Estate agent jargon

rubble2

We have just put our house on the market so have signed up to get email alerts for suitable properties from Rightmove.

A question that this has thrown up is about phrases used by estate agents, particularly 'Under offer' and 'SSTC'

I understand Sold subject to contract to mean that an offer has been made and accepted by the vendor and that the legal aspects of the sale are being processed.

I am struggling with 'Under Offer', assuming that this is different to SSTC then it can only mean that an offer has been made but presumably not accepted or acted upon by the vendor. If that is the case, than what is the point of mentioning it? All it does to me, a potential buyer, is to say there is little point in going to view the property as you are too late.

A case in point that I do not fully understand is a house that was emailed to me on Friday evening as having just gone the market, when I looked again on Saturday morning it was showing as SSTC, how is that even possible? and if the sale was already in progress prior to Saturday why even bother listing it on Rightmove?

Be interested to find out if I am interpreting things incorrectly.

davidmcn

Under offer and sstc are essentially the same thing.

Sometimes properties sell more quickly than the estate agents can prepare their mailings or update their rightmove listings.

marlasinger

'Under offer' is the same as 'SSTC'. We went through this a couple of times when we were viewing, and the estate agents we asked said that they were the same as 'SSTC'.

ashe

House we are buying is sstc, house we are selling is under offer. Both at same stage

AdrianC

Basically...

"Under offer" = Seller still considering whether to accept offer(s) and/or basic buyer qualification still to be confirmed or chain to be completed.
"SSTC" = With solicitors, on the road to exchange of contracts.

They're both a Humpty Dumpty-style movable feast, though, and their presence or absence as flags on RM etc means nothing.

I am struggling with 'Under Offer', assuming that this is different to SSTC then it can only mean that an offer has been made but presumably not accepted or acted upon by the vendor. If that is the case, than what is the point of mentioning it? All it does to me, a potential buyer, is to say there is little point in going to view the property as you are too late.

Any buyer can drop out at any stage prior to exchange - your offer may be waiting as a backstop. And that's always assuming you're not willing to play the gazump game.

A case in point that I do not fully understand is a house that was emailed to me on Friday evening as having just gone the market, when I looked again on Saturday morning it was showing as SSTC, how is that even possible? and if the sale was already in progress prior to Saturday why even bother listing it on Rightmove?

Just because you were mailed it on Friday, doesn't mean that was the first any putative buyer had heard of it. EAs have lists of people they know are looking. For all you know, the offer went in as soon as the office opened on Saturday, from somebody who'd viewed it earlier in the week.

Freecall

As others have said ‘under offer’ and ‘SSTC’ are essentially the same thing in the domestic housing world although some do try to draw a distinction between proceedable and non-proceedable potential buyers.

The terms are borrowed from the commercial property world where they do have different meanings. It is not uncommon that during commercial property transactions, planning or other consents have to be obtained, which can sometimes take months to resolve. In this case ‘under offer’ is used.

SSTC means much the same as it does with domestic sales ie. that an agreement in principle has been agreed and the parties are merely sorting out details.

ashe

Some EAs will move a property to sold STC if buyernis happy to have it taken down eg asking price offfer received from a peoceedable buyer.

EA we are buying through wouldn!!!8217;t even put it as under offer until we had paid for the survey and confirmed happy with the results

dunroving

Under English law, it seems to me that unless the buyer can show evidence they are serious (paying for a survey , showing they can buy cash, or are chain-free, etc.), estate agents would do well to continue showing the property (if the seller were open to continuing to show the house).

I still remember the days of gazumping and gazundering, which remind me that essentially, SSTC and Under Offer can mean very little in practice.