Missed Out on Buying First Home - Gutted

johnwb89

I was just wondering if anyone has any general advice going forward & to tell me if the estate agent as been as useless as I think in this scenario.

The property was up at £215,000 in Sheffield which is popular at present, and I opened with £205,000 - big deposit, first time buyer, ready to go straight away & considering they've already bought it's an okay opening move. The agent rings me 5 days later and says, why not meet in the middle at £210,000 - you're the only person in at the moment so should do it. Knowing I'm the only one in, I increased to £207.500. Heard nothing. The next day I call up, chuck another £1000 in as I hear there's a bit more interest now. Hear nothing.

I call later that day and say, spoken to my dad, lets get it over the line - give her the £210,000 and take it off the market today & its a deal. Heard nothing. So I call up yesterday, I'm told there's a higher offer than mine, but she's not made any moves or rejected mine yet, So I say chuck in £1000 more and see if that sways it. I hear nothing.

So I call up today, she tells me that it's been sold above asking, and she didn't even feel it was worth informing me of this as I was near the top of of my budget. To be fair to her, I said I was hoping to buy around £200,000 and £210,000 was final offer, but it's a bloody mind game! You surely can't say you have £20,000 extra if needed.

Just VERY VERY deflated as I lovd the house, and looking back the market is obviously more cut throat here than I thought

Hoploz

The EA got you to increase significantly from your first offer. They did a good job for their customer. In the days between your first offer and now, they have had other interest. As you seemed to be going up in small increments it appeared you couldn't stretch any further so the higher offer won the house.

Next time I'd suggest going in bold and not wasting days going up little by little, just offer the maximum you're willing to pay.

BTW, you do have my sympathies - it isn't easy. Even when you've been doing it for years it's still bl00dy hard to know what to offer when it comes down to actually doing it - the emotional attachment gets the better of you!

johnwb89

Thanks for the speedy reply. It seems that way to me too. In reality I could have gone to £220-£225, but wasn't given the option too which is what's so annoying. I figured my 1st time buyer position might strengthen my bid a little - is that naive or not?

If she had just said - I think your offers too low and will be rejected, try the asking I would have. Nothing was actually communicated as rejected, is that normal?

marliepanda

johnwb89 wrote: »

Thanks for the speedy reply. It seems that way to me too. In reality I could have gone to £220-£225, but wasn't given the option too which is what's so annoying. I figured my 1st time buyer position might strengthen my bid a little - is that naive or not?

If she had just said - I think your offers too low and will be rejected, try the asking I would have. Nothing was actually communicated as rejected, is that normal?

Being a first time buyer means you don't have a chain (aka a property to sell)
However, there are cash buyers, people in rentals, people who've already sold who are in exactly the same position so it doesn't necessarily put you above anyone.

And for thousands more pounds, many people are happy to wait even if they aren't

Depending on your morals and how much oh want the house you could offer 220/225.

johnwb89

Well that's useful to know, thank you. I think it's just hit me harder as there was nobody else in Monday so given what I know now, I should have pounced but I thought just shaving £2.5k off would help redecorate a few areas, whereas now it looks like such a stupid amount to miss out for.

Although, just because the estate agent thinks she would have taken £210,000, doesn't mean she would have.

oystercatcher

As a seller I would have been really annoyed by slowly increasing multiple offers and if other sensible offers were made I would favour those rather than someone trying to haggle like they were in a streetmarket. I would be wondering if this would start again after the survey wanting to knock the price down due to minor problems.

If the area is popular then offer as near asking price as you can manage. Think from the sellers point of view , if you think you can achieve near asking price then why would you effectively give away 10K ? Silly offers might work when a property has been on the market for a long time but not in a busy market.

johnwb89

It's a tricky one, as I think it's certainly at the top end for ones sold nearby, and at the time I was the only person who was bidding after being on the market 2 weeks - so I kind of thought it might be way over top end, so £207,500 for a 2nd bid seemed okay to me, but maybe not from your perspective?

I think the error was maybe when there was more interest not slapping down a bigger bid for full asking price, buy all a learning curve I suppose. There still only 2 people involved on Tuesday still including me.

LadyGMadameToThee

They call that a baptism of fire, my dear. FTB here - I have quite a few hair-raising stories to tell! Good old British housing market - it's must shave years off our lives!

johnwb89

Good to know my pain is shared with many!

pretamang

johnwb89 wrote: »

In reality I could have gone to £220-£225, but wasn't given the option too which is what's so annoying.

This is the dilemma: either try and save some ££ by guessing what the lowest the seller would accept vs go in at an amount near/at/above asking to secure it.

You did have the opportunity to go higher but someone beat you to it. If you'd offered £215k on day one you might have got it before the other buyer became involved; you might have then felt 'perhaps I could have got it cheaper if I'd started lower', but is that better or worse than where you are now?

When I was a first time buyer I did the same offering under asking on places (every £ was more important back then) and increasing a bit at a time until I either lost out to someone else, reached my limit, or found the sellers' biting point. It took a while and several properties to get an offer accepted.

Second time around I just went in straight in offering my top budget at or around asking price if I thought the place was worth it, take it or leave it no increases, move on if they don't accept. EA and buyers knew I was serious so there was no back-and-forth and no chance of me missing out to someone else whilst negotiating.

johnwb89

Thanks for the very thoughtful and knowledgeable reply. I think that is the dilemma. You also don't want to overpay because you've become too emotionally attached the the idea of living somewhere when in reality it's probably at a top end anyway. I could tell the estate agent thought £210k was about it's worth, however with me being the only person interested, I didn't see the rush to snatch it.

That now looks foolish, as does not going for £215k later on. I think one big factor is a lot of it is money I'm getting passed from family and I'm keen to not waste it or go against their valuation or opinion too.