Put in an offer on a house stiil no response

N1AK

KaAsChEl wrote: »

Just thought I would post the update.
Initial offer of £120,000 was declined we then upped our offer to £122,500 we then had to wait a good few days for a response, we were then informed that a similar offer had been made and the other buyers were in a similar position to us but out position was slightly more favourable. We then upped our offer again to £124,000.
We had to wait a few more days and found out the woman was happy to accept this and they had to contact the Mr as they both had to agree.
We had a call this morning and he has declined because apparently it's not enough!
The house is priced at £127,950, so realistically no one would want to pay over the stamp duty.
We are not sure what to do, should we leave it and wait a few days to see if he changes his mind?
Or should we call the agents to up out offer to £124,950 and explain that is the highest we will go to and if he declines this we will not leave the offer open. Realistically they won't get a better offer or someone in a much better position than us. If he does decline this then we know he is messing around and trying to hold up the sale of the house.
Any advice or opinions would be a great help!

Thanks

You're in a negotiation where you only get a version of events from the other side. Consider one possible scenario: There have been no other offers at all, no other interested parties etc. Would you know? The owner and agent could keep refusing offers until you stop, then when they think you've reached your limit they could phone back ask for a couple of hundred more and seal the deal. Alternatively there could have been offers etc, they could believe they will get more from someone else and are genuinely refusing.

No one turns down £124,000 on a £127,500 asking price just to get closer to the stamp duty cut off. They either are just trying their luck or want more than that.

Personally I'd phone the agent back, let them know you've seen somewhere else and are considering making an offer. Your £124,000 offer stands until midday tomorrow and if they want to see if you're still interested at that price later then they need to phone you and see.

DRP

Dan-Dan wrote: »

upping your offer by £950 is not going to make a blind bit of difference , you should leave your offer on the table and book further viewings to see other properties , preferably with the same EA

I reckon the guy doesnt even want to sell by the sounds of this

I kind of disagree with this. It seems clear from the asking price what they want - they are after 125k.

If OP isn't willing to pay the extra 1k, then OP needs to spook the vendors by moving onto other properties.

WestonDave

As I feared - he is playing games because he doesn't actually want to sell. The problem is that with a valuation of £127k he has perfect scope to block the sale indefinitely - he can appear to reasonably argue that offers below £125k are too low because they are lower than the asking price even though no-one in their right mind will pay over the stamp duty threshold. He can play this game almost infinitely unless she goes to court to get an order for sale at a lower price, all the time having access to his home and not having the hassle of moving.

You can either wait for them to work it out between them or move on to somewhere else - for once its not really the price which is the issue.

moneyistooshorttomention

DRP wrote: »

I kind of disagree with this. It seems clear from the asking price what they want - they are after 125k.

Agree with this. So offer £124,999 and it will probably be accepted.

floss2

What about the scenario that there are costs / debts to come out of the sale proceeds, or that they are near neg.eq. and cannot afford to accept less?

KaAsChEl

Can we pay £125,000 and not have to pay stamp duty?

witchy1066

I agree with Dan-Dan, leave your offer on the table but start looking at other properties,

you could end up caught in the middle of a domestic dispute ,with one half blocking the way at every stage

only you can say if you think the house if worth it or not

hazyjo

KaAsChEl wrote: »

Can we pay £125,000 and not have to pay stamp duty?

Yes. It's anything over that that incurs SD.

Jx

KaAsChEl

We are really keen on this house there are no other houses in this price range that don't need loads of work doing and it is in the same road as my dad. So there isn't many other houses we can view in our price range at the moment.

gazter

WestonDave wrote: »

As I feared - he is playing games because he doesn't actually want to sell. The problem is that with a valuation of £127k he has perfect scope to block the sale indefinitely - he can appear to reasonably argue that offers below £125k are too low because they are lower than the asking price even though no-one in their right mind will pay over the stamp duty threshold. He can play this game almost infinitely unless she goes to court to get an order for sale at a lower price, all the time having access to his home and not having the hassle of moving.

You can either wait for them to work it out between them or move on to somewhere else - for once its not really the price which is the issue.

That is a valuation? Would a surveyor really put a price on a house two grand above a stamp duty threshold?

An estate agent (more likely) would only advertise £127, on the hope of getting £125, and would have told him this.