EA speaks - can someone translate please?

propertyman

Except that you haven't, apparently, commented on the opinion from the one person here who has actually told you how to address it, based on considerable experience of acting for executors and retaining equity in a firm for whom this is bread and butter work...

The EA can say no more otehr than they want to judge the level of response. In this market demand is rarely so strong to allow them to say that they will market for a period of x weeks and then resolve by informal tenders.

Your main chance is to keep in regular contact with the EA, and consider that if this is a property that you dearly want, to spend some time doing some initial work which would reassure you what you are taking on, and perhaps up your offer to a price based on the work needed, rather than bidding high and then negotiating a reduction post survey, and risk losing it to the underbidder. That alone will convince an agent that you are serious.

There is no great conspiracy; to use an EA phrase "thanks but it's early days" It's confusing and nerve wracking but this is a normal process for selling these types of properties- until they judge the level of response they cannot agree with you, as you suggest, that it's a "good offer."

Home2011

propertyman wrote: »

Except that you haven't, apparently, commented on the opinion from the one person here who has actually told you how to address it, based on considerable experience of acting for executors and retaining equity in a firm for whom this is bread and butter work...

The EA can say no more otehr than they want to judge the level of response. In this market demand is rarely so strong to allow them to say that they will market for a period of x weeks and then resolve by informal tenders.

Your main chance is to keep in regular contact with the EA, and consider that if this is a property that you dearly want, to spend some time doing some initial work which would reassure you what you are taking on, and perhaps up your offer to a price based on the work needed, rather than bidding high and then negotiating a reduction post survey, and risk losing it to the underbidder. That alone will convince an agent that you are serious.

There is no great conspiracy; to use an EA phrase "thanks but it's early days" It's confusing and nerve wracking but this is a normal process for selling these types of properties- until they judge the level of response they cannot agree with you, as you suggest, that it's a "good offer."

Thanks propertyman - I did manage to miss your first post somehow, it is sometimes difficult to keep track of all the posts if there are couple been posted at the same time.
Our offer did take in the account the amount of work needeed, but as I said we did leave some room for negotiation there.
We will be contacting the EA and outlining that we are serious about our offer, however at this stage I don't feel comfortable getting into surveys etc. as in my humble opinion it would be a bit far stretched to do so without any indication of what the vendors thoughts on our offer are, i.e. is it even close to what they might accept. If we are miles away then surely doing the survey and any further work would be not only waste of time but waste of money.
Saying that if the EA becomes more forthcoming about vendor's expectations and we therefore feel this is a possible one for us we will put in our final time limited offer and hope they see that as a fair deal.
The truth of the matter is that having gone through a bad experience of vendor pulling out on us before we're nervous about exposing ourselves to any more waiting and uncertainty than necessary

propertyman

In this case the executors do have to sell and are unlikely to pull out
having lost their purchase changed their mind or the innumerable silly reasons that frustrate purchasers.

Perhaps if you get the keys and have a good look round and judge the age of the boiler pipework and wiring, take a good look for signs of rot or woodworm, buy a cheap damp meter from B & Q, and get up into the loft to look at the tank and the underside of the roof. Externally you can look to see the condition of the roof tiles the walls and windows and the pths and boundaries.

With a few hours prep research on the web you can do a "diy survey " and get costs so that you have a fair idea what you are getting into, so when the other bids come in you make a fairly educated offer, subject to survey.

Home2011

Latest dvelopment on the issue - EA called to say that there's now another offer on the property so the vendor wants us (and the other potential buyer) to put forward our 'best and final' offer. For various reasons I doubt there is actually another offer but that's another story, bit too long to explain in all the details.
Anyways my question is - What are the rules regarding EA having to disclose the info about this other offer to us? Basically someone told me they think EA has to tell us what the other offer is if we want to know.
Is that correct?
Thanks

Caveat_Mortgagor

I acknowledge that many people wont do this, but personally I would immediately pull out and state that i will not compete on price against another bidder.

People do that in a climbing market - not a falling one!

If they are bluffing, you will seize the upper hand.

If they arent bluffing, by putting in a best and final offer you give the agent / vendor the upper hand and there can only be one winner.

Take control and be prepared to walk away. It may pay dividends.

kingstreet

As this is a "sale by private treaty" the agent should disclose nothing of another offer to you without the express consent of the other parties involved.

A repossession would be another matter, where the transaction is a matter of public record.

If you are doubtful about another offer just tell them best final offers won't be necessary as you're happy with the offer you've made and if the other offer is higher the vendor should accept that. An executor sale isn't a matter of public record as such, but the executor may feel he/she is doing the right thing in going the "best final offers" route.

GDB2222

kingstreet wrote: »

As this is a "sale by private treaty" the agent should disclose nothing of another offer to you without the express consent of the other parties involved.

A repossession would be another matter, where the transaction is a matter of public record.

If you are doubtful about another offer just tell them best final offers won't be necessary as you're happy with the offer you've made and if the other offer is higher the vendor should accept that. An executor sale isn't a matter of public record as such, but the executor may feel he/she is doing the right thing in going the "best final offers" route.

I agree with caveat. Pull out, and if they come back to you later you have a fantastic bargaining position.

I'm not sure that Kingstreet is quite right. No seller is obliged to make any details public to anyone, and that includes a lender in possession. Lenders do tend to, so they have a transparent selling process and the borrower can see that all was above-board.

You can reasonably require that as a condition for bidding you are present when teh bids are opened, but the seller does not have to agree.

Home2011

Caveat_Mortgagor wrote: »

I acknowledge that many people wont do this, but personally I would immediately pull out and state that i will not compete on price against another bidder.

People do that in a climbing market - not a falling one!

If they are bluffing, you will seize the upper hand.

If they arent bluffing, by putting in a best and final offer you give the agent / vendor the upper hand and there can only be one winner.

Take control and be prepared to walk away. It may pay dividends.

Thanks for your feedback - I quite agree with you, although... I'm not such a good poker player I suppose?! We do want the property and when we put in an offer originaly it was our "opening" offer so to speak, so basicaly we were prepared to pay more for it.
So we would quite like getting it but as you say I really do not want to take part in bidding war, not in today's property market.
So I told agent that we are not willing to get into bidding over the property as we have other properties we like as well, but did also say that I need to speak to my better half and that I will get back to them on the subject.
Did I put my foot in it already?

Home2011

GDB2222 wrote: »

I agree with caveat. Pull out, and if they come back to you later you have a fantastic bargaining position.

I'm not sure that Kingstreet is quite right. No seller is obliged to make any details public to anyone, and that includes a lender in possession. Lenders do tend to, so they have a transparent selling process and the borrower can see that all was above-board.

You can reasonably require that as a condition for bidding you are present when teh bids are opened, but the seller does not have to agree.

Hm, I quite like the idea of asking to be present when the bids are open - see them wriggle out of that one if they are bluffing?!
Also if they are bluffing then pulling out would leave us in a better position.

What makes me indecisive is the following scenario - if they are not bluffing and there is indeed another buyer (possibly another FTB that is even more clueless than us :eek:) and they do indeed put forward their best and final offer at this stage and that offer is better than our current one... What is a comeback from that situation?! I know that we can always rise our offer if we decide to do so later, but we don't fancy dragging this on forever either

Anyone has any experience of dealing with EA in these sort of situations, i.e. if we openly say no we are not willing to do the bidding thing what their reaction might be... don't want to !!!! them off!

Uh, this negotiating stuff will do my head in!!!