EA phoned to "resurrect" old offer!

partickz

Well my gf and I offered on a property nearly 7 weeks ago. The offer was about 10% under asking price. We justified the offer to the EA and continued to look after we had been told that they were looking for something "a bit nearer asking price".

The EA has just phoned to say that the vendors are looking to "slash" the asking and that they wanted us to have a chance to resurrect our old offer before the price is cut on Rightmove.

The agent seemed a little insulted when I said that we would not be interested in resurrecting the offer as we were in the process of arranging second viewings elsewhere. He said "oh well, you appeared to think it was worth £x a few weeks ago- What has changed? Are you seriously looking?" There was also a lot of huffing and puffing.

His attitude changed from his usual friendly salesman banter to being a little bit pi**ed off. Hope I have did the correct thing! Do you think I was right to just say "no thanks at the moment!" ??

CapJ

Well it depends ... do you have somewhere better (value / or other measure) that you are looking at? If not there is no harm in listening. If you aren't sure you could always offer a bit less, but that is difficult and could cause problems down the road. If you are interested tell him that you don't want to mess around. If the sellers want to sell at that price OK, then they take the house off the market and proceed. If they want to negotiate or see what they can get then forget about it.

In response to the "are you seriously looking?" you need to say "the problem is I am not sure the sellers are seriously selling!"

hazyjo

Yep! I don't for one minute think he'd have expected you to sit there twiddling your thumbs for 7 weeks. He's just peed off cos he'd probably just persuaded them to drop their price, thinking 'kerching', he'd have you in the wings still and everything could proceed.

The whole 'insulted' thing is pretty much a standard EA tactic. They do it often when you put in a low offer... 'Oh, I thought you really loved the property!' and making out like you're not a serious buyer. It's sent wobbles down many a person on here. I've seen a few threads where they genuinely think they've gone in too low, or that they've insulted or upset the EA. Absolute rubbish (in the vast majority of cases).

He's now got to start from scratch. Poor him.

I hope the 2nd viewing goes well. I'm presuming you prefer it to the other one!

Good luck.

Jx

partickz

Thanks CapJ,
The house does "tick many boxes" for us in terms of size and location. However, we do genuinely have a couple we want to second view including one that is a little over budget but would be a forever/dream house.

Caveat_Mortgagor

You miserable bvgger.

You are supposed to put your life on hold on the whim of the vendor even though they initially rejected your offer.

Once you have offered you cannot resume your previous abilities to make your own choices until given the green light by the vendor who spurned you.

Dont you know the rules?

Really though, well done on being strong with the EA. Dont worry about his attitude, he's just peeved cos he thought he had a dead cert bonus payment heading his way. I bet they've been in short supply recently!

partickz

hazyjo wrote: »

Yep! I don't for one minute think he'd have expected you to sit there twiddling your thumbs for 7 weeks. He's just peed off cos he'd probably just persuaded them to drop their price, thinking 'kerching', he'd have you in the wings still and everything could proceed.

The whole 'insulted' thing is pretty much a standard EA tactic. They do it often when you put in a low offer... 'Oh, I thought you really loved the property!' and making out like you're not a serious buyer. It's sent wobbles down many a person on here. I've seen a few threads where they genuinely think they've gone in too low, or that they've insulted or upset the EA. Absolute rubbish (in the vast majority of cases).

He's now got to start from scratch. Poor him.

I hope the 2nd viewing goes well. I'm presuming you prefer it to the other one!

Good luck.

Jx

Thanks Hazyjo
I just felt that he seemed shocked that i did not jump at the chance to take advantage of the "slashed" price. It is a lovely house in a good area and 7 weeks ago we would have been delighted to get it.

However, we viewed two lovely houses last week and are keen to view both again- one is a dream house but a little out of our reach at present.

GDB2222

I wonder what price it will go on Rightmove for? Maybe less than you offered before. Anyway, offer 10% less than the new asking price and take it from there.

partickz

Caveat_Mortgagor wrote: »

You miserable bvgger.

You are supposed to put your life on hold on the whim of the vendor even though they initially rejected your offer.

Once you have offered you cannot resume your previous abilities to make your own choices until given the green light by the vendor who spurned you.

Dont you know the rules?

Really though, well done on being strong with the EA. Dont worry about his attitude, he's just peeved cos he thought he had a dead cert bonus payment heading his way. I bet they've been in short supply recently!

Well we were very keen at the time but just did not see how they could justify the price when compared to other houses that have sold in 2011.

I think the EA may have taken our enthusiasm as a sign that we would jump at the chance to resurrect the old offer. With these other properties now viewed, we have a lot of thinking to do before we make any offers.

partickz

GDB2222 wrote: »

I wonder what price it will go on Rightmove for? Maybe less than you offered before. Anyway, offer 10% less than the new asking price and take it from there.

Wow it would be a steal at another 10% less. The agent implied that after careful thought they had viewed our offer as fair in the current climate. However, this new price will open them up to offers below I guess.

CapJ

GDB2222 wrote: »

I wonder what price it will go on Rightmove for? Maybe less than you offered before. Anyway, offer 10% less than the new asking price and take it from there.

Going lower than a price you have already offered could work out but it would tend to encourage gazumping as the owners would "know" their property is worth more than they are selling for. Still it could be worth the risk, just need to be careful. Probably more worthwhile on a more expensive property as it has to be balances against the risk of being gazumped after paying surveyor's fees.

partickz

CapJ wrote: »

Going lower than a price you have already offered could work out but it would tend to encourage gazumping as the owners would "know" their property is worth more than they are selling for. Still it could be worth the risk, just need to be careful. Probably more worthwhile on a more expensive property as it has to be balances against the risk of being gazumped after paying surveyor's fees.

Oh good point. I should share the prices to make sure the opinions are more informed.

Original Asking price £159,995
Property Bee showed reduction to £149,995
Our Offer £136,000

Our deposit £25,000
Salary Gf is a teacher on about £28k, I work with young offenders on an alternative to custody scheme and earn about £34k as a project leader.