Aghhh - why do people bid if they can’t buy

Redwino222

comeandgo said:

You say both first time buyers?  There is your problem.  

When I was a first time buyer I wouldn’t have behaved like this.  I want to scream at them to grow up.  

elsien

Can you not go back to the failed bidders and see if they are still interested? 

Redwino222

elsien said:

Can you not go back to the failed bidders and see if they are still interested? 

Estate agent is doing that.  But I am just feeling really negative about the whole thing.  Will this just keep happening,  flakey people who will change their minds at the drop of a hat.  We haven’t even got to survey stage yet.  Although that should be fine with a new(ish) build.

GJB1954

On previous thread I did. Lost 3 buyers . Offers accepted . Then nothing. Lost viewings for about 5 weeks in all. Now on 4th buyer. At least this buyer already spent money at the moment. So fingers crossed. 

Redwino222

GJB1954 said:

On previous thread I did. Lost 3 buyers . Offers accepted . Then nothing. Lost viewings for about 5 weeks in all. Now on 4th buyer. At least this buyer already spent money at the moment. So fingers crossed. 

What reasons did the buyers give?  I am struggling to make sense of the behaviour 

GJB1954

Redwino222 said:

GJB1954 said:

On previous thread I did. Lost 3 buyers . Offers accepted . Then nothing. Lost viewings for about 5 weeks in all. Now on 4th buyer. At least this buyer already spent money at the moment. So fingers crossed. 

What reasons did the buyers give?  I am struggling to make sense of the behaviour 

First one changed mind, found another house .so must have carried on looking after we had accepted. 

Second house was in wrong area for son to get to school in another area. Wrong postcode . Buyer was from Hong Kong , but viewed in person. 

Third buyer again changed mind. But said they did not realise they had to let EA know. House off market for 20 days. They were cash buyer and was over Christmas / New year. 

All first time buyers.

ts21

GJB1954 said:

Redwino222 said:

GJB1954 said:

On previous thread I did. Lost 3 buyers . Offers accepted . Then nothing. Lost viewings for about 5 weeks in all. Now on 4th buyer. At least this buyer already spent money at the moment. So fingers crossed. 

What reasons did the buyers give?  I am struggling to make sense of the behaviour 

First one changed mind, found another house .so must have carried on looking after we had accepted. 

Second house was in wrong area for son to get to school in another area. Wrong postcode . Buyer was from Hong Kong , but viewed in person. 

Third buyer again changed mind. But said they did not realise they had to let EA know. House off market for 20 days. They were cash buyer and was over Christmas / New year. 

All first time buyers.

I'm a FTB. It seems like the EA isn't being clear with them about expectations and what the offer means. And the whole "bidding war" thing is probably pressuring them into an offer before they're ready, they are offering because they don't want to miss out, then realise it's not really for them.

Redwino222

But surely an estate agent shouldn’t have to explain to someone that you only bid for a house if you are willing and able to follow through?  These may be first time buyers but they are adults?

do we now really need to explain to functioning adults what bidding for something means?

I bid on my first house when I was 23.  I had my finances in order, the deposit sitting in a bank account and knew what the monthly costs would be.  It’s not rocket science.  

Deedoodee

‘Functioning adult’ is unnecessarily disparaging. Part of this is due to greed, not necessarily from you. The estate agent forces a bidding war, adding lots of pressure to someone who is probably putting down their life savings down for something they viewed for 30mins (the old adage that we look at buying a dress to wear once more times and for longer than a house comes to mind). That person might later change their mind and we have a system in England where they are legally allowed to do that,  in the same way a vendor might change their mind. If it’s becoming a problem for you, maybe you could consider changing how you’re selling your house, rather than have an agent piling on the pressure to get the highest price. If you want a sale, hire an agent who will look for the most proceed-able, rather than one who’s playing buyers against each other to get more money. 

Also, possibly the buyer is a fully functioning adult and aware of ‘the system’, and is bidding on a few houses, knowing they’re not legally committed until exchange, and yours was a back-up, that was later not required. 

Gaming a flawed system happens on both sides. 

Carcy

I’m sorry this is happening to you. Just to offer our perspective from the “other side”. As FTB, we made sure our finances were in order before even starting the search. Ability to follow through isn’t the problem (which sounds similar to your buyers). The difficulty we are having is the rush to decide. Most of the EA we are dealing with are doing sealed bidding wars with a final deadline a week or so after the viewings. If you have any doubts, you don’t have a chance to think it over for long or to do a second viewing. You will definitely miss the boat if you do. You’re only allowed 10 mins for viewings and have to ask all your questions and run round and see what you can in that time. Often the next 2-3 viewers are already waiting outside and you get rushed, the EA asking if you’d mind if the next viewer sees downstairs while you’re upstairs! We looked at house viewing checklists in preparation and trust me, 10 min isn’t long enough to do all the things on the list. 

Additionally you can’t knock on doors and ask the neighbours about the area due to COVID restrictions.

That said, none of these are an excuse, just potential contributing factors to buyers changing their minds!