Viewing houses when to start

londongirl

So.....I have a feeling i'm going to be asking a lot of questions on this board and the mortgage board, sorry! Already got some helpful advice.
Situation is I have my flat to sell but its not on the market yet - hoping in a few weeks. I do want to know what is out there for what we can afford though and some properties have been on the market a couple of months so my thinking was to start looking and if the person doesn't want to wait then fine, and if they do then all good. I have only done my research on rightmove and driving round the areas but i don't want to put my flat on the market if when i see the inside of the properties that are affordable they are not actually what we want/ see much smaller etc. So i figured that while I was decluttering and painting etc ready to put mine on the market i could start viewing houses now.
But i just feel like i've been totally quizzed by the estate agent and also gave away much more detail than I wanted to - they are a notoriously pushy estate agent in the area unfortunatley, but that is the agent who the house we wanted to view is on with.
I may be being over cautious or just on edge because of their reputation but when viewing a property how much should they ask me and how much should i tell?
They wanted to know what my maximum budget is - now obviously i am only viewing something I think i can afford - but i end up saying a figure - but now i think well now they know what i could go up to so surely they would just push to that figure if we wanted to make an offer?
I mean a ball park figure should i have said looking at between £280/£310k ish? Or should i have just said its within our budget, or should i not be worrying and it was fine to say. I ended up saying our maximum because the house is actually on for £20k more than what we could pay - but things have slowed down and offers still happen even round here (edge of NW london).

So........my questions......are we looking to early if my flat isn't on the market? (estate agent thought the guy might not even want to let us look - fair enough but is this usual, i guess with a vacant property or one thats been on for ages its easier). ?

What is ok to tell estate agent what isn't?
What should they normally ask?

I don't know if its just because its this particular agent. I've viewed show homes before and was just asked roughly what my budget was. I've also been a first time buyer before and don't even remember being asked, and never had a problem getting a viewing as a FTB either but now they seem to want me to have sold my flat pretty much before i can even look.

She was also pushing for their other branch nearer to me to call me to value my flat - but i wouldn't sell it with them in a million years, hate them!

Maybe i just shouldn't view properties with this particular agent? Or are they all going to be like this? I know they need to make sure for the seller there are no time wasters but although i may not be far down the process, i don't think i'm time wasting, if i like the property i would put in an offer and it would be up to the owner as to whether they wanted to then wait for my flat to sell surely? If they didn't and FTB came along with a similar offer, fair do's, but it seems i need to start the process somewhere? Am i going about it in the wrong way?

Sorry - that was quite badly written with far too many questions but hope you get the gist of my queries!

Thanks!

LeoTLion

My honest opinion is yes, looking before you are even on the market is too soon. The reason I say this is because from your point of view there is a chance you might find the perfect property, not be in a position to proceed and end up missing out, so why risk it?


In terms of the type of people sellers want viewing, I suspect it will vary from seller to seller.


We have recently put our house on the market and the viewings we've had so far have all been from people with property to sell. We are ok with that, the market where we are is fairly slow and it just seems to be how it is. We decided we didn't want to risk annoying a potential buyer by refusing to let them look and at least if their property is on the market, there is a chance they a genuine and might come back with an offer in the future. Not everyone would agree with this though, I'm sure.


We have made a decision not to go on any viewings until we have accepted an offer. it's not hard to keep track of the market via RM, and even save a list of 'potentials' without contacting any agents.


The way we approached it was, to get all the jobs done we wanted to, have it valued, put it on the market and then speak to a broker to give us an idea of the size of mortgage is available to us. Once we are in a position to proceed we will start looking at properties.


Regarding what you tell an agent. Tell them the type of property you are looking for, what areas you are interested in and then give them a fairly broad price range to work with. Will they try and push you to your limit? Probably. Will they try and get you to spend as close to the asking price as they can? Almost definitely. Do you have to do any of it? Of course not, it's your money and you should only spend what you think the house is worth.


Buying houses is more of an art than a science and I am sure that some people will disagree wholeheartedly with what I have said, but you did say you wanted opinions!

londongirl

Thank you. Some good points , I hope not all estate agents are going to be as pushy as the one today. Having thought further and after reading your reply I think I do need to get my property on the market ASAP and then start looking, I had somehow assumed it would take ages to find a new house therefore earlier the better but hadn't thought what I'd feel like if found dream house and wasn't in a position to move things along quickly - better not to know it was dream house!

paulsad

We've had a girl recently round who loves our place - even sent her dad round for a viewing - all well and good apart from she's only just put her place on the market - I don't mind (lots of tidying up practice and flower buying!) as she's a sweetie. But we're not viewing anything (apart from online) till we've accepted an offer - just not worth the heartache when you find the ideal place and its snapped up before you can move on it.

rosie383

I agree with the above posters. At least get your house on the market first. And consider some of the online agents. Some posters on this board would recommend them and if our sale falls through, we will definitely be going down that route. We are paying £2600 for the EA and we have done all but two viewings ourselves anyway. Online would be £2k cheaper.

We had sold, and then lost our buyer. In that time we saw some great houses within our budget, but lost out as we didn't have a buyer. Now we have a buyer and are playing a waiting game.

tea-bag

I am selling my house at the moment and did not consider anybody who did not have a offer in place

tocs23

I agree - focus on getting your flat on the market and an offer secured before looking at other properties. Then, you will at least know for sure what your budget is for the new place. It will also give the seller more confidence in your offer... especially important if you find yourself in a bidding war as the seller will naturally take this factor into account.

I honestly wouldn't worry about what you've told the EA in terms of your budget - at the end of the day, any property is only worth what you are willing to pay for it. The benefit of discussing budget is that they can keep you updated on any suitable properties that may come up within your price range. As a point of principle, though, given that this particular agent seems to have p'd you off with their pushiness I would play my cards close to my chest in any future discussions!

Good luck with it all.

rosie383

And also, regardless of what you have told any particular EA re your budget, it is good to give them an idea, but circumstances can always change. So they may say 'You told us your maximum was £xxxx'. In the meantime, you may have had a work bonus, or had to pay a big unexpected bill. Absolutely none of their bloomin' business. You live and learn.

MadelinesMum

I had a lovely, enthusiastic viewer who had not even put hers on the market. She seemed so keen. I kept checking rightmove; her house finally came up and the pictures were awful. After a few months it was rented out.

I think some viewers live in cloud cuckoo land!