seven offers???

pettelly

We've just put an offer in on a house for the first time :j It's on the market for 370k but needs quite a bit of work. We offered 320k and the estate agent told us that there have been 7 offers with ours being one of the lowest. Apparently one of the offers was nearer 350k. I've been following the market in our area and saw two houses on the market recently for a similar amount going for about 330k which is our bottom line given the amount of work required in the house.

Does anyone know whether these intial offers tend to be serious? In the current climate, I don't want to get in to a bidding war - but I'm SO surprised that were 7 offers . I've tried to play on our situation that we have an agreement in principle and no chain (the house for sale is empty) but any other strategic suggestions?? I do really like the house - but certainly won't pay over the odds for it. Just worried now though that maybe the market has bottomed out in London and we may be missing out????

Thanks!

poppysarah

Who knows. EAs seem to still be living on the banks of that river in Egypt.

stolt

personally i dont think your missing out (but thats coming from someone that has just put an offer in on a house and its going through the motions as i write this) however if you want to play games you could leave the offer on the table and then go and see other houses and say that you want to put that house on your shortlist but you want to have a look at some others.

you didnt say how long the house has been on for, has been on since 2007 prices or just come on market? If like me i spet months and months, night afer night on rightmove checking out your area and then commenting to the missus '' oh look that hosue has just sold, etc etc'' property bee is good so it highlights when price reductins have happended, worth getting if you havent already.

pettelly

stolt wrote: »

personally i dont think your missing out (but thats coming from someone that has just put an offer in on a house and its going through the motions as i write this) however if you want to play games you could leave the offer on the table and then go and see other houses and say that you want to put that house on your shortlist but you want to have a look at some others.

you didnt say how long the house has been on for, has been on since 2007 prices or just come on market? If like me i spet months and months, night afer night on rightmove checking out your area and then commenting to the missus '' oh look that hosue has just sold, etc etc'' property bee is good so it highlights when price reductins have happended, worth getting if you havent already.

Congratulations on buying your house!

I was planning to keep on looking in any case and I want to give an offer on another house I liked (although not as much as this one). After all, they haven't accepted so no commitment either side.

The house has come on very recently. The EAs held an open house on Saturday and that was, I think, the first proper viewing. There were quite a lot of people there. It does seem reasonably priced for the area and the size. I'm also a rightmove obsessive!

pettelly

poppysarah wrote: »

Who knows. EAs seem to still be living on the banks of that river in Egypt.

Sorry, maybe late at night, but what do you mean??

poppysarah

the nile... d'nile...

Poppy9

The EA could be BS you to get you to up your offer to a price that they know the sellers will take this week.

Often houses new to the market will not take the first offer if they think there is more out there but EA need sales now not in a few weeks.

Ask the EA to pass your offer to the vendor, they have to do this, with details of your buying position. Then continue viewing other houses. If someone else is bidding higher there is no guarantee they will complete and as it takes weeks if not months sometimes to get to exchange you still have time to increase your offer.

Maisie11

Sometimes Open Days do work with houses. A house in the next street to us had 4 offers but was priced well. Possibly this one is priced to sell at very near the asking price. The house near us got the asking price but they sold it to a cash buyer at 5% discount for a quick completion. It was a very nice house and was on for just under £500k.

Dont panic if you dont get it but also dont believe some of the posters on here who are forever watching and waiting for the bottom. They wont know when it arrives - no-one will. Maybe its here - maybe it isnt but no one can keep their life on hold forever. I do think we are going to see quite a spring bounce.....

googler

How long has it been on the market? If it's been on the market for any length of time, how come there's been SIX offers prior to yours, which apparently are all higher than yours, and the owners haven't accepted an offer yet?

I'm not in London, so forgive me if I'm missing the nuances of your market, but if the owners are holding out for a higher figure than the highest of a group of offers which are higher than yours, then is it time to move on to another property?

However, the other consideration (which wouldn't be a consideration in my neck of the woods) is - do these 'offers' actually exist? I'd be asking the agent - why haven't the owners accepted any of these offers? Are these offers still being considered by the owners? etc etc

pettelly

googler wrote: »

How long has it been on the market? If it's been on the market for any length of time, how come there's been SIX offers prior to yours, which apparently are all higher than yours, and the owners haven't accepted an offer yet?

I'm not in London, so forgive me if I'm missing the nuances of your market, but if the owners are holding out for a higher figure than the highest of a group of offers which are higher than yours, then is it time to move on to another property?

However, the other consideration (which wouldn't be a consideration in my neck of the woods) is - do these 'offers' actually exist? I'd be asking the agent - why haven't the owners accepted any of these offers? Are these offers still being considered by the owners? etc etc

Thanks for the advice - but the property has just come on the market.

pettelly

Maisie11 wrote: »

Sometimes Open Days do work with houses. A house in the next street to us had 4 offers but was priced well. Possibly this one is priced to sell at very near the asking price. The house near us got the asking price but they sold it to a cash buyer at 5% discount for a quick completion. It was a very nice house and was on for just under £500k.

Dont panic if you dont get it but also dont believe some of the posters on here who are forever watching and waiting for the bottom. They wont know when it arrives - no-one will. Maybe its here - maybe it isnt but no one can keep their life on hold forever. I do think we are going to see quite a spring bounce.....

That's kind of my thinking. We are giving offers on houses we like but, at the same time, are giving quite low offers - mainly because our bottom line is a bit too low for the house and area that we are looking for. If prices do start to go up, we may have to cut our losses and compromise on something.