Made an offer

badger09

newton345 said:

I think I would pull out,  the seller sounds like they are really pushing to get the most amount possible and seem to me more likely to gazump you. Depends on how much you want the house 

As I said earlier:

badger09

badger09 said:

C1996 said:

lookstraightahead said:

There is nothing you can do unfortunately. There are lots of vendors out there who want to get more than the house is worth, and risk having it down valued, or genuinely do think their house must be worth more for someone to snap it up so quickly.

if I were the vendor I would look at your situation - are you chain free, do you have your deposit ready, are you ready to move. If so, i would accept your offer because life moves on and I would be happy to be moving as who knows what's going to happen to the market.

if I were the buyer (you), I would have first looked at whether the vendors situation suits you - are they ready to move? Are they going to spend forever looking for their (dream 😖) home? Are they just going to leave you hanging around and use you as a 'tool' to help them buy?

if I were you, and I'm not (as it risks / means losing a property you want), I would tell them thank you very much and walk away. 

It does work both ways of course - they might find people offering well over and then pulling out, or the house being down valued, etc.

it's not a fair game really is it. Of course the agent will now tell viewers there is already an offer on the table to try and sway others.

I pulled out of a sale as the agent said someone else had made a higher offer. It's still on the market now.

The vendors are selling their deceased parents property so they also wanted to discuss it amongst themselves as siblings. The estate agent said that the vendor was pleased with the offer but wanted to continue with the other viewings.

The Executor(s) of the deceased's estate have a legal duty to safeguard the estate from any loss, and to act in the best interests of the beneficiaries.  

Accepting an offer from the 1st person to view the property might fit that definition, but, it might not. IMO, they are acting correctly by allowing scheduled viewings to take place. In their position, I would be doing exactly the same.


  

...............

C1996

badger09 said:

newton345 said:

I think I would pull out,  the seller sounds like they are really pushing to get the most amount possible and seem to me more likely to gazump you. Depends on how much you want the house 

As I said earlier:

I withdrew my offer as it is clear they’re wanting above and beyond the asking price.

jimbog

C1996 said:

badger09 said:

newton345 said:

I think I would pull out,  the seller sounds like they are really pushing to get the most amount possible and seem to me more likely to gazump you. Depends on how much you want the house 

As I said earlier:

I withdrew my offer as it is clear they’re wanting above and beyond the asking price.

Withdrawing your offer serves no purpose. Leave it on the table in case higher offers fall through

BooJewels

I'm selling an estate property (already have Probate) and there was a flurry of early viewing activity.  The second or third of them made a 'little below asking' offer very quickly.  At that point there were other viewings confirmed - some of whom had booked them before the offer-maker.  I said that I would allow those viewings to go ahead out of courtesy to those people and would comment on the offer after those first trench of viewings.  After which time, if we accepted the offer, we wouldn't actively market the property or have more viewings.

Whilst others in that first wave have made noises about forthcoming offers - I only had the one with proof of funds, so we accepted it.  Largely because we 'like' the buyers - not met them, so not in that sense, but there is no chain at either end, we like what they intend to do with the property and why they're buying it and they have 70% of the funds as cash with only a small mortgage, already agreed in principle - which might not be needed anyway for various reasons.

ETA:  if the buyer can move fast - that has a financial value, especially if you're not actually living in the property, as it costs money just to keep an unoccupied house going - insurance, utilities etc and rates soon to kick in.  So another tick in the + column.

I don't care what other offers come in, I have metaphorically shaken hands on the deal, so that's me settled with it, unless something goes wrong, which it can still do.  I know it's business and there's no real place for sentiment in such matters, but I try to treat others as I would hope to be treated myself.  I'd like to think that we've been fair to all parties, including ourselves.

robatwork

BooJewels said:

I'm selling an estate property (already have Probate) and there was a flurry of early viewing activity.  The second or third of them made a 'little below asking' offer very quickly.  At that point there were other viewings confirmed - some of whom had booked them before the offer-maker.  I said that I would allow those viewings to go ahead out of courtesy to those people and would comment on the offer after those first trench of viewings.  After which time, if we accepted the offer, we wouldn't actively market the property or have more viewings.

Whilst others in that first wave have made noises about forthcoming offers - I only had the one with proof of funds, so we accepted it.  Largely because we 'like' the buyers - not met them, so not in that sense, but there is no chain at either end, we like what they intend to do with the property and why they're buying it and they have 70% of the funds as cash with only a small mortgage, already agreed in principle - which might not be needed anyway for various reasons.

ETA:  if the buyer can move fast - that has a financial value, especially if you're not actually living in the property, as it costs money just to keep an unoccupied house going - insurance, utilities etc and rates soon to kick in.  So another tick in the + column.

I don't care what other offers come in, I have metaphorically shaken hands on the deal, so that's me settled with it, unless something goes wrong, which it can still do.  I know it's business and there's no real place for sentiment in such matters, but I try to treat others as I would hope to be treated myself.  I'd like to think that we've been fair to all parties, including ourselves.

What if... you are executor of the estate but not inheriting anything from it or emotionally attached to the property?

You as executor have a duty to get the highest price for it and not "like" or otherwise the buyer. So you get another offer today say £50,000 more than the one you have done your metaphorical handshake on. Do you take it?

