negotiation

anear

I made an offer on a house on Saturday. Its asking price is 'Offer over £200k'. It is a new-built, less than 2 years old. The vendor is an investor. He bought the land and built the house. It was vacant since it was built. The house was on the market since this February, had 23 viewings and 2 offers. Both offers were rejected. The EA doesn't tell me what those offers were.

I offered £170k on Saturday and haven't heard anything till now. Is it normal to wait this long to hear from the sellor? Or is my offer too low? The EA did say that it was too low and I made the verbal offer.

Any suggestion?

Thanks.

martin.cat

Chase it up but if they've haven't said no they must be considering it
It's a game of poker so don't reveal your hand too soon

kiddakidda

What was the reason for 15% below asking offer? The EA will normally have an idea of what may secure the property and he has already told you that may be a little low.

Good luck with it an keep us posted.

rosie383

From experience recently, I found that if a house was on the market with OIEO, then the EA would be reluctant to go to the vendor with even a few percent less than asking price. Because it's been on the market for so long I'd think thd vendor has a very firm view of what it's worth. Worth a try, but I wouldn't be hopeful.

DRP

From experience, when the vendor (or EA) isn't interested in your offer they can be very slow to get back to you (or don't get back at all). Very unprofessional, but Being an agent isn't exactly a profession.

Give em a ring to find out what's going on. After all you need to organise your many viewings for the weekend, right?

anear

Rang them today and was told by the EA that the vendor is a company, not a person. The EA is trying to contact them.

Is a company vendor more difficult to negotiate with?

andymd

Don't be put off by Offers over. The agent may be reluctant, but has to pass on your offer.

We're buying a house for £10k below the OIEO price, our first offer £25k below was rejected as was a subsequent offer £18k below.

AlexMac

Leaving aside the question of how much a vendor is prepared to accept (which is a peice of string question, and also may depend on how desperate they are for string, or wheter someone else comes up wioth a longer bit of string....), as regards your Qs:

- "Is it normal to wait this long to hear from the sellor"? There are no general rules; when I sold a house once I reacted so fast to the offers and counter offers (three or four exchanges with the buyer on the phone via the EA in ten minutes before I accepted their 'best and final' - and I was on the mobile in a supermarket car park) - that the buyer smelt a rat and wasn't reassured til we met and I explained why I'd made it so easy (Marriage; so we had 2 properties and I wanted to evade CGT before the 3 year IR deadline)

On the other hand- once I waited a week then, had to chase a selling agent late on Friday evening - to learn that the offer I'd put in on the prior Saturday, and upped on the Monday, had actually been accepted but they'd omitted to call me!

- Is a company vendor more difficult to negotiate with? The only time I tried to buy from a corporate rather than an individual it was a nightmare and I backed out with the loss of several 00's in legal fees cos they couldn't respond to simple enquiries.

So it could be reluctance, procrastination or sheer incompetence- But hopefully your experience will be better. Good luck

anear

Thank you for your reply, AlexMac.

Update：
Having waited for a whole week, the EA finally called me today and told me that my offer was rejected. The vendor wants an offer close to the asking price.

I will wait till Monday and increase my offer to £180k, so I don't seem too keen.

rosie383

Close to the asking price is better than OIEO so you never know.

anear

Increased my offer to 180k on Monday. It is now Thursday afternoon, still haven't heard anything.

I wonder are they seriously selling the house? Or just playing a game, waiting for me to increase offer again?