making offer on house but still to sell??

dale123boy

Hi,

We have seen a house we love which has been on the market for 5 months but we have just put ours on the market. Estate agents say that any offer will not be accepted unless our house is sold, which I can understand as it may take as long to sell ours! Is it the norm to have to sell your house before having an offer taken seriously, We are worried we will lose out on this one then will have to move in with parents until we find the right home again. The home we are in at the moment was a new build so it was a lot easier.

Sammy85_2

Its normal practice that you would need an offer accepted on your house before a seller will accept your offer on their house. They could be waiting around months for you otherwise.

bobby-boy_2

Not always true Sammy.
I have offered on and bought a house without selling my house 1st.
You just need the mortgauge in principle and the deposit. Or if you are very rich the cash to buy the second property. No rule says you cant have 2 houses at once, bridging loans were designed for this very situation.

tyllwyd

We tried offering the full asking price for a house once on condition that it was taken off the market until our house was sold - they accepted the offer but didn't take it off the market - which then left us feeling that we'd offered too high with nothing from them in return, and got cold feet about the whole thing when we did get an offer quite soon afterwards and so we ended up pulling out.

You have to be prepared to be flexible - you might lose out on this house, but then a better one might turn up - it is stressful but it is all part of house buying & selling.

Sammy85_2

bobby-boy wrote: »

Not always true Sammy.
I have offered on and bought a house without selling my house 1st.
You just need the mortgauge in principle and the deposit. Or if you are very rich the cash to buy the second property. No rule says you cant have 2 houses at once, bridging loans were designed for this very situation.

True. I never said he couldnt have two houses at once?

From the OP's post it would seem he has a house to sell or im sure he would have said otherwise, he said that he understands it may take months to sell his house.

His question was "Is it the norm to have to sell your house before having an offer taken seriously" Well yes, im my experience it is, and as you have pointed out, not necessarily if you are a cash buyer, take a 2nd mortgage or a bridging loan.