Buyer's mortgage fell through...what happens usually?

Rumana03

So we saw a house that we liked about a month and a half ago but someone else offered more than us and their offer got accepted.
The EA phoned today to say the buyer's mortgage fell through so they wanted to check if we are still interested. We said we are still interested and the EA said they will speak to the seller and let us know what is going on. The seller is in the process of buying a new house herself and is halfway there.

I rang the EA earlier to find out if they had spoken to the seller. They said the seller is having a think about it. I said hold on, did she not ask you to call us today then? I thought she saw the offers made previously & had asked for us to be contacted. EA is saying that they normally take second highest offer in these circumstances and check if that buyer is still interested. If they are still interested then they put this forward to the seller. Now the seller could either agree to it, ask for more money or decide to re-advertise.
Is this true? Or is the EA just saying this to put pressure on us to offer more money?
I told EA we have put an offer on another property and should hear back about it within next 2 days (which is true). I'm hoping that will make seller make a quicker decision. EA said hopefully by tomorrow we will get a response from seller.

canaldumidi

You are over-thinking.

You made an offer of £X which was rejected.

The seller is ow re-marketing (due to their buyer having problems) so your offer of £X is being re-submited.

As the EA says, it is up to the seller to decide whether to accept your original offer, or not.

It is not up to the EA. They are just a go-between.

When you hear back from the seller, depending what they say you can decide what to do.

eddddy

Rumana03 said:

Or is the EA just saying this to put pressure on us to offer more money?

The EA won't be too bothered whether you offer more money or not  (but the seller is likely to be bothered).

If you increase your offer by £5k, the EA might get an extra £50 or £75 in fees - they wouldn't be going through all this hassle for £75. It's not a good use of their time.


It sounds more like the EA is trying to get the seller to accept your offer, but the seller is pushing back for some reason.

I guess it could be for a number of reasons...

• The seller wants to stick with the current buyer, but the EA is trying to persuade the seller that you're a better bet
• The seller wants to move to another EA, so the EA is using your offer to try to keep them
• The seller wants more money than you're offering

But... if the current sale really did fall though because the buyer couldn't get a mortgage, you need to ask some probing questions. Was it because of a problem with the property? 

Rumana03

eddddy said:

Rumana03 said:

Or is the EA just saying this to put pressure on us to offer more money?

The EA won't be too bothered whether you offer more money or not. 

If you increase your offer by £5k, the EA might get an extra £50 or £75 in fees - they wouldn't be going through all this hassle for £75. It's not a good use of their time.


It sounds more like the EA is trying to get the seller to accept your offer, but the seller is pushing back for some reason.

I guess it could be for a number of reasons...

• The seller wants to stick with the current buyer, but the EA is trying to persuade the seller that you're a better bet
• The seller wants to move to another EA, so the EA is using your offer to try to keep them
• The seller wants more money than you're offering

But... if the current sale really did fall though because the buyer couldn't get a mortgage, you need to ask some probing questions. Was it because of a problem with the property? 

Most likely it could have been that the original buyer offered more than the house was valued for by the bank and they probably couldn't afford to pay the difference...that seems to be the case quite often nowadays. I don't know this for sure but I would assume so.

The house is a leasehold 2 bedroom property which was advertised at £250k. We offered £256k. I think the other buyer probably offered between £260k to £265k. This is way higher than this house would be valued at. Just last year a freehold 2 bedroom house on the same road sold for £235k.

I just don't understand why the EA would bother calling us to check if we are still interested if the seller would not even consider that offer we put in...wouldn't it make more sense to check with seller first and then call us if she was happy with it?

The property was immaculate with no issues whatsoever. Very well maintained and requires no changes to be made. Out of every property we have viewed this is the only one I can say that about.

canaldumidi

Rumana03 said:

eddddy said:

Rumana03 said:

Or is the EA just saying this to put pressure on us to offer more money?

The EA won't be too bothered whether you offer more money or not. 

