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Original poster

Is there any hope of buying this house?

72 replies

NorthernMarmiteLover · 19/06/2022 17:58

Hi guys,

I viewed a house yesterday along with 27 or so other people.

It’s absolutely our dream home. We actually called the day it went online and offered asking price, which the vendor appreciated but of course wanted to go ahead with the open day.

I’ve submitted my offer - I know it won’t be the highest. I think the higher offers will be between £5k-£8k above what we’ve offered.

I wrote a letter and posted it through the door last night. Nothing too gross, just saying how much we loved the house, would really appreciate them considering our offer etc.

Do vendors EVER accept a lower offer?! We’re first time buyers but I think most of the people who viewed are I.e. mostly chain free. We’re also super flexible on time scales. We don’t care when we move. Tomorrow. Next year. We’re very fortunate and have family we can stay with quite comfortable.

I’m breaking my heart over this house and trying everything in my power not to get my hopes up, but I can’t help imagining us there :(

Is there any hope?

OP posts:
Original poster
NorthernMarmiteLover · 20/06/2022 07:19

@Whinge £215k is our max. I'd love to be able to offer more but I just can't. I would estimate the other offers are around £220k-£225k ☹️

OP posts:
fighoney · 20/06/2022 07:22

What is it on the market for? We submitted an offer recently, was over asking but not the highest (by around 10k) and we were accepted as it was a probate and they wanted to sell to a young family. You don't actually know what others have offered or their position so just put in an offer the most you can afford and see what happens. If you don't get it there will be other houses!

Allthesocksintheworld · 20/06/2022 07:24

We are currently in the process of buying a house. Lots of viewers and i know lots of offers although i dont know if ours was the highest. We offered the asking price so i assume others offered higher.

it was the third house we made an offer the first two went to developers (according to the estate agents).

i dont really know why she chose our offer other than we have a large family (think 6+ children). And so did she when she was younger - perhaps she wanted it to stay a family home.

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Property
easyday · 20/06/2022 07:30

I sold a house years ago to best and final. I took the middle offer (£30k above ask) as they were the most proceedable. The letters did not sway me at all as they all said the same thing.
If you really love it put a non refundable good will gesture (£2k for example), but the fact remains in this country it isn't yours until exchange, so you could wait six months for them to find a house and they could decide to sell to someone else even then.
Or you could try to exchange early as possible with a long completion date.
Speed is very much down to the solicitors - I bought my house in five weeks last summer. Last search came in two days before we exchanged.

ShandaLear · 20/06/2022 07:35

You just never know. We got our house because the vendors had grown up there and were selling it on behalf of their mother. We were a family with two small children who came with us to the viewing and started picking out their rooms excitedly which the vendors found absolutely charming. During the conversations it emerged that two of my family members has the same profession as their mother. It was weird, but at that point I ‘knew’ they wanted us to have it. It didn’t hurt that we had nothing to sell, a big deposit, and a mortgage in principle already agreed. The EA later told us they’d turned down two higher offers. TBH, we have been really happy here, and I’d likely do the same in the future rather than sell it to a developer who’d want to convert it into flats.

MrsElijahMikaelson1 · 20/06/2022 07:40

Good luck today

Jun345 · 20/06/2022 07:48

can I ask, assuming you are a mortgage buyer and not a cash buyer when you say you’re flexible on time frames eg happy to wait until next year, won’t that mean your mortgage offer will expire as they only last 6 months? If you are chosen for this house (and really hoping you are!) you will need to start the mortgage process swiftly with your lender and the estate agent / vendor will want to see things like the survey happening. But if you get a mortgage offer next week, you will surely want to move in the next 6 months otherwise if the vendors haven’t found a new home by the end of the year you would be reapplying for a new mortgage on waaayyy higher interest rates - would look like a completely different mortgage (depending on how much you’re borrowing).

just wanted to ask as we had a similar situation and the advice we were given was to definitely try and avoid letting the mortgage offer expire given the interest rates rises later this year x

Original poster
NorthernMarmiteLover · 20/06/2022 07:51

@Jun345 a really good point and one that we have discussed in depth.

Our DIP actually goes up to £230k - whilst we would be approved for this and pass affordability, we know we'd be miserable paying that amount in mortgage repayments, but could realistically afford it. So we're hoping that if our mortgage offer did expire and we had to start again and fall victim to the higher rates, we'd still be in a comfortable zone financially, as we haven't gone in at the top end of what the banks consider our affordability is.

Does that make sense? X

OP posts:
Jun345 · 20/06/2022 07:59

Got it yep makes sense, I would just be wary of putting in writing to the vendor that you’re willing to wait until next year as the other thing that could happen is interest rates rise but the market dips so you don’t want the house to be downvalued based on what you offered this year.
Just don’t make the vendor think they can sit and wait for the perfect house for ages, you do still want to get in! Good luck xx

SunnyShiner · 20/06/2022 08:00

Good luck. I would accept a higher offer as long as they're in a decent position tbh so I hope they are led by their heart and not their head unlike me!

heartchakra · 20/06/2022 08:06

I hope you get it 🤞 ... we sold our house STC three months ago and since then have seen 21 properties and offered on three (guide prices all of them) one of them 40k over and 20k over guide prices .. the first we lost out to cash buyers who offered less the second we pulled out after having offered 40k over and they 'appreciated' our offer didn't accept or reject but instead kept showing in my opinion out of sheer greed to see if they could get more. The third we lost out after going in at 20k over on a property that needed at least 50k work - we still are not sure if the agents shafted us because like someone else has said here they were annoyed we didn't want to engage with the financial person. All very strange. Every house on now is guide price so it all goes to best and final
Offers ... and open days. So lots of waiting around sometimes for over a week and lots of broken hearts 30 ppl chasing the same house every time. I suspect our own chain is about to collapse because ppl in it can't wait forever - it's not for want if trying. Never known a market like it. Good luck on your dream home.

