Cant buy house due to stupid offer games!

Blogger

My partner and I are looking to buy a small house. We are first time buyers and we find this game extremely difficult and annoying.

How to play estate agent / seller game? What sort of offer can I put so it is accepted and I do not lose any money? Please help as we are a bit lost

We have a decision in principle and bank is ok to lend us money but we find it really tricky to find a house.

We are looking around 200 - 240 mark depending on a condition of the house.

Attempt 1. We put an offer on old house for 215. It was an asking price. We did a survey and the next day the seller pulled out as she is looking for more!!! We would have offered more but survey highlighted the problems with house so it was not worth more so we lost our survey fees :mad:

Attempt 2. We looked at house at asking price 200. ok, we thought we play safer here... we put an offer of 205 which was rejected as 220 was accepted even though the house was tiny!!!!

Attempt 3. Asking price was 220, we put an offer of 240 but still no answer from EA :mad: I really doubt we got it as there were MANY people looking at the property. We just cannot increase any further as bank survey might not go through at desired value and then we will be screwed once again!


These smallish houses seem to be in high demand. What can we do?

Please help if you have experienced these sort of situations before and / or know what to do....

makeyourdaddyproud

By offering more than the advertised price, you have spooked each seller into believing their house is worth more than advertised. They most likely will reassess the value for a higher sale price.

I'm sorry but it's people like you that inflate the market at every turn and I have no sympathy.

BitterAndTwisted

If the sorts of properties you are interested in are in high demand you need to have an extremely keen idea of the market-rates for them and offer appropriately. No messing about, no low-ball offers, no poker-games. There is no magic-wand which will ensure you have your offers accepted except to pay over the odds...

Blogger

makeyourdaddyproud - thx for the suggestion but I think you are underestimating the housing crisis in this country. There is much higher demand for these houses than the supply hence houses are going ABOVE asking price. I am talking about affordable housing in London, perhaps there is a different situation in another areas.

BitterAndTwisted - totally understand what you mean. I am not low-balling. I thought if the house is for sale for x then x is what they want? Are you saying that EAs are actually putting lower price to attract people and house actually is worth more?

ThemeOne

It's all part of the joy of buying and selling property under the English system, and I'm not sure there's much you can do about it, apart maybe from look at types of properties or areas where competition is a bit less keen.

I also don't think offering over asking price is a great idea and, indeed, has been unsuccessful for you so far.

By the law of averages, eventually you'll find a seller who is less capricious and not a game player. Traditionally the property market does start to go quieter now so fingers crossed your luck will change.

Tancred

Blogger wrote: »

My partner and I are looking to buy a small house. We are first time buyers and we find this game extremely difficult and annoying.

How to play estate agent / seller game? What sort of offer can I put so it is accepted and I do not lose any money? Please help as we are a bit lost

We have a decision in principle and bank is ok to lend us money but we find it really tricky to find a house.

We are looking around 200 - 240 mark depending on a condition of the house.

Attempt 1. We put an offer on old house for 215. It was an asking price. We did a survey and the next day the seller pulled out as she is looking for more!!! We would have offered more but survey highlighted the problems with house so it was not worth more so we lost our survey fees :mad:

Attempt 2. We looked at house at asking price 200. ok, we thought we play safer here... we put an offer of 205 which was rejected as 220 was accepted even though the house was tiny!!!!

Attempt 3. Asking price was 220, we put an offer of 240 but still no answer from EA :mad: I really doubt we got it as there were MANY people looking at the property. We just cannot increase any further as bank survey might not go through at desired value and then we will be screwed once again!


These smallish houses seem to be in high demand. What can we do?

Please help if you have experienced these sort of situations before and / or know what to do....

I find it very strange that you made offers above the asking price. Normally you should only do this in an extremely hot market. I think you may have confused the vendors by doing this, hence the problems.

Tancred

Blogger wrote: »

makeyourdaddyproud - thx for the suggestion but I think you are underestimating the housing crisis in this country. There is much higher demand for these houses than the supply hence houses are going ABOVE asking price. I am talking about affordable housing in London, perhaps there is a different situation in another areas.

BitterAndTwisted - totally understand what you mean. I am not low-balling. I thought if the house is for sale for x then x is what they want? Are you saying that EAs are actually putting lower price to attract people and house actually is worth more?

What do you mean by 'affordable housing'? Are these ex-council or ex-housing association properties?

Tancred

Blogger wrote: »

These smallish houses seem to be in high demand. What can we do?

Look for a flat instead!

Blogger

Tancred


I meant below 250k mark when I said affordable. My partner and I do not want to get large mortgage so smallish houses seem to be in high demand. To be honest I have not really looked into flats due to complicated leasehold structures and high charges my friend's are experiencing so I've made my mind that I wont buy a flat.

During attempt 2 the house was sold ABOVE asking price of 220. I think this is just a EA's game of putting house at below market value to attract sellers...Either that or the market is going crazy again.

ThemeOne

I did not realise how difficult it would be. I thought if I pay the asking price the seller should be happy about it but I was wrong.

Hopefully you are right and I will get something soon .

mail2z

I felt the market was going crazy again when the asking prices are over 20% of last sold prices. Even at these inflated asking prices the offer are coming in at the AP or over AP.

Put in a offer less than 3% below AP, it will be rejected, increase by 1 to 2 % everytime until you are at the price that you are prepared to pay. Give a deadline for accepting offer, say that you are looking at some other property and considering offering for it if you do not hear back sharpish.

MiserlyMartin

£220K for a smallish house blimey! These are known as affordable houses? This must be London I'm guessing? Just ridiculous! The term Slave box comes to mind