Are you moving house?

I recently had an offer on my property which was £25,000 less and they were not even under offer themselves.

Various other situations arose so I came of the market.

When I decide to go back on the market with another EA should this same person show an interest where do I stand with regard to the previous EA as they were the ones who introduced them?

Yes. Estate Agents have a legal obligation to pass all offers on to the seller, right up until contracts are exchanged. They are also bound to pass them on quickly.

^By law, you must tell sellers as soon as is reasonably possible
about all offers that you receive at any time until contracts
have been exchanged unless the offer is an amount or type
which the seller has specifically instructed you, in writing, not
to pass on. You must confirm each offer in writing to the seller,
and to the buyer who made it, within 2 working days.^
www.tradingstandards.uk/media/documents/commercial/codes-of-practice/tpo-sales.pdf

We've a grandchild looking to purchase.

She's not necessarily looking in the appropriate price range, but she expects, rightly so, for her offers to be put forward.

We'll keep it here, her offers are ridiculous. However, she may be lucky one day. People have many reasons to change prices - one doesn't know if the offer isn't put forward what the vendor will accept. Let the negotiation begin.

Barleyfields

I think an EA is duty bound to put forward all offers received, but if the would-be buyer hasn’t got an offer on their own property a sensible seller would keep their house on the market until there is a verifiable complete chain below a prospective buyer or a genuine cash buyer comes along. The EA is answerable to the seller and it’s not for him to decide whether or not to put an offer forward. He should however give sound advice about whether or not to accept an offer.

This.

I think an EA is duty bound to put forward all offers received, but if the would-be buyer hasn’t got an offer on their own property a sensible seller would keep their house on the market until there is a verifiable complete chain below a prospective buyer or a genuine cash buyer comes along. The EA is answerable to the seller and it’s not for him to decide whether or not to put an offer forward. He should however give sound advice about whether or not to accept an offer.

to winterwhite,

Definitely stick to your guns and stay put. If your life suits you both as it is , dont let them take that away from you whilst you are still able to enjoy it. Yes you are perfectly aware that one day there will be a situation where you may have to move for whatever reason , but why give up good now for possibly ok later? To me that sounds a lot like them thinking what suits them rather than what suits you and they are just looking to the future and thinking how it may affect them.
Well if they visit you every week and are very involved in your life it may be worth considering their views, but I bet my bottom dollar that this is not the case. I have done 10 years 3 days a week of hospital car volunteer. I have met many many people in couples or alone, who like all of us, find the way to live that suits them and cope with the problems that arise as best they can. But the important thing is that they do their own choosing and make their own decisions. We may become infirm but we are not children to be ordered and told what to do with our lives.

But at the same time we need to be practical and work out how to keep going on our own. So I do suggest that you could do a check up of things yourselves, before the children come and use them to persuade you to leave. Think of it as a game of chess and you are working out how to do Checkmate, to all their plans!!
So firstly , just look around your house and start with basics. So check up on carpets or rugs that you might trip over etc. In the bathroom it is quite easy to get a couple of grab rails put in, or maybe you have a shower? So I now have a seat in my shower. When my back is bad I use that but can put the seat up out of the way when it is not needed. So that sort of thing. Do you have steps up to the house etc. Anyway you know your own place and what you enjoy.

So if you love your garden , you might start to find either someone who can give you a regular basic time to cut grass and weed etc. thats worth while as the first line of attack they tend to use is , "oh the garden is getting too much for you "Another thing I organised with someone some years ago. She was a widow, her husband was the keen gardener, and she didnt want to leave but found the garden too much for her. I knew a family who at that time were living in a flat. He was a keen gardener and missed it, and it ended up where he did the garden in return for being able to grow some veg and help himself to veg and some flowers. It worked out very well and the family also became friends with the lady. I know that does not always work out but it might be something that might be useful.

Do you know someone who enjoys driving and still has a car? After I finished doing hospital car, I have done several trips on a no profit basis. So I have been happy to take 2 or 3 people to the coast. We just share the fuel costs. They enjoy being picked up at their door and when we get to the coast they do as they please and we make a time to meet up to go home. If the weather turns awful we ring each other up and see if we want to go home early. So the more different little things you can fix up now, the more answers you have to pronounce Checkmate on the next onslaught of why dont you come to live near us etc. you have a life where you are and friends and local knowledge to direct you whenever you need to do something. Friends are so important and I dont think people always realize how much it matters that they remember so many things about your life from years ago and they see you as that funny or well organised person or whatever and grey hair doesnt alter that .

