seeking advice on accepting offers

absolute0

Can anyone offer any advice on the following please?

We have our 2 bed semi up for sale @ £121,500. We have found a property, which we really like and have an offer accepted subject to sale :j . The vendors of this property are buying a new build and hence can move into rented accomodation. We would ideally like to sell to a first time buyer so that the chain is short.

Our property has been on the market for over 3 weeks now and we've had 5 viewings, of which only one has recently made an offer. The person interested is not a first time buyer and has a property to sell of their own. Their offer was initially £118k, which we rejected, the offer has now been increased to £119k. We realise that just under the £120k mark is a realistic target price and would really like a first time buyer instead, therefore are hesitant to accept any offers from this person.

We have been thinking of reducing the price to £119,995 in order to achieve a quick sale with a shorter chain and would ideally settle for somewhere inbetween £119k and £119,995.

Can we accept the offer of £119k, still keep the house on the market and if a FTB comes along that is interested accept their offer?

If we do accept an offer can we still reduce the selling price?

TIA

Dave

kittygalore_2

absolute0 wrote:

Can anyone offer any advice on the following please?

We have our 2 bed semi up for sale @ £121,500. We have found a property, which we really like and have an offer accepted subject to sale :j . The vendors of this property are buying a new build and hence can move into rented accomodation. We would ideally like to sell to a first time buyer so that the chain is short.

Our property has been on the market for over 3 weeks now and we've had 5 viewings, of which only one has recently made an offer. The person interested is not a first time buyer and has a property to sell of their own. Their offer was initially £118k, which we rejected, the offer has now been increased to £119k. We realise that just under the £120k mark is a realistic target price and would really like a first time buyer instead, therefore are hesitant to accept any offers from this person.

We have been thinking of reducing the price to £119,995 in order to achieve a quick sale with a shorter chain and would ideally settle for somewhere inbetween £119k and £119,995.

Can we accept the offer of £119k, still keep the house on the market and if a FTB comes along that is interested accept their offer?

If we do accept an offer can we still reduce the selling price?

TIA

Dave

Does your buyer have his/her property under offer? If not, then I would accept their offer, making it clear that the although you are accepting it, on the understanding that your house will remain on the market until such time as either a) their own house is under offer and they are ready to proceed or b) you receive another offer from a buyer who is ready to go ahead immediately.

In my experience, a FTB isn't necessarily the best route to a quick sale, as they often have many issues to resolve that second or third-time buyers do not, such insufficient funds should the property be down-valued (even by a small amount) in the survey. I have also found that FTB tended to be more fussy and finicky over trivial matters that more experienced buyers would see in more proportion and would not stress over.

My ideal buyer someone who has been through the process before and has either sold or has their property under offer.

nelly_2

I f you drop it under the 120 mark then stamp duty will not be a factor for a buyer too.

absolute0

kittygalore wrote:

Does your buyer have his/her property under offer? If not, then I would accept their offer, making it clear that the although you are accepting it, on the understanding that your house will remain on the market until such time as either a) their own house is under offer and they are ready to proceed or b) you receive another offer from a buyer who is ready to go ahead immediately.

In my experience, a FTB isn't necessarily the best route to a quick sale, as they often have many issues to resolve that second or third-time buyers do not, such insufficient funds should the property be down-valued (even by a small amount) in the survey. I have also found that FTB tended to be more fussy and finicky over trivial matters that more experienced buyers would see in more proportion and would not stress over.

My ideal buyer someone who has been through the process before and has either sold or has their property under offer.

Hi kittygalore,

The buyer does not have their house under offer, from what I can gather they are having problems with their estate agent!

If I do accept their offer (subject to conditions), could I still reduce the asking price? I would really like to get more people to view the house and I think because it is just above the stamp duty rate this is putting people off.

Cheers

Dave

Pal

In practice I think that most people seeing a house up for £121,000 knows that it is really going to sell for under £120k, even if they have to pay a thousand or so in cash for "fixtures and fittings". I doubt that the price puts people off, although it may minimise the number of hits you get on website searches if people are deliberately looking under the £120k mark.

kittygalore_2

absolute0 wrote:

Hi kittygalore,

The buyer does not have their house under offer, from what I can gather they are having problems with their estate agent!

If I do accept their offer (subject to conditions), could I still reduce the asking price? I would really like to get more people to view the house and I think because it is just above the stamp duty rate this is putting people off.

Cheers

Dave

This is a new one on me. Might be a bit confusing if you accepted their offer, but then continued to market the house, at a lower price than they have offered??? Most people would continue to market at a higher price.....I wouldn't be very happy about that in your buyer's position, would you?
I feel the price should be the same for everyone - if you really feel it should be lowered (and I do agree with all that Pal has said on this) then I think it would only be courteous to let your original buyer know and give them the option of reducing their offer and paying the same lower price.
What does your agent think? I would throw this little conundrum at them to give them something to do - let them do the worrying - you will be paying them handsomely after all!

Having said all that however, I wouldn't hold my breath with this buyer, given their position and the way the market is at the moment. I'm quite surprised that people still go househunting when their own prop. is not yet even under offer. We have our house on the market with no offer as yet and wouldn't dream of looking at anything (tempting though it is) before we get one. It's just asking for trouble, IMHO.

So if you decide to lower the price, I would give this buyer the option to buy at that reduced price and like I said before, tell them that you are continuing to market the house until they either have an offer on theirs (or even more realistically until they have booked their survey, which at least shows some financial committment on their part; anyone can make an offer) or you get another serious offer from someone who is in a position to proceed now - whichever is the sooner!

Good luck