We accepted too low an offer - help

corrag

Good luck and tell them your not selling asap.

Don't worry about Karma, I'm sure it wouldn't want you on the streets just because someone else wants a bargain house to rent out. We all make mistakes, your lucky you have time to amend it.

Lokolo

If the buyers haven't done anything, then fine.

But if they have paid the fees and are currently trying to get a survey organised then they will be !!!!ed off. And I would be if that were me.

I don't understand how you can blame the EA. They didn't put a gun to your head and force you to accept the offer. Why did you not have a "planned acceptance" to make sure you could afford your next home?

I don't understand how you can accept an offer without knowing what that would mean for you financially.

GDB2222

Corona wrote: »

The EA is supposed to act in our best interest (that's in the contract) and I would imagine part of that is to advise us honestly about the state of the market and about any offers we got? What I don't understand is why they just didn't say something like "it's the first offer; leave it on the table and see if we get a higher one". After all, the house had been on the market less than a month.

You had better have a look at the contract. It may be better just to say that you want more money rather than just to turn down the buyer. Just counter-offer for a figure high enough to make it worth your while to sell.

GDB2222

Lokolo wrote: »

If the buyers haven't done anything, then fine.

But if they have paid the fees and are currently trying to get a survey organised then they will be !!!!ed off. And I would be if that were me.

I don't understand how you can blame the EA. They didn't put a gun to your head and force you to accept the offer. Why did you not have a "planned acceptance" to make sure you could afford your next home?

I don't understand how you can accept an offer without knowing what that would mean for you financially.

I think that the estate agent has a duty of care to his client to advise him CORRECTLY on market conditions. This EA has not done that, and I would resist paying any fees, although I might compromise a bit of it looked like going to court.

Lokolo

GDB2222 wrote: »

I think that the estate agent has a duty of care to his client to advise him CORRECTLY on market conditions. This EA has not done that, and I would resist paying any fees, although I might compromise a bit of it looked like going to court.

I don't see what the EA has done wrong. The housing market IS in a poor state, which is what they told the OP. Is a house gets an offer which is worth accepting then they should accept it, which is what the EA has said. They haven't held a gun to the vendors head and said "Accept or die".

My post was on about the buyers fees, not the EA fees.

If I had my offer accepted and had paid mortgage fees and for survey, and then the vendor pulled out, I would not be happy.

BJV

I know that you don't want to leave the buyers high and dry, but when you read this thread there is one common answer with very few exceptions.

Ask for more money or just bow out if you can. We are all human and change our minds from time to time part of the human condition.

Hate to say it but do you really think that if the shoe was on the other foot that your buyer would think twice?

I am no house buying expert but I do know that from time to time I change my mind and always regret it if I don't act on it

BitterAndTwisted

Anyone who accepts an estate-agent's opinion at face-value hasn't done their own research properly and is like a lamb to the the slaughter.

You have a choice if you haven't exchanged: decline the buyer's offer, and do it before they've committed any money to the sale, and risk the agent billing you for their commission if they can't line up another buyer. Or go ahead. What is the deciding factor is how much you think you could achieve on the sale once you've done your research and are in a position to be as sure as anyone could be about a truly realistic selling-price. If the difference is less or the same as the commision then you've lost nothing.

My own feeling is that you not be absolutely candid with the agent about your reason for declining the current offer: perhaps tell them that as you haven't found a property to place an offer on yourselves, you are feel that you not in a position to accept a firm offer just yet.

tyllwyd

Corona wrote: »

The EA is supposed to act in our best interest (that's in the contract) and I would imagine part of that is to advise us honestly about the state of the market and about any offers we got? What I don't understand is why they just didn't say something like "it's the first offer; leave it on the table and see if we get a higher one". After all, the house had been on the market less than a month.

We had a similar situation where a buyer made what we felt was a very low offer, but the EA was pushing hard to get us to accept it, and telling us to negotiate a similar amount off any house we might offer on. We did go and view houses, but couldn't find anything where the figures added up, so we rejected the offer - leading to a fairly frank exchange of views between my OH and the EA.

As it turned out, someone else turned up and offered the full asking price less than a fortnight later which sort of proved us right (long story short, but the sale fell through and we've taken the house off the market), but after we rejected that offer I always felt that our EA had the hump with us over it.

I do agree that you really should have taken more time before accepting the offer, and that having made a deal you should stick to it - but from a personal point of view, it does depend a lot on whether you think you can make the move work at the price that you've agreed, and how desperate you are to move. It's a risky strategy to accept a low offer and go into rented, hoping that the market moves in the right direction for you.

nollag2006

GDB2222 wrote: »

You had better have a look at the contract. It may be better just to say that you want more money rather than just to turn down the buyer. Just counter-offer for a figure high enough to make it worth your while to sell.

This is probably your best option, to avoid having to pay any EA's fees. As the purchaser has not had a survey done, then they are not out of pocket - so no harm done.

Why should you move into high cost temporary accomodation, just so the EA gets their commission?

To be honest, I've never heard of an EA pursuing a vendor for fees where they withdraw after an initial price has been agreed.

As for the comment on the "poor state of the market", this is not true in all parts of the country. Certainly in large swathes of London and the South East, house prices are rising rapidly.

On balance, your best option is to go back and offer to re-negotiate on the price. You can bet your bottom dollar that the purchaser would want to re-negotiate if something adverse came out of the survey.

Running_Horse

Did you not calculate what you would need to buy your next house before accepting this offer? Very strange. You employ the agent, not the other way around.