Does a property ever sell before going on Rightmove?

LFH

I'm thinking of mass mailing estate agents in our areas of choice with our requirements for a house, but I'm wondering if this is a good idea.

I know it says in the forum sticky thread that estate agents keep a list of buyers who are ready to move immediately, and things sometimes sell before they hit the open market, but that was in 2006. It seems like these days the owners would always want the property to go onto Rightmove to pick up as many offers as possible.

So is there any point in me e-mailing, or should I just keep haunting Rightmove?

Best,
LFH

googler

LFH wrote: »

It seems like these days the owners would always want the property to go onto Rightmove to pick up as many offers as possible.

What about sellers who want to move quickly, and can afford to take a hit on price?

What about sellers outwith the London and South East area, who would, in many cases, be happy to just get an offer, any offer ... ?

terrierlady

as an exercise we emailed agents asking for our property which has been listed for a while out of four agents on local right move only one bothered to tele and email back with correct requirements, anyone thinking of using an agent pose as a buyer first you may be amazed at the response.

Mattygroves2

Don't mail them - visit in person and spend as much time selling yourself and your position as your wants.

If you've got a particular street or vilage in mind then a leaflet drop through all the possibles might get you someone who isn't even at the Estate Agent stage.

jjlandlord

Yes, if you are known to your local agents and seen as a serious buyer they will often call you as soon as instructed and before the property has appeared on the major portals.

In areas of strong demand there is a lack of properties so that agents will indeed have a waiting list of potential buyers. That's still very much relevant today.

kay_1

Our house had two asking price offers before it hit Rightmove so well worth trying to get on estate agents 'list'.

Callie22

We're looking at the moment and we've often found that even when we call about properties that have just appeared on Rightmove, we'll be told that they've already gone. We've also been offered viewings on a couple of places before they've even been advertised.

AdrianC

My mother's house is going on the market at the moment. She had a viewing even before the EPC and photos had been done, let alone it going on RM.

kaya

Several houses near me have sold in the last six months before the estate agents board has gone up let alone got on right move

DaftyDuck

I have bored with this tale before. It is a while ago, but I once sold a house in less than four marketing hours - twice! I'd had three valuations around the same, and two to go. The fourth was a slimetrail of smarm, warm lingering handshakes, and every line came from The Office School of Management. Over an evening cuppa he valued the house 7 - 8% above the other three, insisted he had people on his books who would love the property, and could he sign us up for 12 weeks? Well, more just to rub him up the wrong way, I said - how about two? Took him a half second to say yes and alter a contract accordingly. He picked up all three mobile phones (!!!) and left.

He called later that same evening, apologising that, because the office was closed, he couldn't organise an agent to do a viewing, could we do one ourselves at 9am the next morning. Um... yes. He called again at 8.55 the next morning to check we were there, OK, etc, and could we do another viewing at 11am, either ourselves, or he could get an agent out. Said we'd do it ourselves as we were there for the first.

Did the first. Agent called at 10.55 to check we were there and OK for the second viewing, oh, and just to say he'd had a visit from the first, who'd offered the asking price. Did second viewing for next lot. Agent called at about 2 to say he'd also got an asking-price offer from the second lot.

That was some time ago, in the early days of the internet. However, it was not in a London area, and it was in a fairly static house price period. It was not underpriced, it was an agent in a rural area with a good list of clients who wanted desirable properties of limited availability.

So, yes, off-advertising sales do happen, and happen very fast. Mind you, don't be too envious of my luck. That was early on in my house buying life; the next one was twice as expensive to buy, and lost me nearly 15% of its value, taking 18 months to find a buyer.

[Deleted User]

We put an offer on our 'current' house 3 days after they put it on the market; we'd seen the sign go up and wanted to move to the area

I don't think it was on Rightmove by the time we had the offer accepted