Estate Agent refusing Higher offer

fairy_lights

How much lower than yours is the offer that was accepted?
If the vendors know the other party and know that they are reliable and serious buyers, why would they accept your offer instead for the sake of a few hundred quid?
There could be lots of reasons why the vendors have stuck with the initial offer.

Atomix

The house we currently own/live in is nice sized family home.
Our perfect home, (our fourth and final house) - detached, x4 double rooms, double garage etc.

Cut a long story short, it was marketed 30k or so under normal market valuation. Due to needing modernisation, which was perfect for us. It took us around a year for this (the right property) to come up and we viewed the day after it went on the market.

Me, my wife (with one on the way) and baby son met the seller, we explained we had lived in the same small cotswold town for years, and this would be our final family home. The seller had lived there for 30 years (since the house was new) had brought up x3 kids there etc etc. We made the offer (v.near full asking price) a few ups and downs which i wont bore you with (with our buyer) anyway week or so after moving in, we met the estate agent who informed us the lady had had x2 other interested parties offering more money etc (not surprising).

A. She really liked us, a local family who were going to bring up the kids up there.

B. She was an old-fashioned straight talking lady with old-fashioned views. A firm handshake - and a deal is a deal. (I consider myself like this).

C. She didnt really need the money - the house was too big for her and her kids had grown up and left... hence the reason for the sale.

I could think of many reasons why, but no.2 - the gentlemans agreement - still has a place with some people - like me

WestonDave

Be clear that the estate agent's contractual obligations are purely with the vendor (they have a duty to not misrepresent the actual property but that's not relevant here). So if they are up to something dodgy by favouring their in house services etc, you still have no right to change that if the vendor is happy to proceed. All you could do is contact the vendor directly if you think your offer hasn't been communicated.




However given that there is a stated non financial reason for choosing the other offer, I think you would be wasting your time and just get the estate agents backs up - which might be relevant if another property comes on their books.

lavalamp1

I am sure they have forwarded my offer to the vendor, just more concerned that they have given a false representation of my finance situation given that I declined to use their in house services.

I will write a letter to the vendor.

lavalamp1

The lower offer is apparently 5k lower then mine. I had offered 278K. Given the nature of the housing market, I would of thought 5K is a lot of money to throw away for the sake of mutual friends.

tea-bag

Just sold my house and I went with a family that offered me £1k less than a investor. Why did I go with the family?

1, They are a family I am near 2 very good schools and my kids loved it here.

2, They are renting with a child and one on the way so they want to set up some roots.

3, My house has a annex and the family are not from round here and want there parents to stay.

4, I liked them.

lavalamp1

I suppose everyone has their own reasons as to why they wish to sell to someone else. I am part of a family aswell, albeit didnt get to speak to the vendor's as they were out and the EA showed us around.

What Im I to do now, start asking what type of buyer you want to sell to?!! My personal experience of the the current housing market is that you barely have time to have a discussion with an EA of the vendors situation before the house is under offer.

andyfromotley

I saw yr original thread on this,

if you have contacted the vendors you have done all you can. It did sound a bit dodgy but there are as we can see hear valid reasons for taking a lower offer.

Good luck.

goodwithsaving

Reading posters on here, it's good to see that a lot of people aren't greed driven and do believe that a deal is a deal.

Refreshing. You are all decent people.

Lavalamp, you may have had the higher offer but these people can sell to whoever they choose. If they have accepted the offer, they are decent people for not going back on their word.

lavalamp1

I agree, it is great that people are not greed driven. But I still dont understand why the EA would request to see all my documents and then reject my offer an hour later.

Surely the EA would of known of the circumstances of the other buyer, so why encourage me to visit them in the branch, why request my documents?

As andyfromotley says I find it sounds dodgy too, despite a deal being a deal.