Offer...Is it genuine??

KS1977

I am wondering if I can get some advice here please. I am new to this buying houses lark and am consequently a first time buyer. I put an offer on a house and it was rejected, which to be honest, I was expecting. I didn't put in another offer as I told the EA that I had to chat things over with the other half. Trying to cut a long story short, when we went to view the house the vendor said he had an offer from a couple that he was happy with, but it couldn't go ahead because they were waiting to sell their house and it didn't look promising. The EA rang me this morning to say that apparently the seller who had put the offer in had sold their house now and that if I wanted, I had the chance to put in another offer over 135k what they put down. I told the EA I wasn't prepared to stretch to above that price.

My main question here is it seems rather odd that one day after putting in my initial offer, the vendor had confirmation from the other buyer that their house had now sold and he was accepting their offer. It seems very 'convenient'. Can the EA tell me that an offer has now been accepted if it hasn't really, just to try to get me to up my offer nearer the asking price?

Would greatly appreciate any thoughts on this, thanks.

matbe

Yes of course they are all lying cheating swindling deviants.

Like car salesmen.

jennikitten

Sounds funny to me, but if you're not willing to pay that price then you're not willing to pay that price, so it's kind of irrelevant.

Hold out and see if you hear anything else - don't give in.

shaven-monkey

the salesman gets a % of the selling price. He'll say anything to increase that percentage.

Generali

KS1977 wrote: »

I am wondering if I can get some advice here please. I am new to this buying houses lark and am consequently a first time buyer. I put an offer on a house and it was rejected, which to be honest, I was expecting. I didn't put in another offer as I told the EA that I had to chat things over with the other half. Trying to cut a long story short, when we went to view the house the vendor said he had an offer from a couple that he was happy with, but it couldn't go ahead because they were waiting to sell their house and it didn't look promising. The EA rang me this morning to say that apparently the seller who had put the offer in had sold their house now and that if I wanted, I had the chance to put in another offer over 135k what they put down. I told the EA I wasn't prepared to stretch to above that price.

My main question here is it seems rather odd that one day after putting in my initial offer, the vendor had confirmation from the other buyer that their house had now sold and he was accepting their offer. It seems very 'convenient'. Can the EA tell me that an offer has now been accepted if it hasn't really, just to try to get me to up my offer nearer the asking price?

Would greatly appreciate any thoughts on this, thanks.

Most likely one of two things:

1. They are lying and trying to get you to up your offer
2. They are telling the truth and trying to get you to up your offer

Emy1501

KS1977 wrote: »

I am wondering if I can get some advice here please. I am new to this buying houses lark and am consequently a first time buyer. I put an offer on a house and it was rejected, which to be honest, I was expecting. I didn't put in another offer as I told the EA that I had to chat things over with the other half. Trying to cut a long story short, when we went to view the house the vendor said he had an offer from a couple that he was happy with, but it couldn't go ahead because they were waiting to sell their house and it didn't look promising. The EA rang me this morning to say that apparently the seller who had put the offer in had sold their house now and that if I wanted, I had the chance to put in another offer over 135k what they put down. I told the EA I wasn't prepared to stretch to above that price.

My main question here is it seems rather odd that one day after putting in my initial offer, the vendor had confirmation from the other buyer that their house had now sold and he was accepting their offer. It seems very 'convenient'. Can the EA tell me that an offer has now been accepted if it hasn't really, just to try to get me to up my offer nearer the asking price?

Would greatly appreciate any thoughts on this, thanks.

It happened to me back 2004. Was told a day after I made an offer that someone else had bid 3K more could i increase as i was in a better position. The property had been on the market for 3 months. I increased but when I look back I doubt the other offer existed as I heard similar stories told to at least 3 other people I know who have bought since. At least a couple of them stuck with their offers and the other alleged offers disappeared and they got their property.

There will be agents who make up phantom offers to get people to increase and there will also be others who are telling the truth. You will have to decide whether you believe the agent and whether you are happy to increase your offer.

Davesnave

When we offered the asking price on our home, we were told that someone else had just made the same offer. We said, 'OK, well, we'll will match that, but we are cash.'

Some days later the agent rang to ask if we'd like to improve our offer, 'to give you a better chance.' We replied that since no one had offered more than us, we thought our 'chance,' with cash, was pretty good.

We had the offer duly accepted. Later, someone did offer more, but the vendor was honest & committed to a particular time scale, so stuck with us.

I have since met a person who I believe to have been the other party offering the asking price. He said to me that he would have paid it, but had to sell another asset first, and couldn't. So, he had offered, 'subject to obtaining the funds,' which in that context was pretty meaningless. The agent may not have been lying, but neither was he telling the whole truth.