If you increase your offer by £5k, the EA might get an extra £50 or £75 in fees - they wouldn't be going through all this hassle for £75. It's not a good use of their time.


It sounds more like the EA is trying to get the seller to accept your offer, but the seller is pushing back for some reason.

I guess it could be for a number of reasons...

• The seller wants to stick with the current buyer, but the EA is trying to persuade the seller that you're a better bet
• The seller wants to move to another EA, so the EA is using your offer to try to keep them
• The seller wants more money than you're offering

But... if the current sale really did fall though because the buyer couldn't get a mortgage, you need to ask some probing questions. Was it because of a problem with the property? 

...

I just don't understand why the EA would bother calling us to check if we are still interested if the seller would not even consider that offer we put in...wouldn't it make more sense to check with seller first and then call us if she was happy with it?
...

What would be the point of talking to the seller about you and your offer give there's every possibility you might have found another property and no longer be interested?

Rumana03

canaldumidi said:

Rumana03 said:

eddddy said:

Rumana03 said:

Or is the EA just saying this to put pressure on us to offer more money?

The EA won't be too bothered whether you offer more money or not. 

If you increase your offer by £5k, the EA might get an extra £50 or £75 in fees - they wouldn't be going through all this hassle for £75. It's not a good use of their time.


It sounds more like the EA is trying to get the seller to accept your offer, but the seller is pushing back for some reason.

I guess it could be for a number of reasons...

• The seller wants to stick with the current buyer, but the EA is trying to persuade the seller that you're a better bet
• The seller wants to move to another EA, so the EA is using your offer to try to keep them
• The seller wants more money than you're offering

But... if the current sale really did fall though because the buyer couldn't get a mortgage, you need to ask some probing questions. Was it because of a problem with the property? 

...

I just don't understand why the EA would bother calling us to check if we are still interested if the seller would not even consider that offer we put in...wouldn't it make more sense to check with seller first and then call us if she was happy with it?
...

What would be the point of talking to the seller about you and your offer give there's every possibility you might have found another property and no longer be interested?

Because then they could have checked what the seller is likely to accept...and if they wanted more money then they could have asked when they called us..

Now the EA told the seller we are still interested. Seller needs to think over whether they would consider our offer or need more money..then the EA will need to contact us again..seems to make the whole thing longer than it needs to be.

canaldumidi

Rumana03 said:

canaldumidi said:

Rumana03 said:

eddddy said:

Rumana03 said:

Or is the EA just saying this to put pressure on us to offer more money?

The EA won't be too bothered whether you offer more money or not. 

If you increase your offer by £5k, the EA might get an extra £50 or £75 in fees - they wouldn't be going through all this hassle for £75. It's not a good use of their time.


It sounds more like the EA is trying to get the seller to accept your offer, but the seller is pushing back for some reason.

I guess it could be for a number of reasons...

• The seller wants to stick with the current buyer, but the EA is trying to persuade the seller that you're a better bet
• The seller wants to move to another EA, so the EA is using your offer to try to keep them
• The seller wants more money than you're offering

But... if the current sale really did fall though because the buyer couldn't get a mortgage, you need to ask some probing questions. Was it because of a problem with the property? 

...

I just don't understand why the EA would bother calling us to check if we are still interested if the seller would not even consider that offer we put in...wouldn't it make more sense to check with seller first and then call us if she was happy with it?
...

What would be the point of talking to the seller about you and your offer give there's every possibility you might have found another property and no longer be interested?

..seems to make the whole thing longer than it needs to be.

You're right. Be a lot shorter if you cut out the EA and just spoke to the seller yourelf directly.

Thrugelmir

canaldumidi said:

Rumana03 said:

canaldumidi said:

Rumana03 said:

eddddy said:

Rumana03 said:

Or is the EA just saying this to put pressure on us to offer more money?

The EA won't be too bothered whether you offer more money or not. 

If you increase your offer by £5k, the EA might get an extra £50 or £75 in fees - they wouldn't be going through all this hassle for £75. It's not a good use of their time.


