Can we view houses before we're financially sorted?

becominganobsessivesaver

There is always a chance that a vendor is considering an offplan newbuild, and therefore could be looking to sell to someone with a bit more flexibility. I know someone who marketed their house in August, but their property wouldn't be ready til Spring. They accepted an offer within a week of marketing but didn't complete until April.

NewbuyerNE

witchy1066 wrote: »

why would you want to go and view before you are in a position to buy ? I am sorry but have read your post and do not understand your reason, have you nothing better to do with your time ,

what happens if you see the perfect house, you know you can not have it , so why put yourself in that position,

ok it might still be for sale when you are ready to buy , if it is then you have lost nothing by NOT going to view before you are ready

the EA don't give a damn, about you or the seller , it looks good if they are getting people through the door regardless if its just someone's new hobby

how anyone can think its right to go looking round peoples homes with no intention to be buying is beyond me.

by all means look on the internet , save some property's in your favourites , go looking at different areas , (if you have nothing better to do with your time and plenty of money to waste in fuel )

that is up to you its your time and your money but please do not involve house sellers until you are in a position to make offers

I wouldn't be viewing as a 'hobby', we're serious about buying and are being organised by starting the viewing process now to eliminate houses we don't like and then don't have to see once we have our offer.

I'm not sure who as upset you with house buying but please don't take it out on me with your accusations when I was merely asking advice. The manner in which you put yours across has made me disregard your opinion entirely so you've just wasted your own time

PasturesNew

NewbuyerNE wrote: »

We're going to get a mortgage in principle after Christmas but between now and then can we start viewing houses?

I'd say "No" because for a seller there's a lot of hassle for every viewing, changing their lives/timescales/chores/tidying etc ... and having to vacate while it goes on.

And for you, what if you "fall in love" with one that you're still 9 months off being able to offer on.

There's no point.

view

ValHaller wrote: »

It is a potential scenario and as such should be considered, together with the attendant risk of a black eye.

Sorry, this still makes me smile that you think turning up to view a house, where you have been fully honest and upfront about your intentions, will lead to physical violence. I'd be checking my insurance to see if had legal cover so that when the viewer sues for being attacked for no reason I'll have a lawyer to call upon.

DRP

Yes definitely view stuff now, you will get a good idea of the market and prices. It pays to research.

Any vendor who feels sufficiently strongly that they don't want time-wasters will have told their EA not to allow viewings unless proceedable...

It sounds like you are in a 'slow' part of the country anyhow so you might even conceivably end up buying one of the houses you view now...

NewbuyerNE

ValHaller wrote: »

You are not a buyer and will not be until March 2014.

I'm a potential buyer but when I am a buyer I wouldn't want to give my money to people who put up obstacles, got unnecessarily angry or would entertain the idea of giving a viewer a black eye.

ValHaller

view wrote: »

Are you seriously saying that this person could be physically attacked because they are viewing a house without a mortgage in place?!

Absolutely insane.

'Could' not 'would'.

Everything is very charming when you are viewing a house. But remember that this is a facade which disguises underlying stress.

I'd say that there is a small but real risk that if the facade was covering a lot of stress and the viewing had been accommodated with difficulty, a surge of anger could have this result.

What would be insane is to rule out the possibility.

view

ValHaller wrote: »

What would be insane is to rule out the possibility.

do you know of a case where this has happened? scary

Ivana_Tinkle

There's no point viewing now. Anywhere you see that's nice and reasonably priced will have long sold by May, and it's a long enough timescale that prices could have gone up or down significantly by then, or there could be changes in the mortgage market that affect how much you can borrow, so it's not even valid research.

view

NewbuyerNE wrote: »

I'm a potential buyer but when I am a buyer I wouldn't want to give my money to people who put up obstacles, got unnecessarily angry or would entertain the idea of giving a viewer a black eye.

100% spot on. You've got a great attitude, I say just go for it. And best of luck by the way!