Cash offer rejected, another party offer accepted with no chance for us to better it

Cornishmaid89

Good morning, apologies if this is long winded but if anyone could offer advice I would be very grateful.

My partner and I viewed a house on Thursdays, it was advertised by an online estate agent but the actual owner showed us around. The listing online states it is a 5 bedroom, in need of slight renovation house. This house is on a main road and has other houses within the terrace. I saw the advert and fell in love before we viewed never imagining I would be going to look around a 5 bedroom house! When we looked around although we both loved the house it needs a lot of work, the toilets are there but not plumbed in, there is not one room that is finished. Not a problem I thought we can put our own stamp on it, upstairs the 5 expected bedrooms turned out to be 3.5 now this is because one room that's being classed as a bedroom to me is the landing this room leads to all of the other bedrooms and couldn't be used as a bedroom. Another bedroom is also so small it would struggle to fit a single bed in it. I added up roughly how much each room would cost before we made an offer. Now the advert said 200 which for the area and the fact it cannot be classed as a 5 bedroom to me was too much also compared it with the other houses. We need to leave money to do it up so we offered 160, aware you can go up but not down. We made them aware this offer is in cash that we are first time buyers with no chain, the estate agent came back and said he thinks the owner will accept 180 which in fairness we would of probably reached because we love the house. So we said we would be prepared to up our cash offer but we would like a second viewing to take our friend/electrican/plumber with us so he could check the basics are ok. Which was agreed and we were due to call them back to arrange a time. Yesterday whilst we were waiting for availability for our friend the estate agents phoned in the afternoon a few times but we missed the call so we phoned them back to say we were still waiting on his availability. The estate agent said that he was phoning to tell us another offer has been made and accepted so we didn't waste time arranging another viewing. My partner hung up and we both felt very deflated, this is all new to us but I wondered why we weren't given the chance to make a higher offer. So we phoned back and asked if this was possible, the estate agent said he would put another offer to the seller but he was drawing the papers up. He couldn't tell us what the offer was just substantially higher than ours. Gutted because this house would be our forever home and we would of definitely put another offer in we just wanted the basics looked at first. I spoke to my family and they said it didn't seem to ring true so my auntie phoned enquiring about the property to be told its still available and she can make a viewing. I was quite mad at this point and phoned to ask if it was available or not due to us being interested in other property we have another viewing of a different place but it's not AS nice as this could be. I was told no it's definitely having the papers drawn up and they would let us know if it changes. I admitted defeat felt a bit disheartened but my head is now working over time. The estate agents despite saying they work 24/7 being an online company have not updated their advert, it does not say under offer or stc. It's on right move and doesn't say anything their either.


Now could this be because they are calling our bluff hoping we will offer more? Or could it be legit if it is true I still don't understand why they haven't offered us to offer more. I don't understand how this all works, I really thought being a first time cash buyer would feel amazing with estate agents trying to snap us up but they've basically said it's sold. If that was true and I was an estate agent with a buyer with cash I would of then tried to interest them in other properties.

Any advice or similar experiences or even opinions would be so appreciated right now.

Thank you

Davesnave

Are you a proper cash buyer, or do you need a mortgage?

Lenders won't advance money on unfinished houses with no functional toilet or plumbed-in kitchen. The vendor may be maxed-out, unable to finish and therefore looking for a sale to shift the house quickly.

This was the case when I bought my current property; it wouldn't have been mortgageable, so although there was nothing in the ad to say so, they were really after a cash buyer, like me.

There's nothing stopping you from offering more, but you want to make sure you're not being played. If you wait, you may find that soon this other buyer disappears, but if you need a mortgage and the house won't qualify for one, it would be better to keep looking.

Marvel1

Maybe the vendor felt you offered too low (£40k under) and doesn't want to negotiate with you any further.

This is just 1 of many reasons mind.

tlc678910

Hi,
Perhaps the other party offered asking price or there abouts and the sellers thought that was what they were after and snapped it up. This would be such a long way from your offer that I can see why they would forget all about you - and probably rightly so as you said you would go up to 180k.

You need to get familiar with your market and when you see a property that is right for you at the right price snap it up. Absolutely don't waste your time compiling a list to persuade yourself or anyone else why a property is worth less in order to justify your offer. It is worth what someone will pay and someone else was willing to pay more than you.

