We’d like to remind Forumites to please avoid political debate on the Forum.

This is to keep it a safe and useful space for MoneySaving discussions. Threads that are – or become – political in nature may be removed in line with the Forum’s rules. Thank you for your understanding.

PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING: Hello Forumites! In order to help keep the Forum a useful, safe and friendly place for our users, discussions around non-MoneySaving matters are not permitted per the Forum rules. While we understand that mentioning house prices may sometimes be relevant to a user's specific MoneySaving situation, we ask that you please avoid veering into broad, general debates about the market, the economy and politics, as these can unfortunately lead to abusive or hateful behaviour. Threads that are found to have derailed into wider discussions may be removed. Users who repeatedly disregard this may have their Forum account banned. Please also avoid posting personally identifiable information, including links to your own online property listing which may reveal your address. Thank you for your understanding.
📨 Have you signed up to the Forum's new Email Digest yet? Get a selection of trending threads sent straight to your inbox daily, weekly or monthly!
The Forum now has a brand new text editor, adding a bunch of handy features to use when creating posts. Read more in our how-to guide

Offer on house - do we have to accept?

We have a house on the market through an agent & have been offered the asking price. However when it was valued it was valued at 20k more by two other agents but the one we chose said it was better to put it on low & then negotiate upwards. we now feel we should have followed our gut & stood firm in putting it on higher then negotiating from a lower offer.

Do we have to accept the asking price? We did raise this might be an issue at the time as I know personally I would never offer more than the asking price outright but the agent assured us lower was better.

Why would anyone offer more unless they are in a bidding war?
«1

Comments

  • anselld
    anselld Posts: 8,738 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    You don't have to accept.

    Ask the agent to "negotiate upwards" for you as previously agreed.
  • martin.cat
    martin.cat Posts: 238 Forumite
    You don't have to accept but be realistic

    Were you happy and can you afford to sell at that price?
    You have a contract with current agent which you would still be expected to honour so potentially more than one set of fees
    Any changes of EA will delay sale

    Sometimes a quick pain free sale is a big bonus so I would ask your agent to ascertain your potential buyers true position and see if they are likely to complete and in a reasonable time. Also be open about the value with agent and see what the say

    However now you have advertised at that price you will struggle to get more. This is because potential buyers will be able to see the price changes. Realistically you would have to come off the market and wait some time. I remember our agent advising we can go down on price but not up
  • pmlindyloo
    pmlindyloo Posts: 13,104 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    dwill1503 wrote: »
    We have a house on the market through an agent & have been offered the asking price. However when it was valued it was valued at 20k more by two other agents but the one we chose said it was better to put it on low & then negotiate upwards. we now feel we should have followed our gut & stood firm in putting it on higher then negotiating from a lower offer.

    Do we have to accept the asking price? We did raise this might be an issue at the time as I know personally I would never offer more than the asking price outright but the agent assured us lower was better.

    Why would anyone offer more unless they are in a bidding war?

    I think your gut feeling is right. The EA wants to sell the house to get the commission.

    I cannot understand why any buyer would offer more unless in a bidding war.

    Either accept the offer (might only have got this if it was on at the higher offer) or take it off the market and put it back on later at the higher price (still not fool proof if potential buyers look up previous history.)
  • eddddy
    eddddy Posts: 18,553 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Hopefully, you have a fairly standard "no sale, no fee" agreement with the EA.

    But if the t&cs talk about their fee being due if they introduce a "ready, willing and able" buyer - some EA's might start arguing that they have done that, by getting a full asking price offer.

    (That's one reason it's best to avoid EAs who talk about a "ready, willing and able buyer". It can cause many arguments.)
  • john_white
    john_white Posts: 545 Forumite
    pmlindyloo wrote: »

    I cannot understand why any buyer would offer more unless in a bidding war.



    Because the asking price is low? Or the property has lots of interest ...
  • dwill1503
    dwill1503 Posts: 142 Forumite
    Thanks all. We were told it is a very relaxed contract - weren't why terms that we signed, just short document agreeing fee if sold. We werebt even given a copy.

    We aren't in any hurry to sell, the house has tenants in until sept, which the EA fully aware of so really want to hold out a bit longer - ideally for £10/15k more. Maybe we'll live to regret it but already we've had 3 offers.
  • ellie27
    ellie27 Posts: 1,097 Forumite
    Ninth Anniversary 500 Posts Combo Breaker
    How long has your house been on the market? If you have asking price within the first week I would hold out from accepting yet.

    Could you set a closing date if there have been 3 offers on your house?
  • ViolaLass
    ViolaLass Posts: 5,764 Forumite
    john_white wrote: »
    Because the asking price is low? Or the property has lots of interest ...


    Why would you offer more just because you think the asking price is low?
  • dwill1503
    dwill1503 Posts: 142 Forumite
    It's been in for 8 days so a great response so far!
  • Hoploz
    Hoploz Posts: 3,888 Forumite
    Definitely consider going back to the other two and see whether they might all bid against each other - giving everyone one last chance as it were. If the others were lower it's most likely to be the person who offered asking price who increases over it. But it could be a way of injecting a little competition.

    Then you can decide whether you want to accept any of them or not.
This discussion has been closed.
Meet your Ambassadors

🚀 Getting Started

Hi new member!

Our Getting Started Guide will help you get the most out of the Forum

Categories

  • All Categories
  • 354.4K Banking & Borrowing
  • 254.4K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
  • 455.4K Spending & Discounts
  • 247.3K Work, Benefits & Business
  • 604.1K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
  • 178.4K Life & Family
  • 261.6K Travel & Transport
  • 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
  • 16K Discuss & Feedback
  • 37.7K Read-Only Boards

Is this how you want to be seen?

We see you are using a default avatar. It takes only a few seconds to pick a picture.