Offered accepted but property staying on market!!

LouLouHelen

I have today had an offer accepted at £220,000 on property of £224,950.

The vendor has put 2 conditions on the offer - complete by end of Sept and they are not taking the property off the market.

They are not living in the property is was bought done up and is being sold on.

After lenghty chat with vendor, the estate agent believes they are just nervous of us pulling out of the sale so want the agent to let people keep viewing the house. They would tell them that there has been an offer accepted on the property and we are proceeding with the sale but the vendor wants to make sure they have a back up should we not exchange.

We have pulled out of a previous property because we preferred this one and I know is not particularly ethical but I am not sure the agent should have told the new vendor this. We are embarrassed about it and the decision was not taken lightly. We have already forfeited £860 searches and valuation on previous property and don't want to potentially fork out another £860 to be lost IF they decide to take a better offer.

They have said they won't accept another offer they are just covering themselves and are happy at our offer but I am nervous.

What would you do? Help!

HGLTsuperstar

Gazumping does still happen! If your offer has been accepted and they say they won't accept another, what have they got to lose by taking it off the market. It'd be quick enough to put back on if anything went wrong! I know you dont want to lose the house but if you leave it as it is, you could anyway. It happened to my parents when I was about 14, an early lesson in the real world. Remember you know an estate agent is lying when they move their lips! If you've sold, so no chain collapsing risk, they should be happy, why do they need to "cover themselves". Dont trust the estate agent, remember who's side they're working on!

LouLouHelen

So are you saying I should insist they take the property off the market?

kamaran

Get a survey booked, ask your solicitor how quickly they could arrange exchange of contracts. If were talking weeks you probably dont have much to worry about in this market

GDB2222

LouLouHelen wrote:

I have today had an offer accepted at £220,000 on property of £224,950.

After lenghty chat with vendor, the estate agent believes they are just nervous of us pulling out of the sale so want the agent to let people keep viewing the house. They would tell them that there has been an offer accepted on the property and we are proceeding with the sale but the vendor wants to make sure they have a back up should we not exchange.


... don't want to potentially fork out another £860 to be lost IF they decide to take a better offer.

They have said they won't accept another offer they are just covering themselves and are happy at our offer but I am nervous.

What would you do? Help!

I would see it from their point of view, as I always do exactly the same as them myself. If they have done this house up as an investment, they want to get their money back as soon as possible to move on to the next deal. With the property empty it is costing them money. So, they can't be as relaxed as an owner-occupier.

If it is any help to you, I always say the same sort of thing - exchange by a certain date and the property is yours at the agreed price - and I mean it, ie I don't take other offers, however enticing. Your vendors may be completely genuine on this. After all, you have offered almost their entire asking price, so they should be pretty pleased.

There are two other points the vendors may have in mind:-

a) If they keep the property on the market, they may be in a much better negotiating position should your surveyor find some defects and you want a reduction in price.

b) They may be worried that you have offered too much, believe it or not. In today's market, it is quite common to offer 10% off the asking price, whereas you are only 2% below the asking price. Yes, I know that's daft, because it depends how well priced the property is in the first place. Nevertheless, they may be worried that you will change your mind or try to gazunder them. They may be a lot more worried about this than you.

Could I suggest looking on the nethouseprices website to see what other properties have actually sold for.

BTW, you said : 'complete by end of Sept'. Do you mean that, in which case you would presumably be looking to exchange by say mid September?

LouLouHelen

BTW, you said : 'complete by end of Sept'. Do you mean that, in which case you would presumably be looking to exchange by say mid September?[/QUOTE]

Sorry I meant exchange by end of Sept.

I think the vendor is genuine. Fingers crossed.

I know the fuse bos is old style and there may be issues with the chimney so the angle about the valuation may be a valid one.

LouLouHelen

Do you think it would be acceptable/worthwhile to request written confirmation from the vendor that if they decide not to proceed with our offer they will pay for the costs incurred i.e. searches & valuation totally approx £850?

HGLTsuperstar

Absolutely, if they won't budge and insist on leaving it on the market then they've got a "back-up" plan, so you need one aswell. But in reply to your earlier question to me,

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So are you saying I should insist they take the property off the market?

Simple answer = yes but I'm not emotionally attached to the property so your second idea sounds more than reasonable but get everything in writing!

GDB2222

You can ask for a lock-out agreement. That is a separate contract made now that in effect gives you an option on the property until say end-September. In the past I have asked for (but not received) a payment for granting such an option. In today's market, with willing buyers a rarity, you might well get it for nothing. It depends how keen you are on the property.

sarah1980

Can explain a little more about how this wouuld work? I have put in an offer which is acceptable to the seller but cannot proceed until I have sold one of my investment properties. this shouldn't be too hard as it is a great property in a sought-after location and may be able to sell to friends.

The vendor of the property I've offered on is continuing to do viewings until they have it in writing from my solicitor that the investment property has been sold. I don't want to sell the investment then find it is too late and the propetry I offered on has gone to someone else - help!!

Thanks.