This tells you nothing at all about your specific situation, of course, just that agents bend the truth. Like us, you will just have to make a considered decision and stick with it.

sss555s

KS1977 wrote: »

I am wondering if I can get some advice here please. I am new to this buying houses lark and am consequently a first time buyer. I put an offer on a house and it was rejected, which to be honest, I was expecting. I didn't put in another offer as I told the EA that I had to chat things over with the other half. Trying to cut a long story short, when we went to view the house the vendor said he had an offer from a couple that he was happy with, but it couldn't go ahead because they were waiting to sell their house and it didn't look promising. The EA rang me this morning to say that apparently the seller who had put the offer in had sold their house now and that if I wanted, I had the chance to put in another offer over 135k what they put down. I told the EA I wasn't prepared to stretch to above that price.

My main question here is it seems rather odd that one day after putting in my initial offer, the vendor had confirmation from the other buyer that their house had now sold and he was accepting their offer. It seems very 'convenient'. Can the EA tell me that an offer has now been accepted if it hasn't really, just to try to get me to up my offer nearer the asking price?

Would greatly appreciate any thoughts on this, thanks.

Welcome to the world of "bargaining"

In the UK we are in general pretty green when it comes to this but EA's and car dealers use it to get what they want.

This advert isn't too far off the truth Omid Djalili

EA's are only in it to get the best price achievable for their customers and commission. You are in it to get what you want at the best price you can.

Similar thing happened to me in 1990. They had a 5% better offer but i knew the sellers didn't like the conditions of the other offer.
When the EA called to say they had a 5% better offer and can i up mine i said no. She called back a short while later to say i got the house. That few thousand over a 25 year mortgage has probably paid for one or two good holidays.

It's up to you to decide if they are more desperate for your money than you are for their house.

KS1977

Emy1501 wrote: »

It happened to me back 2004. Was told a day after I made an offer that someone else had bid 3K more could i increase as i was in a better position. The property had been on the market for 3 months. I increased but when I look back I doubt the other offer existed as I heard similar stories told to at least 3 other people I know who have bought since. At least a couple of them stuck with their offers and the other alleged offers disappeared and they got their property.

There will be agents who make up phantom offers to get people to increase and there will also be others who are telling the truth. You will have to decide whether you believe the agent and whether you are happy to increase your offer.

Thankyou for the reply EMY1501,
It's helpful to hear from people who it has happened to so you can judge it better that way. I have had people comment on what they think which is kinda helpful, but noone actually who it has happened to...until now of course after reading on this forum. (I forgot I put it on here too, :-)). Like I said it just seems too convenient for my liking. I'll just hold out and see what comes of it. I am sure if it was genuine, I will see a SOLD board outside the house.

Harry_Powell

Did you make a realistic offer? When we bought ours last year we produced evidence of other sale prices in that area, details of the percentage falls and got quotes for all the work that needed doing and then offered a price with all of this factored in (with a bit extra for the inconvenience of us doing the work - though I did give them the option of carrying it out). They could see that we had done our homework and that we were serious buyers and that we had a good point on the house price. The upshot was that they accepted our offer and we're now in our new home.

If people put in derisory offers without backing them up, then they'll just be written off by the estate agent and vendors as chancers. Sometimes the vendors will continue to refuse someone who they consider to be a chancer, even if their next offers are reasonable, because they'll worry that when it comes to exchange, the chancer will try to gazzunder them.

The aim of the estate agent is to sell the house, so you have to make sure they know you're serious and, for want of a better word, honourable. They work on a percentage basis, so £20k here or there off the asking price only means £300 extra comission to them - hardly worth them busting a gut for or risking a sale to a genuine buyer. Estate agents have a lot of influence on the vendor, don't make them think you're a chancer..

jonewer

Harry_Powell wrote: »

The aim of the estate agent is to sell the house, so you have to make sure they know you're serious and, for want of a better word, honourable. They work on a percentage basis, so £20k here or there off the asking price only means £300 extra comission to them - hardly worth them busting a gut for or risking a sale to a genuine buyer. Estate agents have a lot of influence on the vendor, don't make them think you're a chancer..

EAs are all notorious liars. They lie constantly. Mostly, it is when their lips are moving and sounds come out of their mouths. This is when you know for sure that they are telling lies.

Trying to prove to an estate agent that you are honourable is like proving to Heinrich Himmler than you arent a tad anti-semitic.

What people like Harry forget is that EAs are always trying to ramp up house prices. Sure, £300 for one sale may not be enough to retire on, but when house A has sold for £20k extra, then they can sell house B for £25k extra and house C for £30k extra and so on ad nauseum. So they have a very vested interest in gouging you for as much money as they possibly can. They will even hazard sales for a couple of grand.

EAs are un-utterable scum.