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

ruggedtoast

When making offers many people seem to get side tracked by anxiety over what they can afford, what they think the seller wants ,and what the market value might be. Of these only the last one is relevant to everybody, the first one is no one else's' business but yours and the last one is the sellers problem and no one else's.

If you think a fair market value for the property is 135, then offer that, if you think its 120 then offer 120. Dont get pushed around by some twit in a cheap suit and a company mini who's given their vendor unrealistic expectations.

You may also mention that the market is falling and your assessment of the worth of the house will change accordingly.

merlinthehappypig

Dan: wrote: »

:rotfl: You dont agree with someone so you stick them on your ignore list. I don't think thats the point of an internet forum, and anyway Pickles has a good point.

It's not that I don't agree. I have absolutely no problem with alternative views.

I simply find his/her posts to be generally offensive, arrogant and ill-informed. He/she makes no attempt to help anyone, which is the point of this internet forum.

I've tolerated them for enough time and can't be bothered viewing them any longer.

I wasn't referring to the wasted trips, though there have been enough of those. Rather to the £1500 lost when one seller decided to go back on her word about fixtures and fittings to be included at the last minute because of the reduction she was 'forced to accept' and the £1000 spent trying to buy a house where, days from exchange, the seller decided that she wanted to 'spend one last summer in the house'.

pickles110564

merlinthehappypig wrote: »

the seller decided that she wanted to 'spend one last summer in the house'.

The lady wanted to have one more happy summer in her home and you slate her for this? Shame on you

John_Pierpoint

Bet she did not offer to pay your expenses?

Kez100

pickles110564 wrote: »

You have never managed to buy anywhere for yourself yet have you?:rotfl:

I have and I paid 62.5% of the asking price.

....is that an echo of a sorry, I hear?

Incisor

pickles110564 wrote: »

The lady wanted to have one more happy summer in her home and you slate her for this? Shame on you

Eh? MerlinTHP wrote she only said that days from exchange. I would slate her for that. If she wanted that summer, she should not have put it on the market until the end of the summer. Or if she did put it on the market, she could have told MerlinTHP when she accepted his offer. But to let him spend £1000 and then pull this kind of stunt is just inexcusable. She might be elderly, she might deserve some consideration, but to put a stranger to an abortive cost of £1000, she should be put in the stocks on the village green for a week.

merlinthehappypig

Incisor wrote: »

Eh? MerlinTHP wrote she only said that days from exchange. I would slate her for that. If she wanted that summer, she should not have put it on the market until the end of the summer. Or if she did put it on the market, she could have told MerlinTHP when she accepted his offer. But to let him spend £1000 and then pull this kind of stunt is just inexcusable. She might be elderly, she might deserve some consideration, but to put a stranger to an abortive cost of £1000, she should be put in the stocks on the village green for a week.

I love the 'one more happy summer bit'. This wasn't some loveable old dear who had spent her life in the house. It was a new build she bought in December 2006.

This was the same unpleasant woman who reported two neighbour disputes on the disclosure forms where she had fallen out over who owned 2 metres of land, and reported them to the Land Registry, and also complained to the police about the dogs of another neighbour.

When we made the offer we made it absolutely clear that we needed to be exchanged by the end of May and completed by the end of June. That gave her over three months to do this from the offer.

She agreed via her solicitor that that was o.k. and said she had already found a property to buy. It was 8 weeks later before she actually made an offer on a new house, according to her agents (who were no longer on speaking terms with her)

In the second week of May her agents contacted us and said that she now wanted to stay in the house until at least the end of August and we pulled out.

Bottom line was that she didn't really want to sell, but apparently has to because the mortgage is too expensive.

How losing her only buyer in a year will help with that I'm not sure. Add to that the fact that I'm willing to bet that she won't get within £40000 of the offer we made now.

moanymoany

I think you are on the right track boatgirl. The house has been on the house empty for 7 months, sounds like it was overpriced at the start - if not it would have gone.

In your favour - ftb, big deposit, can go ahead asap.

It may sell today - it may still be there in November. If I was you I would wait and see. If you rush in you may be there in a year and it be worth less than your first offer.

As for house prices going down 4%, down from what? If people have overpriced their property they will have to come down more than 4% to get a sniff.

We are in the position that we have sold and are renting. The less we pay the more is in our retirement pot. We are waiting until we see starting prices come down.

Good luck.

moanymoany

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.

Stay firm boat girl. Remember, every thousand pounds more than your original offer is lost money. They may well have had their lbm -DON'T WEAKEN, I think you may get your house for pretty much what you want.

Interesting, the EA may have laughed at your offer but it has tweaked the vendor. Don't get involved in too much discussion, make your offer and keep quiet. This is a tip from Dom in his programme about negotiating. Be prepared to 'walk away' you can tell them that in six months you will have much more choice at the price you want.

HankMcSpank

Quote from the Original Poster....

boat_girl wrote: »

The house itself is not all that special but has a large garden backed onto by fields and is quite large as it was ex council. It needs loads doing as has not been touched since the 70's.

You make it sound like a real find ....& surely worth £120,000 of anyone's money.