How to make an offer on a neighbour’s house before listing

[newtothis15]

neighbours said that they would be selling and we said we woudl be interested. how do we put offer the property has not gone on market yet

You make the neighbour an offer. Highlight any benefits or advantages you can offer - no need to make it viewing ready, no agent fees, flexibility on moving dates etc. Great if they do go for it; if they don’t go for it initially, once they’ve tried to sell it and if they find it’s not shifting / viewings are a pain / they’re being messed around by potential buyers, they may come back to you.

I bought my first house without an estate agent, I made the owner an offer of what I thought the property was worth & they accepted, we exchanged solicitors details & left them to sort that side out, I already had a mortgage in principal so once I had the offer accepted I contacted my broker & we did the formal application. As I was chain free & the vendors were moving to a council property the process was pretty fast, I viewed & offered on August bank holiday Monday & got the keys 12 October.

I wouldn't do it. Something as important as a property transaction is best done at arms length. If the relationship sours for any reason, eg they suddenly decide that they think the property is worth more than you agreed, you'd be very exposed. But maybe I'm just risk-averse. If they instruct an EA, then you can be the first to put in your bid.

But that’s why the process still runs through solicitors…

An estate agent has a limited role in a house sale - primarily based around matching buyer and house… if that match has already happened (OP wants to buy house) then the role of the estate agent no longer exists - so why add it in just to give them many thousands of pounds to do nothing?!

we brokered our next door house off market to the eventual buyer - as we knew both… they agreed a price and then everything else was exactly as normal with no estate agent…

if you are not sure about price then a couple of estate agents to give an average can work - they will usually do a valuation for a few hundred…

I would drop a letter through the door with your offer . Do it before they sign with the agent though or they won’t avoid the fees and are likely to say no.

Has it been valued yet. That's the first step.

Have a chat with them. You can both save on estate agent fees etc but obviously the rest solicitors checks etc will be the same. First they need to get it valued by 3 local solicitors. Ask them to give a value range too end/ realistic etc. They will do that for free because they want the business. Once you have a ball park then work out if you're willing to pay that for a quick sale. Will you need to sell yours too? That may be problematic as there will still be a chain.

You tell them you are interested, they tell the estate agent that they already have an interested person of the name Ms X. They get a valuation from the estate agent, you offer and they either accept your offer or wait and see what offers they get.

If they sell to you they wouldn’t had to pay EA fees (unless there was a fixed fee for photos & listing).

How to make sure that they do not pay Estate agent fee although it will be advertised and they accept offer from us

They won't need an estate agent if it's a private sale, they get 3 free valuations, you put in your offer, they accept it and your solicitors/conveyancers deal with the sale.

Do it before they get an estate agent.

They can a get free valuation from any estate agent doesn't mean they have to list it with them. Get in there before they sign a contract to list it. I would have thought they would be happy that they would be saving so much money on fees.

I’ve done it twice and both times have gone really smoothly. The first time I knew the house and its owner and knew that she wanted to move back to her country so I arranged to see her agreed a price and put it all in writing and found solicitors to do the conveyancing The contents and fittings list were done up through the solicitor as were payments etc.

The 2nd house I had leafleted the area I liked and a woman emailed to say that her daughter wanted to sell as she was splitting with her boyfriend who she’d lived with. We met and she got 3 valuations from estate agents and we went for an average price and like the precious house sale got solicitors and went through the usual conveyancing process. No issues at all.

I think our vendor is now happily married with children and lives away from here but we regularly see her parents we have a house that is the home we wanted. Try it, what have you got to lose?

Surely if you heard about it word of mouth before it actually goes live for sale then they wouldn't pay the fee? Just offer now.

Make your offer before they engage an EA. They should ask 3 x EAs for valuations, which are normally free, as they want the business. Your offer can be slightly lower than the average/median valuation, so that you both save money by not using the EA. Then instruct a solicitor who will deal with everything else for you. Is your own house on the market? Have you got the mortgage sorted?

If they have already signed a contract with an EA, they may not be able sell privately without paying the usual commission even though you know them. Talk to your neighbour and ask them if they are in a position to accept an offer without going through the agent. If not, just do it through the agent.

I sold a property when someone put a note through the door asking if anyone was thinking of selling. It all went through very easily and saved me estate agent fees.

My sister bought her house from our old neighbours. My dad heard they were selling it when their tenants left and my sister contacted them. Absolutely no issues. They had it valued so they knew what it was worth and knew what they wanted. So an easy stress free transaction with no EAs involved at all

Doesn’t the EA only get a fee if they have introduced the buyer, though? If you are a neighbour and you have put an offer through their door before they have gone to press with advertising, they cannot claim the fee?

Either way - just drop them a note asap.

You don’t need an estate agent. The seller can ask them to do valuations on their property but they don’t have to sign a contract. You can choose not to have them.