Estate Agents telling fibs?

kate87

I'm a first time buyer, so sorry if i'm being a bit thick here.

There's a house that we like that we are going to be putting an offer in for. I went into the estate agents to ask about it, and they said that an offer has been made £7.5k under the asking price (they've told someone else the same as well), but the property is being kept on the market until the contracts are exchanged. Apparently the offer has been on the table since the beginning of the month, and the house has been on the market about 3 months at the most.

I didn't think about it until I left the agents, but there's no sign outside the house saying 'under offer' or ' sold subject to contract'. And there's nothing to say so on their website or on rightmove's website.

Are they making this offer up or is this standard practice?

Its worrying me because we can only afford to offer a little bit more than has already been offered and we won't go much further. I really want the house, but if we get into a bidding war we won't win!

kingstreet

kate87 wrote: »

I'm a first time buyer, so sorry if i'm being a bit thick here.

There's a house that we like that we are going to be putting an offer in for. I went into the estate agents to ask about it, and they said that an offer has been made £7.5k under the asking price (they've told someone else the same as well), but the property is being kept on the market until the contracts are exchanged. Apparently the offer has been on the table since the beginning of the month, and the house has been on the market about 3 months at the most.

I didn't think about it until I left the agents, but there's no sign outside the house saying 'under offer' or ' sold subject to contract'. And there's nothing to say so on their website or on rightmove's website.

Are they making this offer up or is this standard practice?

Its worrying me because we can only afford to offer a little bit more than has already been offered and we won't go much further. I really want the house, but if we get into a bidding war we won't win!

Placing a SSTC flag on the board or marking the website would be contrary to what they've told you is happening;-

the property is being kept on the market until the contracts are exchanged

marking a property as sold, before exchange of contracts, is the decision of the vendor. If it's a corporate sale like a part -ex or reposession, this is the norm.

zara*elise

If an offer's been made it doesn't necessarily mean it's been accepted. Could be the agent trying to make you think it's really desirable, hoping people will get into a bidding war meaning he/she will get more commission.

Or the offer could be made and accepted, but the prospective buyer is in a chain/waiting for an offer on their place and the vendor has refused to take the property off the market until the prospective buyer is in a place to proceed.

Or he/she could be lying.

If you're in a place to proceed, have finances and mortgage in place etc there's nothing to stop you putting in an offer 10k lower than the asking price. It may well be accepted because you're basically ready to go.

kate87

Ahhh thanks guys, that does make sense. I'm far too suspicious!

The property is a repossesion so that would make sense with what you're saying.

Well on tuesday we're going to go down and make an offer and we've got everything in place ready to go. We are going to offer £500 over what the other people have offered and ask them to take it off the market and see what they say. They can only say no can't they!

ILW

kate87 wrote: »

Ahhh thanks guys, that does make sense. I'm far too suspicious!

The property is a repossesion so that would make sense with what you're saying.

Well on tuesday we're going to go down and make an offer and we've got everything in place ready to go. We are going to offer £500 over what the other people have offered and ask them to take it off the market and see what they say. They can only say no can't they!

They cannot legally take a repo off the market until exchange.

kingstreet

It won't be taken off the market. Not even at asking price.

The lender has a responsibility to obtain the best possible price and that includes marketing right up to a very quick exchange. A public notice also goes in the newpspaper inviting other offers and disclosing what offer has so far been agreed.

In some ways, you're better off waiting for someone else to have an offer accepted, then snipe yours in after the public notice so no-one else knows what you've offered.

LisaB1970

We've just moved into a repo we bought. Right up until exchange of contracts ANYONE could have made a higher offer - however from the date of the searches to completion only took 15 days.....lots of stressing and lack of sleep, but so worth it in the end :-)

princeofpounds

yeah, if you do beat the public notice it can't be by 50 quid though, has to be worthwhile to change their plans.

You should be aware that there is a good possibility that the EA would try to block you at this stage, particularly if the original buyer is very proceedable. They will want the sale to go quickly through more than an extra tenner in commission. They are not allowed to do this and must pass on a written offer by law - if you get the sense they are blocking you then contact the vendor direct.

kingstreet

I forgot to mention before, if a bidding war breaks out, you might find the agent is instructed to accept best "final offers" in writing before a certain point.

kate87

ahhhhhh....

I've just had a bit of flashback from my chat with my estate agent, and I remember her trying to think of what the offer was and she said to herself 'oh I should know this, its been in the paper'. At the time I didn't really think anything of it, but again that would make sense with what you're all saying.

It sounds like they must be close to exchanging because the offer was put in a month ago. I really hope we can get in there in time.

So hypothetically then, we could put our offer in (which to be fair won't be much more than what the other people have already offered), and then we would still have to wait until we exchanged, and in that time someone else could still jump in, and the other buyers could still outbid us. This is far too nerve wracking!!

kate87

princeofpounds wrote: »

yeah, if you do beat the public notice it can't be by 50 quid though, has to be worthwhile to change their plans.

We can go £2.5k over the offer that's in at the moment, but no more really. I hope that's enough. :S