Can I Offer On A Property If I Haven’t Sold Mine?
May 12th, 2023
In short, yes you can. You can offer on any property, on with any agent and the agent is obliged to put the offer forward to the owner of the property.
However, offering on a property when you haven’t sold yours is unlikely to lead to securing the property and getting the owner to take it off the market.
This is because the agent is acting for the seller and as the agent working on behalf of the seller, our job is to mitigate any risk for the owner. This is why agents ask for proof of finances and ‘check chains’ with other estate agents. This is all part of our due diligence so that we can give the seller the whole story and advise where necessary.
So, if you offer on a house and your house hasn’t sold, the agent will put the offer forward, but will often advise the seller not to accept the offer formally. They will instead advise to ‘indicate’ that they would accept this offer should you sell your property. This is the ‘right’ way to do estate agency.
People often question whether this is the right advice or not, but imagine if the agent advised the seller to accept the offer and take their house off the market?
The worst case scenario is that the person who has made the offer never sells their house. It’s not uncommon for houses not to sell. And if someone has their offer accepted where they haven’t sold their own property, it could well happen. If this were the case, then the seller of the property has taken their house off the market and stopped other potential buyers from perhaps buying the property, halting their own onward move. Not advice that acts in the best interests of the seller.
Any questions, get in touch with me today.
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