Can we view houses before we're financially sorted?

sulphate

We completed on our first house last month and in the early stages of calling estate agents we were sometimes asked what our position was i.e did we have a mortgage promise (which we did). You could lie of course, but they often ask for feedback after viewings and if you say you won't be in a position to buy until next year they may not be impressed.

Also I've noticed that some agents have "favourite" prospective buyers for whatever reason, I'm not condoning this though.

However I think it depends on the area, we are in the SE where the market is moving quicker than in some areas. If houses are taking many months to sell where you are it's probably a totally different ball game and perhaps vendors and EAs alike would be happy to get any viewers in.

Husband and I only looked for a couple of months and viewed houses 3-4 times a week. I'm glad we didn't start 4 months before we were ready as the novelty quickly wears off and the process becomes tiresome.

phoebe1989seb

view wrote: »

that's not a fair thing to say and it's very negative and emotional.

How about someone has just won the lottery and they are just onselling as they're now in their big house up the street and this house is now surplus to requirements.

We have no idea what situation people are in and to make someone feel bad even though they're doing the right thing by being 100% upfront and honest is not a nice thing to do.

I disagree with your first comment. Last time we sold (2011) both my parents (who lived 150 mies away) were ill and apart from being desperately unhappy where we were then living, we wanted to move closer in order to be able to help out more. We explained our situation to our EA and said that we only wanted proceedable viewers.

Despite this the first day on the market we had a viewing from a retired couple that didn't have their house on the market! They even admitted that having lived close by for years, they had always been curious to see inside our house and having spotted it on RM, decided to make an appointment to view - tbh I got the distinct impression there was something *fishy* about them.....they even brought the wife's sister for a nose too!

They then proceeded to fall in love with the place - enthusing over the character, charm and period features......to the point that they stated their intention to place an offer.

This was all very well, and nice to hear, but of absolutely no use to us. As it turned out our EA informed us that the very next day the couple instructed them to sell their house and did indeed make us a (low) offer. Unfortunately for them - but luckily for us - we received a better offer from a genuinely proceedable couple less than two weeks later.

Of course, they may have gone SSTC just as quickly themselves, putting them in a position to make a serious offer, but as things stood we did consider them to be time wasters and our EA was at fault for encouraging them in the first place

In the OP's shoes, I would be making notes on any interesting properties spotted on RM and prepping a list of criteria required as well as vetting the area(s) concerned well in advance of Christmas. What I wouldn't be doing is getting people's hopes up unnecessarily......

carolineb23

Sorry op but I find this whole idea more than a little strange. You say it's only 4 months between now and when you hope to be proceedable but the difference in the housing market between now and march is going to be massive. So what exactly is the point? I understand that it's exciting and you want to be able to plan, I've been there myself so I know how it feels. But having recently had 26 viewers round our house over the past 4 months, working and looking after a toddler I would simply not let you view in these circumstances. Having said that, some ea's seem to try and hide buyers situations from vendors unless they ask. Only someone who has never sold has no idea how much you raise your hopes with each viewing. Not to mention the fact that it takes about 30 mins on the phone to get a dip so I'm really not sure why you seem to be adverse to waiting until you can do this before you start viewing. And believe me, if you find the perfect house and it sells before you can buy you will be gutted. To be frank, it sounds like you've already made up your mind to go ahead anyway but I would please ask you to think before you mess with people's lives.

view

phoebe1989seb wrote: »

We explained our situation to our EA and said that we only wanted proceedable viewers.

Despite this the first day on the market we had a viewing from a retired couple that didn't have their house on the market!

that is purely the EA's fault unfortunately, the OP has been 100% open and honest with the EA from the get go, unfortunately we can't make EA's be as honest in return.

moneyistooshorttomention

Indeed...the circumstances are very limited as to when its okay to view a house when not able to put in a firm offer absolutely straight away on a house if you decide you want it.

