Withdrew offer above asking as seller wanted to continue with viewings

Redwino222

Where are you that they do sealed bids?

sorry, being nosey 😊

mortgage_noob

Yorkshire.

Maybe I'm getting confused between sealed bid and best and final? Though they sound the similar to me. The last place we offered on went to best and final so all the bidders got told the highest disclosable and were then given an opportunity to submit their absolute best and final, the seller then chose from these final bids.

justworriedabit

Hi OP

You did the right thing. When we buy, the vendor has to stop views there and then. Our financial circumstances have been assessed by the EA's beforehand so they know we are serious. 

Once ths stamp duty goes, much easier to buy IMO.

verytired11

mortgage_noob said:

verytired11 said:

Seller sounds greedy.  They have had a very good offer and if they wanted more why didn't they put the asking price higher.  On the other hand, if you really wanted the property you could have left your offer on the table and wait to see what happens.  If the other bids went higher than yours you would have lost nothing (you wouldn't have needed to increase yours) but if they don't - the house could be yours.  However, the seller sounds a bit of a nightmare so there might be further problems down the line. 

My bet is that, as you withdrew the offer, you didn't really really want this house.  Unless it was a case of not being able to manage your anxiety about the possibility of losing it.  Perhaps you wanted to dump them before they dumped you.  If so, put a further offer in at a lower rate than your first one, but higher than the other existing offers.

It's more that if they're going to insist on sealed bids, why would I leave my offer on the table for all to see. We made it high to avoid that situation. 

as @billy2shots says, I guess we'll just put our offer back in if we still want it next week once the viewings are done and if the price is still reasonable. 

I can understand you not wanting to go down that road and I think it reflects badly on the seller.  I doubt it's the agent who is advising it as it's more work for them.  It sounds like a greedy seller to me and you might end up getting gazumped.

mortgage_noob

Perhaps it'll go for more, who knows.  I'm really mindful of paying top end if it goes to bids. I don't want to be  a 'mug'  and end up in a negative equity situation. Especially with the price rises over the past year that are already factored into the price

MaryNB

mortgage_noob said:

Redwino222 said:

So to be clear, you bid £9k above the highest offer and they still said no?

It was a bold move to turn your offer down, they must expect To get well above this.

I think it was a good tactic because you were so much higher than the next bid - But some people don’t respond well to this type of ultimatum.

ask to be kept informed, if they don’t get any higher offers, don’t reinstate your high offer but go in say £10k above asking.  

I wouldn’t bid in such big jumps

11k above the next highest at the time, but yes perhaps they didn't respond well to the ultimatum. It just didn't make sense to leave the offer on the table knowing full well it'll go to sealed bids with mine as the highest disclosable. 

It's my first experience buying so I didn't realise that people make offers and just leave them there, I thought everyone made them on the condition that it's taken off the market if accepted. 

You were perfectly right to ask for it to be taken off the market. Anyone with their head screwed on would do the same.  I asked but my sellers wouldn't mark it as SSTC until I got my mortgage offer. The EA said they wouldn't conduct any more viewings, they'd just record the names of interested in case the sale fell through. I was not happy with it at all but it was the only property that fit my needs and budget so I just about stuck with it. It worked out in the end. 

Jeepers_Creepers

Hi MN.

Your generous offer being made on condition of the house being withdrawn from the market is a perfectly valid and common move. (If you watch that Kirsty and Phil housing prog on TV, they almost always insist on this when they put in offers on behalf of their clients).

The vendor can agree or not agree. In the latter event, you can pull out or not pull out.

It's almost as tho' it were a game...

I doubt the EA was behind this move as they must have been chuffed with your offer and - ultimately - all they want is to sell houses as quickly as possible. As others have said, I suspect it's down to a 'greedy' vendor - but that's their call, and it's 'fair enough' for them to be 'greedy' if they want to.

In theory, 'best and final' - or 'sealed' - bids are done blind, so that each potential buyer doesn't know what others are placing. In practice (as we've found recently), the EA may give broad hints...

So, how to respond is purely down to you. I think for you to withdraw your generous 'normal' offer because it was based on a condition that the vendor didn't accept is obviously perfectly valid, and in most people's eyes would be the 'right' thing to do; it gave a clear message to the vendor (I suspect they gulped), and you are simply no worse off than you were before.

You are now down to a level playing field of 'best and final' offers being made. You can submit the same offer again, a lower one, a much lower one, a higher one still - it's entirely up to you.

A couple of things based on a looooong look at house buying over many decades; the current housing market is not normal. It is based on too few houses being available to too many eager buyers. This situation is extremely unlikely to last. If you can hold off, chances are better buys will come along in a few months time. And, finally, if/when you do lose out on a cracking hoosie for whatever reason, a better one always, always comes along. :-)

mortgage_noob

hi @Jeepers_Creepers thanks a lot for this response. It's really reassuring that both you and @MaryNB think its a fairly standard request. 

It is easy to get wrapped up in the houses the do come up and hard to believe that things will calm given the demand, which is so high that I'm sometimes unable to get a viewing even though I called within hours of listing. 
I'm scared that if I don't move quickly prices will just continue to increase, especially with 5% mortages coming in.

I guess I should just have faith that the current market is economically unsustainable and that something else will come along. I've learnt not to get too attached!

eidand

I wouldn't read too much into it.

If a seller has a chance to make more money that is their right and no one here should call them greedy. Everyone here would do the same given the opportunity so don't make me laugh with the Hollier than though attitude.

It's a big asset, someone made a big offer straight away, no surprise really that they want to keep the house on the market for a bit and see what else they can get.

Keep an eye on it, touch base with the agent every now and then to see where they are and maybe step in if no one makes a good enough offer.

The first few weeks on the market is when everyone expects the world, if it doesn't sell chances are the agent will come back to you anyway.

AnotherJoe

I would have done the same as you OP there was nothing wrong with your offer or the way you made it (basically, what jeepers creepers said)
Only  thing id add, if it's now going to sealed bids, why not bid again with a bid somewhere between your first bid and the second highest bid. Or even your original bid, since that's now off the table it's not there to be beaten. 

But also continue looking and good luck