Did I just miss out on a bargain or dodge a bullet?

Thomas12346

I am in the market as a buyer for a family home (4 persons). I found a house we all liked for £550,000 that had been reduced from £585,000 when it was listed at the peak of the market in Nov 2022.

I put in an offer of £520,000 which was accepted within the hour. At that time I was informed by the estate agent that there had been another bid that afternoon, but that the sellers liked my position more (No house to sell) and so they'd chosen to go with us.

I immediately felt uneasy about the speed with which the sellers had accepted the offer - it was put in at 4pm friday and they accepted before 5pm - not taking the weekend to think over an offer £30,000 below their asking price.

I should say, that I have no idea whether this is normal, as I have only previously purchased property in Scotland that is a very different system.

I spent the weekend accessing the market and my personal finances and decided come first thing monday I would withdraw from the sale - not because on paper I couldn't afford it but because for me it would be a big mortgage at a time when the market is at best unstable and at worst on a solid downward trend.

I expected the seller to accept the other offer the estate agent mentioned, as they were old and had found a retirement home and had already packed up all their belongings as we saw when we viewed.

A week later the property is still listed for sale and not as STC. Does this sound like the estate was gaming me? The house has been on the market since August 2022 and was last reduced in January 2023.

At £520,000 the property was down 9% on peak asking price. Assuming the peak market asking price was realistic, was I way off with this?

Ksw3

Does it really matter? Or are you still thinking about buying the house? 

I think with housebuying you have to choose where to spend your energy and im not sure finding an answer to these questions will be productive or worth it in the long run (If you're not still considering buying it). 

Thomas12346

Ksw3 said:

Does it really matter? Or are you still thinking about buying the house? 

I think with housebuying you have to choose where to spend your energy and im not sure finding an answer to these questions will be productive or worth it in the long run (If you're not still considering buying it). 

I still like the property. There aren't a lot to choose from right now in my search area.

To be honest I wish I had put in a lower initial offer - but now I have no idea how to back track on a higher bid without coming across as timewaster.

ciderboy2009

Remember the old saying - you can tell when an Estate Agent is lying because their lips are moving!

mebu60

Thomas12346 said:

Ksw3 said:

Does it really matter? Or are you still thinking about buying the house? 

I think with housebuying you have to choose where to spend your energy and im not sure finding an answer to these questions will be productive or worth it in the long run (If you're not still considering buying it). 

I still like the property. There aren't a lot to choose from right now in my search area.

To be honest I wish I had put in a lower initial offer - but now I have no idea how to back track on a higher bid without coming across as timewaster.

Ring the estate agent and make a lower offer, one that you are comfortable with, subject to survey. 

If the sellers reject it either make a slightly increased offer as best and final or walk away. 

jonnydeppiwish!

The peak of the market was probably actually Jun/Jul. Interest rates had already started to increase by October. This, coupled with the traditional slow down prior to Xmas,  means that is was quite possibly over valued when you made an offer.

Dependent of area, how much you like the house, I would definitely go back with another offer in the region of £475k and then see what response you get.

ArbitraryRandom

I wouldn't take anything the EA says against the sellers - there's a good chance they don't know what the EA is saying... but at the same time it's very possible that there's another possible buyer out there who thinks the EA is stringing them along because magically between Friday and Monday the bid that was picked over theirs has evaporated. 

And the speed of accepting the offer if it's been on the market for a while and they're packed up to go wouldn't worry me. There's a good chance they already talked over what to do if there was a lower offer and just wanted to move on. 

As for what you should do - I'd suggest you think about how much you like this house and potentially uncomplicated purchase. Maybe view some other properties and see how they measure up.

Realistically though, they might not accept your reduced or second offer, not because they don't think it's fair, but because they think you're a time-waster who's playing games and will try to negotiate a further reduction later in the process... 

ReadingTim

ArbitraryRandom said:

Realistically though, they might not accept your reduced or second offer, not because they don't think it's fair, but because they think you're a time-waster who's playing games and will try to negotiate a further reduction later in the process... 

Quite - I certainly would be very unlikely to entertain a lower offer from someone who's already messed me around at a higher price.  

OP - I think you have overthought the whole thing and as a result it's cost you a potential home in an area where there aren't too many for sale.  Nice one.  

Thomas12346

ReadingTim said:

ArbitraryRandom said:

Realistically though, they might not accept your reduced or second offer, not because they don't think it's fair, but because they think you're a time-waster who's playing games and will try to negotiate a further reduction later in the process... 

Quite - I certainly would be very unlikely to entertain a lower offer from someone who's already messed me around at a higher price.  

