Only offer on table...but rejected!!

GarretC

emskiness said:

Thanks for the response! I'm starting to suspect a lot of people on here haven't actually bought a house before if they think a bid of 209k on asking price of 212k too low and too cheap. Do none of you negotiate? I have never known anyone to jump straight in at the asking or over the asking price before unless there are a lot of bidders however a lot of people here seem critical of my offer. Strange... I never once asked for sympathy but didn't expect so many people to pour salt on the wound either. And yes we have a few more viewings booked, thanks for the good luck. We have since heard the house still hasn't sold so not sure if the latest offer placed was rejected for still being under asking. If there's no room for negotiation at all, then what is the point? Has to be a bit of give and take on both sides surely? It is up to the vendors at the end of the day but we ar enot caving either so I guess we both just move on.

I went 5k over asking recently as an opening bid. Didn't even get invited to best and final... Went to someone who opened at 40k over asking.. It all depends on whether it's a buyer's market or a seller's market for the type of property in the area.

In the above case, there was one day of viewing with 10+ viewers, most of whom bid on the Monday.

With another property, we bid the asking price to get the upcoming viewings cancelled and avoid a bidding war.

Gavin83

emskiness said:

This is disconcerting as it also tells me that should an offer be accepted and IF it gets undervalued, they may still not budge from 212k either.

To be honest I don't see why they should anyway. You offer what you want to pay. I don't think an undervaluation is a good reason to be reducing your offer later on in the process. If I was the seller in that case I wouldn't budge either and I'd give serious thought to pulling out of the deal entirely and remarketing the property as I'd assume you'd be difficult further down the line. The only reason you should be reducing your offer IMO is if the survey/searches turn up something that you weren't aware of before.

powerful_Rogue

emskiness said:

Thanks for the response! I'm starting to suspect a lot of people on here haven't actually bought a house before if they think a bid of 209k on asking price of 212k too low and too cheap. Do none of you negotiate? I have never known anyone to jump straight in at the asking or over the asking price before unless there are a lot of bidders however a lot of people here seem critical of my offer. Strange... I never once asked for sympathy but didn't expect so many people to pour salt on the wound either. And yes we have a few more viewings booked, thanks for the good luck. We have since heard the house still hasn't sold so not sure if the latest offer placed was rejected for still being under asking. If there's no room for negotiation at all, then what is the point? Has to be a bit of give and take on both sides surely? It is up to the vendors at the end of the day but we ar enot caving either so I guess we both just move on.

Nope. Loved the house and area and went straight in at asking price after a 10 minute viewing.

emskiness

Gavin83 said:

emskiness said:

This is disconcerting as it also tells me that should an offer be accepted and IF it gets undervalued, they may still not budge from 212k either.

To be honest I don't see why they should anyway. You offer what you want to pay. I don't think an undervaluation is a good reason to be reducing your offer later on in the process. If I was the seller in that case I wouldn't budge either and I'd give serious thought to pulling out of the deal entirely and remarketing the property as I'd assume you'd be difficult further down the line. The only reason you should be reducing your offer IMO is if the survey/searches turn up something that you weren't aware of before.

I am being far from difficult and I HAVE offered what I am willing to pay. It depends how much it gets downvalued. If it's more than our cushion then that is absolutely a reason to pull out as we wouldn't be able to bridge that gap. We won't know until that happens though so no, I don't think I am being difficult just because I am being cautious. Both parties are entering into a big contract here so we BOTH have to be careful. If they don't budge from 212k even after the valuation then we would have to pull out. That's not my fault and it's not me being difficult. It's simply a reality. That's why OIEO isn't the best idea when selling a house in my opinion.

emskiness

I'm going to go post for advice on house buying in another forum as I was under the impression this forum was for advice on how to save money and get the best deals, not get lambasted for negotiating house prices or tips for settling a good offer. Seems people just want to disagree for the sake of disagreeing and aren't happy with my answers. If you do things differently then that is fine but I came here for an eye-opener, which to be fair some of you gave candid replies and I appreciate that but some are just out to paint a picture of this type of person I am, which is really unfair, just because I might want to negotiate a better offer. I bet if I said I paid 30k over asking I would probably get told I am stupid or a sucker so I feel like I can't win. Or maybe there is some kind of prejucide against FTBs I don't know. I won't be posting in here again but wish everyone who posted the best of luck, and thanks.

sst1234

OP no one has lambasted you for anything. Your opening posts seemed to blaming the vendor for holding out for the highest offer and misleading you. Everyone pointed out that the vendor did no such thing based on your account. You have then said many times that your budget is your budget - of course it is. No one is disputing that. You are just not realistic about what your budget will buy you. People are advising you to be realistic. You have argued that no one goes in with offer of asking price. This market is white hot, that’s exactly what people are doing. You have had lots of good advice but chosen to go back to the point that no one is disagreeing with. It’s disappointing that you didn’t get the house, but just be realistic and all the best. 

waveneygnome

Just a thought OP.
Do you like where you rent now?  Would you want to buy it?  If the landlord is thinking of selling - maybe a chance for you to purchase before it even gets on the market.

