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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU to reject this offer in the hope of getting a better one?

134 replies

Flossyfloof · 09/06/2012 13:56

I know that only I can make this decision but am really torn and would welcome your thoughts. I put my Dad's house up for sale a few weeks ago. I am still finding it all hard, although he doed over a year ago, and was in no great hurry to get things moving. I received the draft details from the agent only yesterday. Today I hear that there has been an offer - just less than 10% less than the asking price; I feel the asking price is very reasonable - although the house needs modernising it is a lot of house. The ad went on Rightmove in the last three days The offer is from a couple who have finance arranged and are not in a chain. The agent mentioned this morning that they sold a house on the road round the corner absolutely immaculate, for £25,000 more than the asking price, mentioning that this road was a better road than the road my Dad's house is on. It is a nice road but I think our road is better. I just felt that she maybe knew these people and was trying to get them a good deal - they won't go any higher than their offer. I feel I a lucky to get an offer but the house has only been advertised for a few days. I don't know whether to hold out for a bit more or to take this, the first offer.
On the plus side of accepting - they have finance, it is an offer, they are ina position to proceed, it would be a big weight off my mind.
ON the minus side I didn't like the way the agent seemed to be pushing, the offer is on the low side and it has only effectively been on the market a few days.
WWYD?

OP posts:
lels99 · 09/06/2012 21:06

Your estate agent will be able to see the exact number of rightmove hits. If you are a bit unsure go and talk to a different estate agent (or ten different estate agents) to get a more balanced view of your current market. Weve brought 2 houses in the last year and Zoopla prices on most things we looked at were well out. If they are not prepared to up their offer ask them if they will leave it on the table for x weeks? Dont feel rushed into anything. If they really want the property they will wait!

claudedebussy · 09/06/2012 21:10

well i would hold out for another week and if possible not reject the offer outright. say you'll go for £215 000?

have you signed an exclusive deal with the agent?

cantspel · 09/06/2012 21:11

It tells you only 4 people have viewed the zoopla listing.

No serious buyer is going to just be looking at one site.

The op has been offered £200k on a £220k asking price. She could hold out for more and get it but she could also end up chasing a dropping market. Only the op can decide if she wants to gamble.

If she accepts the £200k and gets a quick sale how much is that going to save her in insurance, community charge, water rates ect on an empty house and how could she earn on that money if invested?

She needs to look at everything and then decide.

QueenOfPlaguegroup · 09/06/2012 21:14

I would be a bit put off by the lack of interior photos on the details but if you've had several viewings and an offer (even a low one) in 3 days, then I would expect the house is priced at a level which is realistic for the amount of work that needs to be done.

How big is the garden?

DamnBamboo · 09/06/2012 21:14

Rightmove has them all.
Most serious buyers don't look at mutiple sites; they don't need to.

Cantspel you may be right but your appalling zoopla figures are a red herring.

I bet the rightmove figures are completely different and a decent estate agent will release them to you every week.

Hold out OP!

DamnBamboo · 09/06/2012 21:15

OP your estate agent has done a mediocre job.

It's not being photographed for a reason; we get that.

But there is so much more you can say about the property, the area generally, schools etc...

cheekybarsteward · 09/06/2012 21:17

Don't necessarily believe them when they say they have finance, this has happened to us 4 times...every time it fell through because they actually did not have finance, only 'agreed in principle'. Apologies if this has already been said, did not read whole of thread

travailtotravel · 09/06/2012 21:21

I have sold and bought in the past 6 months, my parents homes.

On the market for £140k, rejected first viewing offer of £120k, no other viewings for a year (a do-er upper) and accepted £115k in the end just to get rid of it.

lels99 · 09/06/2012 21:30

If you are unhappy with the price, have you considered renting it?

noddyholder · 09/06/2012 21:54

People browse rightmove out of nosiness I know I do! The market is only going one way atm and looking at the house it does seem good. 215 is ambitious and unlikely.

PinkElephant73 · 09/06/2012 22:19

The EA will always push you to accept an offer, even if on the low side as they only get paid when the sale goes through. Theyd rather have the bird in the hand scenario, as waiting for a higher sale price will only give a small increase in their commission in exchange for potentially much higher costs to them in advertising and accompanying viewings.

That said, the longer the house is empty, the harder it will be to sell. I am also surprised there are no internal photos at all - this gives the impression that the condition is so poor it would put off potential buyers! I would assume it is not fit to live in currently - is this right?

That said, the longer the house is empty, the harder it will be to sell, and as presumably there is no mortgage to repay, I would be looking to sell asap rather than racking up future maintenance and other costs. your buyers may well have factored this in to their offer, and thats fair enough.

fwiw any buyers' finance offer is only "agreed in principle" until you actually have a property in mind to survey against the possible mortgage...so no guarantees

GnomeDePlume · 09/06/2012 22:34

DamnBamboo I'm not disagreeing to have a fight. I find property fascinating.

