selling / Buying

[Tblock1800]

Hi people, just after some advice really. We are putting our property on the market next week. We bought it new build 7 years ago and was our 1st property, so this will be our 1st experience of selling/ buying ( i know stressful). Our place goes on the market next week and a particular house we have had an eye on we are viewing this weekend. If for argument’s sake we fall in love with this property Saturday, do we put an offer in even though our place isn’t on the market yet? Or do we wait for a few viewings for our place before putting in offers? We have an agreement in principle from our current lender to porter our mortgage, so we can borrow more on our current finances, have a solicitor all in place ready and this house we’re seeing is within our budget. We are moving because we have 2 young children and need more space. Just wondering what others did in a similar position.

You are unlikely to get an offer accepted whilst you haven’t sold if the property you are viewing is also new to market. All offers have to be out forward to the vendor by the EA but he does have to point out that you are not proceedable.

It’s been on a few months this property so there’s a possibility they have been messed around who knows

Yep. Or they’re asking too much for it. You won’t be able to negotiate though until you are in a stronger position. Concentrate on getting your house sold first. Then you are in a position of strength.

You can get offers accepted if you aren't proceedable if the property you want to buy has been on the market for a while and not had much interest. However most will wait for a proceedable buyer, not only because it could take you months to market and sell but you also might not get as much as you expected for your property and start waivering on the price you offered. Xx

Nice one

awesome thanks. Probably need to be in a stronger position like others have said before making offers

You could view the house now but as others have said, no point making an offer while your own house isn’t even on the market yet.

Even once your own house is on the market, most sellers would not accept an offer from someone who isn’t in a position to proceed. They would want to continue marketing their property until they get an offer from someone who already has a buyer for their own place or is a FTB or cash buyer.

Just as an example, I viewed a property I really loved and was told it would be a bidding war with loads of interest.

I put in a reasonable offer, which was supposed to be an opening gambit, but if was accepted in a couple of days because, although there were plenty of offers and mine wasn't the highest, I was the only one under offer with my own house. The agent actually thanked me for 'doing things properly and not viewing until you were ready to proceed'

So it's just a good idea to always agree a sale on yours first.

In my experience, you don't necessarily have to be proceedable to book viewings/place an offer, but you at least need to be on the market. And EAs will ask for your house listing to prove it.

Don’t even think about viewing until you yourself are proceedable. It will only lead to heartbreak.

I do completely agree with everyone here re being proceedable but I just find it so impossible

we are looking to move/ upsize but want a unique and special type property. It’s rare that anything is coming on the market that fits our requirements, we’ve been looking for a few years and only 1-2 have come up in that time (that we’ve lost for various reasons). We couldn’t have a buyer and make them hang around, but the property market is too volatile in our area to go into rented - in the last 5 years some properties have literally more than doubled in value (eg going from £350k to £895k) which is OBSENE

just a small rant as it’s frustrating but I know it’s the only way.

You can certainly try, I would be honest with the EA that you're on the market but not sold. if the sellers haven't had other offers, they may still consider yours, you never know! But don't set your heart too much on the house you like, or offer too much

Thanks guys and you’re right, shouldn’t get too attached to a particular property as we’re so early in the process. Still think it’s worth at least viewing a bunch of properties then off we do get an offer on ours soon, we can then assess which properties we have viewed

It’s a really annoying chicken and egg situation and definitely harder if you are looking for a more unusual house or v small search area. We saw a house we loved, booked a viewing and in the week before that had our house valued and made a booking for photos to be taken.

We loved the house on viewing and told them we would offer as soon as we were proceedable. We asked to be kept updated on any offers in the meantime.

We instructed our EA and got photos done the next day, it was on RM the day after, viewings the day after and an offer the day after that. So less than a week after viewing we were proceedable and our offer accepted.

Unfortunately it all went tits up much later down the line and we lost the house, but if you think your house will go quickly then there’s no harm viewing and expressing interest.