Gavin83

emskiness said:

Gavin83 said:

emskiness said:

This is disconcerting as it also tells me that should an offer be accepted and IF it gets undervalued, they may still not budge from 212k either.

To be honest I don't see why they should anyway. You offer what you want to pay. I don't think an undervaluation is a good reason to be reducing your offer later on in the process. If I was the seller in that case I wouldn't budge either and I'd give serious thought to pulling out of the deal entirely and remarketing the property as I'd assume you'd be difficult further down the line. The only reason you should be reducing your offer IMO is if the survey/searches turn up something that you weren't aware of before.

I am being far from difficult and I HAVE offered what I am willing to pay. It depends how much it gets downvalued. If it's more than our cushion then that is absolutely a reason to pull out as we wouldn't be able to bridge that gap. We won't know until that happens though so no, I don't think I am being difficult just because I am being cautious. Both parties are entering into a big contract here so we BOTH have to be careful. If they don't budge from 212k even after the valuation then we would have to pull out. That's not my fault and it's not me being difficult. It's simply a reality. That's why OIEO isn't the best idea when selling a house in my opinion.

But that isn’t what I said. If the house gets downvalued and you can’t afford the shortfall then of course you’ll have no choice but to pull out. What you shouldn’t do is offer more than you can afford and then expect the seller to adjust their expectations because of your circumstances. 

I think it’s a little different if it gets undervalued based on asking price but I think if you bid say £10k over asking you should assume the asking price valuation and have that £10k extra to contribute.

I appreciate it’s difficult out there at the moment, as a FTB myself I fully understand that. I just think you need to reconsider some of your opinions on the current market. We’ve just had an offer accepted today after being outbid several times (£30k-£40k over asking price offers) and we offered asking price as we didn’t want to mess about and lose yet another house. I don’t regret my decision. 

If it makes you feel better we lost a house we loved and I thought I wouldn’t find anything else that matched it but the house we’ve just bought is better.

Regardless of what’s been said in this topic I wish you the best of luck in finding a house. The perfect place will come along soon.

Crashy_Time

Gavin83 said:

emskiness said:

This is disconcerting as it also tells me that should an offer be accepted and IF it gets undervalued, they may still not budge from 212k either.

To be honest I don't see why they should anyway. You offer what you want to pay. I don't think an undervaluation is a good reason to be reducing your offer later on in the process. If I was the seller in that case I wouldn't budge either and I'd give serious thought to pulling out of the deal entirely and remarketing the property as I'd assume you'd be difficult further down the line. The only reason you should be reducing your offer IMO is if the survey/searches turn up something that you weren't aware of before.

Many would disagree, sellers should be aware (especially kite flyers) that this can always happen and should be prepared for it, denying reality and hoping that someone else will come along and overpay isn`t a grown up way to approach things IMO.

Gavin83

Crashy_Time said:

Gavin83 said:

emskiness said:

This is disconcerting as it also tells me that should an offer be accepted and IF it gets undervalued, they may still not budge from 212k either.

To be honest I don't see why they should anyway. You offer what you want to pay. I don't think an undervaluation is a good reason to be reducing your offer later on in the process. If I was the seller in that case I wouldn't budge either and I'd give serious thought to pulling out of the deal entirely and remarketing the property as I'd assume you'd be difficult further down the line. The only reason you should be reducing your offer IMO is if the survey/searches turn up something that you weren't aware of before.

Many would disagree, sellers should be aware (especially kite flyers) that this can always happen and should be prepared for it, denying reality and hoping that someone else will come along and overpay isn`t a grown up way to approach things IMO.

Many would disagree and that is of course their choice. However it's the buyers who make the offer and they shouldn't make the offer if they can't afford it. Let someone else 'overpay' as you put it.

It's worth noting I'd have far more sympathy if they offer asking price and the lenders valuation comes in under. However if they offer over asking price (which is what we're talking about here) they should fully expect the lender valuation to come in at the original asking price and should be prepared to foot the extra out of their own pockets. To offer over asking price to secure the house and then expect the price to be renegotiated later on back down to asking price is a very underhand tactic.

I've yet to sell a house but if I did I'd expect the buyer to honour the price they'd offered, unless some major hidden repair works appeared on the survey. If they weren't willing to honour the price I'd cancel the deal and relist. Other sellers might act differently but that would be entirely their choice.