Does this scream difficult vendor or normal?

LondonGirl252

Hi all,

My BF and I are FTB and after viewing 16 properties put in an offer on a 2 bed apartment yesterday. When we viewed the agent said it had been sold twice before but fell through. First time, the guy who bought it was having deposit funded by dad, when dad saw it refused to fund it and told son to find something cheaper. Second time guys deposit was in shares and took 2 months to liquidate so it fell through again.

We offered 295 which was rejected so then offered 300 which was accepted, I then asked for property to be taken off the market and they said no. Asked when next viewing was, it's weds this week so I asked what I need to do to get it taken off the market and all further viewings canceled. They initially said the mortgage valuation needed to be completed and confirmed before they'd take it off the market. I felt uncomfortable that I'd instruct my broker to go for the mortgage when they were still having viewings. So we have now agreed that when I pay for searches they'll stop viewings and when the mortgage valuation is done they'll pop up the sold board.

They have somewhere they want to move forward on and we have no chain so while I understand they're nervous we should be ideal buyers. I sent the agent our mortgage DIP and offered to come down and show him the bank statement showing our 15% deposit in liquid cold hard cash.

Would be really great to get some experiences on these situations, I really don't want to miss out on this but nervous about it all!!

Lg

Immers7

I would have walked away to be honest.

You have provided them with evidence that you have the funds to purchase the property and they still want to leave the property on the market.

They will jump ship at the sound of any slightly higher offer.

CMu88

Yeah sounds difficult vendor to me, once an offer is accepted they should be taking it off the market and putting as sold. I guess they sre wary after the last 2 but you have all the evidence needed!

Is your heart set on it? If so I'd move quick with your mortgage application!

rochja

I sympathise with your anxiety here. Buying a house is one of the most stressful things you can do.The hurdles you have ahead of you are daunting: you could be gazzumped; you could find something worrying in the searches; the survey could throw up problems; the terms of the leasehold could be frightening; the management company could be a nightmare; all the timings you think everyone is going to stick to might fly out of the window; the purchase may fail or it could prove worse: you could be buying into nightmare neighbours. At some stage you have to bite the bullet. We have had everything that could go wrong do so in one purchase or another including things like finding the land we thought we had bought not all being shown as ours on land registry, finding a builder had faked an architects' certificate making the house we wanted to sell un-mortgagable [why didn't our solicitor spot that and why couldn't we make him accountable?] and being bullied by a national builder into moving onto an unfinished home. The problems are survivable; any losses sustainable. Having a safe roof over your head is priceless.

ACG

Normally its either once a DIP and/or Proof of deposit have been shown OR when a valuation has been instructed/booked in.

If I am being honest, I think I would have said it comes off when the valuation has been instructed or move on to a different property - but I am very risk averse so would not want to lose money.

But you can see their side, they want to keep their options open.

Thrugelmir

ACG wrote: »

But you can see their side, they want to keep their options open.

Takes to 2 parties to strike a deal. So there needs to be give and take. Accepting viewings still suggests they'd accept a higher offer. Which indicates the nature and character of the sellers. Hassle now will no doubt result in hassle later.

bexster1975

I have to say from what you have told us, I would have walked away. Was 300 loads below the asking price if you don't mind my asking? If they have somewhere to go and you have options I would leave 300 on the table and say you will keep looking if it's not going to be withdrawn. Could always walk away altogether.

It depends how much you like the place/area, what the market is like where you are and how brave you feel

Good luck

Bexster

mrstick

I'd be worried that if the survey came back with any major issues, there wouldn't be any room for negotiation with these sort of vendors.


Personally, I wouldn't be parting with any cash until the property was completely off the market.

LondonGirl252

Thanks very much for all the comments

300k was original asking price, the day we viewed the agent told us they were considering offers over 290. It's extremely competitive where we are buying so went in with 295 as our heart really is set on it. They rejected that so went to 300 which was accepted.

I managed to instruct a solicitor this morning and he sent over confirmation so I have forwarded this to the agent and asked to write back and confirm no further viewings will take place.

My gut tells me they would gazump us if they received a higher offer so I am trying to mitigate this risk as much as possible.

The property is a purpose built apartment block, only 6 apartments and only 12 years old so we are reasonably confident surveys will be OK.

Just really nervous about us committing ££ and being gazumped but it seems that's the risk I'll have to take.

If anything else comes up untoward I shall just have to walk away.

Fingers crossed! Thanks for the advice

Thrugelmir

Play their game. Tell the EA that you wish to continue to view other properties.

nubbins

Not sure why everyone's anti-vendor on this one, if I had two previous fails from what sounds like at least 1 FTB possibly 2 I would be doing exactly the same and not taking it off the market until the 3rd FTB had shown some solid commitment,