Is it acceptable for a For Sale sign to still be up a week after offer accepted?

helping_hubby

We had our offer accepted last Wednesday and today the For Sale sign is still up. The house was supposed to be taken off the market on Wednesday. It is indeed STC on the website, but we worry that people might drive by and show interest.

We've phoned 3 times (Saturday, Monday and now today) about this. Today they told us that they get a special company in to change the signs over and that they should have sorted it yesterday. And in response to our concerns of other people showing interest, the estate agent said "No, people can't put offers in".

Is this acceptable? Does it take this long? The last house we tried to buy never had a sign up to begin with, so I've not got any experience.

Captain_Mainwaring_2

Well it's not really your concern, rather the sellers concern, and to be honest if I found you had been talking to my agent about the sign, then we might fall out.

Talk to the seller and ask them.

It's (supposedly) sold when you pay the deposit and exchange contacts.

I should add that the agent is duty bound to pass all offers until the contracts are exchanged.

chickmug

If they agreed to take the sign down why don't you ask the vendor do it as a sign of good faith. Or do you mean they are due to put an 'Under Offer' sticker on it? I can well beieve the sign company haven't jumped as it would not be seen as urgent as you feel it is.

However from the sellers, and their EA's, point of view you have only made an offer, nothing binding, so it can be marked as 'Under Offer' but why would they want to take the board down?

If I were the seller I would want my agents to keep sending out the details, etc, etc, etc and collate a cancellation list.

helping_hubby

I've obviously misunderstood the meaning of "Removing from the market" and "cancelling all future viewings".

So despite telling me the above, they could do more viewings and we could easily be gazumped? We've already got our mortgage in principal, and paid the survey fee to the mortgage company and paid our solicitor the initial fees for searches.

Looking at other houses from the estate agent, I was expecting a 'sold' sticker over the for sale part.

PasturesNew

The agents don't put the boards up. It's usually a separate company that does that, so it can take some time depending how busy that company is (it's a one-man job, so he might be on holiday).

When I sold my house the under offer went up within a week, but the sold sign didn't get changed until the day I was moving out.

poppysarah

Have you had a survey done? Some won't put a sold sstc sign up until the buyer has made moves to get to the next stage

PasturesNew

helping_hubby wrote: »

I've obviously misunderstood the meaning of "Removing from the market" and "cancelling all future viewings".

So despite telling me the above, they could do more viewings and we could easily be gazumped? We've already got our mortgage in principal, and paid the survey fee to the mortgage company and paid our solicitor the initial fees for searches.

Looking at other houses from the estate agent, I was expecting a 'sold' sticker over the for sale part.

Well, you could be gazumped, but it's unlikely. Firstly the agent is unlikely to waste their time talking about the property to anybody interested as it would be a waste of their time as they have a buyer and won't want to muck that about. The agent, having somebody interested, would just divert them to another property and say "that one's under offer, but I've got a lovely ..... over here... look at this other one" and turn it into a new selling opportunity.

The sellers are most likely to be grateful they found a buyer and will not be doing anything to rock the boat.

helping_hubby

poppysarah wrote: »

Have you had a survey done? Some won't put a sold sstc sign up until the buyer has made moves to get to the next stage

No, we've paid the mortgage company to do it. But I'm hearing bad things that it can take a long time. That was last Friday, so I guess it could be 2-3 weeks before the survey is actually carried out?

Captain_Mainwaring_2

Have you paid a pre-contract deposit?

It's sold when it's sold, not because you said you might like it. What happens if the survey reveals somthing terrible? will you still go ahead?

helping_hubby

PasturesNew wrote: »

Well, you could be gazumped, but it's unlikely. Firstly the agent is unlikely to waste their time talking about the property to anybody interested as it would be a waste of their time as they have a buyer and won't want to muck that about. The agent, having somebody interested, would just divert them to another property and say "that one's under offer, but I've got a lovely ..... over here... look at this other one" and turn it into a new selling opportunity.

The sellers are most likely to be grateful they found a buyer and will not be doing anything to rock the boat.

OK fair enough. I guess I am quite worried. We lost nearly £1500 last year when our purchase fell through after 6 long months. It's not really a fun time.

Thanks everyone for your comments and putting my mind at rest. I will be a bit more patient.

Jorgan_2

As PasturesNew says, the EA will be using a board company to change the board over. I use one with 'quick' in their name, yet to see them live upto their name. Some boards are reversible, if the 'For Sale' is bolted to the board with a couple of nylon bolts and nuts, chances are it says 'Sold STC' on the reverse.

As for people not being able to put offers in, thats rubbish, all offers have to put forward as soon as possible to the vendor, unless the vendor has specified they do not want to be informed of offers below a certain figure.