I have moved ,rather sadly ,from my old home, but it was MY decision, as I could see what I might need in the future, and so I took time checking out what mattered to me and chose my own ground floor flat. It is still in the same area as my last house and I am very independant. and plan to be so until the last breath!! Remind your children that somehow you have managed to work out the way to live to the age you are now and as you have so many years of experience compared to them you will continue relying on your own common sense! Did you ever watch that series where Stephanie Cole played a woman in a rest home because she was physically not so good but was very feisty and had been a war correspondant and would not let anyone talk down to her? Well she must have been getting her ideas from me!! Keep on going folks and enjoy life while you can. Well tonight I am off to play board games in a local pub, and tomorrow play whist with a very keen group, no holds barred at a village hall , and I need to get going now as have some new songs to practise before I go out later on. Enjoy your home and good luck .

I believe the offer from people who don't have an offer on their property is called 'an expression of interest'. It has no legal bearing at all, and you don't have to stop other people viewing your property; nor does it stop you accepting anyone else's offer. You all just keep your fingers crossed that the potential buyer gets an offer themselves - soon.

Despite some moaning from me at the beginning of this thread, we have now exchanged contracts and are moving this Friday. It's taken a while (house for sale almost a year, one offer falling through, second offer taking six months to complete due to a fairly long chain).

I have had (and still have) doubts about the bungalow we are moving too. But DH wanted to go through with it. So here we are - I'll just have to hope I grow to love it there.

But at least we've managed to downsize - the house we're in is too much to manage and keep on top of - both physically and financially.

Good luck to all those in the process. I would say that, compared to house moves in the past, this has been the most stressful and prolonged.

We thought our house would sell well and quickly. In the past we have always sold our houses within a week of putting them on the market, but we cannot buck the system at a period when the property market in our area is in the doldrums and we are selling quite an expensive house.

This last fornight, with the improved market, we have had 4 second viewings, all of hom want to bu the house, but 3 still have not sold their own houses. We await the second viewing on Thursday of the one that can proceed immediately. The potential buyers are bringing the children, aged 8 and 10 with them. They will love all the beams, low doors and high ceilings and the steep staircase, not to mention, the huge garden and will be very upset if their parents do not buy it.

Sago I knew my house would sell quickly as has every other house in my location does, it went on the market yesterday and I have viewings for tomorrow and Saturday booked already. I assume the various agents know what they doing.

I don’t understand how an EA can put forward an offer from someone who doesn’t have an offer on their property.

We have only ever offered when we have had an offer ourselves or when purchasing a rental property we have had to show proof of funds before offering.

Good luck nanny!

I am also downsizing on my own.
I phoned the solicitor yesterday who tells me I don't need a home report for a private sale but I need a surveyor and to agree a price.
He also reminded me that a home report has a shelf life of 2 to 3 months so not to be in a hurry to get one.
Costs were not mentioned. 🙄

I'm in Scotland and want to stay in my immediate area where I have friends. My 4 DC are far too scattered.

Good luck nanny2507 do come here and tell us about your journey or for advice from those who are further along, it’s a lonely path on your own.

I have just started to make plans to move. I am also doing it alone and I am in my mid fifties. I am a widow already sadly. I live in a 4 bed 3 bath place and it's way to big. Now everyone has moved on it echos. Depending what my house is worth depends on where I move but it will be as close to DD as I can get

I have a feeling there is going to be disappointments on my journey tooMOnica I have to learn to ‘roll with the punches’.

We have already changed agents. We did this last September, after 9 months with an agent we were not satisfied with.

But I do not blame the agent. last year the market round us and for our particular type of property - and also in the town we want to move to was as dead as a Dodo. One house may get lucky in a slowdown, but not every house. This year everything has woken up so 'sold' signs are going up in our area and where we hope to move to - but the house we had been watching for a year, where we had been the only person to show any interst is now under offer - and not to us.

You win some, you lose some.

The interest rate has come down again and Spring is on the way which is a more popular time of year for house hunting.

Exciting times tanith!
And M0nica, isn't it strange. I hope you get an offer soon. A year sounds too long to be waiting.

My DiLs mother's house was taking ages to sell but when she was
persuaded to find another estate agent it got much better. New photos
for a start. The house sold in no time and she's very happily settled in her new home.