I think location does have a big impact far beyond price. We live not too far from where OP is located. Where we are school catchment makes no difference (they are all rubbish!). I did a quick search in the OP's area using the criteria. There were only around 35 properties for sale so each one is essentially its own market.

The absence of internal photos is just such a tell.

NarkedRaspberry · 09/06/2012 22:39

Because some areas stay hot even when the market is generally cool. Anywhere with that commute to London won't get too frosty, because the London commuter population is only heading in one direction and they all need somewhere to live. Rural Lancashire might be a bit slower.

claudedebussy · 09/06/2012 23:31

i only look at rightmove. zoopla has a counter but so what? people could be looking at it on rightmove or findaproperty or any other property search engine.

doesn't mean a thing.

SoupDragon · 10/06/2012 07:28

Does anyone 1) ever accept the very first offer or 2) usually make their first offer their only offer?

rookanga · 10/06/2012 07:39

I have done the first and best offer thing. With the last house I bought. I offered less than that asking price, but knew that I was making a fair offer, and so would not have gone higher. They accepted it on that basis.

nooka · 10/06/2012 07:56

We accepted the first offer on both places we've sold. We negotiated a little with our three purchases, each time we offered a bit under, they asked for a bit more and we compromised in the middle (same for the sales).

I'd always try and negotiate, but I'd watch out for assuming that if you don't accept the offer that they will hang around for you. Last time we offered and they said they had other interested people and then we saw something we liked much more. When there other offer fell through a few days later we weren't interested any more.

I had an offer on the house I am selling right now within a couple of days of putting it on the market and took it (i was only £5k under though). House selling is incredibly stressful, the soon over the better I think.

WynkenBlynkenandNod · 10/06/2012 08:42

I'd go back and say 200k a bit lower than you were looking at, you were looking a 215k as your bottom line, can they get a bit closer to that. Tell the agent you still want them to show the house to anyone who wants to look at it whilst this discussion going on. See if you can drag it out a bit and get more people through the door

If it comes to it I'd definitely take the 200k. Chain free is a bonus, with mortgages as they are now you're lowering your risk that someone won't be able to get their mortgage with only one person to deal with. Also, buying a doer upper in a falling market is something a lot of people won't be prepared to do so you've got a much smaller pool of potential buyers at the moment.

We've just had our house valued as friends are interested in buying when we want to move and wanted to know if it would be a possibility for them financially. We had quite different valuations, but one agent stressed the point that down here an asking price is just that, what people are asking, not what things are going for. Look at the BBC's news headlines today, things are going tough out there and 200 does sound fair on a 220 house. Things can change literally overnight as we've seen before, my DD's partner put her house on the week Lehman's went under - she finally completed on her new house last November, the whole thing making her really ill. 200k is a solid offer, I'd be very careful not to lose it.

claudedebussy · 10/06/2012 09:58

we accepted the first offer on our flat, but that was after dropping the price twice and we were desperate to sell.

WilsonFrickett · 10/06/2012 10:35

Just catching up on this and have looked at the listing. I think your EA hasn't done a very good job of presenting the house and Im very surprised you got a viewing out of that, let alone an offer. So either a) you have been really lucky or b) your house is in a road that people want to live on and you're going to get viewings based on that rather than the presentation of the house.

claudedebussy · 10/06/2012 11:38

i agree. the ea is rubbish.

edam · 10/06/2012 11:55

Also agree the details are crap. Lack of internal photos does make people suspicious - and it's not a house that looks very inviting from the front.

Original poster
Flossyfloof · 10/06/2012 15:26

Thanks for your thoughts. I have just gone through the draft details and they have missed loads off what is on the web. I am happy with the floor plan and that is about it! I have made notes and sent an email asking for a call in the morning. Although a lot of people are advising accepting the offer I am not going to. To be honest I am feeling a bit as if I have gone with the wrong agent but that is a whole other story ! Very much appreciate reading other people's stories. Looking at other houses in the road and the fact that Zoopla says property in the area is going up I think I have a strong case for holding out - at least until the details are on the web and there are more photos so people can see what they would have to do. Admittedly the house does need doing but in many older props there are not enough electrical sockets, there is damp, roof problems etc - and it has none of those drawbacks. I will be asking them to provide a better picture, it is actually quite a nice house really and would be a great family home. Although It is not, as many people (me!) would want it, cream and sleek lines everywhere, it has great potential.

OP posts:
HecateTrivia · 10/06/2012 16:59

Oh yes, you should wait. You're in no hurry, so you can afford to wait. When you get more pictures up you may get more interest.

lels99 · 10/06/2012 20:20

let us know how you get on x