A new offer from nowhere... URGENT HELP

poppysarah

With such a lot of money to be spending I wouldn't let an EA mess me about.

Find something else?

mikee_j

right, having given this some more thought and talking to friends and family, i've come to the following conlusions:

1) I'm definatelty not increasing my offer
2) If they go with the £850 offer then i'm fine with that... will have to go down as the one that got away. (ok losing the money spent on survey and solicitors to date will be a kick in the teeth)
3) If they choose to continue with my offer i will stand very firm and ask for the completion date to be pushed foward to a month (not 3) after exchange. Why? I now don't want to pay 82k deposit on a house which i don't get the keys to until septemeber in this market. In my opinion, the rules have changed by them even considering the new offer, so its time to play hardball.
4) if they still insist on a long comlpetion then i will respond by asking for the exchange to be pushed back until they find a place and are serious with the sale.
5) i can accept losing the house. There will be more good houses some time in the future.
6) i hope they or the EA don't read these forums!

silvercar

mikee_j wrote: »

right, having given this some more thought and talking to friends and family, i've come to the following conlusions:

1) I'm definatelty not increasing my offer
2) If they go with the £850 offer then i'm fine with that... will have to go down as the one that got away. (ok losing the money spent on survey and solicitors to date will be a kick in the teeth)
3) If they choose to continue with my offer i will stand very firm and ask for the completion date to be pushed foward to a month (not 3) after exchange. Why? I now don't want to pay 82k deposit on a house which i don't get the keys to until septemeber in this market. In my opinion, the rules have changed by them even considering the new offer, so its time to play hardball.
4) if they still insist on a long comlpetion then i will respond by asking for the exchange to be pushed back until they find a place and are serious with the sale.
5) i can accept losing the house. There will be more good houses some time in the future.
6) i hope they or the EA don't read these forums!

Agree with everything except point (4). What you want is to exchange ASAP so that you don't get messed around.

Trollfever

If you don't trust the EA, can you speak direct to the vendor?

Gwhiz

silvercar wrote: »

Agree with everything except point (4). What you want is to exchange ASAP so that you don't get messed around.

I think 4 is the OPs way of saying that he'll happily walk away from the deal if they don't reduce the completion time. If he's willing to walk away then he holds all the cards. I'd be doing the same thing in this situation - show them that you're not willing to commit until they are!

mikee_j

mikee_j wrote: »

1) I'm definatelty not increasing my offer

3) If they choose to continue with my offer i will stand very firm and ask for the completion date to be pushed foward to a month (not 3) after exchange. Why? I now don't want to pay 82k deposit on a house which i don't get the keys to until septemeber in this market.

4) if they still insist on a long comlpetion then i will respond by asking for the exchange to be pushed back until they find a place and are serious with the sale.
!

a very stressful day!

basically the above three points happened. Had a huge row with the EA who at one point called me stupid... i told him very quickly to be careful about what he says. I basically caught him out talking BS and he did not like it one little bit and got very defensive.

Anyways, he now knows i'm serious about the house but will also happily pull out of the deal. Now we just play the waiting game to see if the vendor can find somewhere else to move, if not, then in 3 or 4 weeks the deal is gone.

don't really know if the other offer was genuine or not, but i feel very good about how i've played the whole situation and if I don't get this house, there will be (hopefully) a better house round the corner... its the only attitude i can have at teh moment.

My only concern at the moment is what the EA is telling vendors, is he making me out to be an awkward buuyer or not. Really tempted to go round to the house and talk to the vendors to show them how genuine a buyer i am. Might put them at ease, but may also harm the whole deal? toughts?

thanks for all the comments and advice. Certainly confirmed my thoughts of the strategy for going forward. Will keep you posted if anyone is interested?

socrates

mikee_j wrote: »

a very stressful day!

basically the above three points happened. Had a huge row with the EA who at one point called me stupid... i told him very quickly to be careful about what he says. I basically caught him out talking BS and he did not like it one little bit and got very defensive.

