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KingMob
Posts: 57 Forumite
FTB, looking to buy after renting for a long time. Have talked to bank as well as broker and finance side isn't an issue but finding the right place has been a pain.
Most properties within 2-3 miles seem to be selling in 3-4 weeks and going for 10-15% over asking price which is still within my budget. Viewed a property almost 3 weeks ago, listed a few days prior and good location. Offered asking price and heard nothing for more than a week, chased it up and was told I'd hear back last week. Asked if this was going to drag on for 3-4 weeks and was told no. Disappointed when i got a call from the EA late last Wednesday to tell me that the sellers have gone on holiday for a week. As far as I'm aware no other offers have been placed and local property websites are showing interest has been tailed off for last week or so.
Sellers are an elderly couple who want to move in with nearby relatives. They've lived in the house for 40 years, so I can understand have some attachment. I have a rental agreement that expires at the end of July so I'd like to make some progress sooner rather than later.
Been viewing other properties and have found one that fits my criteria, although the owner is planning to make a decision in next few days. It's around the same size, recently done up, great location but more expensive (15% more although still within my budget).
Not getting a response to my offer seems like a warning sign that the process will not be smooth. The same EA listed another house within spitting distance several days after I made my offer and it's Sale Agreed already. Should I cut my losses and withdraw my offer or is there anything else people would recommend?
Most properties within 2-3 miles seem to be selling in 3-4 weeks and going for 10-15% over asking price which is still within my budget. Viewed a property almost 3 weeks ago, listed a few days prior and good location. Offered asking price and heard nothing for more than a week, chased it up and was told I'd hear back last week. Asked if this was going to drag on for 3-4 weeks and was told no. Disappointed when i got a call from the EA late last Wednesday to tell me that the sellers have gone on holiday for a week. As far as I'm aware no other offers have been placed and local property websites are showing interest has been tailed off for last week or so.
Sellers are an elderly couple who want to move in with nearby relatives. They've lived in the house for 40 years, so I can understand have some attachment. I have a rental agreement that expires at the end of July so I'd like to make some progress sooner rather than later.
Been viewing other properties and have found one that fits my criteria, although the owner is planning to make a decision in next few days. It's around the same size, recently done up, great location but more expensive (15% more although still within my budget).
Not getting a response to my offer seems like a warning sign that the process will not be smooth. The same EA listed another house within spitting distance several days after I made my offer and it's Sale Agreed already. Should I cut my losses and withdraw my offer or is there anything else people would recommend?
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Comments
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Are you willing to lose the house? If so, give the estate agent an ultimatum, a decision by a certain date or you're withdrawing the offer.
If you don't want to lose it then all that you can do is wait for them to get back to you.0 -
Are you willing to lose the house? If so, give the estate agent an ultimatum, a decision by a certain date or you're withdrawing the offer.
If you don't want to lose it then all that you can do is wait for them to get back to you.
Will contact them tomorrow and do that. Been disappointed with lack of communication from them, could be reading too much into it but they seemed more interested in getting me to use their brokerage than anything else.0 -
Why bother with the ultimatum? Just make offers elsewhere. If they get back to you, see whether you're still interested. If you're not, tell them they took too long (not unreasonable in the circumstances).0
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Perhaps doing myself a disservice but I don't feel comfortable making a second offer while the first is still out there.0
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Perhaps doing myself a disservice but I don't feel comfortable making a second offer while the first is still out there.
You're definitely doing yourself a disservice - having that sense of loyalty to vendors who haven't earned it will potentially do you out of getting a house you really want. I was in the same position back in November and kept waiting for weeks for the vendors to get back to me on my final offer. I did keep viewing other properties in the meantime but nothing as good came up. In the end they took the house off the market and decided they didn't want to sell and would extend instead to give themselves the extra space they wanted - complete timewasters :mad:,.
I'm not saying that this will be the same as your situation but as you pointed out it's things like this that gives you some insight into what going through the selling process with them will be like. If you want a home you're going to have to push past that comfortable feeling to get what you want.Homeowner:j0 -
Perhaps doing myself a disservice but I don't feel comfortable making a second offer while the first is still out there.
If you've heard nothing after a few weeks then either the estate agent isnt passing your offer on or the vendors arent really interesting in selling.
Look elsewhere.0 -
There really is no need to make it an ultimatum which can generate bad feeling. Offers are not binding so don't need to be formally withdrawn.
Just keep the parties informed and look/offer elsewhere.
Its not uncommon for vendors new to the market to want to wait a certain amount of time to see what interest is generated. Its also sadly not uncommon for people to test the market without being certain they will sell. There is nothing you can really do to force matters although nice, high offers can persuade some waverers.0 -
If you've heard nothing after a few weeks then either the estate agent isnt passing your offer on or the vendors arent really interesting in selling.
Look elsewhere.
Finding the whole process to be quite soul destroying and from what I've read getting an offer accepted should be the easy bit.
Same EA listed another property several doors down a few days after I made my offer and it was Sale Agreed last week. So starting to feel the vendors aren't fully committed to selling.
Been looking at other properties, going to start pursuing these. Finding most aren't listed for long. Viewed one place that has been listed since July. Got a bad impression after owner telling me had an offer a week previous £35k under asking price, then the EA telling me it was £10k under and a day previous, then ringing me the next day to tell me it was bumped to £5k under and been 100 viewings which just didn't sound right.0 -
House buying IS a challenge especially in an area where demand exceeds supply.
I think the old-fashioned strategy of getting yourself on the local agents lists still works - you get early notice of new properties before they're on Rightmove etc. Its why some properties appear to sell so quickly after appearing publicly for sale, lots of action can take place behind the scenes in the few days between a vendor approaching an agent and the listing being ready. That's what you might want to get in on if its that sort of area.
You can still operate with integrity just by keeping people informed but one property at a time really is not required.0 -
The buying and selling system in E&W could be changed to avoid this, all it takes is consistent lobbying of MPs in the right way.
You're being strung out because the requirement for a timely response is not built into the system. So ... lobby for the system to be changed to make it part of the system. If part of your offer stated in writing that your offer was to be accepted by a certain date, and this was standard practice throughout the country, you would have your answer by now.
At the moment, the Govt has proposals for change, but these, to my mind, aren't addressing the actual failings in the system (which I've stated many times before, so if the next question is "What failings?", please click on my user name and the "View previous posts" option)0
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