When to put an offer in

Lokolo

If this house is the best thing you can get, and you love it that much, then lower the asking price for your property for quick offers. It does mean financially you will be losing out, but you have said you are well below your borrowing capacity. So it really just depends on how much you really want this house. 

AnotherJoe

RelievedSheff said:

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.

That's exactly what would happen if OPs offer was accepted and the house taken off the market. Then nothing would happen until OP got an acceptable offer. That might be months or even never. Meantime other buyers who can proceed won't even see that house being available. 

getmore4less

Also need to check the vendors are  ready to sell or you end up in nopersonland with a dangling offer that goes nowhere when you get the offer on yours. 

bolwin1

Thanks for the comments all. Some very useful feedback / comments. The house we are looking at was put on the market just before covid-19 kicked in, was taken off & then put back on again 3 weeks ago. The sellers are looking at buying a vacant property, so would be at the top of the chain. I suspect my place won't be bought by a FTB - £300K is quite a bit of property in this part of the world, so may well end up with a chain of 4. I'll ring the estate agents tomorrow & let them know our position. Will report back in a few weeks :-) 

coolwind

When I bought my house, the sellers accepted my offer and then made an offer on their next property. I think that's what most people do. Also, I would suggest to keep an eye on other properties for your next house, as a backup.

MovingForwards

Is your current place mortgage free?

bolwin1

MovingForwards said:

Is your current place mortgage free?

Yes - my current place is mortgage free. 
Unfortunately, this has all become a bit of a moot point. The sellers received an offer from someone who was proceedable. I've asked the EA to let me know if comes back on the market, but in the meantime, I'm going to wait until I've had an offer on my place before viewing any others. 

[Deleted User]

We offered on a property and they agreed even though we weren't on the market with the proviso that we would price ours realistically to sell and they would give us a period of time to sell. I explained our situation to the vendors when I saw them and I was very upfront and so they knew I was committed to their property and wouldn't mess them around, good situation etc. For us it worked and we priced accordingly and sold within a week. I think some vendors will do it if they like you / good offer etc and equally some vendors are actually happy to have a firm offer so they can look for what they want and sometimes take their time. Not everyone wants to rush, especially if it's for a long term move and they haven't found a property yet. I think as long as it's done with complete transparency there's no reason why not. It will suit some people's circumstances and not others.

moneysavinghero

Personally, as a proceedable buyer, i don't really want to be wasting my time making offers on properties where the seller has not even started looking at properties yet, yet alone found one they want. Otherwise i could be waiting months or more. EA's are shooting themselves in the foot if they wont let people view a property until they have an offer on theirs.

AW618

There's no such thing as a firm offer.  Accepting an offer is meaningless. 
Anyone who says they have "accepted an offer" when you haven't sold your house, hasn't.  If someone else comes along who is proceedable, they will switch to them.
If all people mean by "accepting an offer" is "agreeing a potential price", then yes, this might happen.  If what they mean is firmly committing to sell to somebody, then you would have to be an idiot to sit waiting for months for someone to sell their house when you had people queuing up to buy yours with cash.