Is estate agent telling porkies?

suffolkboy_

Last week I put an offer in on a house which requires significant renovation (it's a probate sale). It's listed at £225,000 and has been for sale since April 2019. A similar house 3 doors down sold for £220,000 in 2017 but was in a good presentable condition.
After having a couple of well trusted builder friend have a look at the property, we've come to a figure of about £40k for renovation. I put an offer in last week for £165k - low-ball I know, but thought it would test the water.
The Estate Agent got back to me a couple of hours later to say my offer had been declined, and they already had an offer in for full asking price but were "just waiting for some details" and if I wanted to I could go back and make a higher offer. I thought about it over this weekend and question whether it's a bit too much of a coincidence that a full asking price offer has come in after 4 months, the same time I've put in an offer.
I phoned to estate agent again this morning to try and call their bluff, I told her that I would not be willing to pay the asking price, and therefore questioned if it was even worth me putting in an offer. Her response was that "we are waiting for a few details about the existing offer, like a few background checks before listing the property as under offer"(is this the done thing??). "you can make an offer by all means and I can put this to the executors to be fair to all parties to let them know what you are willing to offer".
I'm questioning if by that statement if she's given the game away and actually i'm the only one bidding?
I would really like the house. It's in the village I want to live in where houses rarely come on the market and where they do they are usually always way over my price range. Equally I don't want to overpay for a property.
Any thoughts?

comedyseeker123

Yeah they are lying. Although only they can say they are lying, it sounds like they are - full asking price haha.

So just make your offer and say “well you’ve already got an offer for full price”. And walk away

comedyseeker123

The estate agents ask for ID and proof that you have the money - eg AIP and bank statement for deposit.

Smodlet

"Is estate agent telling porkies?" Are his/her lips moving? If so, the answer is, "Yes".

AdrianC

You put an offer in for £60k, >25%, below asking, and are surprised it's been rejected?

Whether there's been another offer or not, or how much, is irrelevant to you. The vendor simply don't want to accept your low offer. End of. Increase it or walk away.

If they don't really have an asking-price offer, then the property will simply remain on the market for longer, until they find somebody willing to pay a price they'll accept. That clearly isn't you.

suffolkboy_

AdrianC wrote: »

You put an offer in for £60k, >25%, below asking, and are surprised it's been rejected?

Whether there's been another offer or not, or how much, is irrelevant to you. The vendor simply don't want to accept your low offer. End of. Increase it or walk away.

If they don't really have an asking-price offer, then the property will simply remain on the market for longer, until they find somebody willing to pay a price they'll accept. That clearly isn't you.

Hello Adrian.

No, I'm not surprised it's been rejected at all, but as I said, I was looking to test the water - can always increase an offer, can't decrease it.

There's a bit of background to this that I didn't list in my original post. I know one of the beneficiaries of the will. She is only a minor beneficiary, however, she knows the main beneficiary who is in financial trouble and is putting pressure on the executors to get a sale so she can get her money - hence, my low-ball offer. Of course, it is an executors' duty to get the best price for the assets, and not satisfy the wants of the beneficiaries

AdrianC

Then leave it on the table. By all means increase it to what you think will be accepted.

The executor's duty is to the beneficiaries - all of them. It's not necessarily to maximise the estate's return, because that may unreasonably delay things.

How the will is structured will make a difference, too. If the "main beneficiary" is in line for, say, the first £200k with the residue distributed amongst other beneficiaries, then that main beneficiary pushing for a rapid low-value sale will not affect their bequest much, but will affect the bequests of others. In that situation, the main beneficiary should be ignored by the executor. OTOH, if 75% of the value of the house sale goes entirely to that main beneficiary, the executor should place more weight on their wish. Probate value may play a part, too. If the house was put as £225k probate value, then sells quickly for <75% of that, the executor may well face challenges from the other beneficiaries as to why they didn't hold out for more. And, in many parts of the country, 4mo from first going on the market to an accepted offer is quick.

