Offer tactics: advice wanted on how long to wait before putting in a second offer

lfc321

We're FTBs who have just had our first ever offer on a house rejected. I guess that's better than having our first ever offer accepted...

The asking price has already come down from £170,000 to £150,000. The house is empty and has been on the market for about 6 months. EA told us that the vendor is "slightly flexible" on the price, whatever that means.

There are a few similar properties on the same estate which are all still asking around £15,000-20,000 more. These do have some extras (e.g. one has a conservatory on the back; one has converted the integral garage into a dining room), but nothing that's worth anything like the premium they want.

We offered £130,000 which we thought was a bit low but worth a try. According to the EA someone else made an offer last week (lower than ours) but is still interested.

We think a fair price would be in the £135,000-140,000 range. We like it but aren't prepared to pay over the odds in a bidding war. It's not an emotional purchase and we're willing to walk away.

So the question is what do we do next? Do we go back and offer £135,000 (which might have a chance of being accepted)? Or should we wait for a while?

My inclination is to offer £135,000 tomorrow and if that isn't accepted then leave it a few weeks and see what happens. Maybe also arrange to look at some other things with the same agent to ram the message home.

Any advice from house buying experts?


[P.S. please don't reply saying "don't buy now", "it will be worth 20% less in a year", "we're all doomed" etc etc. We're buying somewhere for our family to live not an investment. We've got a decent deposit (mortgage will be about 60% LTV) and we plan to live there for the next 4-5 years. So we're not too worried about what happens to prices over the next 18 months.]

penguine

Did the seller make a counteroffer? Did the EA give you any feedback on why they rejected your offer? If you feel you could walk away, then it's probably to your advantage to do so. You know the sellers have already had an offer lower than yours, once they've had time to think about it (and depending on whether they get any further offers) they may then come back to you, in which case you'll be in a strong position to stick to your original offer.

bryanb

Just wait (if you can stand the tension)

poppysarah

Wait til they drop it another bunch.

Tell the EA you'll buy when they accept a sensible offer.

ema_o

I would speak to the estate agents and try and get more information on what sort of an offer the seller would accept. Doubt they'll tell you outright but they should be able to give you a feel for it, then you can decide whether its worth offering more or not.

zzzLazyDaisy

I would contact the EA that you are also in negotiations for another property with a different EA, so it isn't appropriate for you to increase your offer at the moment.

However, you would be willing to consider any counter offer the vendor might wish to make.

Then leave the ball in their court and walk away. Let the Seller sweat it out for a bit.

Even if you lose the property there will be lots of others around - unless you have fallen in love with the place and just 'must' have it, which doesn;t seem to be the case.

Have you checked property snake to see how long it has been up for sale?

bryanb

All the advice seems good, but remember the EA works for the seller and is paid by them.

lfc321

penguine wrote: »

Did the seller make a counteroffer? Did the EA give you any feedback on why they rejected your offer?

No useful feedback - only that the seller is willing to be a bit flexible but is not prepared to take £20,000 below the asking price. EA said they would tell the other interested buyer that an offer has been made (although not how much) so we'll have to see what happens there.

I suppose if there really are 2 of us interested in this property the seller might think they can get the price up a bit.

ad9898_3

lfc321 wrote: »

We're FTBs who have just had our first ever offer on a house rejected. I guess that's better than having our first ever offer accepted...

The asking price has already come down from £170,000 to £150,000. The house is empty and has been on the market for about 6 months. EA told us that the vendor is "slightly flexible" on the price, whatever that means.

There are a few similar properties on the same estate which are all still asking around £15,000-20,000 more. These do have some extras (e.g. one has a conservatory on the back; one has converted the integral garage into a dining room), but nothing that's worth anything like the premium they want.

We offered £130,000 which we thought was a bit low but worth a try. According to the EA someone else made an offer last week (lower than ours) but is still interested.

We think a fair price would be in the £135,000-140,000 range. We like it but aren't prepared to pay over the odds in a bidding war. It's not an emotional purchase and we're willing to walk away.

So the question is what do we do next? Do we go back and offer £135,000 (which might have a chance of being accepted)? Or should we wait for a while?

My inclination is to offer £135,000 tomorrow and if that isn't accepted then leave it a few weeks and see what happens. Maybe also arrange to look at some other things with the same agent to ram the message home.

Any advice from house buying experts?


[P.S. please don't reply saying "don't buy now", "it will be worth 20% less in a year", "we're all doomed" etc etc. We're buying somewhere for our family to live not an investment. We've got a decent deposit (mortgage will be about 60% LTV) and we plan to live there for the next 4-5 years. So we're not too worried about what happens to prices over the next 18 months.]

My inclination would be be to put your next offer in, in about 12 months for about £95k

slummymummyof3

I think the EA may be being a little devious and is trying to get the two of you to get into a bidding war - be careful. I think you need to set yourselves a 'definately no higher than' budget and stick to it. The other good thing in your favour is and you should stress to the EA is that you are proceedable, you are putting down a substantial deposit and therefore you are low risk as far as being turned down for mortgage approval. I would be tempted to raise your offer by £2,500 first before jumping in with an increase of £5,000. People always offer lower than they are prepared to pay in the first instance whereas a second offer will be probably considered as closer to what you are prepared to pay and that you may not increase your offer further - this is more likely to be considered (obviously depending on the vendors situation). Remember the EA is employed by the vendor and he is employed to get the highest amount he can for the property!

mrstinchcombe

30% below asking price is what you should be asking IMHO.

Forget about previous asking prices, offer 30% below what its on for now!