viewing properties before own house is sold

[drowninginlaundry]

I wanted to see a house I liked the look of on the old interweb, but the agent came back to me and said that the owner is only showing it to those prospective buyers who have sold their property/are under offer.

Does this happen a lot? Makes sense to me in this market, and I am tempted to do the same, I spend soooo much time tidying up for people who haven't even put their house on the market , not easy with two little ones. Has anyone refused viewings unless proceedable - or would this be stupid.

Yes, normal. I accepted all viewings. I was never refused a viewing before sold but always told virtually no chance of getting house.

I've bought several houses over the last 10 years and each one has had an offer placed on it before I've sold the last. It makes no odds really, does it? If the seller gets a better offer from someone better placed, then so be it. I've always had a very good idea of what my house will sell for and what I'm prepared to pay and always have a mortgage agreed in principle. Enough info to base an offer on, I think.

It does help to look around so you know what you want and what you can get for your money.

I think the problem is that you fall in love with a house, can't sell your own, and then someone else comes along who has a sale in the bag. Of course the owner of the dream home is going to accept the other offer over yours.

Unless you really Have to sell, I think you should do the same, especially in this market.

I got really fed up with timewasters who weren't in a position to proceed or even on the market. Whether I would put myself out for such a viewing would depend on how much of an inconvenience it was. If they need to move quickly there is little point having all and sundry around whose chains could take months to slot together, especially atm.

My mother has her house on the market and at the moment she'd be grateful for any viewings at all. If she had an offer from someone, even with a house to sell, she'd be happy to consider it.

When we had our last house on the market it was a very different market. Houses were buying and selling quickly so it made no sense to refuse people who hadn't yet sold. Now, I have a friend who has just viewed a house and she doesn't even have her house on the market yet. She I might have refused, I think.

I absolutely agree. When we first looked around our current house we had only just put our house on the market. The owner was very, very, reluctant to let us view. I viewed on my own, liked it but was put off by the owner's attitude.

Of course, the agent hassled us for feedback for ages and I was very non-committal. My DH then viewed it and after we had an offer on our own property we made an offer on hers. I'm sure she thought the offer came out of the blue but it came after we had viewed many, many houses and we knew exactly how much we were willing to pay.

I'm not sure I'd have felt as sure about the house if we'd needed to move quickly.