First time buyer guide
Offer stage
Open market
You can make an offer to the agent or developer.
If you decide to put in a lower offer, bear in mind that the offer may not be accepted, and you will have to negotiate with the seller or developer in order to agree a price. This may cause you to lose out on the property as other people will still be able to submit offers whilst you’re in negotiations.
If you decide to buy a second-hand home, make sure you know key information about the property (e.g. length of the lease; service charge and ground rent; who the managing agent is). It’s good to know how long it has been for sale and whether other offers have been made – if so, why have they not proceeded?
As part of the offer, the agent or developer may ask for your ID and proof of address, as well as your proof of affordability, so have these to hand just in case.
Pocket homes are independently valued at 20% below the local market value, which means prices are fixed.
After viewing, you’ll have the chance to submit an Expression of Interest (EOI), which is how you let us know you’re interested in buying a Pocket home. This is done by choosing up to 10 homes in order of preference in your My Pocket account. We suggest that you do select 10, as this will maximise your chances of getting a home! You must do this by the deadline set.
Sadly, Pocket homes are often oversubscribed. This means that we allocate the homes using a lottery so that it’s fair for everyone applying.
The lottery is slightly weighted to favour buyers with lower levels of affordability. However, it is still a lottery and therefore is a random selection process.
