Ethics of making several offers - opinions?

merlinthehappypig

I agree, but we are sadly running out of time. I've stalled and stalled hoping for things to become clearer about house prices and the panic to set in amongst sellers, but it's clear that it will be a long process - too long for me to benefit.

What you describe has happened with sellers of houses we viewed in Sept/Oct, great big reductions in some cases, but we don't want any of those!

I'm sure the same will happen with some of these sellers, but the in-laws will be homeless in April.

I simply don't have time to make these sellers sweat.

dolce_vita

Yeah, I have followed some of your other posts and realise time is running out.

In which case you're either going to have to bite the bullet and pay more than you would have liked, buy something that is not quite perfect, or even rent somewhere while you keep looking.

There will inevitably need to be some compromise.

merlinthehappypig

It might be cheaper to take out a contract on the in-laws.............stamp duty is going to be £15000 or thereabouts - I must be able to find someone who would do it for that.

Running_Horse

If you did it to me, I would assume you were a time-waster and reject your offer.

Jorgan_2

Running_Horse wrote: »

If you did it to me, I would assume you were a time-waster and reject your offer.

Agree. As an agent, if you told me you were making multiple offers I would pass this information on to the vendor, they wouldn't take your offer too seriously, in my experience.
What would you have done if all three had come back and accepted your offer?

IMO, you are better off making an offer on one property, explain to the agent that the property is one of a number that you are considering. If the first offer is rejected, move onto the second property and make an offer on that.

merlinthehappypig

Running Horse/Jorgan

If you had bothered to read my posts, rather than jumping to conclusions, you would have seen that I explained in detail to the agents exactly what I was doing and why and asked them to make sure that the sellers were aware.

If several sellers had accepted my offer, unlikely at 15% below asking price as that might be, I would have been in a great position. I certainly wouldn't have lost any sleep over it, any more than a seller would have done when faced with multiple offers in a rising market.

A number of agents and sellers seem to be under the impression that nothing has changed in the housing market. Agents still treat you with contempt, failing to ring back, not passing offers on and so on. Sellers still think there are queues of people waiting to buy their house when they haven't had a viewing for weeks.

To illustrate the mindset that the whole (property owning) country has got itself into. One house we are interested in is for sale at £495000. They paid £482000 in March last year. When discussing an offer with the agent she was amazed that we could consider offering less than they paid. Her whole attitude was that the 'house owed them a profit' She shut up when I pointed out that even at £495000, which they won't get they have already made a loss when taking stamp duty and other legal costs into account. Amazing how people ignore these costs. They hardly ever take them into account on these stupid TV programmes (or CGT).

Jorgan_2

merlinthehappypig wrote: »

Running Horse/Jorgan

If you had bothered to read my posts, rather than jumping to conclusions, you would have seen that I explained in detail to the agents exactly what I was doing and why and asked them to make sure that the sellers were aware.

If several sellers had accepted my offer, unlikely at 15% below asking price as that might be, I would have been in a great position. I certainly wouldn't have lost any sleep over it, any more than a seller would have done when faced with multiple offers in a rising market.

I did take the time to read your posts, unlike you I haven't jumped to any conclusions.

jonewer

Running_Horse wrote: »

If you did it to me, I would assume you were a time-waster and reject your offer.

Can I ask why?

selectcase

if you offered 15% below and they went down 5% how about meeting somewhere roughly in the middle say offering 10% under?

as for the one you really like go for 10% under and see what you get?

I would expect people to bargain a bit each way in a deal but then again I do not buy/sell houses very often. if you could speak to the vendor direct i expect it would be better too.

Running_Horse

merlinthehappypig wrote: »

Running Horse/Jorgan

If you had bothered to read my posts, rather than jumping to conclusions, you would have seen that I explained in detail to the agents exactly what I was doing and why and asked them to make sure that the sellers were aware.

If several sellers had accepted my offer, unlikely at 15% below asking price as that might be, I would have been in a great position. I certainly wouldn't have lost any sleep over it, any more than a seller would have done when faced with multiple offers in a rising market.

A number of agents and sellers seem to be under the impression that nothing has changed in the housing market. Agents still treat you with contempt, failing to ring back, not passing offers on and so on. Sellers still think there are queues of people waiting to buy their house when they haven't had a viewing for weeks.

To illustrate the mindset that the whole (property owning) country has got itself into. One house we are interested in is for sale at £495000. They paid £482000 in March last year. When discussing an offer with the agent she was amazed that we could consider offering less than they paid. Her whole attitude was that the 'house owed them a profit' She shut up when I pointed out that even at £495000, which they won't get they have already made a loss when taking stamp duty and other legal costs into account. Amazing how people ignore these costs. They hardly ever take them into account on these stupid TV programmes (or CGT).

I also read your post, but your verbose reply suggests you are not listening to anyone who doesn't tell you what a great idea it is. That's fine, do what you want.