Counter Offer / strange buyer

tracytown

Had an offer on my flat after 1.5 weeks £4500 below asking price. Seems ok, but the buyer offered the full asking price without viewing and then once viewed lowered the price.

Additionally the buyer had no MIP and sought advice from the estate agents who cleared them. Why would someone do this? My gut feeling is there is something going to go wrong with the purchase and it's putting me off.

Most people would get a MIP online, with ease, not get one from estate agent? Plus offering full price without viewing seems unusual?

Not sure whether to counter offer or reject entirely due to gut feeling they aren't serious buyer/may have financial issues.

TripleH

Is there any other interest in your flat?

You can say you give them x weeks exclusivity to prove they can provide evidence they can proceed otherwise you'll relist. In the meantime leave it on as offer received but still open to further offers.

ReadingTim

What does the EA make of them / suggest you do?  Obviously, the decision is yours, but you should ascertain how proceedable the EA thinks the buyer is, as well as whether there's any other interest in the property.  

A bit more info would be helpful - the fact it's a flat and that it's only a £4.5k price reduction suggests it's a first time buyer's sort of place, so knowing a bit more might help sort out whether this buyer is a clueless FTBer, timewasting impoverished dreamer, or cold hard calculating gazunderor.  

tracytown

ReadingTim said:

What does the EA make of them / suggest you do?  Obviously, the decision is yours, but you should ascertain how proceedable the EA thinks the buyer is, as well as whether there's any other interest in the property.  

A bit more info would be helpful - the fact it's a flat and that it's only a £4.5k price reduction suggests it's a first time buyer's sort of place, so knowing a bit more might help sort out whether this buyer is a clueless FTBer, timewasting impoverished dreamer, or cold hard calculating gazunderor.  

Yes they are a FTB I believe, the estate agent did not exactly seem that reassuring to me over the phone. After 1.5 weeks I have had about 6 viewings and no offers. I'm starting to think it is a little bit overpriced.

I guess I could ask them for more details about the buyer.

tracytown

TripleH said:

Is there any other interest in your flat?

You can say you give them x weeks exclusivity to prove they can provide evidence they can proceed otherwise you'll relist. In the meantime leave it on as offer received but still open to further offers.

Yes I am having plenty of viewings after only a short time, about 6 viewings. I may ask if they can provide more details about the buyer, I believe they are a FTB. I find it odd to offer asking price without viewing, it leaves you no room to do anything, then they have dropped their offer after viewing.

tracytown

Should I ask to see a mortgage in principle? The estate agent said they used their financial advisor and said verbally they had a mortgage in principle, which to me again seems odd.

Sandtree

tracytown said:

TripleH said:

Is there any other interest in your flat?

You can say you give them x weeks exclusivity to prove they can provide evidence they can proceed otherwise you'll relist. In the meantime leave it on as offer received but still open to further offers.

Yes I am having plenty of viewings after only a short time, about 6 viewings. I may ask if they can provide more details about the buyer, I believe they are a FTB. I find it odd to offer asking price without viewing, it leaves you no room to do anything, then they have dropped their offer after viewing.

A first time buyer may not know the normal process for buying a property, unfortunately not everyone is minded to learn about things before jumping in. 

In England and Wales offers been nothing as they are in no way binding so whilst it may be odd to offer first and view after theres nothing that stops them from doing it... considering it some kind of underhanded strategy however would suggest a more knowledgeable buyer (at least in their own view) which is the polar opposite of the above.

Hopefully you'll get other offers as it sounds this one could result in a slightly painful sale.

tracytown

Sandtree said:

tracytown said:

TripleH said:

Is there any other interest in your flat?

You can say you give them x weeks exclusivity to prove they can provide evidence they can proceed otherwise you'll relist. In the meantime leave it on as offer received but still open to further offers.

Yes I am having plenty of viewings after only a short time, about 6 viewings. I may ask if they can provide more details about the buyer, I believe they are a FTB. I find it odd to offer asking price without viewing, it leaves you no room to do anything, then they have dropped their offer after viewing.

A first time buyer may not know the normal process for buying a property, unfortunately not everyone is minded to learn about things before jumping in. 

In England and Wales offers been nothing as they are in no way binding so whilst it may be odd to offer first and view after theres nothing that stops them from doing it... considering it some kind of underhanded strategy however would suggest a more knowledgeable buyer (at least in their own view) which is the polar opposite of the above.

Hopefully you'll get other offers as it sounds this one could result in a slightly painful sale.

I was thinking overall it's odd and it doesn't bode well for the future as it will be a difficult leasehold flat sale, that tend to take longer than people expect. 

I expected the estate agent to be asking people for details before viewing, should I ask them to make sure future viewers are in a proceedable position before viewing? 

eidand

look, anyone who makes an offer WITHOUT viewing is not a serious buyer.

On the EA bit, yes, the EA works for you, you can ask them to vest the interested parties, check their finances etc. Some do bny default but some don't seem to.

davemorton

Sold my house 2 month ago to someone who offered asking before viewing. I told EA I would not accept offer until they had viewed, they did, and sale went through fine. 

pinkshoes

Some people put in an initial offer without viewing because they really want to live in a particular area and don't want the property to be snapped up before they've had chance to see it. Especially in a sellers market. They then view when they are able to and adjust the price if it doesn't quite match what they thought it would be like.

Are there many other similar properties for sale in the area?