Off market sales

[Firesideblanket]

We have been renting for 6 months after selling our house and looking in a certain area that is semi rural. So not loads of houses that fit our criteria.

How do we get the estate agents to let us know of any houses they may have coming up? I’ve spoken to all the agents in the area, told them our situation, cash buyers in rented. But just no info off them, we are renting through one of them, so they know our situation well.

I’m set up for all property alerts for all three apps and with the estate agents themselves.
Am I expecting too much? When we sold our agent had people in mind who she brought to the house to view etc.
Is it a myth or have you bought a house this way?

I’ve never bought a house this way always just seen it advertised on an EA website or Rightmove.

I think it might be a bit of a myth but I don’t know - maybe others have different experiences to me.

We're starting with DM's house off market, partly because it's often a bad time of year to sell, partly because it's a difficult house to value because there aren't many similar houses. it may be as we get nearer to Christmas that there are more houses like this with people waiting until the New Year to officially put online. I don't think there's much more you can do, other than perhaps just regularly ringing the estate agents or popping in to remind them you exist!

I registered with all the local estate agents. You can get a list off Rightmove for who is local.

Some agents would put you on a list to contact with houses about to go on the market. We viewed a couple before they went on RM. Mostly these lists seemed to be run by students in the office for work experience!

Most agents no longer did this and just told us to check RM. The OnTheMarket app sometimes showed houses up a day earlier than RM.

A couple of EA would launch new properties on their FB or Instagram
feeds before putting them on RM which was incredibly annoying as it meant following them on social media and then checking repeatedly what they were putting on there, most of which was unsuitable. Presumably less work for the EA though than maintaining a list.

Oh, when we sold, the EA did bring a few people round to look who were already on their books. They booked them onto the first open day along with anyone who'd seen it on RM and wanted a quick viewing.

We have bought and sold off market twice and am about to instruct a private sale now my house is renovated . You need to get to know the main negotiator in the main estate agent for the area in my experience , allow them to do the full financial run through so they know you are peoceedable . It helps if you are buying and selling through them as there is double commission.

Have you tried not just relying on the estate agents but trying word of mouth as well. If you tell as many people as possible exactly what you are looking for in the area you might get a heads up on things coming on the market. Or you might even prompt someone who has been mulling over selling to take the plunge. You don't know who knows who and news travels.

Some neighbours of mine had a party and an acquaintance complemented their house and said if they ever wanted to sell, to give them a first refusal. They moved a few weeks later - they'd already been thinking of downsizing and it all slotted into place for everyone.

Thanks everyone.
It seems like it does happen sometimes, so I think I just need to keep on at the estate agents.
I do have them all on social media, which is frustrating but a must at this time.

We just did it- a “whisper sale”. However, it is very area dependent whether these things happen or not so may just be doesn’t happen in your area and agree with @StressedEric that it works best when there’s one “main agent” that everyone goes to for a certain area. In our area it happens because big % second homes and people often take a view that their house is always for sale at the right price. A surprising number of people also go into this main agent in person while visiting the area and suddenly deciding they’d like a second home there. Also as some v high value properties owned by footballers/ celebs and they don’t want time wasters/ people who just want a nosey round.

sadly we are not footballers or celebs but I just wasn’t sure if we actually wanted to sell or rent so this way it was easier for the agent to just be v direct about what price we’d accept up front and if it took a while the listing didn’t get tired. It’s also just a bit “well I can show you this before it goes to market” which can work well in a slow market with not much coming on.

Is it worth identifying houses you might be interested and putting something through the letter box? Most people realise it's a difficult market at the moment so maybe reluctant to actively market their house unless they really need to but having a ready made buyer might be enough to encourage them.