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What Exactly Does "under Offer" Mean?


taxmyrs

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HOLA441
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HOLA442

A buyer has made an offer and the seller has accepted it, but they have not yet exchanged contracts.

In some cases you can still view the property, in most cases, you won't be able to because accepting an offer usually means the seller will promise not to allow any more viewings as a courtesy to the buyer.

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HOLA443

What exactly does "Under Offer" mean?

Straight off the Rightmove website...

Under Offer

A property is under offer when a homebuyer has made a formal offer to purchase the property but the homeowner has not confirmed whether to accept.

If the offer is rejected then the property remains on the market until the next formal offer is made at which point the homeowner must again decide whether to accept the offer or reject it.

If the offer is accepted then it becomes 'Sold Subject to Contract' (Sold STC).

Sold STC and Sold STCM

Sold 'Subject to Contract' (STC) means that the homeowner has accepted an offer from a buyer but the paperwork is not yet complete.

You can still enquire about a Sold STC property as the sale is not complete until the signed contracts are exchanged. Technically the property is still available.

It may still be worth contacting the estate agent to discuss the strength of the accepted offer, particularly as there is no legal obligation on homeowner or homebuyer to complete the sale. On average about 15% of Sold STC properties come back on the market after the sale has failed to proceed.

The house buying and selling system in Scotland is slightly different in that once offers are made they are legally binding if accepted; there is no 'subject to contract' stage. However the concluding paperwork (known as missives) may in rare cases fall through hence we use Sold Subject to Conclusion of Missives (Sold STCM).

Note this part:

"You can still enquire about a Sold STC property as the sale is not complete until the signed contracts are exchanged. Technically the property is still available.

It may still be worth contacting the estate agent to discuss the strength of the accepted offer, particularly as there is no legal obligation on homeowner or homebuyer to complete the sale. On average about 15% of Sold STC properties come back on the market after the sale has failed to proceed."

Not encouraging gazumping by any chance, are they???? :rolleyes:

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HOLA444
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HOLA447
  • 3 years later...
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HOLA448

Just resurrecting a thread!

There are a few properties on my watch list on RM now flagged as "under offer"

I'm still confused as to the meaning of this despite reading this thread. Surely when an offer is accepted, the EA is in a mad rush to chuck a "Sold" board up? The last time I sold a property the "sold" board went up when the offer was accepted, not when the paperwork was finalised.

If the offer has not been accepted then whats the point?

If an offer has been accepted in principal but the buyer is unsold would this constitute "under offer" and therefore would be utterly pointless?

(I know this is crazy but have a friend who is bidding on a house, yet hasn't sold his (and need to to fund the sale- barmy!!)

Is it just another sales tool to give the illusion of a buoyant market? (Or has HPC made me jaded!!)

Any thoughts?

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HOLA449

Under offer:

- Someone has bid (possibly lower than we want) So it's popular pleeeeeassse make a counter-offer (no we can't tell you what the first was, no it wasn't my mate down the pub offering 10 squid), before it gets snapped up.

SSTC:

- Someone made an offer that we accepted. Feel free to outbid them in the months to come while they try and get mortgage funding and actually complete the sale.

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HOLA4410

Under offer:

- Someone has bid (possibly lower than we want) So it's popular pleeeeeassse make a counter-offer (no we can't tell you what the first was, no it wasn't my mate down the pub offering 10 squid), before it gets snapped up.

SSTC:

- Someone made an offer that we accepted. Feel free to outbid them in the months to come while they try and get mortgage funding and actually complete the sale.

so it's somewhere between "we're not accepting the offer but we're not not accepting the offer either"?/

can buying house be any more complicated and vague? :ph34r:

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HOLA4411

so it's somewhere between "we're not accepting the offer but we're not not accepting the offer either"?/

can buying house be any more complicated and vague? :ph34r:

Yup - my understanding of it is that it's all marketing gumph - houses have 2 states, up for sale, and sold. Up for sale is everything up and including 'sold subject to contract'.

Edited by rw42
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HOLA4413

What does, "An extra yard of pace" mean?

I have never figured that one out.

An "extra yard of pace" comes from cricket.

The bowler is bowling so much faster than the ball you are comparing too...... that at the same period of time after release it's a "yard" closer to the batsmen. Batsmen experience this as "going to hit the ball" (after getting used to the timing of doing so from previous balls/bowlers) and finding the ball is already on them/past them as they go to play the stroke predicated on the previous pace. Hence "gained an extra yard of pace". As they experience it....... it's a yard further forward than they expected from the previous balls/bowlers at the point of making the stroke.

And on UO and SSTC....... I am a FTBer so this doesn;t come from a wealth of experience but I'm reading them as....

Under Offer - PLEASE come and beat this offer ! We don't want to take it (if we did it'd be SSTC), but we may have to if no-one else steps forward. Any of you buyers out there considering this house..... here's your chance to come in and beat that offer.

SSTC - We've had an offer. We've accepted thgat offer as reasonable. It may or may not go through. Sold Board is up. So this is your last chance to come wow us with a better offer (or the same offer but without the dealys as you may be a FTB'er/CashBuyer).