Anyways, he now knows i'm serious about the house but will also happily pull out of the deal. Now we just play the waiting game to see if the vendor can find somewhere else to move, if not, then in 3 or 4 weeks the deal is gone.

don't really know if the other offer was genuine or not, but i feel very good about how i've played the whole situation and if I don't get this house, there will be (hopefully) a better house round the corner... its the only attitude i can have at teh moment.

My only concern at the moment is what the EA is telling vendors, is he making me out to be an awkward buuyer or not. Really tempted to go round to the house and talk to the vendors to show them how genuine a buyer i am. Might put them at ease, but may also harm the whole deal? toughts?

thanks for all the comments and advice. Certainly confirmed my thoughts of the strategy for going forward. Will keep you posted if anyone is interested?

Caught him out how?

There was a thread on here a while back started by a vendor - the buyer contacted him directly and he did not appreciate it at all.

I think you might be better to pass a letter on and copy the agent in - or via the solicitors.

twokcc

mikee_j wrote: »

a very stressful day!

basically the above three points happened. Had a huge row with the EA who at one point called me stupid... i told him very quickly to be careful about what he says. I basically caught him out talking BS and he did not like it one little bit and got very defensive.

Anyways, he now knows i'm serious about the house but will also happily pull out of the deal. Now we just play the waiting game to see if the vendor can find somewhere else to move, if not, then in 3 or 4 weeks the deal is gone.

don't really know if the other offer was genuine or not, but i feel very good about how i've played the whole situation and if I don't get this house, there will be (hopefully) a better house round the corner... its the only attitude i can have at teh moment.

My only concern at the moment is what the EA is telling vendors, is he making me out to be an awkward buuyer or not. Really tempted to go round to the house and talk to the vendors to show them how genuine a buyer i am. Might put them at ease, but may also harm the whole deal? toughts?

thanks for all the comments and advice. Certainly confirmed my thoughts of the strategy for going forward. Will keep you posted if anyone is interested?

Not a good day at it would seem as if you aren't sure if the sale is proceeding or not.
This would be my suggestion although I realise that it is very diffucult from a distance to know the best way forward and the decision how to proceed has to be yours alone.
Write to the EA confirming the agreement you have made to purchase the house.Keep the letter brief factual and friendly in tone(I know this may be difficult but you relly need for the EA at least to be nuetral and see you as a proffessional person/buyer). Ensure that the letter includes a closer clause i.e confirmation, within say 5days, from the EA that the sale is proceeding on the basis of this letter.
CC the letter to the vendor so that they can see the basis for the sale, this may help if the EA has given them bad vibes about you as a buyer. If you wanted to you could handwrite on the bottom of there copy that if they wished to discus any of the above that you would welcome a call from them.


Can't predict whar EA/vendors response to letter will be but you will at least have done as much as you can to secure purchase

No matter what you do you will never know the full facts of the situation from the sellers/EA side so although it is always helpful to obtain as much imformation as you can don't rely on your interpertation of this, the vendor could be finding it just as stressful dealing with the EA or may have pressure from a mortgage provider- who knows.

Appreciate that this will be a very stressful time,my attitude is that I will always do as much as I consider necessary to achieve the outcome I want but if its not meant to happen no matter what I do it won't change the outcome.

If the house is meant for you, you will get it if not there will be something else on the horizon which will work out better.

mikee_j

I think a letter is a very good idea. At least then get to make my side of the story heard and it will hopefully give the opportunity to the vendors to see that i am genune and committed.

can anyone see a reason NOT to send a letter to the EA cc the vendors?

mikee_j

i've now drafted a letter which basically sets out my interpretation of the current situation, confirms the items which me and the EA discussed yesterday and re-iterates our wiillingness to complete the deal.

I've addressed it to the EA, copying in the vendor. The letter is of a friendly but firm tone and ends of a positive thanking the EA for his efforts to date. If he has been telling the vendors different things then this should flush that out.

i'll be sending it tomorrow.

edit: the letter also sets a deadline so that i have a simple 'getout' if the deal starts dragging on.