Buying - what's normal, under offer before offering?

LokiOfNZ

In short, what is the "normal" process when selling your house and buying a new one? Should you be under offer on your current house before bothering to make an offer on a new house? Or does that usually not matter?

Longer story is we've just lost out on a new house because our current one wasn't under offer fast enough. We'd found a house we liked but due to our specific criteria it was a long search and we weren't even sure we'd be able to find anything that would satisfy the criteria at all. As such we hadn't put our house on the market as we weren't sure we'd ever be moving.

The new place proved very popular and had 5 offers in 3 days, ours was not the highest but it was the first at asking price so the vendors tentatively accepted but were worried as we weren't even on the market at the time. They gave us 2 weeks to get under offer otherwise they'd go with someone else.

Annoyingly it took a week to get boring AML checks done so our place didn't even get marketed until 1 week before the deadline. However we did get about 10 viewings, 2 second viewings and 2 third viewings in that time. Our agent was keeping the vendors agent updated on this and we are hopeful of an offer in the next few days. Clearly it's not the kind of house that is going to sit on the market for months.

However, despite another 48 hour extension the vendors have now decided they reject our offer and accept another party's offer as they are proceedable. This is obviously despite there still being the normal 2-4 months of paperwork etc still to do, in which time it'd be an easy wager our house will definitely be sold STC.

So question is, are we being stupid and do buyers always need to be under offer on their current property before offering on another otherwise they can expect to be rejected? Or are the vendors being harsh expecting a buyer to be cash ready even though paperwork will still cause the biggest delay by far?

We don't really want to accept offers on our current place knowing it could be months and months and months before we find another place that satisfies our criteria (if ever) as that is just leaving our buyers in limbo. So basically for our current plans we'll *never* be under offer before making our own offers

Worth noting we've had a bad experience in the flip situation in the past before buying our current house; had an offer accepted so the vendor felt able to search out a new place for themselves ... waited 3 months having moved out of our rental into the parents house and commuting hours each day only for the vendor to decide they actually couldn't find anything to suit their needs and wouldn't be selling after all!! (exactly what we *don't* want to do to any hopeful buyers of our current house). Luckily the vendors agent had a feeling that might happen and had put us off getting surveys and lawyers started, otherwise we could have been thousands out of pocket as well.

So yeah, another bad house buying experience under the belt and wondering what the normal process is

pinkteapot

If properties that you want go fast then you really will need to be in a proceedable position.

Would you consider renting if you get a good offer on your current place? While it means the cost and upheaval of two moves, you can then look for houses to buy at your leisure and buying one is the most stress-free transaction you'll ever have. We're currently looking while in rented. Plus you can buy a place and do any cosmetic work etc you want to do before moving in, when it's much easier.

If that's not an option, I think you're better to get a buyer first. Just be totally honest with any buyer who views that you are serious about moving, but you have specific requirements so it may take some time to find a place. It's then up to buyers if they want to offer or not.

We made a FTB wait a few months on one of our moves. Similar to you, we wanted something specific. We kept them informed regularly and would have totally understood if they'd got fed up and offered on something else. We told them to spend money on mortgage application etc till the chain was formed.

If our FTB had offered more we'd have considered moving out. But we had them at a price we were confident we'd get again (and quickly) from other buyers, so although it sounds harsh it wasn't worth us renting as they were replaceable.

Soot2006

I have negotiated a purchase price for the house I want, but because we don't have a proceedable offer (we have an offer, but the buyer hasn't sold her place yet) the agent is considering it a "potential offer" ,,, i.e. they're still marketing. Our agent told us to do the same with our offer. I told all the agents to talk to each other, leave me out of any games and get on with it!

comeandgo

I always sell first, then rent and it leaves you in the position that you can then move pretty quickly. When selling I don't entertain any purchaser who has not sold their property. Luckily I've never been let down using this formula.

LokiOfNZ

pinkteapot wrote: »

Would you consider renting if you get a good offer on your current place? While it means the cost and upheaval of two moves, you can then look for houses to buy at your leisure and buying one is the most stress-free transaction you'll ever have.

The kicker is where we are is good and we'd only move *if* we found something that satisfies all the criteria. It's a cake and eat it too situation we know, but its such a shame that it nearly came off only to crumble at the end

The annoying thing about the popularity of the place is I'd bet the other interested parties don't even want it for the same reasons we do and would be just as happy in some of the other great places we've seen that don't quite satisfy the most difficult specifics of our criteria.

cattie

I've never considered offers from anybody who hasn't already found a buyer for theirs & as a vendor I always make sure I've a commited buyer before I start viewing potential properties.

SneaksyWhippet

It can sometimes work out if you make an offer when not proceedable; it did for me. I made an offer on a house before mine was even on the market. I told the agents marketing the house that they could put mine on their books and I was serious; within a week my property was listed with them and I'd had several viewings, a few offers, a second viewing and a final offer which went all the way. But this was in a situtation where the agent knew my house would be likely to sell quickly, most likely to a first time buyer, and the vendor I was buying from wasn't in any huge rush as he hadn't found anywhere yet.


It's really at the vendor's discretion, but ultimately you will always stand a better chance if you're proceedable, especially in a fast moving, competitive market. Some agents won't even allow you to view properties unless you're proceedable.


It's a shame your move is an "only if we find what we love" situation, as otherwise moving into rented would be a perfect solution for you.

Albala

cattie wrote: »

I've never considered offers from anybody who hasn't already found a buyer for theirs & as a vendor I always make sure I've a commited buyer before I start viewing potential properties.

That's all very well except for people who have very specific requirements, like the OP. It isn't always about faffing about looking for 'the perfect house' for some of us, e.g., one of the things I need (and I mean need, not 'want') is a large upstairs room with a large window that faces due North. Ever tried asking an EA just to send you info only on houses that fit that description?:D Add a large garden to that, and I spent two or three years on Rightmove and Google Earth looking in a fairly well-populated 10 mile radius. I found about three. Few buyers would wait three years.

Albala

LokiOfNZ wrote: »

The kicker is where we are is good and we'd only move *if* we found something that satisfies all the criteria. It's a cake and eat it too situation we know, but its such a shame that it nearly came off only to crumble at the end

The annoying thing about the popularity of the place is I'd bet the other interested parties don't even want it for the same reasons we do and would be just as happy in some of the other great places we've seen that don't quite satisfy the most difficult specifics of our criteria.

I feel your pain. When you need something specific which is hard to find, and someone gets it who wouldn't care less about that aspect of the house, or even goes on to wreck that very thing .
Someone bought a house, previously owned by friends of mine, with a superb kitchen garden. It had been growing veg for 100+ years and the soil was fantastic, you could just about grow anything in it and it would thrive; it was a kitchen garden that any keen gardener might kill for. The new owners built a vast, vulgar conservatory over it.

Davesnave

If you're looking for something very specific, then selling to rent is the best way to go, provided house price movement is flat or downward. Before we took this advice, we failed several times.

We sold to rent and achieved our objective in 9 months. Happily, it was a situation when being unencumbered was crucial and we also benefited financially.

Why other people want the sort of property you're after is irrelevant; the fact is they do is enough. (And yes, missed out on a few walled gardens too!)

LokiOfNZ

Extremely frustratingly we've just had an acceptable offer on our house come through. So lost the new house because we weren't proceedable on Friday morning, became proceedable on Monday night ....