How do we find off market properties?

[Detachedalltheway]

Hello,

We have been looking for a detached house in or around South Woodford area that is not stupidly expensive (less than a million) for a year, but with no luck. Is there any way to look for off market properties that we are missing?

We have registered with most estate agents in the area, but nothing is coming to the market. We have been checking Facebook Marketplace, asked friends and family living in the area if they could spread the word, but none of it has helped. Maybe we are looking for a unicorn, but it seems that quite a few sold properties in the past would have been within our budget if they were to come to the market again. Is there a way to look for those off market properties that we have not thought of? Maybe someone on here knows someone who’s thinking of selling a detached house in the area?

Thank you for you thoughts.

Okay, that’s a good point, we can try that. We get emails from them, but no off or pre market properties. How would you do this though? Go to the agency and just try chatting with them? Sorry if it’s a dumb question, I am not the most extroverted person.

View properties with them so they get to know you and what you are looking for.
As soon as you have seen 5ish per agent you will begin to build up a rapport, and also identify ones not to work with or pursue!

Thank you. We did this once a while ago, but nothing came out of it.

They are working for you OP, you are engaging them to do a job, the retainer is paying for their time. It ensures you are committed to the process, rather than wasting their time and not buying anything.

There will be some clauses around them not finding suitable property, and causes protecting them around you rejecting property that fits the brief.

They will find you a property when you are struggling to do that yourself. Think about how much you are loosing just now with the ongoing rent you are paying.

Okay, thank you, that makes sense. There is nothing to view currently (one but tenanted, so we didn’t do it). Would you go view some you are not really interested in? I feel that’s also wrong, it’s a moral dilemma of wasting everyone’s time. 😅

Become personally known to the local agents not just on their mailing list. We got our house through them speaking to my husband as they knew would be interested pre marketing

I agree with this. You basically need to become one of their top 20 go to buyers for your price bracket. So they will call you as soon as they have something on the books that might suit you even if it’s not online yet or is never going to be online for privacy.

How to do this: call them up, have a detailed conversation about what you want and your budget. Be precise but flexible. Make sure you speak to the right person in their office - ask to deal with whoever deals with houses in the X area and the Y budget range. Explain you’ve been looking for a while and are very keen to buy. Mention a few things you missed out on which would have been great, shows you know what you want and have been looking for a while. Be clear about your position as sellers ie are you chain free, on the market, ready to sell as soon as something you like comes along etc. When they send you details for a place, go and view if it’s in the right ballpark even if you suspect it will be a no - it’s an opportunity to chat, the agent gets to know you and your likes/dislikes and you look keen.

Obviously if you do this for months and months and make no offers you will fall off their hot buyer list! But at least hopefully in that time you will get given details for everything including off market.

Also: some agents are now advertising off market houses on their social media (instagram) So follow the agents that are busiest in your area.

Premarket Get Agent, although it's not particularly great but worth a look.

Otherwise post in the areas Facebook group where you are looking asking if anyone is listing soon and want to chat.

“Not really interested in”

yes, because actually one of these may be “it”. Viewing is often very different to a listing.

This. I bought a house I wasn’t really interested in as there was an open house and we were at a loose end so went for a nosey. On paper it wasn’t a good fit for us, on viewing it was perfect.

The note through the letterbox might work on the mid to long term. Two houses where I live sold this way. However is was a couple of years after the notes went out. Houses rarely come there though so it might happen faster for you.

We sold our flat by putting a card in the local newsagents window, perhaps you could try the same?

We sold our flat by putting a card in the local newsagents window, perhaps you could try the same?

I wouldn't worry about them moral stuff so much - when people put their house up for sale they obviously accept that not every appointment will result in a sale.

Ditto on price - if it's been on the market a long time you can offer well below what it's on for and see what they say?

There is very little for sale in your area of interest, friend viewed a few houses but were taken off market as no interest, you are trying to buy in a very difficult time and market.

You need to telephone and speak to the agents
Why are you not viewing tenanted properties?

Yeah, that’s fair enough. I also thought we’d exhausted all our options, which is why I’m here to pick your brains. ☺️

I think we have tried most of the houses that seemed within our budget based on our research.

Thank you so much for your advice. We’ll give your suggestion a try! They already have our details, so I just assumed they knew what we were looking for, but we can definitely reach out and make it clear that we are very keen and ready to move quickly if a house that ticks our boxes comes onto the market.

I see lots of house requests on our local facebook community forum. I think if I were looking to sell and saw one of those I would respond. you might need to keep posting every month or so. Good luck.

I understand that. Our problem is there is nothing to go and see. The few detached houses currently on the market are outside of our budget (by a lot), and the only one within our budget is tenanted. From doing a lot of research, we think that dozens of houses in the area would be within our budget if they were ever to come to the market. I know we are looking for a unicorn here, I just wanted to make sure we exhausted every option there is before we give up and settle for something else.

A couple of years?! Wow! I lost hope after a few weeks of no response. 😂 Thank you for giving me some hope back.

I am glad that worked out for you. I will try to keep an open mind.

Can you widen the area you are looking in? Look at a semi? View view view.

Thank you! We are happy to try anything at this point.

I am afraid they will take offence, perhaps. I mean, if someone is serious about selling, wouldn’t they reduce their price after a year? I feel like those people who haven’t done any reductions in a long time are happy to stay put if they don’t get what they think their house is worth.

Yeah, that’s all spot on…