Offer without viewing not passed on

jenni_fer

Spiderroo said:

Did you find a house in the end? It’s reaching the point now where I can’t see us ever being successful. 

We’re not cash buyers or developers and we worry offering £50k over asking will just lead to the mortgage company massively undervaluing the property. We’re saving like mad to give us more equity (currently have 20%) but with the agents telling us there’s 50+ viewings for everything we see and prices going up each week it seems impossible. 

We are hopeful buying a friends house, but now she's in the best and final merry-go-round so I'm not confident yet.

AFF8879

Spiderroo said:

jenni_fer said:

From the seller perspective I get it, and I'd also be thinking that if someone is that keen, just imagine how much demand there might be if I allow a decent amount of viewings.

As a buyer, we've lost out at best and final a number of times and also had a fallen through purchase so I really sympathise with you. We've only considered offering without viewing once and that was a property identical to one we'd just lost out on and with the same EA so they could have a reasonable level of comfort we knew what we were doing (vendor then decided they weren't selling after all).

Do the viewing, make a considered offer and hope for the best. Will cross my fingers this is the one for you!

Did you find a house in the end? It’s reaching the point now where I can’t see us ever being successful. 

We’re not cash buyers or developers and we worry offering £50k over asking will just lead to the mortgage company massively undervaluing the property. We’re saving like mad to give us more equity (currently have 20%) but with the agents telling us there’s 50+ viewings for everything we see and prices going up each week it seems impossible. 

How wide are you casting your net? Whilst it’s a hot market almost everywhere, 50+ viewings does sound excessive which makes me think you’re only considering a very narrowly defined search area, are there other nearby towns/villages that could be a little less in demand but still provide most of the benefits you’re looking for? 

Apologies if that sounds a bit “well, duh”… but I speak from experience on being fixated on a particular town, not being able to find anything at all before stumbling across a new build in one of the surrounding villages. It’s added 15 mins to my already 1hr+ commute to London but is otherwise everything I was looking for (a new build might also be easier as you avoid bidding wars, gazumping, etc!)

Ksw3

I really feel for you. We are facing 50 plus viewings for each house too. We are looking city wide except a few places. We've lost out on many houses, sometimes even having to go through two rounds of best and final. It's utter madness at the moment.

Spiderroo

AFF8879 said:

Spiderroo said:

jenni_fer said:

From the seller perspective I get it, and I'd also be thinking that if someone is that keen, just imagine how much demand there might be if I allow a decent amount of viewings.

As a buyer, we've lost out at best and final a number of times and also had a fallen through purchase so I really sympathise with you. We've only considered offering without viewing once and that was a property identical to one we'd just lost out on and with the same EA so they could have a reasonable level of comfort we knew what we were doing (vendor then decided they weren't selling after all).

Do the viewing, make a considered offer and hope for the best. Will cross my fingers this is the one for you!

Did you find a house in the end? It’s reaching the point now where I can’t see us ever being successful. 

We’re not cash buyers or developers and we worry offering £50k over asking will just lead to the mortgage company massively undervaluing the property. We’re saving like mad to give us more equity (currently have 20%) but with the agents telling us there’s 50+ viewings for everything we see and prices going up each week it seems impossible. 

How wide are you casting your net? Whilst it’s a hot market almost everywhere, 50+ viewings does sound excessive which makes me think you’re only considering a very narrowly defined search area, are there other nearby towns/villages that could be a little less in demand but still provide most of the benefits you’re looking for? 

Apologies if that sounds a bit “well, duh”… but I speak from experience on being fixated on a particular town, not being able to find anything at all before stumbling across a new build in one of the surrounding villages. It’s added 15 mins to my already 1hr+ commute to London but is otherwise everything I was looking for (a new build might also be easier as you avoid bidding wars, gazumping, etc!)

Thank you, I think you’re right and we might need to. We live in a major city and we’ve got three areas on our list; they’re all suburban areas but they’re relatively close to the city centre (30 minutes or less) because I travel to London regularly for work. We originally wanted to buy around where we rent at the moment but we live in a really trendy suburb and can’t afford very much round here. 

I do regularly check all new properties in the region and that’s how we reached three areas. We had two, saw something nice in a third where friends live and totally came around. It’s actually no 1 on our list now and where this dream home is located! 

Spiderroo

Deleted_User said:

Spiderroo said:

Snookie12cat said:

As a seller I would not accept an offer or even consider it from someone who hasn't viewed. 
They accept, you then view it and potentially change or withdraw your offer. Could happen anyway but more so if someone hasn't seen it. 
People do this to get it off the market before someone else can offer, which is exactly what you are trying to do. 
The agent works for the seller and so I think they are right in waiting to put your offer forward 

If we weren’t 100% sure we’d take it whatever we wouldn’t offer without viewing - we’ve never done it before and we’ve spent a lot of time considering if we’re happy to take the risk.

The trouble is, you're not the ones taking the risk.  The vendors are.

Go for a viewing and show the vendors that you're serious about buying.

We’re booked in for a viewing tomorrow, we took the first available one and we’ll resubmit the same covering letter straight afterwards, with the references to offering without viewing removed. Hopefully that’s enough for the estate agent to share it with the vendor. 

Spiderroo

Ksw3 said:

I really feel for you. We are facing 50 plus viewings for each house too. We are looking city wide except a few places. We've lost out on many houses, sometimes even having to go through two rounds of best and final. It's utter madness at the moment.

Crikey, I think two rounds of best and final would finish me off at this point!! We’re in a city too which I think is why demand is so high. 

It took us a while (maybe 7 or 8 months) to get an offer on our old flat and in that time prices seem to have shifted from around £250,000 to around £300,000. We have a budget just over £300,000 and if it continues at this pace we’ll be priced out soon. 

theoretica

Snookie12cat said:

As a seller I would not accept an offer or even consider it from someone who hasn't viewed. 
They accept, you then view it and potentially change or withdraw your offer.

Hmm, so hypothetically if someone offers without viewing, any acceptance should be contingent on no viewing afterwards either.  First time they see inside is after completion... 

MysteryMe

This is likely to be the biggest financial commitment of your life. Would you ring up a second hand car dealer and buy a car unseen?   I know you are not committed to buying the house but if your terms had been accepted and you didn't go through with it you have basically burned your bridges with that particular EA. As frustrating as it is you must try not get caught up in the heat of the moment.  As well as potentially looking at other areas try and build up a relationship with the EA so you are high on their list of people to contact if a suitable property is coming onto the market.  Try and do it in person, it's difficult just over the phone. You could also consider leafleting if you have quite a narrow search area.  There will be other houses, don't despair. 

Noneforit999

Agree with the consensus here. As a vendor myself currently, I wouldn't accept an offer without the buyer viewing it first.

What were you hoping to achieve in making an offer before viewing? That they would take it off the market and cancel any other planned viewings? Do me a favour. 

sheramber

The seller may want to test the market and see what other offers come in. Yours may not be the best.