Advice Required - Play Games or Walk Away?

[Deleted User]

Hi to everyone at the MSE Forums!

My partner and I are currently looking at buying a property following the sale of our former home. We're renting at present which means we are in a position to move in as soon as possible.

There is a property that we've viewed twice now and rather much like, of which the asking price is £250k. We've read that our first offer should be at least 10% below the asking price (£225k), however, the previous owners paid £235k five years ago and have converted the garage and extended/refitted the kitchen - so we already knew what the answer would be if we offered that amount.

The property is pratically perfect and apart from the usual cosmetic changes the only major changes that would be required are to replace the boiler (approx. £3k) and to refit the bathroom which is 11 years old.

We offered £238k which was declined andtheir estate agent informed us that they wouldn't accept anything less than £245k. We therefore offered £247k and explained that the boiler would need replacing and this has been reflected in our offer, not to mention by keeping the offer under the £250k we avoid the jump from 1% to 3% stamp duty!

We received a phone call from the estate agent this evening to say the sellers would be happy to sell to us if we could meet £248k. In addition, the estate agent mentioned that there was another buyer who is interested and has just accepted an offer on their home so they are in a position to move (even though we're already packed and ready to move), not to mention they've been interested in the same property as us for weeks (not true, the property has only been out for a week so far). I said we would think about it and left it at that.

About ten minutes later I received another phone call from the estate agent explaing that the sellers now say that they want both parties to put forward their best offer by Monday lunchtime and they will pick the highest.

Now as much as we like this property, we think that the sellers are being rather petty. To first ask for an increase of a £1k, and then to change it to highest bidder (baring in mind there is only £2k before it ends up at the original asking price) is just ridiculous. If there was a big amount to play with then I would be happy to put in another offer, but I'm not going to play the silly bidding game for £2k!

What do you think we should do? Tactics or just walk away?

Thanks in advance!

Lavendyr

ryan.stephens wrote: »

Hi to everyone at the MSE Forums!

Hello

ryan.stephens wrote: »

We've read that our first offer should be at least 10% below the asking price (£225k)

Totally depends on what the market is like in your area. Where we live, that just doesn't work as demand still significantly outstrips supply. Believe me - we tried it! Eventually we learned our lesson and got our property at a couple of percent below asking price - we just weren't being taken seriously with lowball offers.

So do your research into what house prices are actually doing in your area - look at mouseprice/zoopla types to see what sold prices are like now compared to a few years ago. There is no "rule of thumb" which applies in all areas.

ryan.stephens wrote: »

We offered £238k which was declined andtheir estate agent informed us that they wouldn't accept anything less than £245k. We therefore offered £247k ...not to mention by keeping the offer under the £250k we avoid the jump from 1% to 3% stamp duty!

You wouldn't hit the jump until paying £250,001 so you should be OK at £250k. That said, I think you made a pretty large jump from £238 to £247 in the first place.

ryan.stephens wrote: »

We received a phone call from the estate agent this evening to say the sellers would be happy to sell to us if we could meet £248k...About ten minutes later I received another phone call from the estate agent explaing that the sellers now say that they want both parties to put forward their best offer by Monday lunchtime and they will pick the highest.

The estate agent is mucking you about. If you would happily pay £248k and think it is worth that much to you, I would tell the EA that they had previously said they would accept that offer, that this is your best and final offer, that you are ready to move and can complete extremely quickly and having said they would accept at that price they really should honour that promise.

I suspect that the large jump you have already made may be making the EA (and possibly the seller) think they can squeeze you for a bit more by putting it to "sealed bids" with "another buyer" (yes, those quotation marks are intentional ), in case they can frighten you into going up to £250 or even above.

ryan.stephens wrote: »

Now as much as we like this property, we think that the sellers are being rather petty.

It might not be the sellers - it could be the estate agents. You can never be sure unfortunately!

In your shoes I would ask myself:
- Do I want this house?
- Am I prepared to pay £248k (or even £250k) for it or is £247k really the max I want to spend?
- Is it the sellers or the EA behind this? Can I talk to the sellers and sound them out as to whether they are putting the EA up to this? (and do I want to transact on a house purchase with them if they are the ones behind it!?)
- Can I keep calm through this messing about to get to an offer I can live with?

