Can I offer on 3 properties at once?

Running_Horse

If you did it to me I would reject the offer, no matter how high, assuming you were a total timewaster.

If you did it without mentioning it, what would happen if more than one accepted, and acted on your offer by offering on something else and instructing solicitors?

Still, not your problem eh?

Nenen

Well... I have never tried this myself but, strangely enough, some work collegues of mine did something very similar recently with great success.

Basically they saw two properties both valued at 279,950K and told both agents that they would make a full and final offer of 250K plus pay their agency fees to whichever of them accepted by 12 noon the next day. Apparently both EAs came back within the stipulated time and accepted! They then chose to go with the one they liked best. Maybe it was just a lucky fluke and, I must admit, the guy is a really persuasive business man so perhaps it only works if you have the gall/experience/expertise.

kodokan

Nenen wrote: »

Well... I have never tried this myself but, strangely enough, some work collegues of mine did something very similar recently with great success.

Basically they saw two properties both valued at 279,950K and told both agents that they would make a full and final offer of 250K plus pay their agency fees to whichever of them accepted by 12 noon the next day. Apparently both EAs came back within the stipulated time and accepted! They then chose to go with the one they liked best. Maybe it was just a lucky fluke and, I must admit, the guy is a really persuasive business man so perhaps it only works if you have the gall/experience/expertise.

Has the purchase taken place yet, and do you happen to know if it panned out? I only ask, because we sold a house a year or two back at the £250k mark, which in an ideal Stamp Duty-less world would have sold at £275-280k. I considered doing the 'offers of £250k + paying my estate agent's fees' but all the research I did indicated that this would be seen as a related transaction to the purchase, in the way that allocating an amount for Fixtures & Fittings is, and would be subject to the same potentially microscopic scrutiny by the IR.

kodokan

Nenen

Yes it has all gone through (sale completed 2 months ago) and as far as I know they haven't been scrutinised for tax... however the man (husband of my colleague) is very good at tax avoidance and also seems to be extremely lucky in what he has managed to get away with.

Personally, I'd be much too frightened to try offering to pay EA's fees as part of the deal! Indeed, When I posted a thread about whether or not people on MSE thought this would be legal the reply I got would indicate that if the taxman found out then it could indeed be seen to be a related transaction and therefore subject to SD tax. The difference between me and this colleague's hubby is that I'm terrified of breaking tax law (I have worked in jobs where it is all PAYE the vast majority of my life) whereas this guy is a bit of a chancer!

Generali

Eyesparky wrote: »

That is bad form. I would have told them where to get off.

Legally and morally it's fine to gazunder. Everyone in the market knows the rules (or should). If you hold to the rules then no problem. If you don't like the rules of the market campaign to change them or go to a different market.

kodokan

Me too - I decided it just wasn't worth the worry! And being a good little MSE-er I'd naturally negotiated the agent's fee pretty low anyway:)

cattie

kodokan wrote: »

But didn't your research flag up that you were pricing your house too low..?
kodokan

No, because I actually priced the house at above that suggested by the ea as I was pretty confident of the price I could achieve, considering the move in condition of my house. I broke the ceiling price for a terraced house in this road. The quick no quibble sale was achieved I believe for the following reasons

a) because my house is in move in condition with great bathroom & large open plan kitchen/dining room
b) location to good schools, this is a good selling point for people these days as you probably know.

Good luck with your search.

pinheaplanet

Ok Things are going a little sideways on this post.

Back to the matter at hand.

To answer some of those concerned for the vendor shelling out on another property on the basis of merely accepting my offer - I have made it CRYSTAL clear in the offer (written) of the situation so everyone is well aware of what can potentially happen. It is not my intention to screw anyone over and I'm certainly not misleading anyone.

What's happening now is that all initial offers have been rejected - naturally. And now I'm putting in the next offers. I am however now in the position of knowing what the vendors are actually looking for and I can edge my offers towards these figures if I feel I want to pay that for those respective properties.

At the end of it all I'm not bothered if I lose all of the properties because new stuff is coming on all the time and it's not that any of these are what I would call super perfect anyway. As I've mentioned before they all have their own pros and cons. If any of them were SUPER PERFECT then I wouldn't be messing about trying to save some ££££'s I'd just offer very close the asking price.

And...

Cattie - I too used to live in a nice London suburb - Palmers Green. My place sold the day it went on the market for full asking price AND no estate agents fees. It's nice to hear you sold your house for the full asking price even though it had a broken ceiling - -what??? Nurse!!!

As you expected to sell for full AP I assume that you will only be making full asking price offers on houses you intend to buy now...?