Making an offer before I have a buyer

Hutchinsfairy

I'm sure this has been answered elsewhere as it seems a really basic question. Unfortunately, all I can find are buying guides like the excellent MSE one which doesn't seem address this.

The short question is: Should I make an offer before I have a buyer?

Essentially this is a question about the seller's expectations.

1) Would they expect me to already have an offer on my home before making one on theirs? I.e. is it common or rare to make this sort of offer?

2) Would they expect to have to take their property off the market and wait for me to get an offer or would this be unlikely?

My home is currently on the market and has had 8 viewing in the first week and a half. We have seen a property that we like and we should be able to afford if our house sells. We would be looking to make an offer about 5% under asking price.

I am trying to decide whether to:

1) Make an offer now, without a buyer
2) Wait an amount of time (2 weeks maybe) in the hope of getting a buyer so I can make a stronger offer
3) Wait until I have a buyer

I want to avoid losing the property I am interested in but I'm not sure if the greater risk is acting too slowly or making an unappealing offer that will be declined (or accepted but with the house still on the market).

lindsloo

I would presume it would depend on the seller, their circumstances and preferences and if the offer is right. I am currently at the bottom of a chain and my vendor had 2 weeks to find a buyer (i.e me) with the same agent as a condition of their offer being accepted. The agent is probably the most down to earth ea I've ever met and I asked him why are the vendors vendor was being so harsh, he said with the lack of supply of properties in the area (se london) they're lucky they were even considered without a sale on their own house proceeding.

Wouldn't hurt for you to phone EA for a chat and find out the vendors position, chain etc

DaftyDuck

Why on earth would they take their property off the market, if you are still waiting for a buyer? You can express interest (someone has just done so with mine, but since they have no ready cash to give me, the house is still for sale), and they may well give you a better reception if you do get a buyer, and then approach them...

Hutchinsfairy

DaftyDuck wrote: »

Why on earth would they take their property off the market, if you are still waiting for a buyer? You can express interest (someone has just done so with mine, but since they have no ready cash to give me, the house is still for sale), and they may well give you a better reception if you do get a buyer, and then approach them...

That's what I had assumed but wanted to sound for experience like yours!

audigex

There's also the question of whether you can afford your offer: if you don't yet have a buyer, you don't know how much your house will sell for. Can you make up the difference of any potential reduction in price you'll need to get the sale?

Register interest, explain your situation and be honest about how likely you are to meet that price: they may be in no rush and just happy to have a buyer lined up and wait for you. I hugely doubt they'll take it off the market, though, even if it stops them being quite so proactive about securing the sale.

Mallotum_X

Make an offer now, without a buyer

Make the offer by all means, but dont expect it to be accepted.

You wont be in any real position to negotiate as you are not in a position to proceed.

If i was selling and you were interested in my house, Id be saying thanks for the interest, but I'm going to keep looking for a buyer in a position to buy.

Perhaps put your efforts into selling your own place. Is the price right, is anything putting people off?

kinger101

Like others have said, the chances of it being meaningfully accepted (i.e., house taken off market) are almost nil. Any EA worth their salt would tell the vendor you are not a qualified buyer. If anything, the EA would use your offer as a marketing strategy by saying to other potential buyers that they already refused on offer of x, or they have another very interested buyer.

Wait until you've found a buyer.

phoebe1989seb

We put in an offer on our current house before our previous one was on the market because this house was so perfect we were afraid of losing it. Of course our offer wasn't taken seriously, but we went home, finished off the work on our house (a project we'd been working on for three years) and got it on the market pronto.

In the interim, we kept the vendor's EA in the loop just so they knew how serious we were. They were aware from the outset that even if we sold below AP (we didn't) we would have loads of cash to spare. We were buying another fixer-upper so the price was easily affordable as it was much lower than our projected sale price. There was no mortgage involved either.

As soon as we had accepted an offer on ours we went back for a second viewing and made an offer that was accepted the following day.

DaftyDuck

phoebe1989seb... I wonder, would you have stood any chance of getting the more recent property at a lower price, even a couple of thousand, if the agent & owner hadn't known you were so interested, and maintained that interest over time? If you hadn't, in effect, had to offer a higher price because you couldn't immediately proceed?

I'm offer accepted now (all been very fast, in a slow-moving area, so I am shocked, gob-smacked, and soon to be less-than-sober), but I have gone with a proceedable buyer for £10,000 less than a non-proceedable offered. Had the latter waited, accepted an offer on his, then offered on mine, I wouldn't have expected him to offer any higher than the other bod.

Anyway, I see a row of chickens crossing my garden. I will resist the urge to count them, and go and open a bottle instead.

Hutchinsfairy

Mallotum_X wrote: »

Perhaps put your efforts into selling your own place. Is the price right, is anything putting people off?

I think that our house is finished beautifully and reasonably priced but presumably my opinion is so biased as to be meaningless. The price was the mid range of a few estate agent's estimates and slightly below the Nationwide valuation used for our remortgage. The house itself is getting a lot of viewings and positive feedback from potential buyers (although no serious offers). We have been keeping an eye on the market for over a year before putting our house up so I feel like we have a good idea of the local market.


More generally though, to all of the people voting and especially those sharing experience:- Thank you.

I think our best bet as it stands is to make our interest known without discussing figures and then just hope desperately for an offer.

ellie27

Wait until I have a buyer

I wouldnt put an offer on a house without having a buyer for ours.

We had been studying the market for around a year too, and a house came on the market a month or so ago that we liked. We viewed it and loved it and if we had sold ours would have put an offer in.

We knew it was the right house for us and in that last year there were only around 3 houses that had came onto the market that ticked most of our boxes. We wanted that house.

We dropped our house price by couple £1000's and had 2 offers on it the next day and accepted an offer 2 days later and had our offer accepted on the house we love!

Your house has only been on the market 10 days you say? So dropping price is not likely, 8 viewers in first 10 days I would expect an offer from one of them! Good luck and keep us posted!