Ultimately only you know the local market though. When we offered on our house we knew we had to a) move quickly and b) put in a sensible offer straight away as good houses go so quickly where we live and there was no guarantee that another suitable house would come up in the timeframe we wanted. However other areas are different.

Good luck whatever you decide to do - hope you get a lovely home

englandcrew

It's a difficult one for people to answer really, we can say what we would do but ultimately it's upto you what you thinks it's worth and how much you want.

You need to ask yourself how would you feel if you missed out on it?

I personally wouldnt get dragged into it and I would tell them I was not willing to get into a bidding war. I would remove my offer and hold tight. I don't get attached to properties early on so find it easy to do so

sniggings

if there is really another party interested, then it's not just a matter of an extra £2k, they are hoping one of you bids more than the asking price.

As you say it a lot more if you go over £250k so I would leave my offer on the table, no point going to bids if you are already at your highest bid.

It might be worth paying the extra 1k but I may be temped to stick to £247k if I thought they were messing me about but for a dream home...

Fire_Fox

Forget the asking price, what are land registry sold prices like for the street and area? Submit all offers in writing stating your strong position as buyers and conditions of sale, this prevents you being manipulated by estate agents (who work for the seller NOT you).

anselld

Sounds like you have already believed the EA too much! The EA are making stuff up to play you for max price.

Why on earth did you offer 247 after the EA said "they would accept nothing less than 245". Should have either been "238 stands, we will wait and see", or "we are really stretched, we could just manage to meet at 240".

By bidding too high you have invited the agent to play you up to the full 250.

What's done is done, at this point the conversation should be something like ... "we bid in good faith 2k above the level the vendors indicated was acceptable. So take it or leave it, we are not interested in a bidding war"

HHarry

If it's going to be a 'forever' house then paying £1, £2 or even £5k extra now will be entirely forgotten about in years to come. But I wouldn't be getting involved with sealed bids - I'd sit tight and see if these other Buyers did actually turn up. (And if they didn't I'd be revising my offer to £245!)

jimbog

So the estate agent has 'cleared the decks' and asked for sealed bids. Use it to your advantage - since you may have offered too high in the first pace -put in a sealed bid of £245K

jbainbridge

As FireFox says - do your research!

Does it seem to be a fair price for the area, size, condition etc. How long has it been on the market (use Property Bee)? If it has only recently come on they will be less willing to bargin.

Finally, why offer 247 when even the EA says they might accept 245!!

Cara79

jimbog wrote: »

So the estate agent has 'cleared the decks' and asked for sealed bids. Use it to your advantage - since you may have offered too high in the first pace -put in a sealed bid of £245K

This ^^^^

I guess it's up to you, what I can say from very recent experience:

We offered £210k on a house (guide 220-250). We originally said to ourselves that our max was 230k. They negotiated us up, we offered 220, they wanted 225 but said its outs if we meet half way at 222,500.

The house had been on since feb & needed about 20k of work. Anyway when we agreed to meet at 222,500 te agent said another buyer had offered 225. We didn't believe it as it had been on since feb, and we'd been negotiating for 2 weeks. Altho we would have paid more we refused to get into a supposed bidding war. We didn't believe there was another buyer in a proceed able position. Turns out there was & the sale is going through.

However a few days later we saw a house we absolutely love, better than the last. They wanted 245, we offered 230 as it was in a desirable location etc etc, all done. It was refused. We offered 235, they refused said they wanted 240. We asked them to meet us in the middle at 237,500 and they agreed


What I'm trying to say is, I *think* they're playing you as u upped your offer by £9k straight away and hey what is 1, 2 or 3k.

I love the idea above about full & final offer of 245 - but only if ur happy to risk losing the house IF there is another buyer

X

giraffe69

Whether you offer 245k 247k or higher you should insist that this offer is subject to them taking the property off the market and subject to survey if one has still to be done. You should ask for exchange within a short time if you are ready to go.
Be aware that they seller can change their mind until you have exchanged. The trick is to make it as hard and expensive for them to do so as you can.