When to put an offer in

bolwin1

OK - probably stupid question time. I've seen lots of advice about how to put an offer in a property, but none about WHEN to put an offer in. 

Current position as follows. 

Our house went up for sale last week. Couple of viewings at the weekend, but no offers yet. 

We have viewed somewhere we really like. We have 2 more houses to view  on Friday, but I suspect today's will remain favourite. 

Rough numbers are ;

House purchase £500K. Our house will fetch circa £300K. I have £100K deposit to put towards it & an AIP from Halifax for well over the £100K balance. Have money put aside for all fees / stamp duties etc.

So, is the vendor / EA likely to accept an offer whilst I waiting for an offer on my place, or should I wait until I have an offer on mine ? 

I'll ring the EA after I've viewed the other 2 properties, but would appreciate any comments before then (I haven't had to sell & buy a house at the same time before).

AnotherJoe

No seller in their right mind would accept an offer from someone who isn't "proceedable" eg hasn't got an offer on their own house or better cash or at least no need to sell.  The best you might get is "that would be an acceptable price if you were proceedable"

You can of course make an offer but the downside is that might give the seller leverage to any other potential buyers "well we already have an offer of £500k so that would be our minimum" 

If it was me I'd tell the EA that I was very interested and as soon as I was proceedable I will make an offer.  You  might sound out the price, eg "would they take £x because that will help me know what I need to sell my place for" but it sounds as if you aren't stretching yourself so don't need that 

Scythi

I offered on a house before my house had an offer (only just had one, but nothing is concrete yet) and it was accepted and taken off the market, but I got lucky.

You can always try, just make sure your position is clear to the EA.

Robby1988

The best time to make an offer is when your house has sold and you are ready to proceed, but there are no rules. If you love the house & want to make a good offer to show that you are serious then there is no harm, you can make an offer any time.

In all likelihood it will not get accepted whilst you aren't in a proceedable position, but the seller may well decide to sit on your offer whilst they wait & see what else comes in. An equal offer from somebody with the money ready to go will end up trumping you for the property though, but that's the danger of viewing properties before yours has sold.

D.L

Best time is between 3-4pm. Too early makes you look desperate but if you leave it too late the EA won't get a chance to pass on your offer.

blue_max_3

If you are confident you will get an offer - ie the place is well priced and the area is in demand, then there's nothing to stop you saying that. It rather depends on how competitive your offer is. Obviously if you're asking for a sizeable discount, they would probably be unlikely to accept. 
What is their position though? Have they found somewhere? Is a quick sale going to trump a better offer?
If they're looking for a quick sale, you probably need to be looking for a first time or cash buyer for your place.

RelievedSheff

If everyone waited until they were proceedable before they offered on another property then the market would grind to a halt. There is nothing stopping you putting an offer in on a property before you have an offer on yours. Your house is on the market and has got viewings booked in so this will go in your favour.

AnotherJoe

It wouldn't grind to a halt because for a start many are proceedable anyway (Cash or mortgage with no property to sell), plus sales can starts from the bottom of the chain.

You could equally argue that if everyone took their house off the market when someone who has no current way to buy it made an offer, then the market would grind to a halt since those properties won't be available to those who are in a position to buy. 

Especially in times like now where buyers are likely to be thin on the ground, taking Your house off the market for a optimist/fantasists offer would be mad. But then maybe OPs prospective vendor is mad? Or perhaps canny, will say "thanks" and then when next offer from someone else is made they use OP as a way to underpin their price even though OP's offer is toothless. So I think there is harm in making an offer in that a vendor may feel able to hold out for other buyers having had validation that their Asking price is reasonable. But again they may have a mad vendor. 

When I had non proceedable offers one my mums flat, my response was either "not enough" or "yes that's in the ballpark come back when you are proceedable". 

RelievedSheff

Equally there are vendors who will accept offers from people who have not sold yet if they are making efforts to sell their property. The only way to find out is to approach the EA and make that offer.

Your analogy of removing a property from the market  when someone has no current way of buying it is a bit silly really.

Scotbot

In many areas the market was grinding to a halt pre covid. A friend of mine had their house on the market end of last year  but  were not allowed to view properties ( the vendors refused) they were interested in without an offer on their house . 

Scotbot

Tell the agent you are interested, without giving a figure, and ask the agent if the vendor would consider offers from you and more importantly take the house off the market. Likely answer is no so important not to reveal how much you are willing to pay for it as that may change when you get asn offer on yours.