Offer made seller holding out for more viewings....what would you do?

missymoneypenny

breaking_free said:

Missmoneypenny I feel for you, as I'm sure does everyone else. But I have to agree with the other posters - the sellers would be foolish not to entertain other viewers (even if it's just to have a backup if a sale falls through).

I've exchanged today with completion on Monday. I did my homework and managed to negotiate £7.5k off because nobody else was offering: even so, I still wondered if I was overpaying. Roll forward to today, 3 months later and prices have continued to climb. Looking on Rightmove the price I paid for my place now seems quite reasonable. Strike while the iron is hot if you can afford to - good luck.

Thanks I know this is par for the course and I may pay more than I'd like, but I do want it so let's see what happens! Hopefully they'll a) get no offers, and b) get offer and come back to me to see if I'll up it. I was just surprised they didn't counter my offer.

TheJP

missymoneypenny said:

breaking_free said:

Missmoneypenny I feel for you, as I'm sure does everyone else. But I have to agree with the other posters - the sellers would be foolish not to entertain other viewers (even if it's just to have a backup if a sale falls through).

I've exchanged today with completion on Monday. I did my homework and managed to negotiate £7.5k off because nobody else was offering: even so, I still wondered if I was overpaying. Roll forward to today, 3 months later and prices have continued to climb. Looking on Rightmove the price I paid for my place now seems quite reasonable. Strike while the iron is hot if you can afford to - good luck.

Thanks I know this is par for the course and I may pay more than I'd like, but I do want it so let's see what happens! Hopefully they'll a) get no offers, and b) get offer and come back to me to see if I'll up it. I was just surprised they didn't counter my offer.

I don't think they will come to you to match an offer they receive that is higher than yours. The seller may be happy with a higher offer than yours and accept without consulting you.

youth_leader

Sorry to read this missmoneypenny, it is frustrating.  I was a cash in the bank (I had sold and moved into rented) first viewer of my now bungalow on a Saturday morning, and offered immediately when I went back to my car.

The EA said the vendor wanted to allow the other viewings to go ahead so I had an anxious weekend. 

On the Monday, the EA rang and said two of the viewers had offered asking, one had offered below but had phoned in with full asking at 9 am that morning.  She said the vendor would sell to me if I would offer over asking price, which I did, luckily I was saving the stamp duty last March.  I had the survey done early on, rather than wait for the chain to complete, and all seemed well so I didn't enter into any negotiations.

Now I've completed and have found every room in the bungalow has woodworm, I could do with that extra £3K! 

Good luck.

Slinky

TheJP said:

missymoneypenny said:

breaking_free said:

Missmoneypenny I feel for you, as I'm sure does everyone else. But I have to agree with the other posters - the sellers would be foolish not to entertain other viewers (even if it's just to have a backup if a sale falls through).

I've exchanged today with completion on Monday. I did my homework and managed to negotiate £7.5k off because nobody else was offering: even so, I still wondered if I was overpaying. Roll forward to today, 3 months later and prices have continued to climb. Looking on Rightmove the price I paid for my place now seems quite reasonable. Strike while the iron is hot if you can afford to - good luck.

Thanks I know this is par for the course and I may pay more than I'd like, but I do want it so let's see what happens! Hopefully they'll a) get no offers, and b) get offer and come back to me to see if I'll up it. I was just surprised they didn't counter my offer.

I don't think they will come to you to match an offer they receive that is higher than yours. The seller may be happy with a higher offer than yours and accept without consulting you.

If they get more than one offer, they may come back with 'best and final'. We did when we sold ours and got another £5K out of our top bidder. The under bidder came up to the same as the first offer our purchasers made.

eidand

I think you played this the wrong way OP. Hopefully it works out for you, but you already said a house like that doesn't come on the market often.

You took a risk and there is a very high chance someone else will see the real value and offer what the vendor asks, while you won't get a second chance to increase anything. I really hope I am wrong on this one but this is the very likely scenario. All this for 20k, for a house with sea view, which you yourself described as a rare find. I have to ask, do you want the 20k in your pocket that much or do you want this gem of the house? That's basically the decision.

Like I said, I hope it works out for you and we won't see you here telling us how much you regret missing out on your dream property.

Thrugelmir

missymoneypenny said:

breaking_free said:

Missmoneypenny I feel for you, as I'm sure does everyone else. But I have to agree with the other posters - the sellers would be foolish not to entertain other viewers (even if it's just to have a backup if a sale falls through).

I've exchanged today with completion on Monday. I did my homework and managed to negotiate £7.5k off because nobody else was offering: even so, I still wondered if I was overpaying. Roll forward to today, 3 months later and prices have continued to climb. Looking on Rightmove the price I paid for my place now seems quite reasonable. Strike while the iron is hot if you can afford to - good luck.

Thanks I know this is par for the course and I may pay more than I'd like, but I do want it so let's see what happens! Hopefully they'll a) get no offers, and b) get offer and come back to me to see if I'll up it. I was just surprised they didn't counter my offer.

If it's well short of their expectations, at the current time. no need to waste time. There's no shortage of early viewers that offer low in the hope of securing a bargain. Never to increase their offer to a serious level. If they need somewhere to move to. Then why rush. The market is only just picking up now. Over the next 3 months will get increasingly busier with activity. 

eastmidsaver

i think as most people have stated above,  the seller is within their right to continue allowing viewings until they are happy to accept.   
at the same time, you are entitled to walk away should you wish to do so in the hope they accept and take off the market,  but that will be a bit of a gamble (on both sides). 
i imagine by next week a decision will be made so a bit of patience and hopefully you will get some good news.

missymoneypenny

eastmidsaver said:

i think as most people have stated above,  the seller is within their right to continue allowing viewings until they are happy to accept.   
at the same time, you are entitled to walk away should you wish to do so in the hope they accept and take off the market,  but that will be a bit of a gamble (on both sides). 
i imagine by next week a decision will be made so a bit of patience and hopefully you will get some good news.

Thank you.

missymoneypenny

Monday morning update:

My offer has just been accepted. 

Thank you all for your input and speculations, we should have run a book on it. Now I have to go negotiate the post survey costs my buyers are wanting to knock off. Wish me luck

propertyhunter

So happy for you.

Now this makes me confused about offering above asking on a house I'm seeing this week - ahhh the mind games begin and a week of getting distracted at work looking at the house again and again on streetview!