Ultimately, though, the beneficiaries get precisely nowt until the estate is settled, and the process of executing that estate is none of their business...

Cakeguts

What you need to know is that many properties than need renovation don't sell for much less than one that has been renovated. So your offer needs to be in the region of the one that sold nearby 2 years ago so on that basis £225k sounds like a reasonable price. You are not going to get the 40k that you want to spend on it as money off the purchase price.



I assume that someone was living in the house before it came on the market so that means that you could live in it as it is. You won't get a 40k reduction because the internal fittings are old and not to your taste.

suffolkboy_

Cakeguts wrote: »

What you need to know is that many properties than need renovation don't sell for much less than one that has been renovated. So your offer needs to be in the region of the one that sold nearby 2 years ago so on that basis £225k sounds like a reasonable price. You are not going to get the 40k that you want to spend on it as money off the purchase price.



I assume that someone was living in the house before it came on the market so that means that you could live in it as it is. You won't get a 40k reduction because the internal fittings are old and not to your taste.

Thanks.

Yes someone was living in it, but you wouldn't think so to look at it. Plaster missing off walls, glass missing from windows and taped up, old brick floor half missing etc. etc.

I can afford to go higher, but don't want to overpay. On the other hand, i'm not looking at it as an investment to 'flip' but actually as a long term home, so perhaps i'm looking too much into the final costs of things.

Thanks for your input everyone above, it's appreciated. and making me re-think how I approach this a bit.:beer:

hazyjo

There's testing the water, and then there's throwing in too short an anchor and sinking! Obviously some will always try for a bargain. I sometimes do if I think something is overpriced, but if someone offered a quarter off my asking price, I'd not take them seriously at all. Especially if they then came in with an offer around £30k more! I'd fully expect them to try it on and try to drop the price before exchange.


Something for £225k that needs that amount of work and won't sell, I'd never have gone in at less than £180-190k - probably much nearer £200k.


If you lose this one, maybe bear in mind you want to look like a serious buyer and not an investor or chancer. Not saying overpay obviously, but in this case it does seem like you have offered way under what it's worth and what you'd pay for it.


If you are going to increase on an offer, try to offer nearer to what you would be prepared to pay. Come back with one counteroffer (two at the most) and hopefully agree a price. Random offers tens of thousands apart on a property with a relatively low asking price will just make you look a bit 'flakey'.


An offer of say £192k would have been better. When they came back to say no, you could have said 'I'll try £200k absolute max, but I really don't want to pay any more for it in its current state'. Would have looked far better than £165k then a much higher offer.

suffolkboy_

hazyjo wrote: »

There's testing the water, and then there's throwing in too short an anchor and sinking! Obviously some will always try for a bargain. I sometimes do if I think something is overpriced, but if someone offered a quarter off my asking price, I'd not take them seriously at all. Especially if they then came in with an offer around £30k more! I'd fully expect them to try it on and try to drop the price before exchange.


Something for £225k that needs that amount of work and won't sell, I'd never have gone in at less than £180-190k - probably much nearer £200k.


If you lose this one, maybe bear in mind you want to look like a serious buyer and not an investor or chancer. Not saying overpay obviously, but in this case it does seem like you have offered way under what it's worth and what you'd pay for it.


If you are going to increase on an offer, try to offer nearer to what you would be prepared to pay. Come back with one counteroffer (two at the most) and hopefully agree a price. Random offers tens of thousands apart on a property with a relatively low asking price will just make you look a bit 'flakey'.


An offer of say £192k would have been better. When they came back to say no, you could have said 'I'll try £200k absolute max, but I really don't want to pay any more for it in its current state'. Would have looked far better than £165k then a much higher offer.

Hi HazyJo.

Thanks for your sound advice....it's dawning on me that your're 100% right.
Got a call from the Estate Agent a short while ago. My revised offer of £195k "wasn't met with a no", however the executor wants to see if this other potential buyer "comes up with the goods".
Maybe there is another party involved, or maybe they are setting themselves up to try and push me for an increased offer in a few days. We'll see.
Thanks again.