Gutted on losing a house but can't justify the price

BMTH

lookstraightahead said:

Offers over is just a marketing ploy, plus a way of inflating a seller's ego by the EA to win business. Makes sellers think they are in the driving seat. It is also quite a good way of making buyers believe a 'real' valuation has taken place when it hasn't.

Couldn't have put it better myself tbh.

Just as an update, I spoke to the EA at 4:30pm on Thursday night with our second/final offer. We recieved a confirmation mail yesterday saying the offer was put in at around 1pm. Still haven't heard anything. Another restless night. Do I ring for an update today?

MFWannabe

BMTH said:

lookstraightahead said:

Offers over is just a marketing ploy, plus a way of inflating a seller's ego by the EA to win business. Makes sellers think they are in the driving seat. It is also quite a good way of making buyers believe a 'real' valuation has taken place when it hasn't.

Couldn't have put it better myself tbh.

Just as an update, I spoke to the EA at 4:30pm on Thursday night with our second/final offer. We recieved a confirmation mail yesterday saying the offer was put in at around 1pm. Still haven't heard anything. Another restless night. Do I ring for an update today?

Personally I wouldn’t, makes you look desperate and they will think they can get more out of you 
I’d give it at least over the weekend 

ThisIsWeird

BMTH said:

lookstraightahead said:

Offers over is just a marketing ploy, plus a way of inflating a seller's ego by the EA to win business. Makes sellers think they are in the driving seat. It is also quite a good way of making buyers believe a 'real' valuation has taken place when it hasn't.

Couldn't have put it better myself tbh.

Just as an update, I spoke to the EA at 4:30pm on Thursday night with our second/final offer. We recieved a confirmation mail yesterday saying the offer was put in at around 1pm. Still haven't heard anything. Another restless night. Do I ring for an update today?

I personally wouldn't, as you'd be back to square one - another 'final' offer, like the previous final offer - with a desperate-sounding followup enquiry. 

I think we can assume they knew you were very keen before, and were willing to quickly up the amounts, and you'll effectively be showing them that now't has changed.

The EA is legally bound to submit these offers. When they do, expect the vendor to be questioning them - "So, do they sound keen? Think they'll up it a bit more if we turn it down?". 

The EA will almost certainly get back to you as soon as they hear - they certainly aren't going to ignore their most likely buyer. I'd leave it until Monday, and even then the afternoon; much better if the EA gets in touch with you, and not t'other way around.

BMTH

Makes sense. Thanks both...

I can only assume we're in the ball park now and they are waiting to see how some of their other viewings go. Only takes somebody else who likes it that little bit extra to put a higher off in.

meeemee

Good luck hope you hear back one way or the other next week once they have had weekend viewers and maybe other offers to ponder over, the waiting is hard. 

BikingBud

mi-key said:

BMTH said:

jackieblack said:

How gutted are you?
If it’s your dream house and somewhere you can see yourselves living for many years, is it worth losing over £2.5k? (Assuming you can afford the extra - obviously if it’s beyond your budget that’s a different matter)

While buying a house is clearly a financial transaction, buying a home is more complicated and other factors, including emotions, also come into play.  Buying the right home can impact your entire lifestyle, health (mental and physical) and general happiness. That’s worth more than a couple of thousand £ - if you were to live there 10 years, that’s £250 a year, but only you can decide if it’s worth it to you.

If I had to put a percentage on it I'd say 60-70%%. Like it's bothering me now but I know I'll get over it. This week has just been quite stressful because we've obviously put the offer in with confidence they'd take it only to be told 2 days later it's rejected. (Welcome to the world of buying a house I guess)

Looking at all the great advice on here and from family/friends I was always told you offer what you think a house is worth. I personally think it's worth the 240k but I'm willing to go the extra 2.5k. I think my fear is that we're not going to see anything else come up on rightmove for this sort of price/cheaper if we let this slip.

I'm not even sure what I'm asking here, just a bit of vent I suppose!

