are estate agents obliged to pass on offers and does this sound unreasonable?

MissMoneypenny

JonnyBravo wrote: »

Estate agent will pass on the offer don't worry, but equally they will prob have an idea of what the seller is willing to accept. Estate agents will be keen to close ANY deal at the moment, they are doing so few deals they're all under pessure.

The EA is meant to pass on the offer but they don't always. This happened to friend of mine who was selling his house. The EA told him they didn't tell him about the offer because they thought it was too low.

I always go on a second viewing on houses I am interested in buying and speak to the owners directly about an offer.

MissMoneypenny

tradetime wrote: »

My sister put hers on the market last June, couldn't get a buyer at the price she wanted so she simply took it off the market.

Those that are just putting their house on to test the market, may not be so keen to do than now, as they have to pay for HIPS.

tradetime

Actually they've gone down more like 7-8% from the peak last Summer.

According to Nationwide (assuming you believe them, if not, then we're flogging a dead horse) they are down 4% yoy, whether that's the peak of last summer for this area, who knows, but unless the valuation is from the peak of last summer, then it's really irrelevant.

boat_girl

Thank you for your replies. Since we posted this morning we have had a call from the estate agent with regard to our written offer. They have again asked us to make a higher offer but have hinted that the seller is willing to negotiate.
We have arranged a second viewing for monday and have said we will talk about further offers after that but we know we do not want to spend more than £135000 on it. Would you suggest raising the offer in small increments or simply put our cards on the table and say that is our full and final offer.

tradetime

MissMoneypenny wrote: »

Those that are just putting their house on to test the market, may not be so keen to do than now, as they have to pay for HIPS.

Actually she put it to sell, not to test the market. But you bring up an interesting point which will slow the descent in the beginning.

beingjdc

tradetime wrote: »

According to Nationwide (assuming you believe them, if not, then we're flogging a dead horse) they are down 4% yoy, whether that's the peak of last summer for this area, who knows, but unless the valuation is from the peak of last summer, then it's really irrelevant.

Yep, they're down 4% from this time last year - but they were still going up this time last year, and they went up another 3%. So to get to 4% lower than the +3%, they have to go down by a total of 7% from the peak.

tradetime

boat_girl wrote: »

Thank you for your replies. Since we posted this morning we have had a call from the estate agent with regard to our written offer. They have again asked us to make a higher offer but have hinted that the seller is willing to negotiate.
We have arranged a second viewing for monday and have said we will talk about further offers after that but we know we do not want to spend more than £135000 on it. Would you suggest raising the offer in small increments or simply put our cards on the table and say that is our full and final offer.

Firstly, good luck with that, as I said it is an offer below what I would likely consider right now if I were them, but that is irrelevant, I much prefer your honest straightforward style, rather than the gazzundering approach. My thought's unless you are desperate to own that house would be to increase slowly, time is on your side. (assuming of course you want to increase at all)

JonnyBravo

boat_girl wrote: »

Thank you for your replies. Since we posted this morning we have had a call from the estate agent with regard to our written offer. They have again asked us to make a higher offer but have hinted that the seller is willing to negotiate.
We have arranged a second viewing for monday and have said we will talk about further offers after that but we know we do not want to spend more than £135000 on it. Would you suggest raising the offer in small increments or simply put our cards on the table and say that is our full and final offer.

There's a balance to be struck here. Too many small increments and you just keep getting knocked back as they come to realise how badly you want it. One off "take it or leave it" means you either get it having paid your top whack or you don't. You can't then up your offer without losing all credibility over any further negotiations.
Personally I'd go in with 130 if your top is 135. Tell them that's "at the top of your bracket" and see what happens. They may try and "wring a last couple of thousand" out of you to strike a deal... in which case you've still got room to move without overpaying your max.
Stick to your 135 whatever happens.

If all else fails, walk away with the offer left hanging. Better than 50/50 chance they'll be back in a few months to take your offer in which case you're in the driving seat.
This is of course risky as you may lose it. As always it comes down to how badly you want it/need it. At least this risk has, frankly, never been smaller in the last ten years.

merlinthehappypig

tradetime wrote: »

This is true merlin, but you sound like you are assuming that everybody who puts a house on the market has to sell it, people put their property on the market for all sorts of reasons, those that have to sell will drop their price, those that don't won't. My sister put hers on the market last June, couldn't get a buyer at the price she wanted so she simply took it off the market.

Your sister obviously made a sensible and informed decision. I wish more people would follow her lead.

We have wasted lots of time and money viewing and attempting to buy properties which the owners have no intention of selling unless they get 2006 prices.

The sooner the agents get tough with these idiots the better.

If people want, or need, to sell they will need to drop the price well below any average falls indicated by the Nationwide or anyone else, be that 4.4%, 7% or whatever, to get a buyer.

If they aren't prepared to accept the reality then they should stop advertising.

What we have at present is a huge number of properties for sale that are going nowhere.

John_Pierpoint

Back in 2000, before prices went silly, I viewed an ex council place on at 91K, which I thought was 10 K over priced, so I kept in touch with the Estate Agent and after about 6 weeks, he was right on my side, we were almost plotting how I could get it.
Eventually I paid 80K. There will be lots of houses at the moment where the agent has flattered the seller with the price or where sellers have insisted on last summer's values. But by now the agents must be desperate to get the market down to the level where it will start moving again.
[The house was structurally sound and actually really good value as a pensioner had spent their retirement fund making it low running cost - but the decor was not the sort of thing that would appeal to anyone under 70 - they had gone into sheltered housing].