HI!! FTB seeking advice on my current situation - Slimy EA?? You decide!

:username:

Hi there all!

My Girlfriend and I have found a house that we both really like! It will be our first house and we have seen quite a few from absolute wrecks to fully done houses!

The basics and to bring you all up to speed are as follows!

House went on the market on the begining of july in a VERY investable student area for the asking price of £132500.
After viewing the house and chatting to the vendors we put in an offer after learning there had been few viewing and one offer that fell through.
We offered a cheeky £128000 - Rejected
Fine we thought, we put in another offer - £129000.
Rejected due to another 'higher offer'
We ummed and arrrred for a while and decided to just go in at the asking price (STS) on condition that all other viewings were cancelled.
Result!! They accepted the offer.....


Untill the next day when we learn't that 4 new viewing had taken place and oh yeah, or offer was now rejected!!!! !!!!!! off? Yeah we were!

OKAY! So we we're now entering a bidding war! We left it for afew days to cool things down. After a finacial jiggle we decide to up our offer to £133000 -REJECTED!!
We went for another viewing to be majorly critical but I found myself saying to my girlfriend "this f**king house is gunna stretch us" It really is the house for us after everything else we have viewed!

Next day I go into the EA office and wack down an offer £3000 over the asking price, £135500!!!
OFFER ACCEPTED! with all other viewing cancelled!
I called the EA up to make sure they we're sending me out a confirmation letter of the acceptance......Errrr no!! EA-"No, we don't send them out straight away....usually 24 hours after the offer has been accepted" After sounding a little !!!!!! off I reminded her that they are VERY fast at sending out rejection letters! She didn't say much to that! Conclution? They are holding out for more offers!! Which links us to the following;

PROBLEM 1:
There are still 2 other bidders who have yet to come back that could possibly offer more according to the EA!
PROBLEM 2:
The vendors accepted our offer once, only to reject it as soon as abit more cash was on the table, will they do it again
PROBLEM 3:
The vendors are an elderly couple taking guidence from a slimy EA
PROBLEM 4:
We think we are up against investors/developers because of the area!!
PROBLEM 5:
It could go to sealed bids if it continues like this!

Oh and to add! My personnal opinion is that the property has been undervalued for the area and condition. Average price in the area for a similar property is between £140000 and £144000!

Well thats about it! Any advice or comments would be really helpful! Oh and i'm sorry for any spelling mistakes or bad England.......its 12am and i'm still shaking from the days up's and down's!

Thanks in advance

UN

david29dpo

sorry but, welcome to the world of house buying. i have had this, nothing to unusual hear!

Robert_Sterling

The Estate Agent is the seller's agent.
The seller pays the Estate Agent to get them the best deal possible.

terrierlady

what would you be doing if you were the vendor?with so many interested parties would you accept the first offer I think not!

Careful_girl

I would try to be clever (?). I would try to charm the EA. Get them on your side as much as poss.You get more when you are being nice to people than complaining. I am not saying that they have'nt messed you about.

On my current buy I learned something about EAs. They like buyers to prove they mean that they want the house or they don't trust you haven't made offers on 3 other properties or you are just offering and may pull out.

So my plan of action would be to phne the agent and explain how much you like the house. Have a bit of a laugh with them, talk about the weather or something. Then say that you need them to get in touch if anything changes. Make sure they have all the details of the sol and your mortgage. All the things where they can say to te vendor that you are deadly serious. If the offer has been accepted then you can talk to them about surveyors. Ask their opinion on local surveyors people love that. You need to be the favourite buyer of the EA!! You might prevent the sealed bids going ahead.
Think of it as a challenge. You can complain about the EA when you are off the phone and when you have got the house.
Oh my house was undervalued. It meant we got more viewings. The house sold well over the guide price. We were jumping in £5K jumps.
Good luck!!!
CG.:j

:username:

Thank you for all your comments guys and gals!

We have built up a good relationship with the EA and the vendors and have expressed how much we like the property.
I'm glad to hear that this is quite normal (in a scary kind of way)!!
@terrierlady: I know I would be looking for the best deal possible and I would be the same.....but if I accepted an offer from the same party again for loads more over the asking price I would like to think people have a little heart! We'll see....
@Careful girl: 5K JUMPS!!!!! WOW! I can not afford to do that......
I have made sure the EA knows we are credible buyers and also did a little speach on how we wanted it as a home not another student house to make money from.

Well, we should find out today either way!

Thanks again

UN

NastyMatt

Don't sweat about the acceptance letter. Even if it was issued the second you were accepted it does not stop offers coming in. And the EA must tell the vendor about all bids. All it does is stop more viewings.

Unfortunately (for us buyers) it's a sellers market so vendors/EA's can play silly !!!!!!s. You're in the lap of the Gods.. you could get 3 months down the line.. 1 week from exchange, paid out loads of £££ and the vendor pulls out. You'll have no come back..

I am saying this from personal experience.

You can smooze the EA.. vendor.. the next door neighbours etc but if some one offers £££££ more than you and the vendor wants it there's nothing you can do about it.

Sorry to sound all doom and gloom but my advice would be to not to worry about it. Start the wheels in motion so the vendor knows you're serious and try and crack on with it. Don't think it's a done deal until they hand you the keys!!

Good luck.

hethmar

Normally being a FTB would clinch it but you say it is in an investment area for student properties and that you believe you have investors champing at the bit?

They will be chain free buyers BUT they will not want to pay over the odds. They know another property will come up tomorrow which they can buy to let to students and may let it go if they think the price is getting too near or above market value.

Good luck, hope it goes well and erm, I guess you have been down that road during term time just to check out what it is like when the students are all back?

Careful_girl

Have you got the mortgage ready? A nice agreement in principle to waft about? You may be competing with nasty cash buyers. You need loads of ammunition!!!!!!
Good Luck
CG:j

hechizero

Been there, done that. EA's are pretty much like pimps (no exagerration) , apologies for such a gross generalisation, but if they can squeeze you they will. Even the good/nice ones. The system revolves about being able to lie without any reprocussions. There is law, but there is no way to excute it. A lot of "critical information" is passed via word of mouth. The whole system is corrupt to the core. If an EA sense your excitemement, you can be sure there will be asking price offers on the table real soonish...and of course...there is no way to tell if this is in fact the truth. You are playing a game where you are blindfolded and all your cash is hanging out of your pocket - bootiful...

:username:

Well abit of an update:

Got a phone call from the EA to tell me my offer has now been rejected! So my girlfriend and I decided to go into the EA office to talk face to face. After a chat and my girlfriend shedding the odd tear we decided to put another offer in (discussing amouts away from the EA office).
We think the offers have been going up in £500 bids so we have decided to try and 'outfox' the other party by raising our offer past the £500 raise mark and add £1500 to our offer in the attempt to give the other party two rejections!! May work......may not, but if you don't try.........

Will keep you all upto date and thank you all for your comments!

@Careful girl: Yes we are agreed in principle but is it wise to waft around how much you can borrow to the EA?