FTB offer not accepted or rejected and general advice!

gigglynikki

MickeyFTB said:

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)

Thank you and good luck 👍! 

gigglynikki

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. 

Thank you. We were not trying to say they were being unreasonable as we did only put the offer in yesterday. It was more the fact we were rushed into an offer and then they are still possibly getting more viewings. But on the other hand I can see where you think we may be being hasty. It was just more advice if anyone had been in a similar situation. Thanks for your advice. That sounds like a good plan. It's much appreciated!

gigglynikki

MickeyFTB said:

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!

Perfect. Thank you. 

NameUnavailable

Tell the agent you are happy to leave your offer on the table but are continuing to look at other property, and leave it at that.

Beware - I know of 'divorcing' couples who put their property up for sale. When they get an offer and it comes to the crunch as reality bites, they back off and decide to give it another try, or co-habitate etc. etc., when they realise they might struggle to find somewhere else to live.

gigglynikki

NameUnavailable said:

Tell the agent you are happy to leave your offer on the table but are continuing to look at other property, and leave it at that.

Beware - I know of 'divorcing' couples who put their property up for sale. When they get an offer and it comes to the crunch as reality bites, they back off and decide to give it another try, or co-habitate etc. etc., when they realise they might struggle to find somewhere else to live.

Thank you. That sounds like a good plan.

We are aware of the risks... More so than in normal circumstances, however everything crossed it goes smoothly enough! Thanks again!

Noneforit999

gigglynikki said:

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

Having Dogs and selling a house is always a difficult one to deal with, if you have big dogs there is not a huge amount you can do to stop a general 'Dog smell'. I would budget for re-carpeting personally if there is a Dog smell, a clean might help but I have found smells like that often linger. 

A 22 year old Boiler? Now there is a thing. My Wife's gran still had her boiler from 1983 up till last year when British Gas refused to cover it as they could no longer get spare parts for it! It doesn't need replacing automatically because its 22 years old unless you know there are issues with it. 

In your situation I would bid as high as you are prepared to go. Explain your situation to the EA to relay to the vendors in terms of how quickly you can move etc and your finances and see what happens. Houses are in demand at the moment, people often have multiple viewings and multiple offers but price is not always what things get decided on. I would rather take less money and have a reliable and prompt buyer than someone who is going to be a drama during conveyancing. 

gigglynikki

So update... we are still waiting on the offer being accepted or rejected. They have been waiting for proof of chain on the offer at asking price... and the estate agent has said they don't think they are a viable buyer and that they would recommend them going with us. We decided on wednesdat to pull our offer at close of business yesterday (friday) as annoyingly we have been left in limbo for over a week, constantly being told they are making decisions within 48 hours every time we have spoke to them... just called as didnt get an update yesterday (like they said we would)... apparently sellers are making their decision on Tuesday. Do we hold off and wait another 3 days or just leave it as obviously they are dragging out this part of the process. Surely if they are not happy with our offer they should have just rejected it and not left us in limbo. Thanks! 

Hoping this is just a rare case and it isn't going to be this difficult at every step of the process of buying a house! 

csgohan4

Keep looking with the same agent to signal your bored and leave the offer on the table. The ball is in your court, You've made your offer and let them mull it. Don't appear desperate 

gigglynikki

csgohan4 said:

Keep looking with the same agent to signal your bored and leave the offer on the table. The ball is in your court, You've made your offer and let them mull it. Don't appear desperate 

Great advice! Thank you 😊! 

Scotbot

gigglynikki said:

Do we hold off and wait another 3 days or just leave it as obviously they are dragging out this part of the process. Surely if they are not happy with our offer they should have just rejected it and not left us in limbo. Thanks! 

Hoping this is just a rare case and it isn't going to be this difficult at every step of the process of buying a house! 

If you haven't found anything else why withdraw your offer? Leave it on the table and carry on actively looking