How is the house market working now with regards to viewings.

[Deleted User]

Hi anyone know how the housing market is working now with regards to arranging a viewing on properties, I've been told estate agents won't even entertain anyone who is not in a position to complete on a home?

Is that right?

Basically thinking about putting both our properties up for sale and in the area they are in we should be able to sell them no problem, is it best to advertise first before we start looking?

Strummer22

Yes, get offers on your properties before you start viewing others. There's little point arranging a viewing because most vendors won't accept an offer from someone who hasn't got an offer on the property(ies) they need to sell. If you view a property you like, by the time you then get offers on your properties, the one you like will almost certainly be sold STC.

[Deleted User]

Thanks, so basically we have to get ours on the market and have offers in place before viewing then. 
Ok food for thought, cheers.

UnderOffer

Yes, list, get viewings, accept offer then start to book viewings for your onward purchase. Sellers will see you as proceedable once you are under offer. 

Do you require both your properties to be sold to buy your new purchase? Hopefully that will go smoothly, sell one as end of chain and you can then just tie in the other one of your properties to your purchase. 

movilogo

Depends on local market. But if you need to sell in order to buy your next property, no one will take you seriously until you put your house on the market at least. 

donutandbeer

We started viewing after ours was put on the market back in March this year. We got offers for our place straight away after the first week and we were sold stc. Then our first buyer pulled out after one week, so then we were viewing without having a buyer for a week, and during that week there was one property we couldn’t view because it was too popular (good price for a stunning place) and they only accepted viewings from chain-free buyers or buyers with a chain-free person buying their place. We are in SE London so it’s a bit crazy.

I would think most of the times estate agents will happily let you view as long as you have yours on the market. That being said we have also viewed a few houses where the vendors have already got an offer accepted on their onward purchase (and we were the first group to view their house). I suppose you’ll have to be willing to pay a lot more to secure a place without having yours sold stc.

In SE London we were always competing with multiple chain-free buyers and only recently since we became chain-free have we got an offer accepted. 

[Deleted User]

UnderOffer said:

Yes, list, get viewings, accept offer then start to book viewings for your onward purchase. Sellers will see you as proceedable once you are under offer. 

Do you require both your properties to be sold to buy your new purchase? Hopefully that will go smoothly, sell one as end of chain and you can then just tie in the other one of your properties to your purchase. 

We are not sure yet, we could sell both and depending on the house could either be mortgage free or a very small mortgage, or sell one and then keep one for the rental market and have a mortgage around £200K, we both work and between us could easily afford to take a large mortgage on a shorter term to get it paid quicker. That route could also give us a way into the potentially building up a property portfolio. The area where our houses are is a nice part of town and any rental intake would at least be double what either of us pay in remaining mortgage costs.

t1redmonkey

I didn’t view anything till I had already sold mine and moved out.  However I have had very strong vibes from every estate agent I wanted to view with that they wanted to be certain I was proceedable to put me on a viewing.  I guess a lot of properties are still getting lots of interest so they’re filtering out people before even putting them in a viewing slot.

[Deleted User]

It makes sense, if I was selling I guess I don't want potential time wasters...

Here's another spin on it, what about if there is a house on the market for a long time with a reduction in price, would you or they have any qualms about viewing it then?

eddddy

Deleted_User said:

Here's another spin on it, what about if there is a house on the market for a long time with a reduction in price, would you or they have any qualms about viewing it then?

You can tell the estate agent your circumstances (i.e. 2 homes to sell, but neither on the market yet) and ask if the seller would be happy to let you view on that basis.

Some sellers might say "yes" - but I suspect many will say "no".  (People were much more likely to say "no" when covid was at it's height.)



TBH, I've also come across estate agents who would send anyone and everyone they could to a viewing, without necessarily telling the seller their status. Because...

• They want to make the seller think they're efficient, because they're arranging so many viewings.

• They're trying to persuade the seller to reduce the price.  - "You've had loads of viewings but no offers, that proves the price is too high"

• They're trying to scare "real buyers" into making an offer - "There have been 10 viewings in the last week. So you need to get in quick and offer, before somebody else snaps it up."

It's up to you whether you want to get dragged into those kind of 'games'.

TripleH

I'd list but have started looking / have an idea in mind of what you are looking for whilst waiting for them to sell.

You can identify the type of property that best suits your needs that you can afford so be ready to pounce once you have offer/s.

Also if combining 2 households into 1, might be a good time to sort and cull your belongings so that when you move, you're not paying to move (possibly store) things you will then get rid of when in your new home.

Good luck.