The only one I can think of, for instance, is where your property is a reasonably-priced and reasonable condition house (not flat) and is already on the market and your own buyer "should" have turned up by that point and you have done a very objective calculation that they will turn up by, at most, a few weeks time. Coupled with your existing house being in a part of the country where housing is moving at a reasonable to fast pace AND the place you are moving to is moving at a slow pace. IF all those criteria are met, then it's okay to view and put in a "provisional" offer on the place you have decided on. I did precisely that and, when my own buyer turned up exactly on the dot of when I expected them to (ie about 4 weeks later) I instantly rang the EA and said "Change that offer from provisional to firm. My buyer has now turned up" and that's what happened and Exchange of Contracts should happen shortly.

But if someone is in FTB position then a mortgage in principle should be in place and they should be in a position to make a firm offer instantly on any place they decide they want (both from their own and the vendors viewpoint).

EA's do have a responsibility too. They should check the position of the prospective viewer and tell the vendor exactly what it is before the viewer comes round. My own EA would always ring up with "I've got Mr Y wanting to come and see your place and he has a mortgage agreement in principle" or such comment, so I knew the position in my role as vendor. The one viewer, in hindsight, that shouldn't have come round was the one who was selling a place but hadn't sold yet (and their place was an overpriced flat that I estimated correctly, after the event, was going to take about 4-6 months longer to sell). That viewer had lied to my EA and said they had already sold, and my EA hadn't checked Rightmove to make sure it had.

NewbuyerNE

carolineb23 wrote: »

Sorry op but I find this whole idea more than a little strange. You say it's only 4 months between now and when you hope to be proceedable but the difference in the housing market between now and march is going to be massive. So what exactly is the point? I understand that it's exciting and you want to be able to plan, I've been there myself so I know how it feels. But having recently had 26 viewers round our house over the past 4 months, working and looking after a toddler I would simply not let you view in these circumstances. Having said that, some ea's seem to try and hide buyers situations from vendors unless they ask. Only someone who has never sold has no idea how much you raise your hopes with each viewing. Not to mention the fact that it takes about 30 mins on the phone to get a dip so I'm really not sure why you seem to be adverse to waiting until you can do this before you start viewing. And believe me, if you find the perfect house and it sells before you can buy you will be gutted. To be frank, it sounds like you've already made up your mind to go ahead anyway but I would please ask you to think before you mess with people's lives.

The point of the thread was to ask if t was allowed. Having not bought a house before to me, it seemed like the most organised thing to do, but following feedback I see from the buyers side how inconveniencing it may be - even though, yes it is allowed.

NewbuyerNE

NewbuyerNE wrote: »

The point of the thread was to ask if t was allowed. Having not bought a house before to me, it seemed like the most organised thing to do, but following feedback I see from the buyers side how inconveniencing it may be - even though, yes it is allowed.

*sellers side

Dan-Dan

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

It's not just "annoying" though (as in "Two seconds flash of annoyance for having time wasted"). Rather more than that, when vendor might have taken time to be available and will certainly have spent time cleaning/tidying the place ready for a viewing thinking it was going to be a genuine viewer coming round (rather than a timewaster).

Most vendors will have put themselves out and raised their hopes at each time they are told a viewer is coming round, as we don't have crystal balls available to consult and say to the EA who is busily telling us of an appointment due "Don't bother...they're not a real viewer. Tell them no".

Spot on Money , for gods sake , your not shopping in John Lewis for a (text removed by MSE Forum Team) TV op , this is peoples lives your dealing with

NewbuyerNE

NewbuyerNE wrote: »

The point of the thread was to ask if t was allowed. Having not bought a house before to me, it seemed like the most organised thing to do, but following feedback I see from the buyers side how inconveniencing it may be - even though, yes it is allowed.

And you obviously haven't read the full thread (is this a MSE trait?) - you'll see from numerous posts that I've actually said I'm going to wait until after Christmas when we'll have our MIP to view. So no, I haven't just posted fr advice & ignored it like most of you negative posters seem to be accusing me of. Give me some credit.

Dan-Dan

NewbuyerNE wrote: »

How about working with a buyers instead of against them?

Correct , except your not actually a buyer yet ,are you....