Is it possible to find out what stage a house sale is at??

[AvonCallingBarksdale]

Should caveat first that just asking the sellers isn’t an option, this isn’t a thread about not being able to talk to people 😊

So, if a house is sold subject to contract is there a way of finding out how close to completion that is? My understanding is that it could be anything from having accepted an offer to being on the verge of completion- is that right? Would the EA divulge? You can find out how much houses have sold for so is there a way to find out how close to moving someone is

Are you planning to gazump?

My question too.

I don't think there is anyway you could find out due to confidentiality.

Would take a minimum of 6 weeks from accepting offer but usually takes much longer!

No, of course not.

Well not exactly but it’s a house we could be interested in and has been SSTC for about 6 weeks now. But if it’s v close to completion then no point in enquiring probs. If SSTC in this case is literally just accepting an offer then we might be more interested. This does happen in house selling doesn’t it.

I have asked about what the status was with a handful of houses showing as SSTC, in the context of basically saying ‘we’re interested, can you let us know if anything goes wrong with the buyer’ and the EAs did usually say something about where things were up to. Of course I’ve no idea if they were telling the truth but they did all take my name and gave me a rough idea without me pressuring them.

@OneDayIWillLearn thank you

I always try to think that there are things in life I could do, and things in life I should do.

If anything goes wrong... Is ok
Anything else is between yourself and your conscience.

Chill out dude!! My conscience is fine thanks ☺️

There is nothing wrong with giving the EA your details in case it falls through.

It can go the other way too - for whatever reason (probably to drum up interest in their other properties) local estate agents mark houses as “under offer” on RM from the moment the memorandum of sale is issued up until the point of exchange, and then leave them on there SSC for weeks after the sale has completed. Ours completed end of May and has only just been marked as sold.

It’s more than one estate agent who does this, just weird local convention.

That’s interesting! We live in an area where it’s quite close knit - I know someone who works at the EA 😅

So you are potentially looking to gazump.

There is a whole spectrum between “close to completion” and “just accepted an offer”- 6 weeks is likely to be somewhere in the middle of that spectrum rather than either end. Where would this sit with you morally?

Thanks for the helpful suggestions. Not sure why the angst around my moral compass is relevant but there you go 🫤. Enjoy the BH all.

There’s nothing to stop you speaking to the estate agents about being interested.

But they’ve made one sale and they won’t jeopardize it -

They have to put all offered forward, but you do t know the sellers situation, could be a divorce or moving for jobs and a new offer will delay everything.

@Greytulips sure but it’s in the agents (and vendors) interest to know of other interested parties so if it falls through or gets tricky for whatever reason they have other options. Isn’t that why houses that are sold STC are still advertised?