Help: taking house off the market after an offer

techno79

Please help as urgently need advice. The house has only been on the market for a few days but recently received a good offer. They have requested us to take the house off the market. However, they still do not have any offers on their own house so it's uncertain when they would be in a position to carry on with proceedings. Sept/Oct is a really good period when there are lots of buyers around so if we take it off now and it all falls through then we've lost that really good period and left with at least a month of quiet period as Xmas approaches. If they had an offer on their own house and we're simply asking while the surveys were being carried out then I wouldn't mind but in the current situation, taking it off the market would show a large commitment on our part but none from the buyer.

We are also at the bottom of the chain so we could sell tomorrow if needed.

What do people recommend and suggest?
Is there anything we could ask for that would indicate the buyers are serious?
Is it reasonable for us to say no to taking it off the market on the basis they do not have an offer on their property?

Thanks in advance

axomoxia

If there are serious buyers, they will have arranged a mortgage (there IFA should be able the confirm this) and have arranged a solicitor for the conveyancing. I'd say these these two are the minimum.

Are the marketing their house? Do that have a "plan B" - whereby they could keep their current house and rent it, and also buy yours?

At the end of the day it all boils down to trust. From a buyers perspective, once you take the house off the market, I'll stop looking at other houses.

*Robin*

techno79 wrote: »

Is it reasonable for us to say no to taking it off the market on the basis they do not have an offer on their property?

YES! They are taking a chance by asking, but not offering any guarantees.

It's not UK practise, but I'd only consider taking my house off the market now if they provided a non-refundable deposit of 10% of the purchase price and signed an agreement saying it would be forfeit and our arrangement cancelled if they haven't completed within xx weeks.

If they agree to that, they're serious. Otherwise, politely decline - until they can prove they're in a position to proceed.

anselld

They are not in a position to proceed.
Personally I would not even accept their offer until they are proceedable and I am surprised that your agent is recommending that you do so.

kingstreet

+ 1.

No offer should be accepted from anyone not in a position to proceed. If someone comes along who can go ahead, you'll sell to them anyway. I can't see any point making, or accepting such an offer.

jbainbridge

+1 ... their offer is worth nothing until they have a buyer for their house.

nollag2006

+1

They are in no position to buy your house until they are under offer.

Their offer is worthless.

Miles16v

I agree with all the above.

If they dont have a buyer they dont have the means to buy your house so their offer is worthless. It also means they might find something else whilst trying to sell theirs and then pull out.

If you politely decline as they are not in a precedable position then one of the below will happen first.

1. They'll find a buyer and make another offer (or the same offer)
2. You'll find a new buyer

By accepting their offer now you prevent number 2. from happening.

SleeplessinScandinavia

Hi

Agree with others here. If I liked a property and could demonstrate I have the funds available, then yes, then I would make an offer 'subject to contract/survey etc' and subject also to the property being taken off the market.

Reminds me of an experience I had some years ago, when an estate agent endorsed an offer made to buy my previous house which was subject to my buyer selling his property 'privately'. Later, we discovered that the buyer's property was being advertised by another EA - with no takers.

The whole saga went on for several months - after which I put my property back on the market

techno79

Thank you everyone for your replies. It has been an extremely busy last few days related to the opening post but I valued everyone's quick responses. I did read them as they came through but didn't have the time to respond until now.

I think the responses were fairly unanimous and was in line with my gut feeling but not having any experience and also being strongly pushed by one of the reps at the estate agents to accept the offer was confusing. However, I later spoke to another rep at the same estate agents and he completely agreed with me not accepting the offer as it was too risky (he didn't say explicitly but he seemed to disagree with the previous rep).

Anyway, hopefully someone else will put in an offer being in a better position or may be they'll come back when they are themselves.

I was really amazed how many responses I got within just a few hours (within minutes for someone replies). Therefore, I have given explicit thanks to all those who responded.

paul1964_2

*Robin* wrote: »

It's not UK practise, but I'd only consider taking my house off the market now if they provided a non-refundable deposit of 10% of the purchase price and signed an agreement saying it would be forfeit and our arrangement cancelled if they haven't completed within xx weeks.

If they agree to that, they're serious. Otherwise, politely decline - until they can prove they're in a position to proceed.

I assume you are also willing to sign an agreement saying you will pay the buyer 10% if the buyer is ready to complete within xx weeks, but you are not?

Just out of interest, have you ever managed to sell a house using this approach?