Selling Advice - what could be happening

shirleyheights

We are selling our property. Its been on the market 5 weeks.

Last week we had a couple view on Thursday and then 2nd viewing on Friday. They made an offer on Saturday which we turned down on the advice of the EA.

They had a 3rd viewing this week on Wednesday. I called the agent this morning for an update.

He said that they were looking at another property. He seemed really indifferent as to whether they will raise or even confirm the initial offer. Are we being impatient?

The difference between the offer and our minimum is 2%

I guess they must be interested with a 3rd viewing, but maybe it convinced not to go for ours

go_cat

They could be looking at another to conform in their minds yours is the right one

They maybe cannot go above what they offered no matter how much they liked it.

They maybe have gone off it....who knows!

I take it you cannot make the figures work with 2%less than your minimum, but a buyer Within 5 weeks in this market is brilliant

shirleyheights

thanks go cat. yes anything could be happening. I was assuming that in the least they would come back and confirm their initial offer.

I guess they will either raise it or pull out now.

we've had 24 viewings and 5 second viewings in 5 weeks. only one offer though so have to take it seriously. EA and hubby think we should wait for a better offer.

AlexMac

Seems a no brainer to me; a bird in the hand or Bird plus 2% in the bush (to plagiarise the proverb).

Is it really worth getting precious about a couple of thou' and losing the sale? Especially if you plan to buy another, and, if you trade up will save more by making comparably low offers on your next place. And if you can wait til you have cash in hand, sellers will regard you as such a strong 'cash buyer' bet they'll bite your hand off and drop their prices.

Its a buyers' market, and while prized properties in the best areas still go like hot cakes (as we found when we sold our flat in 2 days last year) most places stick; we have cousins whose perfectly acceptable and reasonably-priced home has attracted only 2 views and no offers in 18 months, and we were really relieved to get an offer 4-5% under the asking price, on a seafront flat a year ago

I'm surprised that the agent's not communicating better- or sharing his tactics if he's so confident. If he really is confident- (and he won't get paid til he sells so I'm surprised he's not encouraging you to accept offers as our seaside EA did) ask for more feedback, or tactical advice (eg on the final para, below).

For example, if you do come down a few thou' does he think the buyer will think you're desperate and try to 'gazunder' you later; screw a bit more off the price when the survey comes in?

Or is there a face-saving way forward for your hubby? E.g. to go back and accept a lower offer on assurances that the buyer will urge his siolicitor to move as fast as poss on the assurance that you'll do your part by responding quickly via yours to his standard enquiries? Meaningless, I know, as solicitords do what they like, but it's playing the game!

shirleyheights

AlexMac wrote: »

Seems a no brainer to me; a bird in the hand or Bird plus 2% in the bush (to plagiarise the proverb).

Is it really worth getting precious about a couple of thou' and losing the sale? Especially if you plan to buy another, and, if you trade up will save more by making comparably low offers on your next place. And if you can wait til you have cash in hand, sellers will regard you as such a strong 'cash buyer' bet they'll bite your hand off and drop their prices.

Its a buyers' market, and while prized properties in the best areas still go like hot cakes (as we found when we sold our flat in 2 days last year) most places stick; we have cousins whose perfectly acceptable and reasonably-priced home has attracted only 2 views and no offers in 18 months, and we were really relieved to get an offer 4-5% under the asking price, on a seafront flat a year ago

I'm surprised that the agent's not communicating better- or sharing his tactics if he's so confident. If he really is confident- (and he won't get paid til he sells so I'm surprised he's not encouraging you to accept offers as our seaside EA did) ask for more feedback, or tactical advice (eg on the final para, below).

For example, if you do come down a few thou' does he think the buyer will think you're desperate and try to 'gazunder' you later; screw a bit more off the price when the survey comes in?

Or is there a face-saving way forward for your hubby? E.g. to go back and accept a lower offer on assurances that the buyer will urge his siolicitor to move as fast as poss on the assurance that you'll do your part by responding quickly via yours to his standard enquiries? Meaningless, I know, as solicitords do what they like, but it's playing the game!

EA called on Saturday with the offer. We initially said we will think it over as it was a long bank holiday and were away. The EA asserted that he was surprised we were considering it (the offer is 91.4% of asking) and he recommended we decline as he felt they were holding back.

Hubby's view is still early and we can afford to wait for a better offer. He also think accepting first offer looks desperate). Spoke to OH last night and he reckons if buyers dont come back or reconfirm initial offer then they were wishy washy in the first place.

We suggested a figure 93% of asking. I know they did a 3rd viewing on Wednesday, but nothings been heard since.

On the EA - yes cant work it out. If he is super cool or clueless. I just felt like he was resigned to the buyers choosing which property they wanted and waiting without fighting our corner or having a plan.

Probably leave it until Monday and call EA for a full update.

AMO

It depends on how desperate you are to sell. Have you found a place? There are a couple of things to consider:

1) You'll get most of your viewings when your property goes onto the market. After that, it declines quite rapidly.

2) What kind of house are you selling (no of bedrooms / detached / area / price range). Dropping 10% can be reasonable in some cases and in other cases not such a good idea. Our house dropped 12%, but it was a 3 bed semi in a place where lots of people are selling. What we're buying is in a nice area - three times the cost, so the discount we got is only about 4%. Essentially we dropped 15K and the house we're buying dropped 12.5K. So percentage wise it will always look worse on smaller properties as most buyers expect 5-10K off a property even if you've already dropped the price.