vendor won't shift from asking price

shortchanged_2

drummer_666 wrote: »

No the EA isn't holding out for more commission. He thinks the offer is fair.

You're forgetting something very important here.

That the EA is working for the vendor not you.

EA's regularly make up all sorts of bull stories and scenarios in order to squeeze every last penny out of the buyer. Take almost everything an EA tells you with a pinch of salt.

Nynaeve

We have been in a very similiar situation. House was up for 140k. Put in initial offer of 126k, outright refused. Waited a few days, upped to 133k. Refused after short delay. Waited a week and put in last offer of 135k. Refused after two days. As in your situation, the agent agreed our offer was fair but the sellers were being very stubborn / stupid (no interest in the six months the house had been on the market, then FTB buyer comes along and offers near asking price, in these market conditions. Anyone else would have bitten our hands off!)

Turned out the vendor was not serious about selling at all and in the words of the estate agent was "settled where they were". Basically they were wasting our time! After our last conversation the agent hinted that the house would be coming off the market but this has not happened yet...

At first we were cross but now we are glad as we have spotted something else we love and is priced lower, and from the sounds of things the owners actually want to sell!

There is no guarantee they would complete in the timescale you are suggesting. Have a maximum price in mind you want to pay, and if they won't budge - walk away.

drummer_666

JQ. wrote: »

How can you make them complete in 12 weeks if they are not planning to move out until October?

I didn't say they're not moving til then lol. They are not buying til then. But they will move into rented accomodation.

Hence wanting to put in a 12 week clause, to shift their asses into finding their rented accommodation

GAH

Doesn't sound to me as if the EA is doing his job properly. You have said that the EA keeps saying your offer is 'fair', its not really up to the EA decide, its the vendor who will decide it is fair and they obviously don't think it is.

The property has only been on a couple of weeks, if I was the vendor I would probably be holding out for a bit better as well.

You have three options

1. Sit tight and see if they come back to you at a later date.
2. Make a revised offer.
3. Offer the £90k they want

WestonDave

At the end of the day the gamble for them is whether to take an offer within a couple of weeks or use some of the time they have before October to a) minimise the amount of rent they have to pay by delaying the actual sale, and b) seeing if they can push the price up. With you offering so close to asking price so quickly the message they will be getting is that there is a good chance of getting at least what you are offering nearer the time - so even if its the same price they save rent and are better off.

An agreement to 12 weeks as you propose would be unenforceable anyway - until you exchange contracts you can't bind them to anything, and what are you going to do if you've spent out on survey's and legal fees only to find them pushing the date back a couple of weeks when it comes to exchange? Pulling out would be your only option which would be cutting your nose off to spite your face.

Sit tight and be patient - if its worth having then its worth waiting for, if you need to move quickly this probably isn't the house for you as all the signs are the vendors will find lots of excuses to delay.

JQ.

drummer_666 wrote: »

I didn't say they're not moving til then lol. They are not buying til then. But they will move into rented accomodation.

Hence wanting to put in a 12 week clause, to shift their asses into finding their rented accommodation

I would also take that with a pinch of salt. People may say they're moving into rented when they have absolutely no intention of doing so. We had this with the last house we bought, but realised this pretty quickly and altered our offer accordingly.

At a guess the vendors didn't expect to get an offer quite so quickly. Do you genuinely think a retired couple are going to move into rented for 3/4 months prior to moving into their next house. Moving is a massive pain and it's not the kind of thing people volunteer to do when there's really no need. I've no doubt they expected it to take 3/4 months to sell the house and then 3 months to deal with the sale, by which time they can move into their new home.

In which case, there's no way I'd accept your offer after a couple of weeks of marketing. They now know it's priced correctly and there's demand, so they'll likely sit tight until they get the price they want in a few months without the PITA of moving into rented.

jimpix12

All this "you shouldn't have let him know you're keen" stuff is nonsense if you stick to your original price. It doesn't matter one iota to you, if you put in a high bid 30 mins after it's listed on Rightmove, if you are planning to stick to your guns.

SecondLegDownIsTheBigOne

drummer_666 wrote: »

I don't think my opening offer was too high and I'm not decreasing my offer!!

I also know that by reducing my offer by £1k a fortnight, that really won't get me anywhere. They aren't in a hurry to sell.

BUT is there anyway I can say ok, I'll do a deal at £90k BUT if we have not completed within 12 weeks then my amount will reduce to x amount. If not completed in 16 weeks, reduce to y amount

Oh, right.

Then you must offer £10k above the asking price forthwith. After all, you don't want to miss out, do you? I'm certain that they will accept were you to do this.

kingstreet

GAH wrote: »

1. Sit tight and see if they come back to you at a later date

Couldn't agree more. Stop trying to force the issue. I think they have no intention of moving anywhere other than the property that won't be ready for nearly ten months.

This will put off most potential buyers and that's why this "we'll move into rented" idea has suddenly surfaced.

Stick this one on the back burner and keep looking.

missile

drummer_666 wrote: »

..... But it's not strictly chain free (people are buying a place that won't be built til end of year).

Is there any way I can put a clause in, I will pay £90k but only if I am given the keys within 12 weeks.

Seems vendors are in no hurry and do not want to accept a "low" offer.

You can put in whatever clause you like, but seller does not have to accept it. I very much doubt they would.

Seems to me, you would benefit from speaking to a good solicitor.:A