Does anyone find this house-buying business is worse than dating?!!?

skypie123_2

Soooo many games and sooo stressful!

We have found a lovely house which has apparently been reduced from £260k to £250. Its been on for almost a year.
Have put in an offer on Monday of £235k. We can move immediately, have a mortgage offer and a deposit. So no chain on our part.
Anyway the offer was rejected and the EA said they want the asking price.
We know they have only lived there a few years and a bit of research shows they paid for it what we offered so we gather that they must need to move soon and its not just on a whim (they said they would move into rented when we viewed and were only selling as kids grown up etc).
We received the two letters from EA yesterday (one confirming offer and the other rejecting it)
We told EA we would have a think but that we have a budget.
Where to from here folks? My nerves are shredded already! There havent been any houses we have seen that tick all the boxes like this place does!

beccad

I can't comment on your offer situation, other than to say only pay what you can afford. It's reasonably common for first offers to be rejected, and although they're saying full asking price, the reality is they'll probably be looking for something halfway.

But yes, I totally agree with you that it's slim pickings out there. Things have picked up a bit in the last week, but very minimally. The properties that are on the market have been on for a while so we've seen all the ones of them that we want to. There's very little new stock coming on in the areas we're looking in.

TOBRUK

They are waiting for your next move! Only you know what your budget is and whether you can or want to go higher.

If you want to make another offer make sure you have worked out how much it will cost if there is anything you need to change at the property if you were to buy, including things like carpets etc. You don't want to over stretch yourselves.

I don't think that anyone can expect to get the actual 'asking price' these days. For the final offer I would not go to the actual amount that you can afford.

skypie123_2

Well at a push we could go to the asking price but obviously we don't want to pay that.
I am so green where it comes to this sort of thing. My OH has to deal with it as I am so 'heart on my sleeve'. There seem to be more games than in the dating world!!

AppleCore

Don't give up yet! Our 3rd offer was rejected on a house we loved so we went quiet for a bit. Soon enough the agent was calling with prices the vendor would accept which gradually got lower and lower but were still a bit above what we wanted to pay. We hung on and finally the agent called us and said they'd agreed with the vendor that they would lower their fee if we could just add another 1k. We agreed and we are in the process of buying it now The house came on the market at 370k and we've agreed to pay 346k - we never thought we'd get a house like this but a combination of a desperate vendor and a EA worried they may lose their commission made it possible for us

Best of luck!

TOBRUK

Yes you're right about games! You can't show you're too keen - not even to the estate agent!!

Even if you can get to the asking price I'm sure once you moved in you'd find something that needs doing and you'll need that extra money.

Do you know why they are selling? I'm trying to sell my house and I know exactly how much I could drop the price to (hardly any) to enable me to move and buy another place - if I can't get that price then I can't move.

Chinkle

Are you sure they are really committed to move? I think the trouble is they have had the figure of £250 in their heads for so long (given the stamp duty threshold, they must have been expecting to get this when the property was on at £260). Do you know if they have had other offers, has the EA said whether they are prepared to negotiate at all?

It might be worth asking these questions before deciding your next move.

TOBRUK

Perhaps just ask the estate agent whether it's worth putting another offer in or are they stuck on the asking price - if they aren't open to offers that you won't waste anyone's time and look elsewhere!

You don't want to show your hand to the estate agent as they are working for the vendour AND thinking about their cut!

Put the ball back in their court without making another offer and see what they say!

skypie123_2

Well they told us they bought the place a few years ago (about 5 years ago) and now it was too big for them as grown up kids had flown the nest. The 'kids' werent far off that age when they bought the place and we know from looking it up that they bought it for £235k (only found that out after we had put in an offer) so I am guessing they must really need the money due to debt or something as they said they aren't wanting to buy again just rent and the house isn't up for sale for much more than they paid for it.
Is it worth reiterating our strong position to the EA? They have been up for sale for a year my OH says and I know with my own house which is up for sale too but doesn't affect this supposed purchase that offers are thin on the ground at the moment!
Tobruk -thats a good idea, I will put it to my OH, I can't speak to the EA as I am too in danger of blurting out how much I love the house and have already mentally moved in. As you can see, he is the card player in our relationship!

myhouse_2

Well, if you love the house that much then you'll probably end up putting in a higher offer anyway so there's not much we can assist you with
However it's a buyer's market, any seller who thinks they'll get full asking price is likely to be disappointed. Possibly they're holding out for original price plus expenses (buying/moving/selling expenses). However much they're willing to sell for, I would guess that they've not had much interest in their house so far (hence the "discount"). In my view if a house has had no interest for that long, it indicates that it's substantially overpriced (15%+). Anyway, it shows that time is on your side - let them sweat it out, increase by a small amount by all means and tell them it's your final offer.

gilksneim98

I would rather get divorced again - far less stressful.