I'm playing devil's advocate as I admire your approach, but you have a legal duty if you're executor to consider all offers.

BooJewels

Apologies @robatwork I didn't see the reply yesterday.  

Obviously, if I were an executor and not a beneficiary, then different criteria might well apply, for the reasons you cite.  But my morals aren't likely to change.  I am inheriting and am emotionally attached, so anything else would be speculation.  There's an estate in my future and I think there's a charity in there with a large percentage - that's a whole different can of worms.

In this case, my sister and I are the only executors and beneficiaries - so there's only the two of us to consider.  We are in total agreement on this - discussed it before it went on sale and set some ground rules.  We've already got 20k more than valued for probate, such has been the uplift in the market since then and we've got more than we ever guessed we might, so we're pretty happy with the outcome - for a variety of reasons.

What we have told the EA is that now we've 'shaken' on this offer, we won't gazump him if a better offer comes in - I think the buyer needs the stability of knowing that it's theirs until they can't proceed for some reason (hopefully not).  But if any offers do come in, we'll make a note and go back to them if the situation changes.

The EA was telling me about a young couple who were well on in their purchase, have had surveys done, builders quotes, discussed planning permission with the LA and were trying to time it around their forthcoming wedding.  The seller was offered less than 5k more and took it, dropping this couple in an instant.  The EA's comment - 'I'm picking up the pieces and it's really not nice'.

badger09

robatwork said:

BooJewels said:

I'm selling an estate property (already have Probate) and there was a flurry of early viewing activity.  The second or third of them made a 'little below asking' offer very quickly.  At that point there were other viewings confirmed - some of whom had booked them before the offer-maker.  I said that I would allow those viewings to go ahead out of courtesy to those people and would comment on the offer after those first trench of viewings.  After which time, if we accepted the offer, we wouldn't actively market the property or have more viewings.

Whilst others in that first wave have made noises about forthcoming offers - I only had the one with proof of funds, so we accepted it.  Largely because we 'like' the buyers - not met them, so not in that sense, but there is no chain at either end, we like what they intend to do with the property and why they're buying it and they have 70% of the funds as cash with only a small mortgage, already agreed in principle - which might not be needed anyway for various reasons.

ETA:  if the buyer can move fast - that has a financial value, especially if you're not actually living in the property, as it costs money just to keep an unoccupied house going - insurance, utilities etc and rates soon to kick in.  So another tick in the + column.

I don't care what other offers come in, I have metaphorically shaken hands on the deal, so that's me settled with it, unless something goes wrong, which it can still do.  I know it's business and there's no real place for sentiment in such matters, but I try to treat others as I would hope to be treated myself.  I'd like to think that we've been fair to all parties, including ourselves.

What if... you are executor of the estate but not inheriting anything from it or emotionally attached to the property?

You as executor have a duty to get the highest price for it and not "like" or otherwise the buyer. So you get another offer today say £50,000 more than the one you have done your metaphorical handshake on. Do you take it?

I'm playing devil's advocate as I admire your approach, but you have a legal duty if you're executor to consider all offers.

Just to be pedantic, the duty of the Executor is to safeguard the assets of the deceased's estate, and to act in the best interests of the beneficiaries. 

Having been executor but not a beneficiary 3 years ago, I accepted an offer on my late sister's house which was approx 5% below estimated value/asking price. I did this because the couple who made the offer were in a very good position to proceed.

I could have left the property on the market for a while hoping for a better price, but it would have deteriorated over the winter. IMO, I fulfilled my duty as executor.

robatwork

badger09 said:

Just to be pedantic, the duty of the Executor is to safeguard the assets of the deceased's estate, and to act in the best interests of the beneficiaries. 

Having been executor but not a beneficiary 3 years ago, I accepted an offer on my late sister's house which was approx 5% below estimated value/asking price. I did this because the couple who made the offer were in a very good position to proceed.

I could have left the property on the market for a while hoping for a better price, but it would have deteriorated over the winter. IMO, I fulfilled my duty as executor.

Maybe a technical difference anyway as I can't see an executor getting into too much hot water as v difficult to prove otherwise, but several solicitors differ on their wording. Here's 3 selected (from uk legal websites) from a google:

•  As an executor, you will have a duty to ensure that you are selling the property for the best possible price, for the benefit of the estate.

•  In England or Wales an Executor can sell a property without beneficiaries approving, but they still have a duty to act in the best interests of beneficiaries.

• Deciding when to sell property so the beneficiaries get the most money

I'm not suggesting you didn't act in the estate's best interests. This part of the law is ostensibly to protect against an executor selling at a reduced rate to for example a family member or another executor. But you were being pedantic and it's an interesting (in my head) argument that an executor should sell asap or wait to get the best possible price as why would there be any hurry in a rising market?

BooJewels

Are we allowed to factor in the sanity of the beneficiaries/executors, because after over 18 months of trying to clear this blasted house (when Dad went in to care), whilst dealing with a number of other troublesome life factors - we plain want done with it!  Plus, as I already mentioned, the longer the house it is unoccupied, the more it costs, the more it deteriorates and the risk continues of it being burgled, squatted or suffer damage in a storm etc.

You have to make a compromise at some point between holding out for more dosh versus the risks and costs of keeping it.  We feel we've reached that point.