First time negotiations

SeaVixen

Hi all,
Bit of advice please
We're interested in a house which was listed as Offers Over £250k. We're first time buyers with a mortgage agreed in principle, so went in with a first offer of £245. This was turned down, which I thought it might be. The agent said rather than enter into a never ending haggling process, the seller is looking for £260, what would be our best offer. So we said £255,750 which was turned down.
The agent said that they told the buyer to think about what they want for the house because there are no other offers on the table and we are obviously a much simpler bet than anyone with a chain that might come along.
The agent said she'd be in touch when the seller has decided what they want to do.

Do you think the seller is actually considering a price lower than £260? or is that a line which is being used to make us wait and fear that someone else will come along so that we will hopefully offer £260?
How long should I wait before calling the agent? Its been 2 days already.

The house has been on the market for about 2 weeks. Its currently being rented out, so the seller isn't living in the property, but is looking for the cash lump sum to invest elsewhere - I dont know if this is time sensitive.


Thanks in advance!

Slithery

SeaVixen wrote: »

...and we are obviously a much simpler bet than anyone with a chain that might come along...

This just isn't true, FTB's are usually much more hassle than experienced buyers.

SeaVixen

. This just isn't true, FTB's are usually much more hassle than experienced buyers

I'm sure you're right, especially from the agents point of view. But the agent is obviously referring to us not having a chain.

As an experienced seller, any thoughts on the waiting situation?

TIA

thelem

How much do you want it? Can you afford to go to £260k? Do you think it is worth £260k? As it's only been on the market for two weeks and they probably aren't in a huge hurry to sell it, but only they know if they'll come back and accept your offer. I'd continue looking elsewhere - you may find a better house round the corner on for £240k.


It's worth remembering that the agent just wants to get the house sold. They don't really care if it sells for £230k or £270k. They will be trying to convince you to pay the highest price you can, while convincing the vendor to accept whatever you'll offer.


If you do have your offer accepted, make sure the house is vacant (the tenants have moved our and contract has ended) before you exchange contracts (that's the stage at which you're committed to the purchase, which could be a month or more before you get the keys). Otherwise, if the tenants decide they don't want to leave you could find yourself as an accidental landlord. Ask now when and how the tenants will be leaving (e.g. has notice already been served by either party).

SeaVixen

Thanks thelem.
We are still looking, just in case. The seller clearly isn't tied to us, so we're not tied to them. We would really like to live in this house though.

Re: the tenants - the agent has said that when we have paid for the surveys the seller will issue the tenants their two month notice.
There is currently a massive for sale sign in the garden, so it won't be a surprise to them. They have kids in school, so my guess would be that they will try to move house over the summer holidays when it will be easier for the kids, rather than wait till they are given their marching orders. This is just speculation based on what I would do in their situation.

What I think my question really is, is:
Did the agent just tell me that to turn the offer down, but keep me thinking about the property?
Is the ball really back in our court, even though the agent said she'd call me back when she knows more?

We're literally just waiting for them to contact us. Should we be thinking about another offer?

thelem

It's only been a couple of days - that's not very long, particularly there are multiple vendors who need to discuss with each other. They may also be waiting to see if any other viewers make an offer.


Re: tenants, yes that's the most likely scenario, but it's also possible that the family can't get another suitable property for some reason (maybe they are on stupidly low rent at the moment). In that scenario they could stay to the bitter end, and that's not a fight you want to be having.

Hoploz

My guess is theyre wanting to wait and see if there is other interest.

Hard to say whether they'd accept your offer. It sounds reasonable based on the asking price, but if they haven't even given the tenants notice yet, that says they are not in a hurry to sell.

Definitely look elsewhere.

Be prepared that they may come back and say there's been another offer, but they'll give you first dibs to increase yours. Can you afford to?

ciderboy2009

Personally I would walk away from this one.

I certainly wouldn't be paying for a survey or even thinking about instructing a solicitor unless I knew that the tenants had been served notice at the very least - you do realise that they could still be there for 6 months or more after they've been given notice if they drag things out?

Or even longer if the landlord has got certain things wrong with their tenancy.

walwyn1978

Ignoring the seperate issue of the tenants, where you've been given good advice above; if they want 260 and you're keen, go to 260 with the caveat that it's taken off the market if offer accepted. If they want the cash for another project, it may be that 260 is what they need out of it so won't accept less.

If you don't want to increase to 260, tell the EA your last offer stands but you're also looking elsewhere. If you are the only game in town for this property, the EA may then try and persuade the vendor to accept less.

The EA has literally a few pounds at best to gain by getting you from 255k to 260k so the issue such as it is is with the vendor not the EA.

SeaVixen

Hi all, just an update in case anyone was interested.

The seller came back to say they definitely wanted 260. So we offered 260.

The seller turned that down saying she now wants 265.

All I could do was scream "You're going the wrong way!"
(to myself, obviously)

The estate agent was quite open in saying they were dissapointed that she'd chosen to do that. The founder of the estate agent then called the seller to try and talk her round, but no luck.

We've left 260 on the table, but are looking elsewhere.

Thanks for your comments all.

Would still be interested to hear what prompted Slitherys comment higher up. I want any purchase to be as straightforward as possible, so any advice much appreciated. Are you still reading this Slithery or was it a post and run? !!!55357;!!!56834;