Thanks Grammaretto I am seriously considering putting in an offer in on one of the houses today it really was just what i want. Perfect location only 7yrs old the vendors are going abroad so no onward chain. My house is now on the market. We shall see how it goes.

We have been on the market for a year. with interest in the house but no second viewings.

In the last week we have had 4 second viewings and all want to buy the house and we have 4 people racing to get themselves proceedable in order to make an offer. I am not getting over excited. No offers yet. But I am reminded of what they say about buses. None come from hours then three arrive all at once. We had a friend who was unemployed for 2 years, despite endless applications and interviews - then got three really good job offers in a week.

Charleygirl5

tanith Wherever you fancy moving to, please make sure you are close to and have decent public transport. There will be a time when you can no longer drive.

Shops, GPs and dentists nearby, in my opinion, are essential.

My bugbear is the bus stop, although only 1/4 mile away, and it is a killer for me.

I agree with this, we have a bus stop a three minute walk away with buses to town every fifteen minutes, there is another bus stop five minutes away and a bus from that stop takes me to town, the train station, the neighboring town and local hospital. The bus route in the other direction takes me to the doctor and dentist although it is within walking distance. DH and I are both 82 this year, I have more or less given up driving, just the odd journey to keep my hand in, and our current car which is five years old will be our last one, DH is talking about selling it soon as our last insurance quote was over £700 and we don’t do enough mileage to justify the expense of a car, I have noticed he is not so confident driving as he used to be. We are also fortunate enough to have privilege travel on the train, we get several free journeys each year and lower cost travel after those have been used up.

I'm wishing you luck tanith 🤞

DD came with me for a 2nd viewing and liked the house . She thinks it's overpriced but I know it will go like a hot cake due to its location.

I may make a note of interest or at
least phone the agent. The vendors said they had 6 viewings at the
weekend.

My house won't go on the market until April at the earliest so I shouldn't even be looking at properties yet, should I, except to see what's out there and what I'm up against.

Norah

Allira

Norah

Smileless2012

That's right Oopsadaisy, you're only a cash buyer if you have the money to complete a purchase without having to sell a property and/or obtain a mortgage.

Correct.

It seems that EA may reference people as cash buyers if they will have the money after selling, fixing, completing their house sale - not on an offer to purchase, just as something the EA keeps in mind.

We had a cash buyer for our last house. The offer was less than that of another couple who had made an offer but had not sold their own property.
We needed to move quickly so accepted the cash offer and found somewhere to rent while we house hunted in the new area.

That's the beauty of being a cash buyer, ime. Lower offers accepted.

It was right on the asking price but the other couple who needed to sell their own property offered more.

Wish me luck two house viewings tomorrow.

Allira

Norah

Smileless2012

That's right Oopsadaisy, you're only a cash buyer if you have the money to complete a purchase without having to sell a property and/or obtain a mortgage.

Correct.

It seems that EA may reference people as cash buyers if they will have the money after selling, fixing, completing their house sale - not on an offer to purchase, just as something the EA keeps in mind.

We had a cash buyer for our last house. The offer was less than that of another couple who had made an offer but had not sold their own property.
We needed to move quickly so accepted the cash offer and found somewhere to rent while we house hunted in the new area.

That's the beauty of being a cash buyer, ime. Lower offers accepted.

Dolly17 I was 62 when I moved from the family house to a 3-bedroom terrace just for me. Good age, I was still working, and was able to do virtually all the changes I wanted for that house over the next few years from my salary. I was convinced, when I moved that this was going to be my 'forever' home. It was not, and 16 years later, I moved into my current flat.
However, that house move was still in the same are, just a mile away from family house, so I knew the area very well indeed.
If you are moving to entirely different area, have you researched it well.? Public transport, Doctors, hospitals, shops, libraries, theatres cinema, u3a, etc. etc.

Having looked at just one property, does not really give you any overview of what you might wish to move into Have you made a list of what is essential in any new property for you, with a second list as to what would be nice (is desirable), and a third list saying, good, but not essential.

Hae you checked out similar types of flats on Rightmove to see what you might be able to get. Assuming you are expecting to use your present house for the money to purchase how do you know how much you are likely to get on your sale - and do take on board the fact that moving/selling/buying is expensive and a large amount of what you get for the sale will be spent on things like Solicito5rs fees, Estate Agents fees, stamp duty (maybe), removal expenses, new furniture, curtains, carpet after the move, etc. etc.
It is not something to be rushed into, take your time, and plan well. And, until you have an offer on your current house, no good EA will accept an offer from you