Offer letter - if you were a vendor would this put you off?

Hippychick

We are looking to buy at the moment and are in a very good position. When we place an offer on a property we thought it would be best to set it in writing and provide supporting evidence rather than making an offer over the phone.

If you were a vendor would the below letter and demands put you off?


We would like to place an offer to purchase the above mentioned property for £ subject to the following:

-[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]That any current or future arranged viewings are cancelled.
-[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]That the property is immediately withdrawn from the market and placed under offer.
-[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]That a sold sign is placed at the property within the next 48 hours.
-[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]Our tenancy expires on 6th August 2009, we require completion to take place by the end of July 2009, we cannot extend our tenancy agreement for a further 6 months, if this date is unachievable then we will have no other options but to withdraw from the transaction.
-[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]We will only pay for and commence searches and a survey/valuation until we have received confirmation details that the chain is complete and that the above target completion date can be met by all parties in the chain.

Our personal circumstances are as follows:

-[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]We are first time buyers in rented accommodation with no chain.
-[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]We have a mortgage agreed in principle (evidence attached)
-[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]We have a substantial deposit immediately available (evidence attached)
-[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]We already have solicitors in place who are ready to commence work upon receipt of our instructions.
-[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]Our solicitors are the former employers of xxxxxxx who worked as a conveyancer, we are therefore in the very fortunate position of knowing our solicitors extremely well and can chase and progress the transaction extremely quickly.
-[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]We have read the HIP and have no major concerns, we will not be instructing our solicitors to raise many lengthy enquiries.




Obviously we can tailor it to include certain fixtures and fittings etc once we are fully decided on what house to buy.


Any opinions or should we just offer over the phone? Thanks

Oldernotwiser

If I were a vendor I'd bite your hand off!

Hippychick

Thanks, I was just unsure if the completion date demands were a bit much?

TD5

Agree with previous comment alhough if I was a vendor I might be put off by the statement about withdrawing if July cannot be achieved. Maybe there could be some other options or it could be put in a softer way.

Other than that - like it :-)

bryanb

Yes the completion date demands are a bit OTT, Once you exchange contracts you can be certain, but before that no contract exists (obviously)

Doozergirl

Hippychick wrote: »

Thanks, I was just unsure if the completion date demands were a bit much?

Probably! If this is a situation where there is a chain then the average chain takes three months to work through. You can do the maths on that!

And what would you do once you've pulled out of the sale? Stay where you are or look for something else? Sounds like cutting your nose to spite your face to me You need to get over this threatening to pull out thing rather quickly. You can make things really difficult and far worse than they ever need be by getting into this habit. If I got that letter, it would be something that I would be keen to nip in the bud - I want a proper commitment, not someone who makes threats over things that are frankly out of vendor and purchaser's hands. You have to give up a lot of control when you're buying a house - don't think you have much of a hand in it!

You've said that you can't extend for a further 6 months - obviously understandable but are you aware that if you don't sign a new agreement it turns into a Periodic tenancy which means that you are then able to give the landlord a month's notice (ending on the 6th of the month if that is the date your current contract ends)?

I don't see the need to provide evidence of everything. You can offer to show them on acceptance of an offer, although I think it's a bit much to show anyone proof of deposit!

You can't instruct your solicitor not to make lengthy enquiries! If you have a mortgage, they need to make enquiries to satisfy the mortgage company, regardless of how good you think the HIP looks Fair enough that you don't plan to add to their enquiries but frankly, the more questions asked, the better! My solicitor sends out a huge list of enquiries as standard - it's all stuff people would want to know.

Honestly, it sounds really quite demanding and whilst if you were asking questions and saying stuff like this over the phone, it's likely to come out better. It's common sense that you don't commence conveyancing until the chain is comeplete; when it's written down like that it reads a little threatening. The agent is only going to phone the vendor and tell them you're a FTB with a good deposit and mortgage arranged and your offer is x!

