Offering on property - agents stalling

TrixA

We've been trying to buy for six months in a very hot area of London. After missing out several times in sealed bids processes we've finally found a property we like, and feel we have a decent chance of getting. It's a probate and requires a fair bit of internal redecoration, but otherwise is everything we want. We know the property was previously under offer, but it fell through just prior to exchange (apparently because the buyer tried to reduce the price by 20%!)

We made an offer on the property as soon as we saw it go back on the market - it's marketed with a price range and we offered just over the midpoint of the range. We were told by the agents that the vendor wanted to go ahead with the scheduled open home. The open home was not that well attended (for this area) and we were told ours was one of three offers, of which one was well below asking. However, two days have passed and we have yet to hear anything from the agents - my partner called them and was told they were about to put the offers to the owners, which is exactly the same thing he was told 24 hours earlier. I know two days is hardly anything in the usual scheme of things, but this is a market where the usual process is to view on Saturday, make final offers by Monday afternoon and sell the property by Tuesday morning.

We are wondering if the agents are stalling in the hope of more/higher offers, but I really can't see what's in this for them - surely the additional commission they get for a slightly higher offer would be negligible? Only three offers is definitely fewer than is typical for this area. We would be prepared to pay a little more than our current offer but it seems daft to increase it when we haven't had a formal response yet. The agents generally seem a bit incompetent - one of them called us this morning to find out where we were at, and seemed unaware that we had already put in an offer via his colleague.

What can we do to increase our chances of securing this property?

MrRee_2

You can be cool and wait ..... there's nothing you can do EXCEPT put in a higher offer saying that you require an answer within 24 hours or the offer falls to your original.

The deal didn't fall through because the buyer tried to reduce the price - that doesn't work in London ......

Also, if it's probate then the executor will have to speak to all the beneficiaries to get the go ahead - that can take a good few days!

In the meantime, a higher offer may arrive of course.

In addition, probate sales are never taken off the market - it's because the executor has a legal duty to get the best price possible ....... in the time it takes to sell, there may well be another higher offer come in - can you complete very quickly? like in 6 weeks?

TrixA

Thanks for your advice. We know the circumstances of why the deal fell through because the executor was at the open home with his wife, I got into a conversation with her and she told me.

Yes, we are in a position to complete quickly as we are currently renting and would only have to give a month's notice. We tried to make this clear in our offer letter.

I quite like your tactic of making a higher offer with a time limit, although that might just annoy them and cause them to go with the other offer?

MrRee_2

It's a probate sale .... they are just interested in getting the best price .... there is nothing 'personal' in it - so they are hardly likely to get annoyed.

That said, I'm sure they cannot speed it up as probate takes time - so, you may be offering more when you don't need to.

I would play it cool myself ......

cattie

Estate agents earn their money by selling houses. They have very little to gain by stalling in the hope that somebody will wander in & make a much higher offer than any already received.

For instance, if somebody offered an extra £5000 more than current highest offer, it might net the ea an extra £50, so not exactly a fortune when there are staff, commission & the overheads in running an ea's office to pay.

Sold boards outside properties are the best advertisement for an ea, so most strive to achieve this asap.

TrixA

Thanks, I know we just need to be patient, but it's frustrating when we've been looking for so long!

TrixA

Update - the agent has this morning updated the Zoopla listing to indicate a price range for the house - previously the range was indicated in the agent's brochure, but on Zoopla it was simply listed as 'From x....' I'm not sure how significant this is, but it suggests they are still actively marketing the property.

If the vendor isn't happy with our offer I don't understand why they don't just negotiate with us, who have already expressed interest in the house, rather than looking for a completely new buyer?

DRP

TrixA wrote: »

Update - the agent has this morning updated the Zoopla listing to indicate a price range for the house - previously the range was indicated in the agent's brochure, but on Zoopla it was simply listed as 'From x....' I'm not sure how significant this is, but it suggests they are still actively marketing the property.

If the vendor isn't happy with our offer I don't understand why they don't just negotiate with us, who have already expressed interest in the house, rather than looking for a completely new buyer?

have you rung the EA?

TrixA

Yes, my partner has rung them three times since putting in the offer - each time he's been told that they're just about to put offers to the vendor, or just about to call the vendor to follow up. If we don't hear from them by this afternoon we'll probably call again, but we don't want to give the agent the impression we're desperate.

DRP

TrixA wrote: »

Yes, my partner has rung them three times since putting in the offer - each time he's been told that they're just about to put offers to the vendor, or just about to call the vendor to follow up. If we don't hear from them by this afternoon we'll probably call again, but we don't want to give the agent the impression we're desperate.

I wouldn't say that's a big issue at the moment. Given they've changed the ad, i would say they must have been in contact with the vendor.

I would ring and say you're looking to book viewings for the weekend, therefore you would appreciate a response before then.

TrixA

Thanks, I'm finding this process quite stressful, and struggling to be objective. We are finding the whole process of house-hunting in a rising market exhausting, and just want to be able to get on with our lives. We're sick of trekking halfway across London every Saturday to look at properties which subsequently sell for way more than we can afford. We're also starting to get really peeved at people who list properties with a range or 'guide price', if the reality is that they're only willing to accept offers that are way in excess of the figure mentioned. There's another property we offered on, listed as 'offers in the region of £400k' - we offered £418k and were told there were higher offers, but the property is still on the market.

Ok, rant over.