Another handy thing can be to look at your figures and see ( assuming you can stretch to it ) how much more the monthly payments would be for spending £242.5K compared to £245K. Depending on your deal etc... it is probably less than the cost of a takeaway.

Then think would you rather have a takeaway one night a month, or would you rather get the house you really like ( and get a pizza from Tesco instead ).

From what you have said I don't think the house seems overpriced particularly compared to others. You can never really go on what other houses sold for ( unless they are identical in every aspect ) as there can be hidden reasons why they are cheaper that you cant see without in person viewing or a survey on them.

You can compare with houses currently for sale, but ended listings are pretty meaningless as you can't buy that house anyway so it only gives you a very wide ballpark of prices in the area. 

Perhaps to ensure the sale, the vendor needs to consider that they may have to go without a pizza or take out to enable the sale and allow the vendors to move on. 

But the full cost should be assessed, not only the capital but also the difference on the mortgage payments and the period of the mortgage, it might only be the cost of a pizza but that might be 25 years worth of pizzas, a not inconsiderable sum.

MFWannabe

It’s hard but you really do have to be patient 
You are in a strong position as FTB’s and your offer is a good one 
Dont be pushed into paying more than you think it’s worth; pay what it’s worth to you 
I was in the same position as you 7 years ago and my final offer really was my final; I couldn’t go any higher and the seller made me wait a week 🙄🤦‍♀️ thought they’d get more money 💵 but it all went through in the end 
Good Luck and let us know how you get on 

ThisIsWeird

Good luck, BMTH, assuming you really really want this place, and are not just being caught up in the 'win'.

If they come back with a, 'Soz - not quite enough', you may wish to ask them outright, 'What would it take, then?' Bear in mind you are unlikely to like their answer, but at least you might know what's in their mind at the moment. You can always counter-offer on this, 'Ouch! That's quite a bit more than we expected. Sorry, too high - but we could go to £x, but they'd have to stop marketing it...'

(Of course, even if they were to say 'yes', and did stop marketing it, the EA would still be duty bound to pass on any other offers from other parties. I'd like to think, tho', that they'd advise the vendor to not entertain them unless really worth it - a good EA knows all the pros and cons, and will hopefully be seeing you as a good, genuine buyer, and not to be p'eed-off.)

eidand

ok, so now that you heard all kinds of incorrect opinions on "offers over" let me give you the perspective of someone who actually sold a property using "offers over".

a bit over 2 years ago, I was selling and wanting a larger property in a better area. I wanted 182k for my property. Why 182k you ask? Because 2k was the EAs fee and I wanted to be left with 180k after the sale.

Rightmove has bands, you can do 180k or you can do 190k  We couldn't list at 190k because that would have ruled out most buyers. We couldn't list at 180k because I wanted 182k. My view was that if the EAs want 2k in fees then they'd better prove they're worth that fee, in other words sftu, get to work and earn your money

So, we listed at offers over 180k and told everyone who bothered to ask what we expected. There was no ploy, just reality of selling.

So when a house says "offers over", the reality might be that they want a little over, just as the words imply. 

housebuyer143

eidand said:

ok, so now that you heard all kinds of incorrect opinions on "offers over" let me give you the perspective of someone who actually sold a property using "offers over".

a bit over 2 years ago, I was selling and wanting a larger property in a better area. I wanted 182k for my property. Why 182k you ask? Because 2k was the EAs fee and I wanted to be left with 180k after the sale.

Rightmove has bands, you can do 180k or you can do 190k  We couldn't list at 190k because that would have ruled out most buyers. We couldn't list at 180k because I wanted 182k. My view was that if the EAs want 2k in fees then they'd better prove they're worth that fee, in other words sftu, get to work and earn your money

So, we listed at offers over 180k and told everyone who bothered to ask what we expected. There was no ploy, just reality of selling.

So when a house says "offers over", the reality might be that they want a little over, just as the words imply. 

True, but many agents last year used this as a marketing ploy. Told my mate to list hers at offers over £150k when she wanted £175k.  It's silly really as you make people view it who can't afford the price you want. 

In the end she didn't play games and just listed it for what she wanted and achieved it..