duchy

Personally I feel any vendor who agrees to all this is desperate-they can't guarantee the chain stuff or a compleation date. Things happen (not just to them but to their vendors or to you). The fact you have locked yourself out of a tenancy and don't have the option to extend on a month by month basis isn't their problem. The first three I'd have no problem with if I was a serious seller but a buyer who had no intention of starting searches until a later date I would have. I wouldn't accept your offer on that basis alone. I want a buyer who is as eager as I am to complete not one throwing their weight around. If I had two offers-yours and a slightly lower one I'd accept the lower one if they appeared to be keen and ready to start the process straight away instead of trying to add a lot of conditions.
My last house sale/purchase I've been on both sides-our buyer had problems with their mortgage and our estate agent was a nightmare and was lying to both of us-eventually we and the buyers cut the estate agent out and dealt direct with each other -and were at the point of exchange-when I got gazzumped. Because-despite the difficulties we had a good relationship with our buyers they then waited on me. I found another house within 24 hours and offered with the proviso that I wanted to complete within 28 days (the purchase was fully funded from the sale -no mortgage so was tight but do-able). This wasn't legally binding but it got everyone moving and although it was a bit nerve wracking at times (at one point it looked like it wouldn't happen and our buyer actually said "We're not moving in right away so if you need the extra week just stay and move out a week after completion" In the end everything happend to schedule and I completed in time but if we'd laid down the sort of conditions you want to-it wouldn't have happened as there wouldn't have been the level of co-operation and goodwill on both sides.

After that experience-if I got an offer like you're proposing-I'd bin it as inflexible people who want everything their way -and who aren't realistic. You may find sellers who'd accept it but you may also find they feel as I do. It's a risk and you need to assess that risk before deciding.

botchjob

I’d say the completion demands are unreasonable. It’s a two-way street and once it’s in the hands of the solicitors it’s impossible for the seller to makes those guarantees. Even chain free sales seem to take 3 months to complete, at best. If the vendor is in a chain then they have even less control over dates. The vendor may be in no position to agree to it.

Your point about only paying for searches/valuation/survey is daft. If you delay starting those things, you will inevitably delay exchange/completion date. You will be shooting yourself in the foot.

If I were you I would make the offer verbally through the agent. Then get your solictor to follow up with a letter. Let your solictor make the demands. Your job at the moment is to say how much hyou LOVE the property, and to remain nice, enthusiastic, and responsive buyers. As a vendor, if I received that letter from you, my immediate thought would be “demanding/difficult buyer alert”. And unless your offer was a particularly good one, I would be in no hurry to accept it.

Doozergirl

I've thanked the two posts above because I agree with the sentiment but can I just point out again because it's lost somewhere in my post:

It is completely sensible not to start paying out on surveys etc until the chain is complete. If the chain collapses before it's even formed then you can only blame yourself for jumping the gun. eg. If the vendor doesn't find somewhere and decides not to move? It does happen!

If everyone starts instructing people at the same time then in theory, no one is holding anyone up. In fact, FTBs are almost always the first to be ready because they and their solicitors only have one transaction to deal with.

As I said though, it does look threatening which is why I think people are picking up on it. It's probably best not to say anything at all or reword it that you will instruct solicitors etc as soon as the chain is complete, than phrase it negatively.

Hippychick

Thanks everyone, we certainly don't want to seem too demanding hence why i've asked opinions!

I've softened it down a little, does this seem better?

We would like to place an offer to purchase the above mentioned property for £ subject to the following:

-[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]That any current or future arranged viewings are cancelled.
-[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]That the property is immediately withdrawn from the market and placed under offer.
-[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]That a sold sign is placed at the property within the next 48 hours.
-[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]Our tenancy expires on 6th August 2009, we would like completion to take place by the end of July 2009.
-[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]We would like confirmation details that the chain is complete and that the above target completion date has been noted by all parties in the chain.

Our personal circumstances are as follows:

-[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]We are first time buyers in rented accommodation with no chain.
-[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]We have a mortgage agreed in principle.
-[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]We have a substantial deposit immediately available.
-[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]We already have solicitors in place who are ready to commence work upon receipt of our instructions.
-[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]Our solicitors are the former employers of xxxxxxxxx who worked as a conveyancer, we are therefore in the very fortunate position of knowing our solicitors extremely well and can chase and progress the transaction extremely quickly.
-[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]We have read the HIP and have no major concerns.

We are happy to supply evidence of our mortgage agreement and deposit should our offer be accepted.

devon007

You seem very sensible buyers - which is a delight in itself! I don't think your letter too over the top, although agree with other posters that no date can be written in stone until exchange of contracts is effected (and even then, in 30 years of practice this has happened a few times, the completion date can in fact alter if everyone in the chain agrees the change!).
I wish you every success in finding a lovely property and a decent seller.