Some advice on selling a flat needed

mr218

I own a 1 bed ex local authority flat in greater london near richmond.

about 2 years ago, i moved from this flat to a house. the seller of the house was very keen on a quick sale and i rented out my flat and moved to the house
2 years on, my very good tenant is moving on and i decided to sell my flat. i got valuations from all the local agents and it sort of helped me get a range between 180 to 200K for the flat. I wanted a reasonably quick sale and i hoped it would either appeal to a ftb or a btl investor.

I put it on the market last week with 3 agents (yes i know it is an overkill, but they were all so keen on it, i said why not). i have had about 3-4 people come into the flat to see it. I have earmarked certain days of the week so that my tenant is not constantly bothered by viewers. she is moving out in the beginning of april and i would conclude a sale asap after that.

Anyway, today i got an offer through one of the agents. A man has seen the flat and has put in an offer at the full asking price. this flat apparently ticks all the boxes for him. however he is currently selling his 2 bed flat. this flat is on the market for 250K and he has lowered the price recently by 10 K to sell it quickly. my agent says that he wants me to accept his offer and give him 2 weeks so that he can find a buyer for his flat. after that he can tell me for certain how quickly he can proceed.

I am not sure what to do. part of me now thinks that i probably pitched the price a bit low that it could achieve. however, i am not too bothered by that as it is a good price i am getting. but should i accept his offer and cancel other viewings. i feel that since i have apparently priced it at a good level, i should probably hold out for a better buyer who can move immediately.

on the other hand, this could be the offer and i might miss out on it because of my impatience.

any advice on how i should handle this situation.

thanks

courtjester

An offer is no more than an offer - if the buyer cannot proceed immediately because they have a property to sell, there is no guarantee that they will proceed with your sale - they could have a change of circumstances and you miss out on the opportunity of getting a better offer.

I would say continue to market the property and proceed with whoever is in a position to proceed with the sale at the right price - if you keep your buyers informed of your position and that you will accept their offer once they are in a position to go ahead, that should be acceptable.

It's not a viable offer until they can do this.

Don't take too much notice of what your agent suggests - he is only interested in making a sale, it doesn't matter to your agent what price the flat sells for as long as it sells. That is not necessarily in your interest.

Doozergirl

I just wanted to reinforce what courtjester said. There's no need to stop marketing yet, they don't have the promise of the money to pay for your flat so you owe them nothing. The fact you have an asking price offer on the table is fabulous, but keep marketing until you find someone that can proceed immediately; then give them two weeks to sort out the survey before you remarket.

It's a great position to be in, if there is another interested party you can potentially push the price up. Also, this agent knows that with an asking price offer on the table, your other agents are going to be all over your flat like a rash. That's why he wants it off the market

GREAT position to be in. Take advantage!

mr218

thanks for your replies. i spoke to my agent again and apparently that man lives near my flat and is selling his bigger flat because of a divorce. my EA is handling his sale as well and was assuring me that he is a legitimate purchaser.

as you said doozergirl, i think the agent feels that it is a saleable flat and his best chance is to sell it first and prevent it from being shown to prospective purchasers from other agents.

courtjester, i am going to tell the agent what you said that until he can proceed the sale is not viable and i want to market it a bit longer to see what other prospects i can get.

i have priced it at the middle of the estimates so that i can sell it quick and there is relatively little down time between my tenant moving out and me selling the flat.

of course we would love to get the best price on the flat. what should i do if i get two purchasers offering my price. it feels a bit grubby to then tell them to raise their offer. i suppose i will go with the one who is most likely to complete quickly

thanks

courtjester

mr218 wrote:

... my EA is handling his sale as well and was assuring me that he is a legitimate purchaser.

... what should i do if i get two purchasers offering my price. it feels a bit grubby to then tell them to raise their offer. i suppose i will go with the one who is most likely to complete quickly

thanks

Be very careful about any advice your agent gives you - he /she has a conflict of interest if they are acting for you and your purchaser at the same time - you each have differing interests and hence the agent cannot offer you *both* best advice. I would be particularly suspicious if he /she is trying to get you to proceed on a sale that he /she is getting paid TWO commissions on. :eek:

Don't take their word on anything - make sure you are independently happy with any procedure you are encouraged to follow and that this sale is the one most in your favour compared with other potential offers.

I know many people don't agree, but I consider that property sales are business transactions that you need to play honestly, but primarily for your own interests - hence if you do find yourself in the position of being asked to consider better offers, you should do so seriously and objectively and make a judgement as to whether you need to revise /cancel your acceptance of an earlier offer (known as gazumping). Providing you are very communicative with your prospects and don't mislead anyone, this is perfectly acceptable in my view.

Of course, you have to weigh up whether consideration of a higher offer may cause the loss of a sale to one or even both prospects eventually - you need to ensure that whichever you choose to go with is actually viable, bearing in mind that ANY offer may fall through so try and keep open lines to both buyers so that you can fall back. This is about being fair, open and reasonable but businesslike in your dealings.

mr218

thanks courtjester

i agree with you. of course i will be acting to safeguard my interests. i agree it is better to be open and transparent. i have said to all agents that i want a good price coupled with a quick sale.
let us see how we go