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Offers - play the game or play it straight?
KPyro
Posts: 52 Forumite
My partner and I viewed a house that we love at the weekend. Has already been on the market, sold, and fallen through before, been on for a few weeks this time round.
It ticks most of our boxes - bigger garden and/or a garage would have been nice, but we get a lot more house and a nicer area instead, but it's very close to the top of our price range. Being that we are in a good position (FTB, renting in a house that we're happy with, so could move quickly, but equally are not in a situation where we might walk away if things take a bit longer at the other end of the chain) we thought we'd chance it with a low ball offer at 15k below asking. That got turned down straight off so we went up 5k.
This morning I had a call to say the second offer had also been rejected, I initially held fast and said I thought we'd offered a fair price given the market and our position as buyers and that I was happy to leave the offer on the table if the buyer were to reconsider, but we'd be looking at other properties.
EA called back within 10 minutes and said he'd finally got an actual figure out of the vendor which is 3k above what we've offered (but obviously still 7k below asking so not awful). For now I've said we'll think about it, realistically we don't want to lose the house for the sake of 3k, but I also do think what we've put on the table (10k below asking) is a fair price, and it seems equally daft for them to potentially lose a sale over 3k. For the most part I'm just a little worried that given how quickly we upped our offer before, if we immediately up it again then the vendor is going to think they can keep pushing and edging it up.
It's the first time we've been in this situation so I suppose I would just appreciate input, would you be just getting it over and done with and saying "fine, let's shake on your price" or would you leave it a little and see if they reconsider. Seems daft for the sake of 3k, it's more the getting gradually pushed further upwards that I'm wary of.
It ticks most of our boxes - bigger garden and/or a garage would have been nice, but we get a lot more house and a nicer area instead, but it's very close to the top of our price range. Being that we are in a good position (FTB, renting in a house that we're happy with, so could move quickly, but equally are not in a situation where we might walk away if things take a bit longer at the other end of the chain) we thought we'd chance it with a low ball offer at 15k below asking. That got turned down straight off so we went up 5k.
This morning I had a call to say the second offer had also been rejected, I initially held fast and said I thought we'd offered a fair price given the market and our position as buyers and that I was happy to leave the offer on the table if the buyer were to reconsider, but we'd be looking at other properties.
EA called back within 10 minutes and said he'd finally got an actual figure out of the vendor which is 3k above what we've offered (but obviously still 7k below asking so not awful). For now I've said we'll think about it, realistically we don't want to lose the house for the sake of 3k, but I also do think what we've put on the table (10k below asking) is a fair price, and it seems equally daft for them to potentially lose a sale over 3k. For the most part I'm just a little worried that given how quickly we upped our offer before, if we immediately up it again then the vendor is going to think they can keep pushing and edging it up.
It's the first time we've been in this situation so I suppose I would just appreciate input, would you be just getting it over and done with and saying "fine, let's shake on your price" or would you leave it a little and see if they reconsider. Seems daft for the sake of 3k, it's more the getting gradually pushed further upwards that I'm wary of.
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Comments
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Personally I would shake on it at the extra £3k if this is a house that you really love. Not worth losing it for the sake of a few grand.1
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There's no right answer here... If EA has given a figure then vendor isn't likely to increase it again if you agree to it. That should be the end of it.
You could stick to your guns and the vendor could refuse your offer. Or you could accept their price and they might have been prepared to accept your offer. You'll simply never know.
Do you have any sense of how much interest there is in the house? If you think you might lose it to someone else, and you don't have other properties you want, it's not worth losing for the sake of £3k. If the market's slow in your area and you're not desperate for this house, hold out.
The EA will be itching to get a deal done as you and the vendor are only £3k apart. It's probably worth going back and saying no in case EA then tries to get you to meet in the middle. You always have the option to say no but change your mind and increase your offer later. Lot harder to drop your offer later!0 -
Depends how much you value £3k.
Personally if I was selling a house now with Coronavirus global recession coming over the hill I'd bite your hand off for your original offer (the -£10k one).
Nothing stopping you restating this offer again to test their resolve. If they say no again, you could sit on it for a couple more days to see if they call you back and then if they really are sitting out for the £3k then you can decide on what you want to do.2 -
I think this already is the EA's attempt to get us to meet in the middle - they let slip that the sale price when it fell through was actually 5k below the current asking price, the EA thinks the vendor now has that number fixed in their mind so I think the 3k figure is the EA's attempt to pull both of us closer.
We do have a viewing booked on another property Wednesday so my thought was maybe to hold out until then and see where we're at, looking at the listing I'm not nearly as excited by the one we're going to look at - more garden, but less house, think it's unlikely that it's going to change our minds on this house, but it acts as a nice deadline.
I feel like the EA would probably have mentioned if there were other interested parties, there's been no mention of other viewings or offers so I don't think we're at a big risk by waiting a few days BUT if we were to call back on Wed/Thurs and found that someone had offered at asking price I would be pretty gutted...0 -
That was pretty much my thinking.MaxiRobriguez said:Depends how much you value £3k.
Personally if I was selling a house now with Coronavirus global recession coming over the hill I'd bite your hand off for your original offer (the -£10k one).
Nothing stopping you restating this offer again to test their resolve. If they say no again, you could sit on it for a couple more days to see if they call you back and then if they really are sitting out for the £3k then you can decide on what you want to do.
The last phonecall was finished with the ball in our court re thinking about making an increased offer, so would it be worth making the call to actually say we're holding at the -10k offer, or just leave it as it is?0 -
Which would be worse?
Realising you paid 3k more than you needed to?
Or not getting the house because you didn't pay another 3k over 25 years?1 -
Up your offer by £1.5k0
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£7k under asking sounds a very fair outcome to me.
You knew that £15k under asking was a cheeky offer to test the waters, and I'm sure the vendor/EA knew that too, so it's not surprising that it got rejected out of hand. You've only made one "serious" offer, so going up £3k from that is a good outcome.
Personally I'd just settle at that price. £3k is not a lot of money if we are talking about a house you love and are likely to be living in for some time.
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Having made the decision to go ahead and make the offer I now can't get hold of the EA
sod's law really! 0 -
I'm stubborn. I would definitely give it a few more days. £7k below any asking price sounds low. If it's over say £300k, I would most definitely be hanging on a bit. Does sound like you've decided though
2024 wins: *must start comping again!*0
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