Offers in Excess of - reduced price advertised but they want the original price

Selkie56

I have made an offer on a house which had been recently reduced from OIEO £195k to OIEO £190k. I'd been advised by the estate agent that the vendor was looking for more than £190k so I offered £192k. That offer was rejected so I upped my offer to £193k.
But I have now been told that the vendor wants more than the original £195k. So why advertise it with the reduced price?
The agents are reputable and I've had viewings with them before and they are very helpful but I am confused. Was that reduced price misleading?  Or is the vendor holding out for more now that I've made an increased offer? 
I really like the house but I am cross and unwilling to enter into a back and forth negotiation. 
Any suggestions as to how best proceed?

Rhubarbium

I’d tell the estate agent that you’ll leave the offer of £193k on the table for the next week incase the vendors want to reconsider it.
They may like the idea of getting more but reducing the asking price suggests they weren’t getting much interest. Giving the vendors a few days to think about £193k vs nothing might give them a bit more clarity about what they want to do.

Bookworm105

because selling is all about manipulating the buyer's psychology
you have shown you reacted to a price "reduction" with an offer
you have then shown you can be drawn upwards 

your mistake was playing the game. Make one offer at what you can afford and stick to it.
in a few years time the odd £0,000 you may have got by offering "low" will have paled to insignificance against the then property value 

propertyrental

The EA advertises at the price the seller tells them to (albeit often with advice from the EA).

And it is the seller who decides whether to accept an offer (whether at the advertised price, higher, or lower) or not.

Perhaps (I'm speculating) the seller now has several offers since dropping the price, so thinks one or other of you (buyers) will pay more.

elsien

Probably hoping that it would attract more attention with the reduced price and then they’d get a bidding war. 

RHemmings

I think in the situation your offer of £193k is more than fair. As per the replies of others, if I was in your situation I'd sit on the offer of £193k. It could be that there are other offers, but unless you know (and even if the EA tells you there are other offers that doesn't guarantee that those offers exist or are suitable), then you could end up bidding against yourself. 

FreeBear

Rhubarbium said:

I’d tell the estate agent that you’ll leave the offer of £193k on the table for the next week incase the vendors want to reconsider it.

Or go back and say the offer on the table is £192,500 and will remain there whilst looking at other properties.

ThisIsWeird

Hi Selkie.

The answer is - everything said by everyone above.  

It's a 'game' - a horrible, expensive, game.

The EA is quite possibly an innocent party in this - a few £k in the selling price makes next-to-sod-all difference to what they receive. So, chances are they are simply doing what the seller is asking them to do, very possibly against the EA's better judgement and advice.

All an EA wants is a 'sale'. Think about it - for the seller (or buyer), what's the difference between £190k and £195k? Yup - pretty much £5k. For the EA, what's the difference, when they are getting a typical 1.5% commission? Yup, holding out for an extra £5k means - wait for it - seventyfivequid more for them! It won't even buy them a bottle of champers.

So, the to-ing and fro-ing means nothing to the EA - they just want someone to buy the bludy house!

So, what to do? The folk above have it sussed, I think - you also 'play the game'. Of course, should anyone else come along, wanting that house more than you, then you run the risk of losing it. But that, again of course, has always been the case, and always will be.

So, you need to 'fib' to the EA convincingly, so that they pass this info on to their client in a firm manner; "We love the house - we really do - and were happy to go with the £193k we offered, although against our better judgement as we really think it's only worth £190k. But, I have to say we are now losing the desire for the house, as we think we are being 'played' by the seller - it's putting us off the place, leaving a very bad taste. We've had a chat, and have made the decision - we will leave a £192.5k offer on the table, but are now actively looking elsewhere as we don't think the seller is being serious. Just let us know if they change their mind..."

Selkie56

Thank you everyone. Some excellent advice there. It is a horrible game and one I dislike but it is what it is. I'll leave my offer at £193k for a few more days and see what happens. 
Thanks especially to ThisIsWeird - I'll keep your words in mind when I speak to the EA,

ReadySteadyPop

Selkie56 said:

I have made an offer on a house which had been recently reduced from OIEO £195k to OIEO £190k. I'd been advised by the estate agent that the vendor was looking for more than £190k so I offered £192k. That offer was rejected so I upped my offer to £193k.
But I have now been told that the vendor wants more than the original £195k. So why advertise it with the reduced price?
The agents are reputable and I've had viewings with them before and they are very helpful but I am confused. Was that reduced price misleading?  Or is the vendor holding out for more now that I've made an increased offer? 
I really like the house but I am cross and unwilling to enter into a back and forth negotiation. 
Any suggestions as to how best proceed?

What is the price history of the house, and how many other offers do they have?

RHemmings

Following on from @ThisIsWeird, here's my own sample email to the agents (based on OP saying they'll keep the £193k bid). Note, this is just a thought exercise about negotiating; please don't actually do this. 

Dear (EA),

Thank you for the reply concerning the buyer's expectations. While we have made an offer of £193k for the property, to tell the truth we feel this offer is generous and we believe that the property is only worth £190k. 

However, since we did make the offer of £193k, we will maintain this offer, but only for the next working week. We are concerned that the sellers may not be serious about selling their house, and we do not want to waste our time engaging with non-serious sellers.

Hence, our offer will decrease over time as follows.

Up until 5pm Friday 26th of July, our offer will be £193k. 
After that, until 5pm Friday 2nd of August, our offer will be £192k.
After that, until 5pm Friday 9th of August, our offer will be £191k.
And after that, our offer will be £190k. 

If at some point the seller chooses our offer, then please make sure that you have checked the above and are selecting the correct offer based on when the seller's acceptance is communicated to us. If you tell us that the seller has accepted an offer, and it's incorrect according to the above for the date of your email to myself, then I will consider that not only is the seller not serious but that you have failed a basic intelligence test.

Please note that as you may be able to guess, we are pretty sure that we won't be buying this propertly. We have already booked some viewings for other properties with other estate agents, and would be interested in any alternative properties that you may have. But, only if both the sellers and yourselves are actually serious about selling these properties. 

And, of course, if we offer on another property, then the above time-based offer is no longer valid. But, you are free to ask if we are still on the market, at any time. 

Regards,

OP

It would be satisfying in some ways to send this email. But, it would most likely just make the EA think that the sender is a crank.