House Buying in Scotland - Help!

LB25

Hi,

I've just put in a verbal offer for a house that was previously on at offers over but recently changed to a fixed price. My offer was 10% below the fixed price.

The estate agent said she would speak to the seller but that she knew that it would definitely be a no as the fixed price was the minimum they would accept. She called back 5 mins later and said that they said no way. She didn't propose a counter offer at all.

They house needs a fair bit of work (new kitchen, bathroom, plastering) and has been for sale for about 10 weeks. A very similar house in the same street, which was in a better condition, sold for the amount that I have offered in December and so I think its a fair offer.

My question is, do you think that the EA's response is a tactic to make me think that my offer is ridiculous and to increase it or do you think that its a genuine "no way" and they won't come back to me?

Thanks!

IveSeenTheLight

Hmmmmmmm, in Scotland offers are put via solicitors, not EA's

Irrespective of tactics, you made an offer and it was rejected.
You have the choice to increase or walk away.
Time will tell if they get an offer they are looking for or come back to you if you dont increase.

Would be good if you can post a link for us all to see the property

LB25

Thanks - I know that offers are usually submitted via solicitors but I spoke to the EA on an informal basis to try to guage their reaction before making it official.

hearts

LB25 wrote: »

Thanks - I know that offers are usually submitted via solicitors but I spoke to the EA on an informal basis to try to guage their reaction before making it official.

Unless you put the offer through your Solicitor they will just think you are a chancer. If you are serious about the property put in an offer through the proper channels.

LB25

Ok thanks. I'll do that then!

zone

If the vendor really is stuck on a fixed price then yes your lower offer will be rejected. But 10% below asking price isnt much so you have a good chance. How much is it on for?

vegasvisitor

I am not sure if the other posters here are in Scotland, but I think EA offers are becoming more common. We did that recently. However, bear in mind that as other posters have said, it will also depend on the views of a seller, their solicitor, estate agent etc on whether they will take it seriously. Presumably the EA who is selling encouraged you to do this? That is how ours happened and we were told it would be accepted and then it actually wasn't (not on price, just on clauses which were also stated when it was done verbally through EA). We later found that the offer was never actually put to the seller! So be careful. Maybe you should sit it out for a bit if you think there's no other offers etc? Depends how keen you are.

IveSeenTheLight

lesley74 wrote: »

We later found that the offer was never actually put to the seller!

If you put in an offer through the official channels they are legally obliged to put the offer to the client.

If you choose not to do things officially however you could end up as you case I guess

hearts

lesley74 wrote: »

I am not sure if the other posters here are in Scotland, but I think EA offers are becoming more common. We did that recently. However, bear in mind that as other posters have said, it will also depend on the views of a seller, their solicitor, estate agent etc on whether they will take it seriously. Presumably the EA who is selling encouraged you to do this? That is how ours happened and we were told it would be accepted and then it actually wasn't (not on price, just on clauses which were also stated when it was done verbally through EA). We later found that the offer was never actually put to the seller! So be careful. Maybe you should sit it out for a bit if you think there's no other offers etc? Depends how keen you are.

I am in Scotland. An offer put to an estate agent, no matter how well intentioned is not treated as a serious offer. There are procedures in place, they have been there for a long time and they work well.
The reason your "offer" wasn't passed on was simple. It wasn't an offer.
Think about it and you will understand why.

vegasvisitor

Well, it's more complicated than that, why it wasn't passed on. It was actually passed to the seller of the house that the seller wanted to buy. I think that's underhand and wrong, and I only found out because I decided to call the seller to ask if we could pop round for another look. Meanwhile they were unaware there was any interest after our viewing, so it was rather odd. The estate agent did say to us that we could make a verbal offer via them so that we could establish a price etc before seeing a lawyer.

Hearts, although I totally see where you are coming from, we were encouraged by the Estate Agent that this was the way things were going in the market, and they advised us to initially make a verbal offer through them. I suspect it was a bit sneaky etc, but we'll just have to see how things pan out now. It could well be that a particular chain of estate agents like to work this way. The one I dealt with are in a chain, and other branches may be encouraging this too. I do agree it's possibly not the best way to go, and in our experience it was just stressful.

Meanwhile we're still unable to complete as we've not sold, but the market does seem to be picking up from our view - we have 2 viewers this week.

IveSeenTheLight

lesley74 wrote: »

Well, it's more complicated than that, why it wasn't passed on. It was actually passed to the seller of the house that the seller wanted to buy. I think that's underhand and wrong, and I only found out because I decided to call the seller to ask if we could pop round for another look. Meanwhile they were unaware there was any interest after our viewing, so it was rather odd. The estate agent did say to us that we could make a verbal offer via them so that we could establish a price etc before seeing a lawyer.

Hearts, although I totally see where you are coming from, we were encouraged by the Estate Agent that this was the way things were going in the market, and they advised us to initially make a verbal offer through them. I suspect it was a bit sneaky etc, but we'll just have to see how things pan out now. It could well be that a particular chain of estate agents like to work this way. The one I dealt with are in a chain, and other branches may be encouraging this too. I do agree it's possibly not the best way to go, and in our experience it was just stressful.

Meanwhile we're still unable to complete as we've not sold, but the market does seem to be picking up from our view - we have 2 viewers this week.

I recommend you put your offers in officially via a solicitor and you will not have these issues