Have to Sell before Buying Now?!

princeofpounds

Without an offer on your property, you are not proceedable. The best you can hope for would be an understanding that the offer would be sufficient IF you were proceedable. But no-one is going to take their house off the market so a buyer can take as long as they like to sell their property with no visibility.


Personally I am not aware of it ever having been different.

user5000

In the past, the first thing that would be agreed when you submitted an offer, was that - regardless of whether you had sold your own house or not (but dependent of a Mortgage in principal and deposit) - the seller withdrew it from the market. That has always been the situation as far as I know.

In_For_A_Penny_2

user5000 wrote: »

Our offers on other properties have been rejected outright, regardless of any terms we have suggested. We have been informed this is not because of the price we have submitted, but because we are not under offer, full stop.

I agree that the chain seems to be a thing of the past - we are also looking to move but thankfully we are in a position to proceed. Any property we have looked at the prospective vendor has stated they are planning to sell and then rent until they find another property. . . sounds like a lot of hassle but seems to be the way things are going to try and ensure a sale.

haras_nosirrah

If that was the old way I can see why they changed it. It made no sense

Much better to wait for someone who can proceed now than take your house off the market to someone who can't proceed, find the new house you want as you are under offer and then have the whole chain fall apart a couple of months later as the person at the bottom can't sell.

At least by waiting for people to sell first then the chain completes from the bottom up which means the chance of it falling through lessens - much less emotional trauma for all

jackomdj

I have bought and sold a few times, the first back in 1991 and it was almost like that back then. However, people would accept your offer, but not take their property off the market until you were procedable.

jackieblack

user5000 wrote: »

As I think I have said several times already. This is how it always used to be!

It doesn't become more true just because you keep repeating it.

IME (first home purchase in 80s) it has always been the case that a purchaser wasn't taken seriously unless they were under offer, FTB with MAIP or a cash buyer, ie ready and able to proceed

haras_nosirrah

user5000 wrote: »

In the past, the first thing that would be agreed when you submitted an offer, was that - regardless of whether you had sold your own house or not (but dependent of a Mortgage in principal and deposit) - the seller withdrew it from the market. That has always been the situation as far as I know.

But if you haven't sold then how do you know what you can buy for?

What if you make an offer for the house based on you selling for £200k but it turns out this is wildly optimistic and you can't get more than 170k. You then are 30k short for the new house so unless you can make up the difference elsewhere or pay much higher payments then the offer could fall apart at this point.

There is no transparency in people buying and selling this way. You are taking the house off the market to someone who may well not be able to buy it. When this comes to light then the sale falls through anyway which renders the whole activity pointless. There is no way I would take the house off the market to anyone who was not proceedable and I would be extremely upset if my estate agent suggested I did as they are mean to work for my interest and not my buyers as I am paying them

Essentially op however things used to be done they are not done that way anymore. Get yours under offer and then look for a house otherwise you are wasting your time and your vendors

user5000

I can repeat it as often as I want. Thank you. Buying and selling and the procedure of submitting offers has changed in recent years and I don't think it is something that is particularly widely discussed. I know people that have experienced all sorts of situations when buying and selling and offers accepted or rejected regardless of being able to proceed (although as I stated a deposit and mortgage in principal has always been a condition of sale). I know that like myself there are many who find that since their last house sale/purchase the world of buying and selling is now different and not as straight forward as it once was.

user5000

I am not trying to dispute the current situation and understand things work differently now, but even 8 years ago the process was simpler. Things have changed.

user5000

I should make it clear that I am not frustrated about our house not selling, as it hasn't been on the market very long and is generating a lot of interest. I don't really need analysing, I just wanted some clarification on the changes that we see in the market now in comparison to the past.