Sale Agreed-now what?

Hi,

I went Sale Agreed on a property a few days ago. It's still on daft and myhome. Is this normal? Can I ask estate agent to take it off the web?

Another qn: Does the bank get the valuation done before they give a letter of offer for the mortgage?

Thanks!

Once it goes sale agreed, the agent should take it off myhome / DAFT and put up a sale agreed sign on the board outside the house. If they haven't done so yet, give them a call and ask them to.

I went sale agreed a few weeks ago on a house and the bank only did the valuation last week. They had issued me with my offer letter and I had returned it signed a few weeks ago.

Thanks for that. I suppose you wait until they do their valuation before you get your own survey done then?

I just spoke to estate agent and he says he won't take the house of the websites until the contracts are signed. If anyone calls about it he said he'll tell them it's sale agreed but he wants to have a back up of interested people in case the sale falls through. He said he won't be showing it again. Is this normal practice?Thanks

In my case the agent (Remax) withdrew the house from Myhome the day after we paid the booking deposit but left it on their own website marked "sale agreed".

You don't have to wait for the valuation to be done to get a surveyor in to check out the house, you can arrange this now.

Bigfoot said:

I just spoke to estate agent and he says he won't take the house of the websites until the contracts are signed. If anyone calls about it he said he'll tell them it's sale agreed but he wants to have a back up of interested people in case the sale falls through. He said he won't be showing it again. Is this normal practice?Thanks

Click to expand...

no its not...

if he had your deposit you should insist he takes it down....

sound like he is trying to gazump you....

I don't know what to do. He says he's not taking it down. I don't want to have to threaten to pull out. I really want this house and if it's up on the websites until the contracts are signed (which could take any amount of time) then I'm sure someone will appear whose willing to offer more

Have to say it's something which is becoming more common. I have come across it on a number of occasions recently, mainly, it has to be said, in situations where the buyer might appear to be more of a risk than others. I'm not saying that this is the case here of course. When I say risk, I mean that the buyer might be young, starting out, have no loan approval in place or that kind of thing. There is no security anyway until contracts are signed whether or not sale agreed goes up on the board, but I understand what you are saying in relation to rival bids. If you do have your loan approval in place and are ready to sign immediately, could you tell the estate agent that contracts would have to be issued to you within a very strict time limit because he will not remove the property from the for sale listings and try to tie it down that way?

I can see where estate agent is coming from in a way. I am young and a first time buyer but he has never even asked if we are loan approved! We do have the money, everything is in order. We have no intention of pulling out.

Does the estate agent have any control over how long the contracts take though?

Thanks for your help

I bought my house late one Friday night (as in the Vendor fought me tooth and nail and made me cough up the full whack!). Somebody had phoned the estate agent earlier that day enquiring about the house (the estate agent being my sister). She told what offer was on the house when she phoned (5k less than asking price). The sale was agreed late on the Friday night and the Vendors went on 2 weeks hols on the Saturday morning. The person who phoned to enquire Friday phoned again on Monday with a view to looking at the house. My sis explained that the sale was actually agreed but she was actually obliged to show it to this person if they wanted. Thankfully in my case the lady declined and said she wouldn't dream of stepping on someone elses toes. The contracts were issued immediately but because the Vendor was on hols, my house had to stay on My Home until the contracts were signed by both parties & sale agreed only went up then also.

Everyone panics that something is going to go wrong. Just get out the rosary beads and hope that everything goes quickly and to plan.

As for the Contracts, the auctioneer doesn't have any hold over them. It's between the Solicitors. The Vendor's solicitor issues the Contracts to you the Purchaser, you sign and send back to the Vendor's solicitor for them to sign. Ask your solicitor to have things expedited as quickly as possible as you're really anxious.

Best of luck with it all.

Thanks Ribena!

I will try and get things moving asap with the solicitor. My estate agent said he wouldn't show it to anyone but if someone wants to see it does he have to show it to them then as you say?
I'd say a lot of people wouldn't care about "stepping on someone elses toes"!

No Bigfoot, I don't think your estate agent will show the house to anyone. In my case, this person had enquired while the house was still on the open market and wanted to follow up on it. In that instance, the estate agent really has an obligation to show it to them. Your estate agent has told you that they won't show it to anyone, so they won't. Anyone who rings to enquire will just be told that it's sale agreed and the estate agent might just take their details in case the sale falls through. You really shouldn't have anything to worry about.

As for how long it takes, it really depends on whether your loan is ready to be drawn down and also if the person selling the house is ready to move on to their new property. They might have a closing date for their house and both will obviously tie in together. I was in my house 3 weeks after the issue of Contracts. Ring your solicitor to see if there is a suggested closing date. Make sure you have everything in order with the lending institution, copy documents they require, house insurance & life cover. Keep on to them to make sure you haven't left anything out.

If I were you, I would keep looking for another property until your solicitors are in the position to exchange contact this can work to your advantage, if the vendor starts playing nasty which might happen, you will have not problem walking away. Two can play that game.

Well he's put a Sale Agreed sign outside the house at least! Sick of looking at houses at this stage but will keep on looking until contracts are signed.