Sale agreed but property still for sale online

K_P

Myself and OH went sale agreed on a house around a month ago, however the house is still marked as for sale on Daft and MyHome.

When speaking to the estate agent about another issue last week I mentioned this and she said that as no contracts are signed yet and we could still back out, it's left online as for sale. She said they're not showing the property and I'm assuming she's taking names in case our purchase of it falls through.

Is this normal? I know being sale agreed and having paid a deposit is in no way legally binding or secure. However we have everything in place for this purchase and have no intention of backing out of it. The property still being for sale makes it all seem very insecure and I'm a bit annoyed by it. I'm sure estate agents are being burned by sales falling through all the time at the moment, but it makes me feel as though we're still open to being outbid. Is this standard practice these days?

meme74

Yes this seems to be quite common these days. I was interested in a house that was online and when I contacted the auctioner they told me it had gone sale agreed but the vendor requested that it remains up on the websites etc just in case the sale fell through. We were so keen on this house and the area and had been inb contact with the EA afew times about other houses also. Each time I was on to them I asked about this house also just to make sure that it was definitely still sale agreed and everytime I got same answer! Anyway about 5 months later it finally went from for sale to sold, no sale agreed at all. Its just the way things are done sometimes.

If you are converned about it though I would put my foot down and request that it be marked sale agreed. The vendor may agree (they may have just been taking the EAs advise on leaving it up) and might put your mind at ease a bit!

P. Breathnach

I have the impression that more sales are failing to complete than before, and that the reason for the increase is that purchasers are failing to get their finance organised. This might be also why we are seeing more threads about EAs requiring proof of funds.

If a property is marked sale agreed, and then comes back to the market, some prospective purchasers might form the opinion that there is something wrong with it. That hurts the chance of selling well to a new buyer. There is no advantage to the seller in marking the property sale agreed.

K_P

Thanks for the replies. I see what you mean P. Breathnach in that it looks bad for a property to go back up for sale. I reckon it looks equally bad if not worse that it's marked as for sale and was first put up for sale over 3 months ago and still isn't sale agreed.

If this is standard practice that's fair enough. I'm not hugely worried to be honest about being outbid. It's just a bit galling to have paid a deposit, got a solicitor, surveyor, everything in place while it still looks as though it's for sale and could potentially be bid on. It feels like we're acting in good faith and doing everything we should be while the vendor potentially isn't. I should have learned a long time ago that emotions and feelings have no place in house purchasing!

moo698

It seems to be the practice, I have just submitted my last bid in for a house on the condition that 1) Its removed from all websites and 2) there are no more viewings.

meme74

I also submitted my last bid, which was accepted, on the condition that it was marked as sale agreed asap. The next morning it was on all websites it had been amrketed on and the sale agreed sign went on the board outside the house a couple of days later.

Marcusm

K_P wrote: »

Myself and OH went sale agreed on a house around a month ago, however the house is still marked as for sale on Daft and MyHome.

When speaking to the estate agent about another issue last week I mentioned this and she said that as no contracts are signed yet and we could still back out, it's left online as for sale. She said they're not showing the property and I'm assuming she's taking names in case our purchase of it falls through.

Is this normal? I know being sale agreed and having paid a deposit is in no way legally binding or secure. However we have everything in place for this purchase and have no intention of backing out of it. The property still being for sale makes it all seem very insecure and I'm a bit annoyed by it. I'm sure estate agents are being burned by sales falling through all the time at the moment, but it makes me feel as though we're still open to being outbid. Is this standard practice these days?

My attitude to this is very simple, you can keep it marked "For Sale" if you want but then you can give me back my deposit until you're happy to move forward. A deposit on a secondhand house is an Irish peculiarity in any event. IME of 3 purchases, the 'Sale Agreeed" rapidly goes up if you ask for the deposit back.

JohnnyJohnJohns

From the perspective of a buyer this seems to be increasing and is very frustrating. Today alone I've enquired about three houses which are all listed as for sale but are actually sale agreed. Very frustrating from my perspective- I'm hoping some supply comes on in the autumn.

Potatoeman

I gave a copy of my sanction in principle with the figures blanked out so they would know I have approval and funds linedup. It's pretty common these days.

sweetie

Potatoeman wrote: »

I gave a copy of my sanction in principle with the figures blanked out so they would know I have approval and funds linedup. It's pretty common these days.

How they know you have enough funds lined up though?

gaius c

P. Breathnach wrote: »

I have the impression that more sales are failing to complete than before, and that the reason for the increase is that purchasers are failing to get their finance organised. This might be also why we are seeing more threads about EAs requiring proof of funds.

If a property is marked sale agreed, and then comes back to the market, some prospective purchasers might form the opinion that there is something wrong with it. That hurts the chance of selling well to a new buyer. There is no advantage to the seller in marking the property sale agreed.

There was a thread discussing this a while ago and I used to believe it myself until I came across a few instances where it was not true in the slightest (one of them being me - survey showing up asbestos suddenly became "they didn't even have approval").

EA's will still use it as an excuse though because it pushes the blame onto the buyer and away from the seller. Some other poor sap is going to go sale agreed on a property that both the vendor and EA know has asbestos but they are chancing their arm in the hope that the next buyer's surveyor isn't as thorough as ours was.

K_P

sweetie wrote: »

How they know you have enough funds lined up though?

For EAs, maybe this is their version of "how do I know the bids are real?" question that plagues buyers. Like Potatoeman, we gave a copy of our approval letter with the amount blanked out. I know that doesn't prove we're good for the full amount.

That's maybe part of my frustration - a lot of this process until contracts are signed is all about acting in good faith. I feel like we are and the EA isn't.

draiochtanois

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Potatoeman

sweetie wrote: »

How they know you have enough funds lined up though?

Well you would hope someone that's gone through the the application process knows their limit. I thought they were more worried about people that won't get approval. Bidders won't show their limit for obvious reasons.

K_P

draiochtanois wrote: »

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I understand that. The house isn't sold, but it is sale agreed. A term that has very little legal basis whatsoever. But it just feels a little disingenuous on the part of the EA.

draiochtanois

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K_P

draiochtanois wrote: »

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Why are they doing the right thing? If the vendor isn't happy to sell to us at the agreed price, what's the point of all this?

I'm assuming you mean that they're doing this in case the sale falls through, but I don't see how keeping a sale agreed house up for sale helps that situation in any way or mitigates any losses should that happen.

To me, it makes the EA look unprofessional. The ad is up on Daft well over 3 months at this stage with no sign of sale agreed which surely makes it look hard to sell - as a purchaser that would be much more off-putting than a house going on the market, disappearing and then reappearing again. It's also frustrating for other potential buyers who are (hopefully) being told it's sale agreed. And it's clearly p*ssing off their buyer.

Believe me, I know the EA is not my friend and is not working for me. But it's still quite frustrating and makes me feel quite insecure in this purchase. But, it seems to be standard enough practice from replies here.

Jake Stiles

I went sale agreed in the morning and it was sale agreed on myhome in the afternoon, that was a couple of months ago.

Friend of mine what sale agreed three weeks ago, was on myhome for sale for just under a week before it was updated to sale agreed.

the_syco

Wonder have many people been gazumped due to it?