OP - I think you have overthought the whole thing and as a result it's cost you a potential home in an area where there aren't too many for sale.  Nice one.  

Might just wait for the market to continue falling then....

In the meantime i'm getting a sweet penny in interest from selling my own house at the peak.

On the other hand, the seller has been watching their house price fall for over 7 months.

ArbitraryRandom

Thomas12346 said:

ReadingTim said:

ArbitraryRandom said:

Realistically though, they might not accept your reduced or second offer, not because they don't think it's fair, but because they think you're a time-waster who's playing games and will try to negotiate a further reduction later in the process... 

Quite - I certainly would be very unlikely to entertain a lower offer from someone who's already messed me around at a higher price.  

OP - I think you have overthought the whole thing and as a result it's cost you a potential home in an area where there aren't too many for sale.  Nice one.  

Might just wait for the market to continue falling then....

In the meantime i'm getting a sweet penny in interest from selling my own house at the peak.

At the same time as this, the seller has been watching their house price fall for over 7 months.

If I may... 

It could be this situation has arisen because the EA was playing games - Or equally because you've reacted to something that might or might not have happened and made a quick decision that you might or might not come to regret. 

For what it's worth, I wasn't judging what you did (buying a house is a big thing and you have to be entirely comfortable), but it will be easy for you to read comments (and for people to post comments) that wind you up and make you react again in a way that will have you second guessing down the line. 

All I was trying to do was highlight the possible other perspectives this same situation could be viewed from. You know you weren't trying to mess them around, but they might think you were - the same as you might think they made up another offer when they didn't... 

Genuinely, I think the best thing for you to do is to look at the other options and think about what you want to do (give yourself the weekend you thought they should have taken), then maybe contact them IF you think the house is worth the offer you're going to make. 

You can sit and wait and hope the markets continue to fall (paying rent?) or maybe decide this house ticks your boxes and you'd rather have a simple chain free purchase so you can move in and enjoy your summer. 

BUT whatever you do please have a mind to how the other side of the transition might be viewing your actions the same as you're viewing theirs? 

Thomas12346

ArbitraryRandom said:

Thomas12346 said:

ReadingTim said:

ArbitraryRandom said:

Realistically though, they might not accept your reduced or second offer, not because they don't think it's fair, but because they think you're a time-waster who's playing games and will try to negotiate a further reduction later in the process... 

Quite - I certainly would be very unlikely to entertain a lower offer from someone who's already messed me around at a higher price.  

OP - I think you have overthought the whole thing and as a result it's cost you a potential home in an area where there aren't too many for sale.  Nice one.  

Might just wait for the market to continue falling then....

In the meantime i'm getting a sweet penny in interest from selling my own house at the peak.

At the same time as this, the seller has been watching their house price fall for over 7 months.

If I may... 

It could be this situation has arisen because the EA was playing games - Or equally because you've reacted to something that might or might not have happened and made a quick decision that you might or might not come to regret. 

For what it's worth, I wasn't judging what you did (buying a house is a big thing and you have to be entirely comfortable), but it will be easy for you to read comments (and for people to post comments) that wind you up and make you react again in a way that will have you second guessing down the line. 

All I was trying to do was highlight the possible other perspectives this same situation could be viewed from. You know you weren't trying to mess them around, but they might think you were - the same as you might think they made up another offer when they didn't... 

Genuinely, I think the best thing for you to do is to look at the other options and think about what you want to do (give yourself the weekend you thought they should have taken), then maybe contact them IF you think the house is worth the offer you're going to make. 

You can sit and wait and hope the markets continue to fall (paying rent?) or maybe decide this house ticks your boxes and you'd rather have a simple chain free purchase so you can move in and enjoy your summer. 

BUT whatever you do please have a mind to how the other side of the transition might be viewing your actions the same as you're viewing theirs? 

Thank you for your considered responses, I believe they are on the money, so to speak.

I consider that the best hand I could have played given their position would have been to proceed with the conveyancing and survey process and then gazunder them after a few good weeks - and this did occur to me; however, I considered that this was pretty immoral and I didn't want to be that guy. In real terms the seller lost out on nothing between 5pm Friday and 9am Monday.

I am currently paying very low rent on a nice rural property, but with the interest on a mortgage vs interest on investments of freed up equity I am still seeing very nice overall returns.

It is true, that the seller's position is attractive - as mine is to them. It is strange that someone else mentioned an offer of £475,000 as that is the highest i think i would go given the market at the moment - i believe the seller almost certainly won't accept this, especially given their perception of me at this point. This said, i think that if i bide my time, in a few weeks if the property is still for sale, then they may look at it afresh and I may not seem so fickle to them given the slower turn around.