To want to tell them to naff off?!

[Lowkeyloopy]

DP and I put in an offer on a house over the weekend in an area a bit outside London for a figure in the £800k - £900k region (not giving details to avoid outing!). We are chain free renters able to move quickly and complete before the end of the stamp duty deadline.

Having seen (and offered and lost out on) other similar houses, we know the market is competitive right now (in favour of sellers). So we offered at asking price and said we could move quickly and wanted to get a deal done.

Call today from the agent saying the vendor got a few offers and wants everyone's best and final offer by 6pm today. After some probing, we worked out that no-one else had offered asking price.

So they've told everyone else they need to beat asking price, but we just have to either gamble that no-one else will come up to asking price, or we increase our offer to ensure we're not pipped to the post by someone else. But we're trying to work out what that should be - £5k, £10k, £20k?! - With no frame of reference about what our competition will offer. We could be robbed blind.

This strikes me as incredibly unfair, but do I just need to take my medicine and risk overpaying because it's a sellers' market?

My head is telling me we should pay £15k because we love the house, should be able to complete before stamp duty if we get it, and £15k over a 30 year mortgage is ok. But my heart is saying "We offered asking price and we're chain free. Naff off you greedy pigs (i.e. accept our original offer!)."

YABU - pay the extra money
YANBU - hold firm!

Thoughts?!

I would offer the 15k if you love the house it’s nothing over the 30 years and the hassle of finding finding somewhere else and starting again.
If it was a 150k house my reply would be different

Ugh, I'd want to put in the extra money with the caveat that if your original offer isn't beaten then you're not willing to pay over the asking. CF sellers.

But it probably doesn't work like that so if you love the house, go for it.

I was put in one of these ridiculous situations. Turned out i offered more money but they went with the others anyway as they were first time buyers.

This happened to me once after them refusing our offers every time we upped it
So we put the original offer down I’m the sealed envelope and got the house
Turns out there were no other buyers they were trying to get more money out of us

I had this. Told them we've made our offer. They "rang the seller" then rang back like 2 minutes later accepting 🙄 just trying their luck.

I'd just reiterate that you are cash buyers who can complete rapidly with no delays or hassles, and leave your first offer on the table.

No haggling.

Just offer what your willing to pay. It will either be enough or not. Sorry not much help.

@2bazookas

I'd just reiterate that you are cash buyers who can complete rapidly with no delays or hassles, and leave your first offer on the table.

No haggling.

This. Chances are the other potential buyers will balk at it too. Same thing happened to me. I stood my ground and they accepted the original offer. Greedy CF.

It does depend. You need to know how this EA operates.

Some list at a high asking price and expect to accept a price below asking. Others deliberately list low to get as much interest and offers as possible then fuel a bun fight, expecting the end price to be way above asking.

When we sold our flat (London, 7 years ago) we were given suggested asking prices from 415 to 460 by three EAs and one explained that its just a different tactic.

I agree it is shit, if it costs X and you want to buy it and are willing to pay X, there should be no more to it. I hope the system changes in England in my lifetime, it would make me very happy

Even if you offer more, will the mortgage lender value the property at that amount? There’s no point upping your offer if you can’t pay it.

Thank you all for the quick replies! Really appreciate it. It's mad - if we had to pay £15k more because of a back and forth with the seller and another potential buyer, I could swallow it because it would be based on actual demand for the property and a genuine negotiation, but the idea that they're just out to squeeze us is really bugging me!

@TimeForTeaAndG - I love this idea, but I imagine we wouldn't be allowed to do it!

@Tinydinosaur @mamas12 This is exactly what I'm afraid of. I would love to call their bluff like you both did, but in this market I don't know if I have the nerve.

I think we're going to open the call with the agent by asking "Has anyone beaten our offer" and, if so "What do we need to offer to beat it?". See if we can get anything more out of him!

Maybe the half way house is reiterating the hassle free quick completion as some of you have suggested, and doing "just" £10k more.

Though if someone beats us by £5k, I will kick myself so hard...

Appreciate some of this is just me wailing into the internet now! Ultimately we've just got to work out what's right for us - it's so helpful reading your thoughts though so please do keep them coming - we have half an hour left to make a decision...!

It's not just price that makes an offer the best on the table, it's a balance of price and how proceedable the buyer is. Not being in a chain is massively in your favour. I would stick with your asking price offer.

@Rainbowshine - Good point, but that side of things should be fine. Our AIP is actually more than the purchase price, and we have a healthy deposit too (perk of lockdown - helped us save). So we're in a fortunate position that this isn't an affordability issue, just an "are we being fleeced" issue!

@MapGirlExtraordinaire That's an interesting point - it's a regional EA I think. Not as slick as your Foxtons types... Maybe more inclined to list it lower and try to drum up more interest.

Just to update for those needing the end to a story (I always do!) - we didn't get the house unfortunately.

We called the agent at 6pm and spoke to a different guy from the person we spoke to originally. He told us (after a few questions) that they had had a "few" best and final offers, and that we wouldn't be competing against ourselves by increasing our offer, but that the offers weren't that much over asking price (which had been our original offer). He said none of the offers were from chain free people.

So we felt reasonably confident. Asking price was £850k, we said we'd offer £860k and reiterated we were chain free.

Followed up this morning and managed to speak to the person who actually took our booking this time. He said they had had FIFTEEN best and final offers and had gone with a higher offer than £860k (but couldn't say what). We explained what the guy had said yesterday, which made us temper our offer and in a moment of "F it - we want it" we said we would pay £875k.

But... the vendors still didn't go for it - "best and final means best and final". Fine - fair enough. Leaves me wondering what on earth someone has paid for that house though... I don't think it's worth more than £875k, so can walk away not feeling too crushed by it all... but seriously... the market is bonkers at the moment - everyone needs to calm down! I think people are overpaying by £30k to save £15k on stamp duty

We know someone who was in this position. It went to final bids and friends were beaten. Buyer offered extra to get it then later wanted money off so friends got the house at the fair price.

I wouldn’t be surprised if they came back to you later - looking at some of the stories about at the moment you being chain free is worth a lot. If it all falls over they’ll come back.