[Closed] Casual new house browsing, realistic to sell/buy on a whim?

We bought before we sold, just arranged a long entry date so we had time to spruce up, market and sell the old place. It'll depend on how much you're prepared to sell the old place for. If you're happy to accept the first decent offer then fine. If you're determined to squeeze out every last penny, then maybe not so much.

So long as you can sell yours why not!

We got lucky with a part exchange so went from not moving to moving in within 6 weeks! Shame my leg is gubbed... haven't managed to check out the local riding yet and have an operation to look forward to before it can happen!

In this case we can't buy until the funds from a sale allow. May speak to the building society nd see if they have any ideas.

We did this. No doubt we got lucky, but we saw a place we liked, got ours on the market pronto after going a bit nuts doing the odd jobs.

Put it on with the same agent who unbeknown to us, had a couple who had a second viewing on a similar property in the next street so they had an idea they were on to a winner and valued it high in my opinion.

They viewed it before the house got on Rightmove, offer accepted and listed sold STC within a few days. Then we did a second viewing and offered on the place we wanted.

Obviously then there was the stress and hassle of actually dealing with solicitors...

I think the biggie is to use the same agent, bit of a conflict of interest for the clients but at the same time there is an incentive to work as a mediator to help the deal go through (even with this the agent was not on talking terms with Mr Angry of the house we were buying by the time we exchanged!)

If you can price yours low enough for a quick sale and still afford it, do it.

Both times I've moved house I didn't put my house on the market until I'd had an offer accepted on the new house. I guess I was lucky that it was a sellers market both times.

Did this last year. Were casually looking to see whether it was worth moving and my wife fell in love with a house. We put in an offer and got ours in the market within a week. I don't think it put us in a great position for bargaining; we sold our old house to a cash buyer for maybe £10-15k less than we could have got if we'd waited, but that was a hit we were prepared to take for the house.

what have you got to lose? dont go for it and you dont get the house. go for it and cant sell yours you dont get the house. go for it and have a bit of luck you get the house 🙂
only you know whether youd sell yours a bit cheaper for a quick sale but its all in your hands.

if it was me tho i know i wouldnt be totally honest with estate agents as i dont trust em. seen loads of housey type programmes where the estate agents have obviously passed on the knowledge of how desperate/low theyd go to potential buyers. makes me go grrrrrrrr.
id be telling them yeah you like the house but its no biggie and not the end of the world if it doesnt happen, you wont be desperate enough to take a silly offer etc.

yes you could, but when you put in the offer on the new house, if you are not ready to proceed they will probably still listen to other offers from people who are ready to buy. So in the end you may well lose the house, which is also frustrating.

It's worth bearing in mind that house buying and selling works differently in Scotland and England.

Depends a lot on the location and the property. There's a couple of threads ongoing with property that hasn't sold, yours could easily be that property.

Bridging loan?

As long as you can pay the 2 mortgages and the bridging loan it shouldn't be a problem

Family homes do seem to sell well in our area, and we'd be going from a small 3 bed semi (no mortgage) to a large 3 bed detach, double the living space! Plus a potentially awesome man cave and triple the driveway space :-D. I think we'll get the wheels in motion on Monday, get a viewing and see if it's everything it seems.

I think we'll get the wheels in motion on Monday

What's wrong with today? If you want it that badly...

We tried this a couple of years back. Saw a house which was lovely so decided to go for it. We could've gone for the bridging loan option but decided not to risk it. So got ours on the market pronto. Unfortunately for us the other place had an offer on it after a week or two and the market was pretty slow otherwise.

We did receive an offer, but it was on the same day as the other place had. The offer on ours was quite low and we didn't find anything else we fancied. So we're still here and have just carried out some upgrades instead.

suburbanreuben - Member
I think we'll get the wheels in motion on Monday
What's wrong with today? If you want it that badly...

I've tried, the agents are shut! We're already planning tidying up the rooms for photos though 🙂

Shut? on a Saturday? They're obviously doing too well!
Some agents round here (Surrey) were open on Boxing day...

Shits getting real, got our house on the market now, as of yesterday, and already had 2 viewings today with 2 more on Sunday.

Made an offer on a house today but they declined. Does an offer of 92% of the "offers over" price seem reasonable, given the slow market and the fact it's still 3k more than they bought it for 2 years ago? And is it greedy they're holding out for 40k more than they paid, especially as they've not done any work bar decoration?

And do homes even go for above scottish home report values? None of the one's I've been watching seem to.

Slow market? Both the houses we were looking at in Fife went within a week of listing, I am assuming above the 'offers over' price.

Perhaps it's a rush to purchase before the LBTT rises.

How long has the house been on the market? Maybe the sellers are in no hurry.

Houses will certainly sell for more than the Home Report value if there's sufficient interest.

"it's still 3k more than they bought it for 2 years ago? And is it greedy they're holding out for 40k more than they paid"

you aint even covered their stamp duty and solictors fees... unless they cant afford the house or have their eye on something theres absoltely no incentive to accept your offer.

I'm just annoyed as we liked and and knew they'd probably say no anyway!

If they don't accept your offer, it make no difference if you think it's above what the market dictates, whether they are being greedy or in fact anything whatsoever. You need to offer what they'll accept. It's that simple.

Master of revelations, you must be the fun one at socials!

