Expectations of ‘offers in excess of’

Deedoodee

Gavin83 said:

lookstraightahead said:

eddddy said:

[Deleted User] said:

It's a blag. Offer what you think it's worth, more or less. The agent will tell you that there are 2 higher offers on the table, ignore them. If it's true then they are paying too much, move on.

TBH, that's a great explanation of why EAs generally don't make-up offers which don't exist.

If they made-up offers, they'd risk making serious buyers walk away.

Actually this happened with us, twice. And we walked away, twice.
In my experience they do do it, but it's a silly negotiation tactic, I agree. 

Both properties still on the market, 12 months later. 

Out of interest how did you know this happened to you? Would be good advice so people know what to look for.

I know this happened to me once but only because I knew someone who lived in the same building who knew the vendor. It was listed at 285K (O.I.R.O.) I told EA at the viewing that my offer would be around 275-280, EA said ‘there’s already an offer at asking’. My friend told me after that she’d spoken to the vendor and there weren’t any offers. a week later it was reduced to 275. And then reduced once more after that. Seemed like weird behaviour from the EA as the impression I got about vendor was that she was desperate to sell because she couldn’t afford to stay after the divorce 

paulj2021

When I first marketed my house I put a guide price, and agreed a sale at £X. When the sale fell through, I switched to offers over, and the offers I got were pretty identical, and the price I eventually sold for was exactly the same amount as I previously agreed to. So I don’t think it makes much difference 

peterhjohnson

When buying, I love to see ‘offers in excess of’. Same goes for overpriced houses!
Both practices are off-putting to some buyers so they don't buy those houses which is great if the market is tight.
Grow a thick skin, do your research and offer what the house is worth to you :-)

lookstraightahead

peterhjohnson said:

When buying, I love to see ‘offers in excess of’. Same goes for overpriced houses!
Both practices are off-putting to some buyers so they don't buy those houses which is great if the market is tight.
Grow a thick skin, do your research and offer what the house is worth to you :-)

This is true, good way of looking at it.

a bit like when people overprice things on   auction sites. 

amandaleeds

robatwork said:

All those terms are meaningless. I'm sure there's one seller in a million who would stick to it rigidly, but in just about every case if a property was on for OIEO £300,000 a seller would accept an offer of £299,000 if that was their only offer. 

I just see a price of £300,000 and then investigate what the real market value is. Personal experience selling 6 houses has told me I know as much or more than the EA about the real valuation. Not arrogance but simple research on factors including:
Local similar properties sold £
Local similar properties market £
Past sold prices - trends
Time on market
How long local properties stay on market

Have you had much luck? I've seen a home that was OIRO 275k and I collated significant evidence from recent sold prices similar nearby homes, current sale prices, and factoring in 2% drop in house prices and large increase in interest rates since those homes sold. I offered 10% less and rejected, then increased a couple more times and rejected. Agent kept explaining the sellers were flipping the property and the price reflected the work plus profit, and they wanted asking price, and that EA had access to 'special software' which confirmed it was worth the high price.
Mine is the only offer and after 2 months on the market it was reduced to Offers in Excess of 265k which is well above my highest offer. A lovely larger renovated home with extra bedroom sold for 265 recently, so I'm pretty confident this is worth nowhere near that. 
They're looking for another place to flip, I'm a chain free buyer as I've already sold, and have a decent deposit. 
Feeling stuck in limbo as no homes seem to have come to market since early Jan, but I can't afford to massively overpay, plus interest rates have increased since I made my offer.
I'm just seeing increasing sold evidence it's not worth the price. It's a nice property, but the rennovation wasn't well thought out (poor use of space in kitchen) and is to a specific taste, and I'd still have to repaint, sand stairway back etc.

robatwork

amandaleeds said:

robatwork said:

All those terms are meaningless. I'm sure there's one seller in a million who would stick to it rigidly, but in just about every case if a property was on for OIEO £300,000 a seller would accept an offer of £299,000 if that was their only offer. 

I just see a price of £300,000 and then investigate what the real market value is. Personal experience selling 6 houses has told me I know as much or more than the EA about the real valuation. Not arrogance but simple research on factors including:
Local similar properties sold £
Local similar properties market £
Past sold prices - trends
Time on market
How long local properties stay on market

Have you had much luck? I've seen a home that was OIRO 275k and I collated significant evidence from recent sold prices similar nearby homes, current sale prices, and factoring in 2% drop in house prices and large increase in interest rates since those homes sold. I offered 10% less and rejected, then increased a couple more times and rejected. Agent kept explaining the sellers were flipping the property and the price reflected the work plus profit, and they wanted asking price, and that EA had access to 'special software' which confirmed it was worth the high price.
Mine is the only offer and after 2 months on the market it was reduced to Offers in Excess of 265k which is well above my highest offer. A lovely larger renovated home with extra bedroom sold for 265 recently, so I'm pretty confident this is worth nowhere near that. 
They're looking for another place to flip, I'm a chain free buyer as I've already sold, and have a decent deposit. 
Feeling stuck in limbo as no homes seem to have come to market since early Jan, but I can't afford to massively overpay, plus interest rates have increased since I made my offer.
I'm just seeing increasing sold evidence it's not worth the price. It's a nice property, but the rennovation wasn't well thought out (poor use of space in kitchen) and is to a specific taste, and I'd still have to repaint, sand stairway back etc.

Stay patient, as 2 months isn't an age and the fact nobody has snapped it up means it's not underpriced.

BTW I do enjoy an old comment being resurrected! 

amandaleeds

Compared to all the unloved ex rentals and probate flooding the market at the mo, I thought this might get snapped up, but at that price, it's well above typical market price for the area, and even priced well above the pandemic inflated prices 😬