Urgent advice please - making offer on house

suebfg

Hi LillythePink, I don't think the EA will tell us what the other offer is but from experience, they will give you clues i.e. say if what you are thinking of offering is likely to be accepted or not. Maybe that is our best best

westlondonbuyer

There's always "another offer on the table" here in London. Yeah, right. I don't know whereabouts you are, but I've not heard of a single person selling a house, even in my so-called "immune to recession" London neighbourhood, who's received multiple offers. In 2007, maybe. I think now they're a figment of agents' imaginations.

I also now ignore the phrase, "They've already had an offer very close to the asking price." When I've looked up actual "close to the asking price" sales on the Land Registry, they're often 10% or 15% below asking. That doesn't sound "very close" to me.

What have similar houses actually sold for? What can you afford to pay? At what price point would you lose interest in the house? These are the important questions; there's no point second-guessing a probably fictitious offer.

tyllwyd

westlondonbuyer wrote: »

There's always "another offer on the table" here in London. Yeah, right. I don't know whereabouts you are, but I've not heard of a single person selling a house, even in my so-called "immune to recession" London neighbourhood, who's received multiple offers. In 2007, maybe. I think now they're a figment of agents' imaginations. ...

We had two people offering on our house a month or so back, after being on the market with no offers for the best part of a year.

hazyjo

If the 'other offer' hasn't been accepted, it's either not high enough, or they're not in a position to proceed. The latter seems to be the most common, but EAs love to quote it. Unfortunately, it means naff all and you shouldn't take a blind bit of notice. They often say there are interested parties or offers because a house that someone else desires often makes it more desirable to someone else. If this is really the right one, make your offer, state your position, and then negotiate. If there is another offer, the chances are you'll be the favoured buyers because of your position. Just take it all with a pinch of salt. Set your own ceiling price in your head and go for it.

See what other properties have actually sold for, then consider your offer. Give yourself some negotiating room, but don't just keep going up every time the EA calls to negotiate or they'll just keep calling for more money... You have to reach a point where you say that's your limit for that house.

Good luck.

Jx

westlondonbuyer

tyllwyd wrote: »

We had two people offering on our house a month or so back, after being on the market with no offers for the best part of a year.

Tyllwyd - great news, although I suspect you are one of the very rare exceptions.

IME, a good agent persuades the first serious buyer to negotiate upwards, rather than risk losing a sale by playing off prospective "buyers" against one another. As in so much of life, the bird in hand is usually the best bet.

OP, if the offer were serious, the house would be off the market by now.

suebfg

Thanks for all your advice. We're keeping our cool and have arranged another viewing and are viewing some more houses in the interim. Then we'll make an offer after the second viewing if it's still the right house

Marvel1

How much do you want to pay?

suebfg

Aha the million dollar question. We want the house for the lowest possible price ....

harrup

suebfg wrote: »

Aha the million dollar question. We want the house for the lowest possible price ....

Well, in which case you have to start somewhere. Take off 7.5 % the price then would be around 645 K and see what feedback you get from the EA.

Did you check on zoopla's sold prices for how much this property was last sold for and when?

Do YOU think it's worth the current AP?

neverdespairgirl

suebfg wrote: »

It was also because the house has literally only just come on the market (i.e. a day or two ago) and I would have thought any person with an ounce of negotiating nouse would play it cool before putting in an offer and at least wait a few days

We made an offer on the flat we've just exchanged on 9 hours after it came on the market. It was a lot under the asking price, and our slightly higher second offer the next day was accepted.