Why would a vendor just not reply to an offer on their property?

AlexMac

Not possible to generalise; I've experienced the extremes-

Slow, slow... upped my (still lowish) offer on a Monday after thinking it over that weekend.  No reply.  About to submit a sealed bid on another property five days later, on the Friday, I rang the EA to say, a call telling me to FO would have been a courtesy... "Oh didn't we tell you? Offer was accepted early this week"! Grr.  We bought it but didn't use that agent when we sold a few years later.  In fact wouldn't touch 'em with a bargepole.

Quick Quick.. I put a house on the market and got a call from the Agent with an offer 15% under; said no.  Got a call two minutes later; 7-10% under. Said yes.  Done and dusted in under 5 minutes, and all from B&Q's car park! 

Buyer later asked "what's wrong with the property that you made it so quick and easy?!" 

Nothing I said; it was an auction buy; a wreck of an ex-rental which I got really cheap to do up and live in.  £30k of new roof, re-wiring, replumbing, boiler, c/h, bathroom and kitchen and 3 years later, I'd doubled my money (in the crazy house price inflation years of the late 20th Century, when the area was coming up...). So I reasured him that we'd both done well.

Slow...

jonnydeppiwish!

I waited 3.5 weeks for my offer to be accepted. Do you know the situation of the vendor as previous posters have asked?

dander

theartfullodger said:

There's no law saying vendor has to reply at all.  However, they are sending you a message - "not at that price, bump it up if still interested".

There's a really easy way to send that message by actually refusing the offer and entering into negotiations. Staying silent achieves absolutely nothing.

njkmr

Up your offer to a little over asking price and see if you get a quicker response..?
May answer your question then. Prove your psychology theory right.?
No , I guess you can wait...!

Section62

dander said:

theartfullodger said:

There's no law saying vendor has to reply at all.  However, they are sending you a message - "not at that price, bump it up if still interested".

There's a really easy way to send that message by actually refusing the offer and entering into negotiations. Staying silent achieves absolutely nothing.

au contraire.

Sometimes it works very well.

oldernonethewiser

dander said:

theartfullodger said:

There's no law saying vendor has to reply at all.  However, they are sending you a message - "not at that price, bump it up if still interested".

There's a really easy way to send that message by actually refusing the offer and entering into negotiations. Staying silent achieves absolutely nothing.

Think again.

dander

Well, despite everyone here being pretty rude to me, it turns out my instincts were correct that there was something dodgy going on. After much pushing the agent discovered an issue that the vendors had previously entirely failed to disclose that means they may actually not even be legally able to sell this property. And the delay was them suddenly deciding to run around and find solutions only when they actually got an offer.

So looks like that deal is off but god knows how long I'd have had to sit around waiting to find out if I'd just accepted it was all normal and they were visiting tragic relatives in hospital.

cymruchris

dander said:

Well, despite everyone here being pretty rude to me, it turns out my instincts were correct that there was something dodgy going on. After much pushing the agent discovered an issue that the vendors had previously entirely failed to disclose that means they may actually not even be legally able to sell this property. And the delay was them suddenly deciding to run around and find solutions only when they actually got an offer.

So looks like that deal is off but god knows how long I'd have had to sit around waiting to find out if I'd just accepted it was all normal and they were visiting tragic relatives in hospital.

Good that you've found that out, and can now move on to finding another property. I don't think anyone has been rude to you, more managing expectations. Many have pointed out reasons why it can take more than 24 hours to get a decision, things that no doubt you can take into account on your next 'offer'. It's not really 'god knows how long you'd have to sit around waiting' - some sellers really do take their time. I think there are comments for and against being patient. Sometimes it'll work in your favour being a persistant pain in their posterior and other times patience pays off. Fingers crossed you'll have better luck on the next property.

annetheman

24 hours?! 

I'm selling for the first time ever (your seller could be the same) and if my buyer gets like this within 24 hours of making the offer I'll be a bit scared of them, no offence. I'd wonder if everything was alright, if you get my point. I'd rather make one of the largest and most stressful transactions of my life with someone that doesn't add unwarranted pressure. 

It's stressful on both sides, and it's likely they need to think; is there something you can do to help you be patient? Get lost in your favourite puzzle or something?

youth_leader

Sorry, I have just seen your update.  All the best, I hope it works out for you.

(When I viewed this bungalow on a Saturday morning and offered the fullasking price, the EA said the buyer wanted to 'honour her weekend viewings'.  I had to wait the weekend to see if she had accepted. On the Monday I heard that she'd chosen me out of four offers - if I offered 'a bit more'.  As I wasn't paying stamp duty in 2021 I offered that amount.  Apparently she chose me (cash buyer) from three full asking, one under asking but they'd phoned earlier on the Monday to increase to full asking.  I was so pleased at the time, unaware all the floors were mouldy and needed replacing)