Worried my asking price offer will be used to inflate price

WeatherWoman

Hi,
We have been house-hunting for a year and have been struggling to find houses that meet our needs in the right location. There just hasn’t been much coming up.

We’ve sold our house and heard about a house that sounded ideal coming up, but not yet on the market.

We managed to secure an early viewing and absolutely loved it. We offered the asking price and asked them to take it off the market.

However the vendors seem
shocked to have had an offer so soon and said they want to let the property go to the market. They haven’t started looking yet (although plan to next weekend).

Now I’m worried the agents will launch the house and get people looking round able to say ‘we’ve already got an asking price offer on the table’. This could lead to over-asking price offers that we can’t afford to out-bid.

Should I withdraw our offer but ask to be kept informed of other offers? Or phone back and say it’s conditional on them not marketing the property? (I think they’d say no).

We really want to secure this house and just need some advice on the best way to do it.

Many thanks !!!128591;

Jaywood89

Unfortunately this is a catch 22

An offer (accepted) is always subject to removal from sale. So you can’t really tell them to remove it or you will back out as a way to sway this as they are already aware of that.

You can either leave your offer on the table and just carry on searching yourself or withdraw the offer. Personally I’d set a time frame for the offer. Maybe 3 weeks and say if you haven’t had the offer accepted by then you will withdraw it. That’s what I’d do but others may disagree. It sounds like they have already said No so if you can’t offer more then there isn’t much that can be done.

Remember just because a house is perfect for you doesn’t mean it will be for others, who knows they may not get much interest.

Unfortunately by going in straight at asking you’ve got that greedy eyed monster thinking, can I get more?! You would think most people would snap up asking price from a no chain buyer, but a secure bet isn’t always as appealing as a couple of K more to some. Greed I’m afraid.

Mickygg

I agree with Jaywood. Greed takes over and an asking price offer before going to market will cause People to think they have the price too low.

I would let them know that it is not an endless open offer, give them say 2 weeks on the table and after that it is withdrawn as you are looking at other properties. Are there by any chance any other houses of interest with the same EA? If there is book to view it then the EA knows you are serious about looking at other properties and word will go back to the vendors.

anselld

There are plenty of Vendors out there who are so greedy that every time they get an offer they just want a higher one. They will never sell.

If they will not stop marketing at this stage then tell them your offer is off the table.

mrginge

Jaywood89 wrote: »

Greed I’m afraid.

Hardly.
It makes no sense whatsoever for the vendor to not market the property.

Detroit

Curious as to why sellers wanting as much money as possible for their house are considered greedy, when buyers wanting as much house as possible for their money are not?

dunroving

If you withdraw your offer you take yourself off the radar so might only be spiting yourself. Maybe just tell the EA that since the seller is not willing to take the property off the market you will continue to look at other houses.

anselld

Detroit wrote: »

Curious as to why sellers wanting as much money as possible for their house are considered greedy, when buyers wanting as much house as possible for their money are not?

Sellers should adequately research the price before setting an asking price. The asking price should reflect their evaluation of a fair price they are willing to accept with some adequate negotiating margin on top.

A seller who changes their mind as soon as they receive the first asking price offer is either motivated by greed or failed to do their homework in the first place.

Engineering a bidding war above asking price is as bad as gazumping in my view and the vendors will probably get the karma they deserve.

[Deleted User]

I'm not sure there is a lot you can do now. The vendors have hesitated accepting due to the fact that they have an asking price offer so early. Some would take the property off the market because they just want the money they have asked for, but most others would react the same, its human nature. You can't take the cat out of the bag now.

You will just have to wait and continue to look. It was worth trying but it hasn't worked, yet.

I know its hard, but it might be worth really looking at other areas, for example up and coming areas close by. I think the market has slowed down a bit just now in many areas so you might have to wait a bit longer or adjust what you are prepared to look at.

victoriavictorious

anselld wrote: »

There are plenty of Vendors out there who are so greedy that every time they get an offer they just want a higher one. They will never sell.

If they will not stop marketing at this stage then tell them your offer is off the table.

Absolutely agree, I would not trust or entertain vendors like this and would certainly not risk incurring fees, only to get shafted further down the line.
If they refuse to play nicely, leave nothing on the table and don't enable them to use your genuine offer as a bargaining tool. It is pure greed.
I would also be questioning how serious they are about selling and as others have suggested, start booking more viewings with that same agent.
Oh, and even if the offers go a million quid over asking, it will still only be worth what the mortgage valuer says it's worth!

victoriavictorious

mrginge wrote: »

Hardly.
It makes no sense whatsoever for the vendor to not market the property.

Yes it does because it defeats the objective. It could backfire on them and I really hope it does. They/their agents were the ones who should have done their local research and set the asking price correctly. If they wanted more, they should have asked for more or offers above, not be making an already trying process even more stressful.
I'm not the only one who would tell any vendor with this attitude to go swivel.