Offer rejection - House for sale

kogelsby

Hi 👋 

We are looking to move house and recently viewed a lovely house. Whilst we were viewing the owner told us she had had an offer but not accepted or rejected it but didn’t seem over chuffed with it and said she would accept £20k off the guide price of £300-310k.

We went home and put in an offer of £285k and it was rejected so we then put further offers in up to £193k. All have been rejected. 

We are obviously quite confused and feel like we are being squeezed for every penny. We do like the house but still want to afford to put some nice things in and do nice things with our children. 

Would love any advice and also I’m tempted to view the house again but don’t know if it’s possible after putting in offers that have been rejected. 

We are starting to see other houses come on the market and our house is for sale. 

Thank you 

RelievedSheff

Of course you can go back and have a second viewing regardless of any previous offers. In fact if anything it is a benefit to build up a bit of a friendly association with the vendor.

Go and view some other properties as well and make sure that this one is the right one for you.

The vendor is only looking after their own interests. They want as much money as possible from the deal as much as you want the best deal possible for you are your family. You just need to find that middle ground. where you are both happy.

lesalanos

Have you told the estate agent that this was/is your top/full/final offer?

If they see you increasing offers they may carry on rejecting if you keep increasing 

eidand

You put an offer on a house without having accepted an offer for your house?
If that's the situation, you might as well stop offering, you're not proceedable.

One thing to remember is that what you can or cannot afford with your children that's not the problem of your seller. You need to have a very clear budget in mind and not go over it. This also means viewing houses that are for sale around your numbers.

Falafels

My EA showed a potential purchaser round my property, but told me afterwards that although she was very interested she had a property to sell. They carried on conducting viewings and I thought no more of it. Neither they nor I took it seriously.

That is... until she got an offer on her own place. That's when things started moving and it's now SSTC.

Incidentally, the house was on the market last year but the sale fell through; the offer I've accepted is 3% higher than the last year's one.

AdrianC

You are not the only buyer in the market.
This is not the only house on the market.

If you and the seller cannot agree a price, shrug, walk away, and keep looking. Maybe that will focus their minds on your offer, maybe you'll find another house.

But, in the meantime, it's all a bit academic because you aren't proceedable anyway.

Are you being "squeezed for every penny"? <shrug> Why wouldn't the seller want to get the best price...? Are you going to take the first lowball offer that comes along for your place...?

warby68

With no buyer yet for yours you may well struggle to be taken seriously.
Also you've made at least 3 offers, quickly and with smallish increments - a sure fire way of making vendor think there is more to come.
If you want the house decide on your final offer, after another viewing (and I agree rapport building can be good) and just say its on the table for the time being - you will keep them posted when you sell or if you find something else.
Not much more you can do when you're not ready to proceed other than try and mark your place in the queue.

Jeepers_Creepers

All been said above.

Absolutely go for further viewings - I think you should do this regardless as you'll often feel a bit different each time you view - sometimes stronger about it, other times seeing issues that you hadn't before (I don't mean 'faults', but things like the layout not being as ideal as you first thought.). Also, absolutely, keep viewing other properties.

The vendor seemingly gave you an indication of what they'd accept when you viewed, and yet - when you met these expectations - appeared to back-track on this? You can only speculate why - perhaps the EA was testing the water and is now responding to your quick increases in your offered sums and is advising - or is being advised by the vendor - to hold out a bit longer? (This won't be a personal 'decision' by the EA - the EA will advise their client and will then act on what their client decides). Perhaps the vendor has had more interest and now is more confident that a higher offer will be made either from you or someone else? Perhaps they are simply trying it on and will crumble as soon as you indicate you are walking away? Who knows? Sadly only the vendor...

Perhaps time to be frank with the EA - explain to them what you'd heard from the vendor during your first viewing and that they now have clearly thrown that out t'window - hence your confusion. You believe your revised offer is completely reasonable, and you either stick with it or else increase it a tiny bit more with a 'final!' stamped on it.

Or, put the ball in the seller's court and ask the EA to find out what the vendor will accept to seal the deal, and see if it's worth stretching to.

Or, play it cool - and let the EA know the current offer 'remains on the table' should the seller wish to accept it, but that you've had your confidence knocked by the changing messages so are now going to concentrate your time on alternative houses instead, in the full expectation that houses prices are likely only to fall and you will almost certainly find a better alternative in due course.

All these things are gambles, of course, and it'll ultimately come down to (a) what you are willing to offer and (b) how many other valid buyers there are for that house.

If you decide to stick to your guns and not increase your offer and then lose out because of higher offer from someone else, just pick yourself up by yer socks and move on - there WILL be a better house out there. 

Or, if it's your dream house, go for it.

You've read all this and are no closer to a decision?! My work here is done... :-(

Comms69

kogelsby said:

Hi 👋 

We are looking to move house and recently viewed a lovely house. Whilst we were viewing the owner told us she had had an offer but not accepted or rejected it but didn’t seem over chuffed with it and said she would accept £20k off the guide price of £300-310k.

We went home and put in an offer of £285k and it was rejected so we then put further offers in up to £193k. All have been rejected. 

We are obviously quite confused and feel like we are being squeezed for every penny. We do like the house but still want to afford to put some nice things in and do nice things with our children. 

Would love any advice and also I’m tempted to view the house again but don’t know if it’s possible after putting in offers that have been rejected. 

We are starting to see other houses come on the market and our house is for sale. 

Thank you 

Ofcourse you are... ?

eddddy

kogelsby said:

... and our house is for sale. 

It's very unlikely that anyone would accept an offer from you, until your own house is under offer.

It's strange that the EA didn't explain that to you. 

I'd suggest that you stop increasing your offers until your own house is under offer. (For example, had your own house been under offer, the seller might have accepted your offer of £285k. So you might have increased your offer unnecessarily.)

Crashy_Time

eddddy said:

kogelsby said:

... and our house is for sale. 

It's very unlikely that anyone would accept an offer from you, until your own house is under offer.

It's strange that the EA didn't explain that to you. 

I'd suggest that you stop increasing your offers until your own house is under offer. (For example, had your own house been under offer, the seller might have accepted your offer of £285k. So you might have increased your offer unnecessarily.)

Good advice, but some sellers might not be able to get their heads round the new economic reality either, if this one seems "greedy" just walk away, let them learn the hard way IMO.