Yours,

TGP

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HOLA4414

'Under Offer' and 'Sold Subject to Contract' in practice effectively mean the same thing - that an offer has been accepted by the seller of the property, but the legal work is ongoing and contracts have not been exchanged. In most cases (in my experience at least) the seller will not take any further viewings. However, there is nothing like a house sale to bring out the greed in people and if that seller was offered an extra £25k from a different buyer, there will be very few who have the morals to honour the original deal at the original price.

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  • 1 year later...
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HOLA4415
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HOLA4416

Just resurrecting a thread!

There are a few properties on my watch list on RM now flagged as "under offer"

I'm still confused as to the meaning of this despite reading this thread. Surely when an offer is accepted, the EA is in a mad rush to chuck a "Sold" board up? The last time I sold a property the "sold" board went up when the offer was accepted, not when the paperwork was finalised.

If the offer has not been accepted then whats the point?

If an offer has been accepted in principal but the buyer is unsold would this constitute "under offer" and therefore would be utterly pointless?

(I know this is crazy but have a friend who is bidding on a house, yet hasn't sold his (and need to to fund the sale- barmy!!)

Is it just another sales tool to give the illusion of a buoyant market? (Or has HPC made me jaded!!)

Any thoughts?

Think of it this way.

A house is up for sale for 200K.

The estate agents granny has made an offer of 2K.

Technically the house is under offer (saying that I am fairly sure there is no legal definition of what under offer actually means).

As the other poster said. A house is either for sale, or sold. Everything else is BS.

It's a bit like new developments - all houses are reserved, only one remaining. You need to know what "reserved" means. It could mean potential buyers have put down £10K deposits that they could lose if they don't complete within 6 months. Or it could also mean that someone has put down a £10 deposit that can be withdrawn at any time either party feels like it.

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HOLA4417

Think of it this way.

A house is up for sale for 200K.

The estate agents granny has made an offer of 2K.

Technically the house is under offer (saying that I am fairly sure there is no legal definition of what under offer actually means).

As the other poster said. A house is either for sale, or sold. Everything else is BS.

It's a bit like new developments - all houses are reserved, only one remaining. You need to know what "reserved" means. It could mean potential buyers have put down £10K deposits that they could lose if they don't complete within 6 months. Or it could also mean that someone has put down a £10 deposit that can be withdrawn at any time either party feels like it.

I doubt many fall for the 'Under Offer' BS.

Sold STC is one thing. Otherwise it screams out, "please buy me!" How can something be under offer and not accepted nor rejected. Mr and Mrs Under Offer says: "hmmm let me think about it for a while, I shall let everyone know that you made an offer and I am indecisive so they should really avoid buying this house anyway, I am perhaps not a serious seller so steer clear".

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HOLA4418

I doubt many fall for the 'Under Offer' BS.

Sold STC is one thing. Otherwise it screams out, "please buy me!" How can something be under offer and not accepted nor rejected. Mr and Mrs Under Offer says: "hmmm let me think about it for a while, I shall let everyone know that you made an offer and I am indecisive so they should really avoid buying this house anyway, I am perhaps not a serious seller so steer clear".

My limited experience of this area is in the beginning you see, like and make an offer on a house. If the offer is accepted it remains so until you have satisfied the vendors on your ability to proceed, finance etc etc and then appoint solictors who engage on the legal side of a purchase and the property now becomes SSTC.

What set of circumstances reverse that? To go from SSTC to under offer again, presumably the purchaser is no longer able to proceed as first thought, house sale or finance has fallen through but wishes to still purchase the property and leaves his offer on the table??

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HOLA4421

Under offer differs from a reality situation, like, for example, under a bus.

It seems EA have so much time on their hands they can have an under offer card inserted in a board moments after the buyer has said..hmm, how about x? How long does a rejection last?

Is the seller under a cooling off period.

Is it 100% BS?

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HOLA4422

Under offer differs from a reality situation, like, for example, under a bus.

It seems EA have so much time on their hands they can have an under offer card inserted in a board moments after the buyer has said..hmm, how about x? How long does a rejection last?

Is the seller under a cooling off period.

Is it 100% BS?

I hope so.

Otherwise like I said, it would make me steer clear of them. Last thing you need is some indecisive bugger in the biggest sale and most expensive upfront costs (surveys and legal etc) of your life. Says to me they are a high risk of pulling out and leaving you well out of pocket.

Run. Run for the hills and don't look back.

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HOLA4423

In my personal experience from studying the market closely for the past year.

SSTC:

Means agent is getting desperate and trying to drum up interest. Usually follows long periods of stagnation and kiteflying. Often precedes “available”.

Under offer:

Means agent is getting desperate and trying to drum up interest. Often follows SSTC, usually precedes a price reduction.

As for RM suggesting 15% of SSTC properties are coming back available, I’d say figure is more like 85% in my area (Swindon). Are they having a laugh?

I bet they struggled to get 85% completion in the nutty boom years.

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