Have you ever offered to buy a house that wasn't for sale?

cashman82

We are buying in an area where competition is fierce and offered £10k over asking price on a house which was accepted and was then pulled when our buyers dragged their feet on getting their mortgage.

Our plan now is to sell our house and then move on to looking for something for us to buy.

The area has some beautiful houses but not many of them are available - hence there being lots of competition. A newspaper article within the last couple of years stated that there are a plethora of family homes owned by retired couples who maybe don't need quite so much room anymore but haven't taken the plunge and moved/downsized.

Has anyone ever successfully made a speculative enquiry to buy a house that wasn't for sale?

I'm thinking we can bypass the estate agents (in the sellers advantage for fees) as I found them more of a hinderence than a help for our recent sale/purchase'and I'm quite happy to do the phoning/chasing.

Id love to hear from some people who've had success and how you went about making enquiries.

Lokolo

I am sure I have seen a couple of posts previously asking the same thing. And I am sure I remember a couple of responses saying it was successful for them, but I do think it is rare.

I did view a house that hadn't gone onto market yet, a friend of my grandparents knew they were looking to move and word spread. Unfortunately it wasn't to my taste so I didn't offer.

The usual suggestion is to print of some leaflets and pop them in the doors of houses you may be interested in. You'll never know unless you try.

Jsnb88

You can, but I would expect to pay over the odds, if someone approaches you and asks you too move chances are you would want above market value

Davesnave

Lokolo wrote: »

The usual suggestion is to print of some leaflets and pop them in the doors of houses you may be interested in. You'll never know unless you try.

I'd second this, but first get them checked for errors; some of us old fogeys aren't quite as far gone as we look.

silvercar

We sold our previous home to someone who put a note through the door.

ProDave

I bought my building plot when it was not for sale.

Mind you it took 2 years of having that "I would like to buy your plot" conversation before he agreed to sell it, and that was only when I said if you won't sell I will go and buy a different one from someone else.

bob_bank_spanker

We narrowed down where we wanted to live to smallish area, printed off 600 leaflets and posted them through doors. We got 3 responses, purchased one of these. Seller saved about 4k in agency fees.

3mph

Yes. We were within days of exchange and the flat we were buying was pulled off the market. We continued and sold our house, moved into rented, and then went round the EA asking if any knew if any other flats in the block we had first tried were likely to come up.

Over the next 3 months two different EA said they had been approached in the past by owners for valuations and would ask.

First we offered asking, about 10% over what we thought was value, but they pulled out after 2 weeks claiming that the flats and area would be worth more in future years.

Then a few weeks later another EA came back with the second one, this we had 2 months and again completed all the work up to exchange but they then pulled out and decided not to move.

Finally bought one that came on again and moved a few months back.

Lesson is that there are a lot of people who contact EA for valuations not really wanting to move. But they might then decide to, so they are a potential. BUT they have no external driving reason (job move etc) so if you find one BEWARE they may well have little commitment.

We kept going, because the block of flats is unique, on a rocky promentary about 15m from high water mark and 15m above it. Bedrooms and lounge look directly across the sea and down onto the beach and also because of the design totally private.

So worth doing but by very cynical.

cashman82

Many thanks for your responses. I hadn't considered the idea that they may indeed be less than happy to commit when there is no motivation. Good point, well made.

I've heard of leaflets being distributed before but I wondered about a more personal approach and an actual letter? There is likely only a couple of handfuls of houses that we would want to buy (we'd like a fairly large garden) and because of the area being very middle class I thought this may go down a little better.

WeAreGhosts

We put some letters through doors of houses we liked the look of. We told people why we wanted to move and what we were looking for.
We did get responses, ended up viewing one where the owner had been thinking about selling. He wanted far more than we thought the house was worth though. I think that tends to be the case when they haven't had an agent value it up.

I'd definitely go for it. You have nothing to lose.

AnotherJoe

A friend of mine did this. Put a note through saying “if you ever decide to sell, call me” and amazingly about 2 years later they did. I say amazingly because if someone put such a note through my door there’s no way I’d be able to find it 2 weeks later let alone 2 years !