3 weeks later and still not accepted my offer

keeer

I'm a first time buyer, I put in an offer on a house 3 weeks ago, I was told that the vendor would probably accept the offer but it wasn't high enough for him to move into rented accommodation and so would need to move somewhere else (he didn't have anywhere to move to at that point).

I called the EA asking for progress (last call was Tuesday when they told me the vendor had put in an offer on a home), today I got an email saying the vendor hadn't received confirmation and was on holiday for 2 weeks (not sure if this is a lie or a way to stall).

Is there anything I can do at this point, I've no confirmation they're willing to even accept my offer, the house is still on the market and It's likely to be 5 weeks minimum since I put in the original offer. I'm getting sick of waiting. It pains me to do it, but should I withdraw my offer or threaten to or something? I'm really unhappy wasting my time and efforts chasing.

HappyMJ

If you're not getting a response then just find something else.

pinkteapot

Phone the EA. Tell them your offer stays on the table till you find something else, then leave it.

Nothing you can do to force them to give you an answer. You could say forget it and withdraw the offer, but there's not much point (unless you're worried about dealing with them as sellers further down the line!). Keep looking at other houses and see if anything else comes up before they make up their mind.

Mrs_Imp

Leave your offer on the table but carry on looking. If you find something else and they get back to you, just say that they took too long and you found somewhere else.

keeer

Sounds wise all round Pity there's into much else available! So eager to get out of rented accommodation! I just hope I'm not being setup for a gazumping here (or the vendor isn't showing round dozens of people in hope of a higher offer).

ReadingTim

Leave the offer on the table and start viewing other properties - especially with the same agent as the first place - if they see you're a serious proceedable buyer, they might be able to exert a little pressure on the vendor of the first place to give some more serious consideration to your offer.

Mossfarr

I recently put offers in on two properties but in both cases the vendors said they would consider them but would prefer a bit more.
To me that just says they will wait to see if they get higher offers and if they don't they would come back to mine as a last resort. I don't expect any other answer from them, they have made their position clear enough.
It seems to me your vendor simply wants a higher offer, he is not under any obligation to accept your current offer and he doesn't sound as if he's in a desperate rush to sell. You should continue viewing other properties.
PS you can't be gazumped if you haven't had your offer accepted!

Thrugelmir

keeer wrote: »

was on holiday for 2 weeks (not sure if this is a lie or a way to stall).

To achieve what?

keeer

To achieve what?

I sent them an email saying "is he actually taking this offer seriously or am I going to be waiting two months, I've got a lot on my plate and I'll start looking at other properties if I'm being strung on here"

They rang me and said he's definitely taking it seriously, so much so that he's made an offer on a house (this I suspect was to suggest a decision would be made shortly and make me feel like looking isn't worth the effort due to the impending decision). Then I suspect they realised they'd got themselves stuck in a position whereby there wasn't an offer or a decision and in actual fact he needed more time.

It's in the estate agents interest to take the offer, the house has been on the market for over a year; I do genuinely think the guy probably wasn't expecting an offer and hasn't got anywhere to go to. I just want to either hear that or know it's unlikely I'm going to be moving this year ... The offer was a reasonable one I think, whether or not the guys waiting out for more money is a different story.

Thrugelmir

keeer wrote: »

I do genuinely think the guy probably wasn't expecting an offer and hasn't got anywhere to go to.

Of course not. No one is going to accept an offer until the person offering has "sold" theirs. Chains take time to build. If you are at the bottom. Then expect it to take time. Never been any different.