Wanting to buy a house not yet on the market

Polkadot87

Me and my partner are first time buyers. We have recently been made aware that a particular property will be on the market soon. The owner recently died and had no family so the house will be sold by solicitors. They are currently in the process of being granted probate.

We have been able to view the property through friends who are checking in on the property whilst it is empty and think it would be suitable for us. 

We have thought about writing to the solicitors to make an offer now but are worried that this could make make them inflate the price if it does end up on the market. Also, the solicitors is part of an estate agent so we don't know if there will be the same incentive to avoid agency fees. 

Would it be best to make an offer now or wait until it comes on the market?

Any help appreciated, thanks.

p00hsticks

You say that the deceased had no family, but it sounds unusual for solicitors to be jumping in to adminster an estate unless they have been either named as executors in a will or asked by an executor to do so. And a will suggests that someone, somewhere is the beneficiary. 

So I suspect that, in much the same way that a lender has a duty to realise as high a price as possible for a repossessed house, as executors the solicitor will need to demonstrate that the house is sold for as much as possible - which means putting it onto the open market. 

Having said that ,I can't see that there is any harm in simply letting the solicitor know that you might be interested in purchasing the property...

Polkadot87

Thanks for your reply. I think they must have been named executor. All the money from the house sale will go to charity.

We thought that might be the case that they need to put it on the market. If we let them know should we let them know now or wait a bit until we know probate has gone through? 

user1977

If the beneficiary is a charity then I don't see any chance of them doing a pre-market deal, just make contact and let them know your interest. And bear in mind it could take them months simply to get probate.

Polkadot87

Thanks, the longer the better for us as we will need to get all our ducks in a row! 

Polkadot87

Hope it's ok to resurrect this thread! 

We have been told that probate has gone through and to expect it to come on the market in the next few weeks. We have contacted the estate agent the property will be sold through to let them know we're interested and to tell them our buying situation. 

We have viewed other properties and feel this property is very suitable for us. The most recently sold house on the street (8 months ago) had an offer accepted the same day it went on the market but in general properties in the area can take weeks or more to sell. Even so, we really don't want to miss out and want to use the fact that we know it's going to come up for sale to our advantage! 

We have thought about making an offer (probably at asking price) as soon as it comes on the market, with the condition that they take it off the market. However, we think this may look too keen. Alternatively, we could ask for a viewing, put in an offer after that and hope no one else does!

Does anyone have any advice for how to play this? Thank you

lika_86

If it's being sold by executors then I think it's unlikely you'll either be able to have an early offer accepted or to have it taken off the market as soon as it comes onto the market. Ultimately, if you do like it then all you can do is put in an offer you're happy with on condition they take it off the market (although expecting them to perhaps say no to this) and then wait and see what they say.

user1977

I think they'd treat you with suspicion if you offer before you've even viewed - people who do that have a tendency to get cold feet further down the line once they've actually viewed/surveyed.

In any event, you probably don't want to make your initial offer your best one.

eddddy

Polkadot87 said:

We have thought about making an offer (probably at asking price) as soon as it comes on the market, with the condition that they take it off the market.

  That strategy is unlikely to work.

The charity would be required to get the best price reasonably possible. If they sell to the first person who makes an offer, they might find it hard to convince the charity commission that they've done that.

So I suspect the estate agent will sell it by 'informal tender'. i.e. it will be advertised with a lowish guide price, and there will be a period of 2 or 4 weeks for people to make offers.

Once the 2 or 4 weeks is up, they will look at all the offers received, and accept the best one.


So during that period, you should keep in touch with the estate agent and try to sneakily get some inside info, by asking questions like "What kind of offer do you think I'd need to make to be successful?".



FWIW, I was interested in a probate property being sold by a charity a while ago.

• The guide price was £300k

• When I asked, the estate agent told me I'd need to put in an offer of about £360k to win it (I didn't put an offer in)

• I later found out it sold for £361.5k - so the estate agent was being pretty accurate

Polkadot87

Thank you everyone. I think we'll have to ring them up to request a viewing as soon as we see it come up on the market and then play it by ear.

Albermarle

Polkadot87 said:

Thank you everyone. I think we'll have to ring them up to request a viewing as soon as we see it come up on the market and then play it by ear.

Do not forget if it is put out to an informal tender, then when you put your bid in they will want proof you have the funds/info on your current position ( house on the market, renting etc ) as well as the price offer.