Help on next move as buyer

Propertynewbie

I hope I'd be forgiven for wanting to show I've not been recounting or conjuring unrealistic scenarios and to that end share a recent anecdote taken from another thread:

sparks11 wrote: »

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.

[...] I've hated every minute of the process and do feel like EAs treat it as a game.

nubbins

Yes but Sparks offered 7.5% under the ask first time and increased it a bit the second offer, your second offer will still be 14% under the ask!

Propertynewbie

nubbins wrote: »

Yes but Sparks offered 7.5% under the ask first time and increased it a bit the second offer, your second offer will still be 14% under the ask!

Which I don't discount. I would imagine the local EA who knew of the house and our broker who saw the asking and sold prices had taken the 10% leeway into account when they said it was too high an asking price. We've offered 10k above asking price before so it isn't that the idea of meeting a sellers asking price is something we couldn't bring ourselves to. I am not saying it is a certainty the same thing is going to happen to us, if that wasn't clear enough.

Part of the comparison was to also demonstrate that I am not manufacturing scenarios of EAs possibly 'treating it as a game'. I've just been told the suggestion of the vendor's EA's manager was that he (the manager) was 'inclined to slow things down', at least until we meet their broker.

But to move this along, anything you want to add to the suggestion of not stipulating for the property be taken off the market if/when we make the final offer?

sparks11

Hello! We're first time buyers too and this has been a huge learning curve for us. Our offer on this property was based on roughly how much work we felt it needed doing plus a lot of research into house prices in the area. We felt that if we increased by much, we'd end up spending more on it than what it would be worth when we'd finished. We told the EA this when they asked why we wouldn't increase, and we reiterated it when they asked if we were still interested. That was the point when we could get a more open dialogue going with the vendors and ultimately meet somewhere in the middle. Personally, I don't know if it matters if that price is 5%, 15% or 50% under asking. A property is only worth what people will pay for it. We offered on 2 other houses as well, one below and above asking price, both rejected for different reasons. So, the same as OP, we weren't just looking for a deal, we offered what we genuinely felt the property was worth.

Propertynewbie wrote: »

But to move this along, anything you want to add to the suggestion of not stipulating for the property be taken off the market if/when we make the final offer?

We would have removed our offer if they hadn't taken it off the market. Far too easy to lose money otherwise. Thankfully, the EA this was through has a policy of taking off the market once a proceedable offer is there and the buyers have a solicitor they can name.

One thing that has helped us with the whole process - until you have the keys in your hand, don't get attached to a property, anything could happen. We're waiting for (hopefully) our mortgage offer now and at the minute, that house is just a house. Another, better one will come along if it falls through.