It sounds more like the EA is trying to get the seller to accept your offer, but the seller is pushing back for some reason.

I guess it could be for a number of reasons...

• The seller wants to stick with the current buyer, but the EA is trying to persuade the seller that you're a better bet
• The seller wants to move to another EA, so the EA is using your offer to try to keep them
• The seller wants more money than you're offering

But... if the current sale really did fall though because the buyer couldn't get a mortgage, you need to ask some probing questions. Was it because of a problem with the property? 

...

I just don't understand why the EA would bother calling us to check if we are still interested if the seller would not even consider that offer we put in...wouldn't it make more sense to check with seller first and then call us if she was happy with it?
...

What would be the point of talking to the seller about you and your offer give there's every possibility you might have found another property and no longer be interested?

..seems to make the whole thing longer than it needs to be.

You're right. Be a lot shorter if you cut out the EA and just spoke to the seller yourelf directly.

Vendors employ the EA to provide a buffer. 

Thrugelmir

Rumana03 said:

canaldumidi said:

Rumana03 said:

eddddy said:

Rumana03 said:

Or is the EA just saying this to put pressure on us to offer more money?

The EA won't be too bothered whether you offer more money or not. 

If you increase your offer by £5k, the EA might get an extra £50 or £75 in fees - they wouldn't be going through all this hassle for £75. It's not a good use of their time.


It sounds more like the EA is trying to get the seller to accept your offer, but the seller is pushing back for some reason.

I guess it could be for a number of reasons...

• The seller wants to stick with the current buyer, but the EA is trying to persuade the seller that you're a better bet
• The seller wants to move to another EA, so the EA is using your offer to try to keep them
• The seller wants more money than you're offering

But... if the current sale really did fall though because the buyer couldn't get a mortgage, you need to ask some probing questions. Was it because of a problem with the property? 

...

I just don't understand why the EA would bother calling us to check if we are still interested if the seller would not even consider that offer we put in...wouldn't it make more sense to check with seller first and then call us if she was happy with it?
...

What would be the point of talking to the seller about you and your offer give there's every possibility you might have found another property and no longer be interested?

Because then they could have checked what the seller is likely to accept...and if they wanted more money then they could have asked when they called us..

Now the EA told the seller we are still interested. Seller needs to think over whether they would consider our offer or need more money..then the EA will need to contact us again..seems to make the whole thing longer than it needs to be.

Pointless speculating. Perhaps the vendor is reconsidering their own options. 

Rambosmum

We had this. 

Offered on a house, the offer was rejected and they accepted a higher one. The sale fell through and the estate agent called us to ask if we were still interested. We said we were and resubmitted the original offer. The estate agent asked if we wanted to raise it and I simply explained we couldn't - it was very genuinely every penny we could scrape together. 

The estate agent advised that he didn't think the vendor would accept the offer because the previous one had been so much higher, but he'd put it to them. 

We've lived here nearly 4 years now. 

I think you are reading too much in to it. 

Rumana03

Rambosmum said:

We had this. 

Offered on a house, the offer was rejected and they accepted a higher one. The sale fell through and the estate agent called us to ask if we were still interested. We said we were and resubmitted the original offer. The estate agent asked if we wanted to raise it and I simply explained we couldn't - it was very genuinely every penny we could scrape together. 

The estate agent advised that he didn't think the vendor would accept the offer because the previous one had been so much higher, but he'd put it to them. 

We've lived here nearly 4 years now. 

I think you are reading too much in to it. 

I really hope this is how this one pans out for us. We really do like the house but even when we originally made the offer I knew we were offering more than it is worth. I don't think we can afford to offer more as I definitely think the bank will downvalue (rightly so) the house.

Hopefully tomorrow we'll find out whether the vendor wants to sell to us. If she doesn't then we do have another much cheaper property we made an offer on which we are waiting to hear from.

Buying at the moment has become so unpredictable.