FTB offer not accepted or rejected and general advice!

gigglynikki

Will try and keep this brief.

Saw a house and fell in love, FTB so not in a chain. On the market for £230k! (Initially on the market since November for modern auction at £215,000 guide price and got brought off that early January to a normal sale at £230,000 guide price).

We viewed on Monday and were a bit disappointed, the photos showed a palace compared to what we saw, the air was a nice aroma of wet dog (even the EA commented on the smell), needs a new boiler at some point sooner rather than later as it's old (house was built in 2000 and has never had a new boiler?), it hadn't been cleaned prior to viewing (eg/ dust webs in the bathroom and general tat throughout the house and dirty bathrooms), and some rooms hadn't finished being decorated. It's a 3 bed detached house.

The EA lied and said that this seller had converted the garage into a TV room, (we found the listing from last time it sold and the previous seller had done this)! I did state this to the EA. It sold 3 years ago at £180k (10k below their asking price). These sellers have added a bar in the back garden that is a very good standard and have changed the garden to be more low maintenance and had a new cooker and have painted some rooms. The house is in a really nice location though and ticks all our boxes. 

Apparently the sellers have sepetated hence the reason for sale. We got told offers had to be in by Wednesday and that we were the last viewers on Monday. Put a low offer in on Tuesday of £211,500 and this was rejected as they had 2 higher offers. Spoke with my partner and we agreed to put our best offer in of £219,500 which we did on Wednesday.

We then got a call to see if we would go any higher and we said no that was our limit. Had another call from EA to say someone had bid at asking price but couldn't prove their AIP so they had told sellers to avoid them, and apparently another offer was just over ours but they are in a chain and their house has been on the market for a while so they told the sellers we were their best choice. 

They then went on to say they have arranged 2 more viewings for today as our offer was only agreed by one of the parties so it hasn't been accepted but hasn't been rejected.

We were told last week the only time we could view was between 5pm and 5.45pm week nights or on a Saturday as this is when the seller was home to take the dogs out. My partner asked for a second viewing just to confirm some things we had seen on Monday - that it wouldnt change our offer but that with it all moving so quickly we just wanted another viewing. They offered us a viewing at 5pm-5.45pm tonight which tells me they havent really got any other viewings today. Which is annoying. We have one provisionally booked in for Saturday.

Are they just trying to get more money out of us? Do we continue shopping the market or hang fire and hope our offer is accepted at some point? How much faith would there be that we wouldn't be gazumped further down the line if someone came in higher?

Sorry for the long post however mind is in overdrive!
Thanks
A very confused first time buyer! 

Hedgepigs

If it's a divorcing couple and only one had accepted your offer in the first instance, I'd say it's likely the other doesn't want to sell at all and/or is being deliberately awkward. 

Leave your offer on the table if you want - but I'd carry on looking too. This one could be a long drawn out  and frustrating process.

lookstraightahead

Hedgepigs said:

If it's a divorcing couple and only one had accepted your offer in the first instance, I'd say it's likely the other doesn't want to sell at all and/or is being deliberately awkward. 

Leave your offer on the table if you want - but I'd carry on looking too. This one could be a long drawn out  and frustrating process.

This. I tried to buy from a divorcing couple once. Total waste of my time.

cattie

My mantra has always been if you do dearly want a property & you believe it to be a fair price then just go in at the asking price to secure it.

A divorcing couple will view any offer as being 50% of the amount to come to them,  so obviously the higher the selling price the more each of the parties receives to put towards getting a mortgage for their respective new homes.

anotheruser

Stick to guns.

Thrugelmir

gigglynikki said:

 Spoke with my partner and we agreed to put our best offer in of £219,500 which we did on Wednesday.

That was only yesterday presumably. People need time to reflect. They'll have jobs and other committments in their lives that might be taking priority.  Relax , give them some space and time. Agitated potential buyers are never a good sign, at what is often a long tortuous process. Meanwhile keep your eyes on what's coming onto the market.

lookstraightahead

cattie said:

My mantra has always been if you do dearly want a property & you believe it to be a fair price then just go in at the asking price to secure it.

A divorcing couple will view any offer as being 50% of the amount to come to them,  so obviously the higher the selling price the more each of the parties receives to put towards getting a mortgage for their respective new homes.

However it's not always about the money. Some divorcing couples really want it out of the way and aren't even thinking about what to do next. I gave my ex husband all the equity just to get him out of the way. And most divorcing couples can't get new mortgages at this point. It depends whether they want to still communicate on a regular basis over a few thousand pounds.

what often does happen is squabbling.

MickeyFTB

Agree with much of the above - as a first time buyer too I will say that you should definitely keep looking whilst waiting.

We had our heart set on a house, it had quite a lot of renovation required including a new boiler system (alike this one) - I’d looked past all the things that needed doing as I loved the house in general.

We considered everything needed doing and put in a lower offer - we didn’t get the house in the end and I was crushed but in hindsight it was WAY too much on what we were actually prepared to take on.

A week later another house came on the market, we offered and we’re accepted and its actually more than we could ask for and I’ve forgotten about the other one till now - also glad we don’t have so much work to do when we move in - just need to actually complete (which is another challenge)

KeepOnKnitting

I would also recommend caution. They are not going to be easy to work with as they are struggling to agree. There will be the chance that at some point one finds a way to just buy the other out and you get dropped. One may decide to buy a place after all and tack a chain onto the front of the transaction. Just don't let your heart get broken or rule your head on this one.

steampowered

I think most of the other posters are being unreasonable. Your offer only went in yesterday! 

It is hardly unusual for people to take 24 hours to think about big decisions like selling a house. It's normal for offers to take a week or more to negotiate. 

I'd give it a week. If both sellers are happy with the offer then, great. If not, take the offer off the table and tell the EA to get back to you if both sellers wish to commit. 

MickeyFTB

steampowered said:

I think most of the other posters are being unreasonable. Your offer only went in yesterday! 

It is hardly unusual for people to take 24 hours to think about big decisions like selling a house. It's normal for offers to take a week or more to negotiate. 

I'd give it a week. If both sellers are happy with the offer then, great. If not, take the offer off the table and tell the EA to get back to you if both sellers wish to commit. 

I agree not to make rash decisions about taking the offer off the table based on the unknown circumstance of the divorcing couple but having been priced out of many houses due to being FTB and limited equity it’s definitely good practice to keep looking whilst waiting.

You can also continue to offer on future properties whilst this is still on the table as you’re not contracted.

Presuming you’re in England that is, not sure on other nations policies!