Are we been played?

gettingtheresometime

Son phoned to put in an offer on a house but was told it had been sold & it subsequently took about a week to be updated both on the EA website & rightmove.

He's just put in an offer on another house which was rejected as the seller needed more to cover his mortgage. The house isn't worth the extra so son has said there's my offer its on the table for as long as you want it to be.

jase888

thanks for responses - to clarify we we able to go up to 220k and potentially over but were waiting out as we were only bidders at time and thought that sellers would come back and accept. Turns out was a risk which may not have paid off.

I just wondered why they hadnt updated site saying sold - we didnt think it was worth getting into bidding war as another 2-3k would be too much.

I understand people saying whats a few grand extra and must be over stretching but you have to set a limit otherwise where do you stop.

jase888

Linton wrote: »

It can take some time for the estate agents to update Rightmove. In the case of a house we bought, although the offer had been verbally accepted it took a while for the estate agents to be given explicit approval to take it off the market. The agents themselves would tell anyone who asked that it was STC.

It seems perverse to not buy the house you loved just for £1K out of £220K. As a vendor I would be tempted to reject someone wanting to haggle over £1K - it would suggest to me that they werent really serious.

Thanks thats what i was looking for, thought it could be the case but wanted to check as thought it could be some sort of estate agent game.

We could of gone 2-3k more if we wanted but as only bidders and people interested from what we understood didnt see the need,

jase888

amateur_house wrote: »

Although £1k doesn't seem much in comparison to £220k, £1000 will actually pay for a lot in terms of surveyor and solicitors fees. I had an offer for a property declined recently as it was £2.5k under what the vendor would accept. 3 weeks later the estate agent emailed and said the vendor was now willing to accept £1.5k more than I had offered. £1k makes all the difference

Couldnt agree more - its alright saying you paying that much but cant go an extra 1k but then its as you mentioned fees and stuff too.

Limits need to be set, altho people mis understood my post as we were prepared to go up another 2-3k

noddynoo

If its sold I'll eat my hat

amateur_house

How long has it been on the market and how quickly are other houses in the area selling? if it's been on a while it seems less likely that they would get two offers all of a sudden. Believing someone else is interested in a house makes it seem more desirable, and estate agents exaggerate other interest in a property for this reason. Who knows if they are telling the truth here? Have you tried asking a friend to phone up to arrange a viewing to see what response they get?

I feel certain we were duped by the estate agent into paying asking price as a first time buyer many years ago. The house was for sale with one of those quick sale companies. We ended up increasing our offer 3 times in the space of a few days as the 'other buyer' kept outbidding us. In hindsight we should have left the first offer on the table as the house had been on the market over a year.

Crashy_Time

AnotherJoe wrote: »

Not sure about that , seems like an asymmetrical "bet" to me, because the vendor will likely eventually sell, or has a chance at selling at that price if higher, or if not just loses a £k or so.

The buyer,meanwhile has lost out on living in an house they love for many years.

Most houses in the UK are not that unique.

ModernSlave

My experience is that in a low volume market agents prefer to keep sold STC properties listed as for sale as long as possible so it acts as a net to catch buyers they can direct to other properties. Recruiters do it for filled jobs too.

If you offer on a property remember to add that it is subject to the advertisements being removed.

I have also met a seller who insisted on having the house marketed right up to completion as they were always open to gazumping.

martinsurrey

Crashy_Time wrote: »

Most houses in the UK are not that unique.

Unique or not, the OP "gutted" at the thought of losing out on this one.

If houses of that size/location/price were that common, they would just be buying one of the other ones and wouldn't be posting here.

OP, looks like you tried to play a waiting game that's backfired, move on.

If house prices rise by 3% a year in your area, that £1k you were playing around over, will be gone to inflation in 1.8 months.

Crashy_Time

martinsurrey wrote: »

Unique or not, the OP "gutted" at the thought of losing out on this one.

If houses of that size/location/price were that common, they would just be buying one of the other ones and wouldn't be posting here.

OP, looks like you tried to play a waiting game that's backfired, move on.

If house prices rise by 3% a year in your area, that £1k you were playing around over, will be gone to inflation in 1.8 months.

Without a link we can`t see what all the fuss is about though?