What is seller playing at?

ScorpiondeRooftrouser

Windsorcastle wrote: »

Hence why I offered 7k over to try and clinch it, as I thought they would grab it.

From their perspective they have put the house on the market and you have come running in waving money about and desperate to buy. They'd be daft not to think that they might be able to get more for it. If they can't get more for it, you have made a crazy offer. They are just waiting to find out which is true.

onlyroz

I would modify your offer down to the asking price and keep looking at other places in the mean time.

somethingcorporate

mandragora wrote: »

'I've put my flat up for sale. I really have no idea what it's worth, but I've taken the Estate Agent's advice and put it on for what they've told me is about right. In less than a week, we've had four viewings and three offers, all of them over the asking price, and then yesterday we had another offer of £7k over the asking price, but insisting that we take it off the market right now, and don't do any more viewings.

I'm so confused, and I just don't know what to do for the best. If we've had so many offers over our asking price, are we just really lucky, or has the EA got it wrong? I'm even beginning to wonder if they've deliberately under-priced it, and are rushing us so that we agree to this latest offer - maybe the last offer is from friends of the EA???.

I don't know for sure, but if this is what can happen in ten days or so, I'm wondering what we should do for the best? We want to move, and have seen a house we like, but we're only going to get one shot at this, and all our money is tied up in our home - if we get it wrong, and end up selling our flat cheaper than we should, will we regret it, if we see it go straight back on the market for £10k more than we sold it for?

I'm beside myself with worry, because I don't want to let a good sale slip through my fingers, but at the same time, a big part of me is worried we're being rushed. There's no pressure on the house we want to buy - that side of the chain is moving slowly. I feel like we're being pressured.

For now, I think I'm going to leave it for a bit longer - maybe another couple of weeks. As my wife pointed out, a couple of grand less on our selling price won't make much difference to the EA's commission overall, so of course they're going to push us to settle, but it will make a big difference to our mortgage payments - we could even have a small holiday with the difference, and it's years since we've been away - the kids deserve that after everything they've been through this past year.'

What a great fantasy story - and all it would take from the vendor would be an honest conversation with the EA who could relay it to the potential buyer - which I am sure they would understand.

The above doesn't actually make that much sense (nor is it accurate given all the offers bar the OPs was below asking), it would take a normal person 48 hours to decide whether they should remarket for a higher price, not wait around at the current price because no-one would be expecting to be offering money that much above asking. If they want more money it makes logical sense to remarket it at a higher price not expecting people to now come in £10k+ above asking (unless this is London, I guess) but to keep people dangling for a couple of weeks to find that out is just plain inconsiderate and I'd walk away on principle - better now than when they prat you around on some minor contract details they don't understand.

What they got instead was a generic blank holding statement on waiting 2 weeks which makes me think they're more likely to be in a complex situation (divorcing for instance) or just be a difficult or unrealistic seller.

warehouse

I think the reason for them holding off is your bonkers 7K over asking price. Honestly, that's really silly. Of course they now think they've undervalued it.

Windsorcastle

warehouse wrote: »

I think the reason for them holding off is your bonkers 7K over asking price. Honestly, that's really silly. Of course they now think they've undervalued it.

It is in London and we've just rounded up to the nearest 10k on a 360k property, it's not that silly surely, especially as they were refusing offers 'close to' the asking price? If everyone else is offering under and I have offered over, I had hoped they would jump at that. It's not as if other offers were also over... (although for all I know they are still having viewings and could have had all sorts of offers by now).


London EAs seem to expect increments of 10k a time now every time they reject an offer so on that basis 7k doesn't seem too extravagant!

ScorpiondeRooftrouser

Windsorcastle wrote: »

It is in London and we've just rounded up to the nearest 10k on a 360k property, it's not that silly surely, especially as they were refusing offers 'close to' the asking price? If everyone else is offering under and I have offered over, I had hoped they would jump at that. It's not as if other offers were also over... (although for all I know they are still having viewings and could have had all sorts of offers by now).


London EAs seem to expect increments of 10k a time now every time they reject an offer so on that basis 7k doesn't seem too extravagant!

If you are selling anything and within a week someone offers you more money for it than you are asking, you are going to say "I might be asking too little for this". It's as simple as that. The other offers may have been close to asking, and they would wonder whether those people only went under because everyone goes under...people assume you've asked for as much as you think you can possibly get and will take less. One offer like yours changes the seller's thinking from "They think it's at a decent price and I should get close to what I'm asking " to "Whoah, I've priced this too low." Stop thinking that what they were asking was "what they wanted for it". It was what they thought they could get for it. You've made them wonder if they were wrong.

Had you offered under asking and been prepared to negotiate up, they might well have agreed to sell it to you for less than you have actually offered. You have the psychology of this all wrong.

Windsorcastle

It's gone from strange to completely baffling! I phoned the (online) EA yesterday to ask if they knew what was happening. They came back after a few minutes to tell me, quite nonchalantly, that the vendor had accepted an offer on Thursday night! I was incredulous.

I asked whether the EA had alerted the vendor to the fact they still had an offer on the table, and he said "Several offers actually", and that the vendor has left all these offers just hanging. I was really angry that they had not reverted to the rest of us to increase our offers. The EA's response was basically, "Yes, I'm surprised as well, I don't know what they are doing"!!!

The EA said I could message the vendor directly to discuss but they (EA) do not get involved in negotiating or advising the seller on offers!

Can anyone make any sense of this? I am SO frustrated. I messaged the vendor yesterday asking if I can make another offer, but no response whatsoever.

Finally, the EA also said that the vendor has not removed the property from the market despite accepting this other offer. Am hopping mad with frustration and can't fathom it...

mandragora_2

So if they haven't taken it off the market, and if, despite everything, you're still interested in proceeding, improve your offer. if you don't want the aggro, because you can't cope with how they're selling their flat, move on and look for something else

Windsorcastle

mandragora wrote: »

So if they haven't taken it off the market, and if, despite everything, you're still interested in proceeding, improve your offer. if you don't want the aggro, because you can't cope with how they're selling their flat, move on and look for something else

Thanks. But I am TRYING to improve my offer, but the online agent will not do this verbally for me and says I need to do it online. However the online system will not let me alter my offer until the previous one has been rejected! I have phoned the agent 3 more times today begging them to convey the improved offer but they won't. They just keep saying I need to wait for the vendor to respond to yesterday's message. AAAAARRGGGHHH!!

What kind of vendor just ignores someone offering potentially more money when they haven't officially put the property under offer? It makes no sense...

DandelionPatrol

Windsorcastle wrote: »

Thanks. But I am TRYING to improve my offer, but the online agent will not do this verbally for me and says I need to do it online. However the online system will not let me alter my offer until the previous one has been rejected! I have phoned the agent 3 more times today begging them to convey the improved offer but they won't. They just keep saying I need to wait for the vendor to respond to yesterday's message. AAAAARRGGGHHH!!

What kind of vendor just ignores someone offering potentially more money when they haven't officially put the property under offer? It makes no sense...

Well, you could just try creating a new ID on the system.

If that works, do please come back and let us know, because it is a new slant on having lots of offers and lots of people offering, if most of them are really the same people making progressively higher offers.