No good at this game!

HouseBuyer77

I think the EA also realises how solid and organised we are. Of course this will probably all go out of the window if someone offers more money, but I live in hope.

I had the offer accepted on what I'm buying despite it not being the highest (top offer was significantly higher) because I'd done a good job of demonstrating to the EA that I was a solid buyer. So you may very well have it! Good luck.

claire_mc_2

HouseBuyer77 wrote: »

I had the offer accepted on what I'm buying despite it not being the highest (top offer was significantly higher) because I'd done a good job of demonstrating to the EA that I was a solid buyer. So you may very well have it! Good luck.

Thank you and congrats! Great to hear that it does happen.

gadgetmind

DRP wrote: »

Decide how far you want to go and work your way to it in 3 hops, with the last being a small increment.

Classic negotiating technique that's used when both sides want to do the deal and money is the only issue. However, if the vendor is in a strong position, then can choose to yawn and just ignore it.

DRP

gadgetmind wrote: »

Classic negotiating technique that's used when both sides want to do the deal and money is the only issue. However, if the vendor is in a strong position, then can choose to yawn and just ignore it.

Yes definitely. I think it's useful when theres one buyer who's trying to convince that they;ve offered all they can.

When there's multiple offers, money talks loudest IME.

westernpromise

claire_mc wrote: »

Thanks, ReadingTim. I think that's what we will do tonight. Then, if it was a game to get us to 300k, happy days. If it wasn't, and they are determined to get close to asking price, which is too far for us, then we can move on and focus on something else. The reason I feel confident that 300k is a good offer is that similar 4 bed places nearby have recently sold for 315-320 so I really think they're aiming too high!

There's a drawback to doing this though.

Say they go with someone who's bid £305k and you bid £300k to show you're serious. The vendor's now in a lovely position, because if it then falls through for whatever reason, he's got you not far behind. When the vendor then comes back to see if you are still interested, all price discussion is going to start from how much better than £300k can you do.

If OTOH you were last seen at £289k, nobody yet has any idea what your best and final offer might be. So your stance is "thank you so, so much for coming back to us, we really, really appreciate that. We did like the house. Thing is, we're actually quite a long way forward on another place now, and it's a lot closer to £289 than £305. Can you flesh this out for me a bit? Why would I pay £305k, where are they getting that idea from? I mean have they got any room in that?"

The game here is to get them to admit that the £305k idea came from the buyer who can't proceed. So it can be ignored. If there were others they'd be talking to them not you.

The other thing I have found useful is to see if you can then go round for a cup of tea without the agent, and while being generally pleasant, polite and amiable, see what's up. A good line of conversation is "well we're really not very far apart are we? It's not like we're at 240 and you're at 340. We're almost there. It feels like there's a deal in here somewhere. What can we do?" - meaning what can they do.

The one where you say "If you can get to 297 I'd shake on it right now" can be a good 'un because they've got the opportunity to sort this right now.

good luck anyway.

gadgetmind

I guess we've had it lucky. We've only ever bought two houses, vendors showed us around rather than agents, and when we described how ready we were to go ahead if property/price were right, they both nearly locked the doors to prevent us leaving.

No, seriously, one bloke shouted to his wife, "They're first time buyers with mortgage approval, lock the doors!"

Hoploz

Cup of tea?! Jog on, I'm selling my house not providing an afternoon's entertainment!!!!!

sparks11

We went to the first of several group viewings on the house we ended up offering on, it was up for £200K and after much discussion, we offered £185K (it needs a fair bit of work, we weren't trying to be cheeky.) Instantly, we had the EA telling us there was over 30 viewings arranged on the property, houses always go really quickly on that street, there was a higher offer in and we must increase ours. We weren't prepared to get into a bidding war so left our offer as it was. Both offers were rejected, they increased, we didn't.

Cut forward a month and we get a phone call from the EA asking if we are still interested. The other couple had pulled out due to a 'change in personal circumstance' (probably the strain pushy EAs have on relationships!) We ended up increasing our offer very slightly and had it accepted and house taken off the market the same day.

So out of over 30 viewings, there were only 2 offers. But the EA had obviously made the vendors feel that there'd be a bidding war and it would go over asking.

I've hated every minute of the process and do feel like EAs treat it as a game. They have a specific tone of voice that seems to be there just to create panic.

Good luck Claire, just because there's an open house doesn't mean anyone will want to buy it!

TranceNRG

sparks11 wrote: »

We went to the first of several group viewings on the house we ended up offering on, it was up for £200K and after much discussion, we offered £185K (it needs a fair bit of work, we weren't trying to be cheeky.) Instantly, we had the EA telling us there was over 30 viewings arranged on the property, houses always go really quickly on that street, there was a higher offer in and we must increase ours. We weren't prepared to get into a bidding war so left our offer as it was. Both offers were rejected, they increased, we didn't.

Cut forward a month and we get a phone call from the EA asking if we are still interested. The other couple had pulled out due to a 'change in personal circumstance' (probably the strain pushy EAs have on relationships!) We ended up increasing our offer very slightly and had it accepted and house taken off the market the same day.

So out of over 30 viewings, there were only 2 offers. But the EA had obviously made the vendors feel that there'd be a bidding war and it would go over asking.

I've hated every minute of the process and do feel like EAs treat it as a game. They have a specific tone of voice that seems to be there just to create panic.

Good luck Claire, just because there's an open house doesn't mean anyone will want to buy it!

Very very true! That's pretty much been my experience as well. Just because there's a lot of interest doesn't mean many of them will make offers. Even if they do then not many will offer asking price or above asking price.

claire_mc_2

TranceNRG wrote: »

Very very true! That's pretty much been my experience as well. Just because there's a lot of interest doesn't mean many of them will make offers. Even if they do then not many will offer asking price or above asking price.

At this point all we can do is that everything will fall into place for us. Trying not to get too hopeful, but it really will be hard to find anything better. Unlike the last property - I'm actually really glad that didn't work out in the end.