Vendor viewings & putting an offer in

Travelling_shoes

Hi,

I would welcome some feedback. I viewed a property on Saturday; this was a vendor viewing. I liked the property immediately. The estate agent was closed by the time I had viewed the property, but I sent an e-mail to say that I liked the property & would contact the agent on the Monday to discuss further. I had also received an e-mail from the agent prior to the viewing, stating that she would contact me to get feedback.

I contacted the agent first thing this morning, to be told that an offer had been made on the Sunday (directly to the vendor, the estate agent was closed).

In a nutshell, the vendor went with the first offer. I am a cash buyer, no chain, offered the full asking price, and at the risk of sounding bitter, am really not sure what I could have done differently.

I understood that it is bad etiquette to make an offer directly to the vendor. Is this just naive?

G_M

Ring, write, or go round to the vendor and make your offer.

Worst that can happen is they say no. If your offer is higher, they may say yes.

Otherwise not much you can do. House-buying is stressful, difficult and emotional but when you lose a property you just have to move on.

As for how/when to make offers, personally I wouldn't be rushed. It's a huge decision and making a £X00,000 decision within a few minutes/hours of a 15 minute viewing (typical length) makes no sense to me.

eddddy

Travelling_shoes wrote: »

I understood that it is bad etiquette to make an offer directly to the vendor. Is this just naive?

My guess is it was a naive vendor who was pressured by an assertive buyer. (Or somebody is fibbing to you about something.)

There's no harm in trying to talk to the vendor directly. Some people would jump at an offer of £1k or £2k more. Others would feel honour-bound to stick with the offer they accepted.

Or you could suggest to the vendor that he/she hands the negotiation back to the EA - to let you and the other offerer fight it out.

luckbox

I dont think you did anything wrong here.

If they have accepted an offer and then happy to change that a couple of days later for a few extra £K, I'd be wary of doing business with them anyway. Having done this once, what's to stop them ditching you down the line for a second higher offer or asking for more just before exchange.

AdrianC

Travelling_shoes wrote: »

I viewed a property on Saturday; this was a vendor viewing. I liked the property immediately. The estate agent was closed by the time I had viewed the property, but I sent an e-mail to say that I liked the property & would contact the agent on the Monday to discuss further.

Did you tell the vendor that you were seriously thinking of putting an offer in?

I contacted the agent first thing this morning, to be told that an offer had been made on the Sunday (directly to the vendor, the estate agent was closed).

Right, and?

In a nutshell, the vendor went with the first offer.

Such is their prerogative.

I am a cash buyer, no chain, offered the full asking price, and at the risk of sounding bitter, am really not sure what I could have done differently.

Put an offer in on Saturday.

I understood that it is bad etiquette to make an offer directly to the vendor. Is this just naive?

The vendor clearly didn't think so, and they're the only one whose opinion matters.

Wassa123

This happenes to us. Vendor accepted an offer less than asking price and cancelled all viewings. Silly really!

Davesnave

I agree with GM; you can still make your offer, but if you do, you should acknowledge that you may start a bidding war.

The vendor may have their own views about etiquette, so understand that they may reject your offer, even if it's higher.

Finally, remember that around 1/3 of sales fall through, so nothing's set in stone. Uncertainty is an unavoidable part of property transactions in England & Wales.

caronoel

Can you afford to go a few grand above asking? Worth trying.

I'd go direct to the vendor, rather than putting it through the estate agent

AnotherJoe

Almost exactly the same happened to me a couple years ago. Vendor accepted the first offer made after an open house rather than wait over the weekend to see what offers came in. We offered more but vendor stuck with first deal.

Luckily for us two weeks or so later we found a much nice place. A few weeks after that the EA for first place came back to us and said deal had fallen through, were we interested. Nope.

Whilst it's the vendors fault ultimately, the EA I think is also culpable, they could have advised the vendor to make a choice a few days after the open house, when all the bids were in, , rather than snatch at the first one that came in, which IMO made no sense at all for the sake of a few days.

G_M

I viewed a property a year or so back. EA failed to turn up so seller showed me round. She was very helpful, and we got quite friendly. Then she sat me down and made tea (no cake sadly).

I tentatively raised the topic of price, and she instantly bristled and responded "I don't keep a dog in order to bark myself. Talk to the agent!"

I suggested that I preferred to talk to the organ grinder, not the organ grinder's monkey.

Things went downhill from there.....

DaftyDuck

No cake... Explains it all. If she'd offered cake, you'd have offered 5k over asking, I'm sure... All through lack of cake. No doubt things'd have been different for Marie-Antoinette, if she'd suggested cake, not bread!