70kid · 20/06/2022 08:17

Yes
my buyers offered 20k over the asking price
I had two other offers buy builder / investors that were about 5k higher

but I went with the lower offer as they were a family and I wanted it to stay a family house

70kid · 20/06/2022 08:20

Mine was my late parents house
So we wanted it to go to a family

SparkyBlue · 20/06/2022 08:22

OP what will go in your favour is flexibility and the fact you aren't selling a house yourself. That's a definite plus for a seller.

Unbored · 20/06/2022 08:26

I went to an open house on a Saturday afternoon, it was busy! First thing on Monday morning I went into the eastate agent to make an offer, I offered asking price but as I was there I heard someone offer £25K more on the phone but they hadn’t yet sold.
I got a call a couple of hours later to say it was going to best and final offers, I offered 12K more than asking and got it. I was the only one (of the many people who had made an offer) who went into the agents and that’s what swing it for us (we also accepted a lower offer on the house we were selling so we were in a position to proceed).

indoorplantqueen · 20/06/2022 09:15

Op do you know what position the sellers are in? Have they seen a house the like? Flexibility is good but that also means being able to move quickly.

Like others have said I would not sell to first time buyers again (unless it was the only offer). When we sold our last house we sold to FTB and moved along quickly until they got a survey and something small (no more than £500) and not needed to fix (within 5 years according to survey) freaked them out and they pulled out, 2 weeks before exchange. The next people to offer also got a survey and never even mentioned anything on survey as it was so minor. Good luck

Original poster
NorthernMarmiteLover · 20/06/2022 09:40

@indoorplantqueen I believe the majority of people who viewed are all FTB.

The people selling haven't found somewhere yet but that's all I know. Hence me stressing we can wait hoping it'll help!

OP posts:
Original poster
NorthernMarmiteLover · 20/06/2022 10:54

Update: best and final will be tomorrow midday. There are 15 offers on the table, ours isn't the lowest but not the highest either. X

OP posts:
BalloonsAndWhistles · 20/06/2022 11:13

Yes, vendors do consider lower offers. We took an offer £2k lower than another, reason being was they were first time buyers and the other people were in a chain. The EA wasn’t sure how long the chain was but they said they knew it was at least 4 houses as they were selling a couple of them. Not sure if they were supposed to tell us that but hey, it was very useful Info 😆 It wasn’t worth £2k to risk that chain collapsing and potentially losing a hell of a lot more money.

BalloonsAndWhistles · 20/06/2022 11:17

NorthernMarmiteLover · 19/06/2022 18:04

@Sprig1 Thank you - I appreciate your honesty. Did not know that FTB were thought to be difficult purchasers!
Thanks again x

I think this is a very general statement, I don’t think FTB are ‘known to be anything’. Any buyer can be difficult. If anything, FTB’s are likely to be really keen to get on the ladder and keep the chain moving. I know when we bought our first place, any request for info from the EA/solicitor etc was dealt with within an hour. We never kept anyone waiting.

StuckCompletely · 20/06/2022 11:29

We weren't the highest bidder for our house, we actually went in under the asking price by a few thousand. The previous owners had lived there all their married life and wanted another family to have it so we were very lucky.

InsanityRocks · 20/06/2022 12:43

Theoldwrinkley · 19/06/2022 18:10

I think if the sellers have a feeling for their house they want it to go to a family/owner who 'shares' their values. My son purchased his first house about 3 years ago as previous owners (who had let the property) wanted it not to be a rental property. He was not the highest offer. Another person I know (in Scotland) has not offered the highest amount but they got on v well with the sellers so a deal has been agreed.

Yes, this. we accepted a lower offer on my Dad's house because the buyer wrote a great letter and sounded like he wouldn't destroy all the period features of the cottage. I'm very happy several years on that we did.

InsanityRocks · 20/06/2022 12:43

Forgot to say Good luck OP. Hope it works out well for you.

Original poster
NorthernMarmiteLover · 20/06/2022 20:43

I feel like I've had a horrible moment of clarity and sort of thought along the lines of:

Of course they're going to take the higher offer. Why would they not? Because you wrote a letter? Money talks - letters don't.

It's absolutely fair dos but I feel like I've suddenly realised I was never going to be in luck here. I know there will be other properties, but this little house really did feel like home. I suddenly feel properly heartbroken. Am I being ridiculous ☹️

OP posts:
SpicyLaksa · 20/06/2022 21:01

15 is a lot, but you have no other information other than you're not the lowest or highest. There could be some really cheeky offers or buyers in terrible positions.

I would absolutely accept a lower offer if the buyers were in the best position. A high offer that never comes off is meaningless after all. Try not to pin all your hopes on this though. I know what it's like when you think you've found 'the one', but if nothing comes of this, there will be others.

Sending lots of positive vibes