seller would take the house off the market

rollerskatie · 31/03/2024 22:53

Get yours on the market pronto. If you’ve picked an EA it really doesn’t need to take 2 weeks.

TimesChangeAgain · 31/03/2024 22:57

Assuming you’re in England…

You can offer. She can decide whether to accept. She could, more likely she’d say “come back to me when you can proceed”. You can’t “secure” it until the point of exchange. It’s very unlikely that she’ll take it off the market before you have an offer. But that works both ways - if you put yours on the market you can pull out at any point before exchange if the house you want to buy falls through.

You could also just look further afield and take your child to school, she wouldn’t have to move.

NewFriendlyLadybird · 31/03/2024 22:58

Talk to the EA. Depending on where you are, honestly the market can be so difficult that sellers are open to being much more flexible than they are in ‘normal’ times. Even if they don’t take it off the market your interest is noted.

Sallysappho · 31/03/2024 23:02

Yes of course its OK to make an offer. You are only committed to purchase the property once contracts are exchanged. You are a long long way from that.
Go ahead and make your offer then get your place on the market

Zippedydoodahday · 31/03/2024 23:03

Can you expedite getting yours listed? I would be tempted to talk to the agent so that they know you're a viable option subject to selling yours as this will help reduce the chance of her agreeing a low ball offer elsewhere in the meantime.

whatsappdoc · 31/03/2024 23:15

We offered last summer without a buyer for ours but the house stayed on the market. The EA said that we would be contacted if the seller decided to go with a proceedable buyer. Luckily no other buyer was interested and we are now in a position to go ahead. It's always worth showing interest.

letitlego · 01/04/2024 16:18

You can express interest but not an offer. You're not a proceedable buyer

List yours asap and at a reasonable and realistic price

somewhereovertherain · 01/04/2024 17:27

Personally I wouldn’t accept an offer unless you’re proceedable, what’s the point could be months before you sell.

incywincyspiders · 01/04/2024 18:31

People are saying you won't be taken seriously but we have just offered on a house when we weren't entirely proceedable. We had instructed estate agents and were in the process of getting on the market and by chance saw a property we loved. We explained our situation and offered over asking in attempt to secure the property. Our offer was accepted and we have been given two weeks to get sold. Our house went on the market on Saturday and we already have several viewings booked in for tomorrow.

That being said our house that we are selling is in a very sought after area and is shared ownership which very rarely comes up here. The EA for our seller was well aware of this and I'm sure advised his client that we wouldn't be on the market for long.

You will never know unless you try :)

Reallybadidea · 01/04/2024 18:48

Would you have enough with the cash gift and help from family to make up enough of a deposit to take out a separate mortgage to cover the place you want? Then pay off a chunk of the mortgage when your current house sells? Then you'd be chain free and proceedable now?

somewhereovertherain · 01/04/2024 19:30

incywincyspiders · 01/04/2024 18:31

You will never know unless you try :)

But they’ve given you a tight deadline which seems reasonable and if you don't sell they can go back on the market.

It’s a reasonable compromise and asking over the offer price.

last time we sold we stopped anyone who was ready to go from even viewing after a while too many times rushed home to tidy up only for them to either be just on the market or not even on it yet.

incywincyspiders · 01/04/2024 19:41

Yes I agree with ours that the compromise was the tight turnaround and offering over asking but my main point was that the OP won't know unless she asks - she has nothing to lose by asking ☺️

I think the best thing to do is be honest, explain your situation and then ask the question. But even then, please don't lose hope if it's not the answer you want. We also offered on another house we were interested in previous to this one and the vendor understandably wasn't willing to accept an offer from someone who wasn't proceedable. Literally the next day, the house we currently have an offer on came on the market. What is meant for you won't pass you by (and I'm trying to remember this as I stress over whether our viewings tomorrow turn into offers 🤞🏻)

ACynicalDad · 01/04/2024 20:56

We did this, it was accepted but not taken off the market. They then got a better offer so we lost it. But they withdrew, we got an offer on ours, we got an call saying where are we at and and we got the house, but paid a few grand more as they got greedy.
I’d she’s struggling to sell you agree a price and she has a back stop and you know what it will cost and sell accordingly.

slippedonabanana · 01/04/2024 22:47

Explain your position to the EA. The seller might be prepared to wait for you to sell yours, if yours is the type to sell very quickly. I've bought like that before.

Original poster

Iggityziggety · 01/04/2024 22:55

Thanks everyone, really appreciate the different perspectives and experiences

OP posts:

Novavee · 10/04/2024 12:22

We did this. We offered on a property being marketed by the same EA that would be representing us. They made a case in our favour to the sellers and they liked the idea of a family living there, so they accepted. The property was taken off the market on the assumption it would be reviewed within 3 weeks to see how we got along. We accepted an offer on the first day of viewings and that was it. Going through the process now, hoping to exchange in a few weeks. Every other estate agent told us we would not get a foot in the door to view before we had an offer on ours. This estate agent showed us our new property before we even signed up with them. There's no harm in trying. We were lucky, you might be too.

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