FTBs first offer made - negotiation advice needed

Lovelyjoolz

If you want the house don't bother with the game playing. Increments of £1,500? The estate agent will just see you as a time waster and soon get tired of you.

Just phone the EA now, tell him £155k is your best absolute offer. Tell him you'll leave the offer open until you find something else and then go and view some more properties. Preferably with the same agent.

No stupid games. No messing around with tiny incremental increases. Cards on the table. Makes life so much easier all round.

This method has worked for me with the four house purchases I've made. The last purchase 2 years ago my best offer was 13% below asking price. Vendor said no. I left the deal on the table and carried on looking. Three days later the vendor accepted the offer. Sometimes, the straighforward way is the best way.

I suspect your letter p*$$ed the EA off, judging by his tone. Try not to p*$$ him off any further by wasting his time with silly increases. Just play it straight with him.

And no, you shouldn't have mentioned the white goods and the chimnea. Negotiate on those later.

[Deleted User]

pete96 wrote: »

The house in the same close which sold last year, 110 Cowley Close, sold for £155. Being an architect, I can tell just by looking at the two houses that they are identical, in their original form at least. So he is talking b/s when he says it has a smaller kitchen, and being across the road is hardly 'a less desirable location'! There difference is, 110 has had the garage converted to a dinning room and also benifits from a conservatory, not to mention the better decor. So 110 should in theory be worth more. Hence our max price of £155k

And you can tell they are an identical plot size? One may be more favourable in terms of the direction of the sunlight ect..

All the houses on my 'block' are build from the same 1950s plans - but differ internally as people have changed them. Quite a few knocked the kitchen into the utility room to create a larger space, some have moved doors about... identical houses don't mean identical layouts

BTW - you've probably annoyed the EA anyway by not doing things over the phone

Also, you might want to install property bee and check how the house prices have moved around

grifferz

I wouldn't be too distraught over the "annoyed EA" bit tbh. Yeah the guy sounded a bit tetchy in his reply ("thanks for the market research" or whatever it was!) but the letter was polite, I'm sure they get much worse said to them, and ultimately he wants it sold so is not going to hold any grudges unless you are a nightmare!

pops5588

As a fellow FTB I think we're being a tad harsh!! There is no point telling him over and over what he shouldn't have said, it's done now. Lesson learned, if it isn't their forever home then they know for next time.

I started a thread about the exact same thing (having taken a "template" from the same thread) but was fortunate in that I came on here before saying anything to the EA. I just had the natural urge to justify everything to them, when really you don't need/have to! It's a learning curve, and I think he's got it now

ognum

Here are my thought for what they are worth.

I don't really understand all this gamesmanship and letter writing, I have bought and sold many houses and currently own several but have never written a letter to make an offer. I am happy to have a discussion with a EA about why I am offering £x but never felt the need to tell an EA their job.

My aim has always been to get the EA on my side, work with them, I am very aware they are paid by the seller but without a proceedable buyer they will not get paid. I don't want to be the EAs friend but I also don't want to be there foe. I have had EAs who have paid solicitors for drawing up contracts when the vendor couldn't afford them!

I really think you have got off to a bad start and I will be surprised if you secure this house unless you offer substantially more, if I was the vendor I would be pretty reluctant to sell to you, I would always be concerned that you will nit pick your way through the whole proccess and then demand a reduction for minor issues.

I am sure i am wrong but I am afraid you have come across to me as a bit of a 'know it all' I am sure you are lovely but that is the way your letter and this thread has portrayed you to me so maybe to the vendor and EA as well.

Sorry they are just my thoughts.

pete96

pops5588 wrote: »

As a fellow FTB I think we're being a tad harsh!! There is no point telling him over and over what he shouldn't have said, it's done now. Lesson learned, if it isn't their forever home then they know for next time.

