Waiting on a response to an offer

boromanc89

We made a best and final offer on a house 2 weeks ago. We had made 2 previous, lower offer which were declined before offering 15K under asking - asking is 485K. The house had had a previous sale agreed at asking price but this fell through, and consequently so did their purchase of another home.

When I made that offer, the initial response was that the vendors [married couple] were going to discuss it together, have a look at their finances etc and see if they can make it work as they were budgeting based on getting asking price.

2 weeks down the line and we have had no clear response. The EA advises me that the the vendors have now gone back to the owners of the house they were trying to buy - it sounds like they are trying to gazump these peoples new buyers.

In the mean time they seems to want us to keep waiting and the EA is in touch with me every few days. I think he is waiting to see if the vendors offer on their property has been accepted, before the vendors make any decisions?

Is this normal behaviour???

I would have thought either they would reject it, or accept it? Not have 2 weeks of dithering.
I like the house a lot but we are still searching regardless and we will not go up on our offer as we don't feel it is worth it.

I'd be interest to know if others think this is odd??

System

If you want to push for an answer, put a time limit on it - say that your offer is until close of business tomorrow or it will be withdrawn. They're doing this because they can. It's not really normal, but it's not prohibited...

Your biggest issue here is that they're basing their sale price on the amount they want to spend elsewhere instead of what the property is actually worth. That's why they rejected your previous offers. I'd keep looking elsewhere, if they're not successful securing the property that they want, they might decide there's no point accepting your offer.

boromanc89

Yeah I strongly suspect that could happen and they are definitely reaching, I know they want to move to a more expensive part of town. I feel our offer is fair for the property but I’m not willing to go higher. Are two other offers were lower but we started at 10% below asking, we weren’t insulting (i hope)

So far I haven’t chased the agent and they have checked in with me every few days to update me on the lack of progress. I don’t know whether to put a time limit on it as we don’t have a property to sell (we will keep and rent out our current property) so we are in no rush.

I suspect they are taking advantage of us but I want their house and so I suppose we just wait!
We are still viewing properties and wouldn’t hesitate to offer on another if they keep dragging their heels.

ThemeOne

They may have an inkling that you're keen on their property, so playing a waiting game to see if you'll up your offer. It's a case of who blinks first really, very frustrating but not a lot you can do.

They might also be hoping for a better offer from someone else, but the one thing you have on your side is you're chain-free.

warby68

If they only want to sell if they can secure the right onward property for themselves AND the price also needs to be right to accept your offer, then its a waiting game. They have kept you informed what the issues are as well so not really messing about. Even if they accepted, it isn't going anywhere until they have an onward purchase.

I don't think its that unusual or even taking advantage , but its also more on the doubtful end of going anywhere so keep looking.

Your offer can sit on the table as long as you want it to. I'd say your offer stands but you are viewing elsewhere and will keep them posted if it changes.

AdrianC

boromanc89 wrote: »

I like the house a lot but we are still searching regardless and we will not go up on our offer as we don't feel it is worth it.

So it doesn't make a lot of practical difference if they reject or just ignore.

I'd be interest to know if others think this is odd??

A long way from unknown. Take it as tacit rejection, and move on. If they get back to you with acceptance, decide whether you still want to pursue it.

Crashy_Time

Don`t worry about a sellers budget, just offer what you think it is worth, and research prices using online tools as well, they won`t be the first people to make assumptions about how much they could spend in the future based on the expectation of house price gains.