You can't expect anyone to bite your hand off on an offer like that. We did pay 92% of asking price for our recent purchase but it took a couple of months to agree on (think we started around 90%, and 95% was a stamp duty threshold that we would no way have gone over). That on a house that had been on and off the market for a few years with no-one else remotely interested. We confidently rejected 95% of asking for our own place that we knew was keenly priced, settle for about 97-8 I think, only one bidder but only took a few weeks from starting. None of it in property hotspots.

Not to mention rejecting an offer 20% *above* valuation in Scotland on my Dad's old house, but that was obviously a stupid valuation on a pretty unique property...

Not sure if you're buying in Glasgow? But the demand where I am is high at the moment. Neighbour just sold his house in 1 week. 20 viewings and 4 notes of interest. In this climate I'd find an offer at 92% of the offers over derisory.

Edit- ^ 92% of 'asking price' is significantly more acceptable than 92% of offers over price.

We can go up to 95% and may put that in next week. Very few suitable homes coming on the market just now.

The whole thing becomes quite an obsession.

Surely having just put your own house on market you are about to become poacher turned gamekeeper ?

Bit cryptic there, but I'd merrily accept what we paid and below home report price for ours as it will enable our move to go smoothly.

We bought our current house while out for a stroll to let the gloss paint dry on the new garage conversion we were just completing.

We had no intention of moving at the start of the walk and had agreed to buy the new house from the couple who were there but divorcing. We also sold or old house to the woman and agreed to rent out the garage for storage to the man until he found somewhere to live.

Strange conversation with the estate agents in the Monday. They said we had to use them for our house sale or the move wouldn't happen. I asked him to repeat that statement while I recorded it for the ombudsman and he went very quiet. Quickest house sale and move I know of.

Hah that's unusual. Which estate agent do you mean, the one the selling couple were using? Cheeky c***!

I did something similar - decided to move, found a place I loved oop North and bunged mine on the market pronto. Took a low(ish) offer from a buy-to-let investor within 10 days and aiming to complete within 4 weeks.

Can be done if everyone's motivated.

just be prepared to shout scream and push things along if you have a hard date.....mortgage co drag their heels alot - i had to phone them on a daily basis to push it along after they sat on it for 2 weeks and it moved no where. phoning them every day got it pushed through the system and we got to complete on the right day .... friends who just left it too the mortgage co's 2 of them didnt make the date.....

we were looking at a 2 grand stamp duty bill if we didn't complete on the day we said we had to be done by.

i just lied. Said to the Solicitor - cant afford the house if we dont do it by then and i have to pay stamp duty.

and then the seller tried to spin out 2 extra weeks as their seller pushed them back..... felt bad when they moved into a caravan BUT they were not willing to pay my 2k stamp duty bill rather than find alternative accommodation for 2 weeks.....

Ace! Well none of the houses we initially liked have proved to be dream homes, and the one we like is very slightly above budget with no sign of them budging, so we need to wait. Slightly worried we're getting viewings for our house now and don't have one in mind to go to... is it normal to push back any offers if they come in to buy some time?

BUT they were not willing to pay my 2k stamp duty bill rather than find alternative accommodation for 2 weeks.....

Yep, I told my buyer that if I ****** up the mortgage application and completion was delayed past 31st March I'd pick up the difference in stamp duty.

I'm starting to see how the process is sculpted now. We have just had an offer on our house, 6 days after it went on the market, 3% over asking price which we've accepted. Also made a verbal offer and formal written offer for a house we like at £10k over asking, sitting here jumping up and down waiting to hear if it's accepted or not.

The task will be getting them to tie up. Also, the new house is in a slightly outside location that has got me a little scared, we'll both be commuting anything from 30-60 minutes each way, as well as planning child care and so on, but I'm only in 3 days a week and my wife is 4, so it's not quite full on.

Part of me just wants to screw this new house for now and go rent a house until we see the 'perfect' one near to where we currently live! What's 700-800 a month for 6 months if it means holding on to live exactly where you want to? The place we've offered on will be a more expensive house to live in, as although the mortgage will be low, there will be higher insurance, council tax (£100 more a month), and any repairs are going to attract a premium due to the size and style of the place. The garden has dozens of mature trees bordering neighbours and a busy road which I should mostly be able to tend to when required. The loft is like a barn and screams to be converted.

On my own today and just can't calm the brain down. The thought of leaving the cosy economical wee home that got us set up makes me want to cry!

Remember also that council tax for bands E through G will be increasing next year and that the council will have the opportunity to increase it a further 3% above that.

I know, but that's an unavoidable evil almost everywhere we're going. I'm scared by it all, don't want to commit to something too big, but we've done the numbers and it's all ok.

I'm buying a house for my mum, just offered 20% below asking price for a place which is way overpriced-apparently I offended them by doing that, oh well, estate agent is convinced it will sell for full price which is nice. It's been up for 7 months, place up the road listed on sat and has sold - roughly what I offered and same sort of house. I've now upped it 500 quid, cash offer, completion ASAP as they have another house and are bridging this one ! Fun games this one.

Big thing is the market where your house is, I have been looking for 4 weeks now every time we get to view a house due to being at work its difficult and we found the houses have sold.

Its very frustrating, currently have an offer on a house which is amazing for the money we have, the area is a bit crap as its 2 streets away from an industrial estate and has the back garden next to a main railway line (which is something I don't mind) but we got the feeling it would be a nice house in a not nice area, or a complete disaster of a house in a nice area, we don't have the money to put into repairs etc..so went for the nice house. Fingers crossed it all goes through now!