If you did share your list of issues with the agent/seller that is likely to put them right off you and they would rather deal with someone else that says simply "we would like to offer x" they are not interested in your reasons. The new offer may have even said "we love the house - and would like to offer the asking price" imagine how that feels to the seller compared to "we want to offer 40k less than asking because your advert said....." Of course you don't want to overpay for a house but don't always try to get money off of you think the house is worth more because chances are you will lose out on the house this way.

You thought the property was worth 180 but you offered 160. If you thought the property was worth 180 perhaps start at a lot closer to that so the vendors don't think you are wasting their time. If you want to make very low ball offers you need to be trying to get agents to let you know who is in financial distress and desperate for a quick sale - most people would wait a couple of months for an extra 40 grand.

Are you actually cash buyers? As in you do not need a mortgage? You will irritate sellers if you tell them you are cash buyers and they are then waiting while you sort out a mortgage. If you do need a mortgage you are first time buyers but not cash buyers.

If you love a house in future be assertive and offer close to what you think it is worth - close with a little room to negotiate. Offer in a positive way simply "we'd like to offer x" or "we think it is worth x" is fine.

Good luck

Cornishmaid89

We have the cash in full, the amount we would of gone up to would of been 190 but we were advised by my mum to offer lower even though we felt stupid doing so by so much we really thought we would be able to up the offer. Given the false advertising on rooms and how much work needs doing it would be worth 200 when finished in our opinion when comparing it to the houses on the same terrace. Guess this a bit of a lesson for us, I was hoping someone would write and say this is a tactic estate agents use so I could cling onto a bit of hope. I would understand if we said we weren't prepared to offer more but we didn't say that, we said we were prepared but wanted a second viewing first. Just not meant to be I guess, thank you for the replies

AdrianC

Cornishmaid89 wrote: »

My partner and I viewed a house on Thursdays, it was advertised by an online estate agent but the actual owner showed us around.
...

We made them aware this offer is in cash that we are first time buyers with no chain

Really? Zero mortgage?

The estate agent said that he was phoning to tell us another offer has been made and accepted so we didn't waste time arranging another viewing. My partner hung up and we both felt very deflated, this is all new to us but I wondered why we weren't given the chance to make a higher offer.

It's entirely the vendor's prerogative to accept whatever offer they like from whoever for whatever reason. It really is that simple.

Maybe the other offer came from somebody they simply liked more than you...? Maybe it's something tangible, like they're worried about an FTB on a house that needs work, thinking you might get cold feet as the reality dawns?

The estate agents despite saying they work 24/7 being an online company have not updated their advert, it does not say under offer or stc. It's on right move and doesn't say anything their either.

The flag on RM means precisely zero. When we bought this place, it never said STC on RM at all, it was simply removed completely about a fortnight after completion.

Now could this be because they are calling our bluff hoping we will offer more?

How many different ways does the EA need to say "No, it's sold" before you accept that?

kirtondm

Look at the sold prices compared to advertised prices in your area will give you an idea of what they will go for.

Offering 20% below advertised price would be to far apart from what houses go for in my area ( normally within 5% of advertised price ) and is so low risks not being taken seriously and sellers will not want to settle for 10% below in my area.

I was very reluctant with my first flat to put it on for 115 as I knew I wanted 110 and thought it should go on for 120. I went in with 120 no intrest reduced to 115 as the agent had recommended and had an offer for 110 with loads of viewings!.

I would someone had offered 96 initally we would never have agreed on 110.

Cornishmaid89

Thank you for your advice, this is a complete new learning curve and the first time I have ever been in a position to look to buy. I'll learn from this and know not to make the same mistakes this time. Time to accept it's sold and move forward. Thanks again

theartfullodger

Expecting capitalism to be fair, let alone fair to your particular viewpoint, is likely to lead to disappointment.

Enterprise_1701C

Capitalism is far fairer than any of the alternatives. Some people win, some people lose - better than everyone losing.

eddddy

If you want to make another higher offer, you can.

The EA is required by law to pass it on to the seller. It's up to the seller whether they accept it.



But just a thought - how did your viewing with the seller go?

Was your tone with the seller similar to your first post? i.e. telling the seller it was only 3.5 bedrooms, and one bedroom is too small for a single bed, and generally being negative (or perhaps even insulting) about their house?

If so, the seller's reaction might be that they'd like to sell to anyone else, except you.