Vendor says he won't sell to us

kc80_2

Hello,

I was wondering what any home-buying experts thoughts are on this one - any advice gratefully received!

My partner and I have been trying to buy a house for the last year or so. (It is to be our home for the long-term.) We are looking in a very specific area and so we know the local market inside out. We've had a couple of disappointments - narrowly missing out through sealed bids.

Anyway, a few months ago we were shown a house that wasn't actually on the market, but the owner wanted to 'test the water' before signing up with the estate agent. We really liked the house, so we were told to make an offer, which we did - at £15k (3%) under the asking price. As said above, we know the local market very well and we thought it was a genuinely very fair and strong offer. Also, we are chain free and have our mortgage agreement and finances in place.

Anyway, the owner rejected it, said that he would 'let the market decide'. Fair enough - I was quite surprised he didn't do that in the first place.

So the house is finally actually properly on the market now, but the agent says that the owner has explicitly said that he won't sell to us because he was so offended by our original offer!

What do you make of this? I am offended that he was offended, to be honest! It was a good offer and we are in a great position to proceed! Should we just sit back and see whether they get any other offers (maybe they'll rethink if they don't), or should we try and persuade them straight away that actually we aren't that bad after all. Or should we just walk away... which I would definitely do if only I didn't want that blimmin house.

jockosjungle

Are you in Scotland?

I wouldn't worry about it, he's going to get pretty offended I imagine by the time he sells his house though

Jowo_2

Don't take it personally even though the vendor has been immature in this regard. He still gets it for 'less' as the EA takes a cut now.

Either raise the offer to the asking price if you've got the inclination or sit it out and watch as the vendor potentially ends up selling to someone else for less (or not).

jmt

Are you happy to name and shame by posting a link?

If it was anywhere near me I would be happy to go and view and then offer under your offer.

kc80_2

I think I better not name and shame - not yet, anyway - but thank you!

We aren't in Scotland, we're in London, but there was a bit of a trend for sealed bids in our area a few months ago. Maybe not so much now though.

leap31

This whole process really brings out the worst in people doesn't it?

Was your first offer an opening offer or were you definate that it was an first / final offer?

Sounds like the vendor may be a bit of a nightmare to deal with throughout the move, so you may want to consider that before proceeding with a higher offer etc...We were unfortunate enough to deal with a couple of nut jobs for 7 weeks - I had my suspicions when they showed us around and I was a bit wary - Enough was enough for us in the end and we had to pull out before we lost the chain below us.

undaunted

Money talks, so if you want the place that badly up your offer & leave the rest to the estate agent. If you don't want to do that & he doesn't want to sell at that price either move on or be prepared to sit & wait some time / risk losing out.

DVardysShadow

kc80 wrote: »

... So the house is finally actually properly on the market now, but the agent says that the owner has explicitly said that he won't sell to us because he was so offended by our original offer!

Should have told the Agent that you will look out for it on the house price sites for a laugh, if you went 3% under. Does the Agent know how much your offer was? It may be that the Agent is doing a bit of spin here. Perhaps the Vendor has told the Agent that he will not pay a fee if it is sold to you and the Agent is under pressure to beat your offer? This seems more likely. What kind of a fool is offended by an offer 3% down and owns a £500000 property?

Rupert_Bear

The OP is just dealing with a complete and utter time waster
They are no doubt just on an ego trip to see how much they may be offered. My advice is leave well alone. I speak from bitter experience.

kc80_2

Thanks everyone for your thoughts.

Our offer was intended as a first, but very strong (not cheeky) offer, if you see what I mean. We would have been happy to go up another £5k or so. We thought that he would enter into negotiation with us, but twas not to be.

I am inclined to agree with those that think the vendor sounds like bad news (we haven't exactly got off to a good start, despite our best efforts! What kind of vendor deliberately excludes a strong potential buyer?!).

We are going to stand back and watch what happens with it over the next few weeks. We like it enough to up our offer by a few grand. But dealing with that guy is not exactly appealing...

THANKS everyone! Will update if anything else happens.

Riq

Offer even less this time.