Chain free, large cash deposit, MIP, up against a subject to sale offer.

Beagleclarke

Hello, I've put an offer of £140000 on a house that's been on the market for four months (asking price £169950 but no upstairs bathroom and very dated interior in a relatively slow moving rural area where prices tend to drop before they sell). The house is being sold by the children (all in their 60's) of an elderly woman who died. All the heirs are scattered to the four winds - none of them live locally to the house - so I think they might be keen to get it off their hands and save on travelling over to the house to turn on the heat etc as the winter sets in. The EA certainly hinted at this. By the way, there are two EAs on the case - is this good or bad for me? Would they be in competition or working together?

I am chain free and I have £80,000 in cash and £60000 mortgage in principle. Someone else put an offer of £145000 on while the vendor was considering my offer. Their offer is 'subject to sale'. The vendor is still considering my offer, I'm not sure if they've rejected the other offer or are considering it too (would I be told if it had been rejected?). I'm not buying as an investment or anything like that, I want to set up home as I plan to start a family soon and my MIL is terminally ill, so we need to get out of rented so she can come and stay with us as we are her carers.

I'm new to the property market in terms of buying, my cash deposit comes from an inherited house that I sold privately to a family member, so all of this is quite new to me. Should I be worried and consider upping my offer? Or is a subject to sale offer not really competition for a quick transaction even with a 5k difference? I made my offer 5 days ago. Is this a long time to wait for a response? Or this this a positive sign? I don't have much more money to throw in, perhaps another 3k at a stretch. Is there anything else I ca do, besides upping my offer, to make us appear more attractive or to sweeten the deal? I'm not sure as I really am new to this game. Any advice appreciated!

Beagleclarke

By the way, I called the EA yesterday and he said the family were still thinking about it and attempting to get together to discuss it, which he said he thinks is a good sign.

dirty_magic

Wait for their feedback before you up your offer. I think if you up it now you'll look too keen and they'll think you will up it again.

I think it will be rejected though tbh. Do you have room to increase? If they've had an offer of 145 they will know they can get a better offer even if they don't accept the current one.

Personally if I were marketing my house for 169950 I wouldn't accept an offer in the 140s. I hate the whole buying game, it's much easier if a house is realistically priced to begin with. We've just bought a house on for 170 and they wouldn't accept less than 165, but houses are selling fairly quickly where we are.

Beagleclarke

The 145k offer was made in direct competition with us and it wasn't a starting offer. They also offered 140k (on the same day we did) but upped to 145 when the EA told them there was already a 140 chain free offer on the table. Their offers came in the very same day, which some people have told me is suspicious, but do EAs actually lie about these things in real life? Pardon me if I seem naive. I'm a newbie to house buying.

Beagleclarke

By the way, I can go another 3k max, but the house was almost certainly put on the market too high to begin with. The EA intimated to me at my first viewing that the lack of upstairs bathroom, or bathroom at all (just showerroom) could mean a negotiation on price.

silvercar

Stay firm for the moment. You still need to find out if the family are keen to sell quickly or whether they are prepared to wait for a higher price. No point upping your offer now or they will think they can reject that and you will go even higher.

Beagleclarke

silvercar wrote: »

Stay firm for the moment. You still need to find out if the family are keen to sell quickly or whether they are prepared to wait for a higher price. No point upping your offer now or they will think they can reject that and you will go even higher.

I think you're right. This was my feeling but I spoke to a rather panicky friend and she said she'd put in her best now just to secure it, so I thought I'd ask for other opinions, but my feeling is to wait and see what they say. the family are keen to sell. I was told that at my first viewing and its been on the market for 4 months now.

Davesnave

Beagleclarke wrote: »

Their offers came in the very same day, which some people have told me is suspicious, but do EAs actually lie about these things in real life? Pardon me if I seem naive. I'm a newbie to house buying.

It is suspicious after 4 months, if those have been inactive as regards serious interest.

EAs do lie. These highly inconvenient counter-offers frequently melt away, but occasionally they are genuine because the EA will have tipped-off another party, who might have been dithering in the hope of finding something better.

Either way, 5 days is not long where the beneficiaries of an estate are scattered, especially as their ability to agree may not be good if several are involved!

Personally, having been in the vendor's position, I'd go with your offer, rather than consider one from someone not proceedable. The best months for selling have passed, winter is coming and the bills will still be coming in. I might try to push you up a couple of grand first though, just to get cousin Aggie off my back! :rotfl:

Hold firm for now.

Beagleclarke

Davesnave wrote: »

Personally, having been in the vendor's position, I'd go with your offer, rather than consider one from someone not proceedable. The best months for selling have passed, winter is coming and the bills will still be coming in. I might try to push you up a couple of grand first though, just to get cousin Aggie off my back! :rotfl:

Hold firm for now.

Cousin Aggie is exactly what I suspect is holding us up! :rotfl:

I suppose they probably do lie. Slippery Devils. There was, apparently, one other offer at some stage for 130k that was instantly refused but that's it.

dirty_magic

Beagleclarke wrote: »

The 145k offer was made in direct competition with us and it wasn't a starting offer. They also offered 140k (on the same day we did) but upped to 145 when the EA told them there was already a 140 chain free offer on the table. Their offers came in the very same day, which some people have told me is suspicious, but do EAs actually lie about these things in real life? Pardon me if I seem naive. I'm a newbie to house buying.

It does seem suspicious, exactly the same thing happened to us! We knew the house we bought did have interest though as it had already sold once but fell through. They told us when we viewed it that they had already had one very low offer a few days before that was rejected.

I definitely think they tell you about other offers to gauge how keen you are. I think if we'd been firmer we could have got ours for 2k less, but we really wanted it and didn't want to lose out to the other offerers (if they existed!).

Beagleclarke

dirty_magic wrote: »

It does seem suspicious, exactly the same thing happened to us! We knew the house we bought did have interest though as it had already sold once but fell through. They told us when we viewed it that they had already had one very low offer a few days before that was rejected.

I definitely think they tell you about other offers to gauge how keen you are. I think if we'd been firmer we could have got ours for 2k less, but we really wanted it and didn't want to lose out to the other offerers (if they existed!).

I suppose it's about striking a balance between what you think the house is worth/can afford and whether or not you fancy yourself as a mind reader/lie detector