I started a thread about the exact same thing (having taken a "template" from the same thread) but was fortunate in that I came on here before saying anything to the EA. I just had the natural urge to justify everything to them, when really you don't need/have to! It's a learning curve, and I think he's got it now

lol thanks pops!

And geeze, the EA himself told us bofore making the offer to be specific in what to include, e.g. white good etc.

We have done nothing but follow advice, mostly from this forum, and just posted this now for some positive direction on moving forward, not to dwel on the past.

Thanks again for all the comments!

HarryBarry

pete96 wrote: »

lol thanks pops!

And geeze, the EA himself told us bofore making the offer to be specific in what to include, e.g. white good etc.

We have done nothing but follow advice, mostly from this forum, and just posted this now for some positive direction on moving forward, not to dwel on the past.

Thanks again for all the comments!

I think the point around what to include, it is more you wanted a lot of things and at a low offer. Again, I know it's too late now as you've done it, but it might have been worth making the offer and then adding it to the final offer. If you suddenly find an extra 3k that you didn't have for the previous offer you could have said "oh well, I can go to 154k if they include X Y Z".

If I were you now, I'd phone back up without much of a delay and say "in hindsight I can see my first offer wasn't acceptable, I'd like to offer 153k" plus making it sound like even if you wanted to offer more, you have reached your limit and really done your best to get near the asking price. Normally I wouldn't mention the previous offer, but I think it has annoyed them so you need to get them back on side a bit so cant harm to say agree with them (even if you dont).

It will be probably be rejected, but leave it a few days and see if you get the call asking if you are still interested. If not and you are prepared to pay more, phone up and make your best offer. Maybe even ask to see view another property with that agent, so it appears you are walking away. It might prompt the seller to rush into a decision.

However, ignore all of that if you REALLY want the house and no other house compares, just stick in a best and final offer. Personally I would always try and get a good deal and would consider it unlucky if someone came in during the few days I was pretending to have walked away.

joujou

I think everyone should lay off about the length of the offer.

The seller is unlikely to read the letter as is.

Making a serious offer in this form firmly establishes you in the eyes of the estate agent.

You're showing that there is no doubt that you're serious about buying.

You're also showing that you do your research well.

I don't think the length of the letter shows that you're too eager AT ALL. It shows that you're reasonable and won't easily be talked into unreasonable positions.

pete96

HarryBarry wrote: »

If I were you now, I'd phone back up without much of a delay and say "in hindsight I can see my first offer wasn't acceptable, I'd like to offer 153k" plus making it sound like even if you wanted to offer more, you have reached your limit and really done your best to get near the asking price. Normally I wouldn't mention the previous offer, but I think it has annoyed them so you need to get them back on side a bit so cant harm to say agree with them (even if you dont).

It will be probably be rejected, but leave it a few days and see if you get the call asking if you are still interested. If not and you are prepared to pay more, phone up and make your best offer. Maybe even ask to see view another property with that agent, so it appears you are walking away. It might prompt the seller to rush into a decision.

I took this advice on Saturday. We built our bridges and I made an offer to the EA of £152 (£5k increase). The plan, if rejected, was then to go in with £155K as a best, final, take it or leave it offer.

Just got off the phone to the EA who reports that, not only was the offer rejected, but she also has given the EA the authority to reject anything under £160k

So for now I have walked away...

pops5588

pete96 wrote: »

I took this advice on Saturday. We built our bridges and I made an offer to the EA of £152 (£5k increase). The plan, if rejected, was then to go in with £155K as a best, final, take it or leave it offer.

Just got off the phone to the EA who reports that, not only was the offer rejected, but she also has given the EA the authority to reject anything under £160k

So for now I have walked away...

Aw that is a shame. It may be worth putting one final call/email in to let them know unfortunately you won't be going up to that price but if the situation changes at all they are more than welcome to come back to you in the future. At least leave it open in case it all goes wrong for them!

In the meantime, everything happens for a reason hopefully something just as nice if not better is just round the corner for you two!