Is this how things are done in house buying?

[Gomez15]

To cut a long story short we are trying to move and to buy a house 6 hours away from us for practical and personal reasons. It has proved very hard -We’ve ‘sold’ and we’ve been looking for 4 months and not much has come on the market. We spent the last week in the town looking at houses with no joy until we came to a new estate agent who had 2 houses not yet on the market. We saw both of them and one in particular was 20,000 cheaper than the other ( though it would still cut into our budget) and we really liked it. It needs work but we thought we could just about manage. . We made an offer very close to the asking price. The response from the agent today was that the couple had looked at other properties which needed work so unless we offered more the house was going onto the market at £10,000 more than the original price. Just so pissed off I can’t even talk without crying . Not sure they’ll get the extra money , the original price - which they stood there and told me they wanted yesterday - seemed at the too end but all the shenanigans will just be too late for us. Do the fates mean it’s just not meant to be?!

Buying in England should some with ptsd warming. It's terrible, terrible system.
I moved countries and it was less stressful than buying here!

Yes, they can do that unfortunately. It's brutal

Because you offered close to the asking price, they probably now think they can get more for it. Hope time proves them wrong.

I had similar happen in 2022.

well, they actually got one offer over asking, accepted it, then it fell through.

if they think they've underpriced, they're allowed to do what they want. Sorry you're going through this.

I don’t think they think it’s underpriced - the estate was quite candid when he talked about both the properties we saw. I think the estate agent is pushing for this as he knows we’re desperate ( I had cried on them when they said they’d got decent houses coming up!) They’re saying they need money to do up their new house - so do we to do up theirs! Just not sure how to reply to the estate agent. I want to be really snotty but that won’t achieve anything. Just so gobsmacked that both the agent and owner assured me of the price they wanted yesterday and now it’s 10,000 more! I couldn’t do that

It could be a ploy to try to encourage you to up your offer. If you can face potentially losing the house in the end, you could hold your nerve and say yesterday’s offer was your final offer. They may come crawling back in a few weeks accepting your offer of it doesn’t sell, but obviously the risk is it could equally sell. I’d be asking myself how would I feel if I got a call tomorrow saying it had been sold to someone else, which should help work out how much you really want this house…but if the extra truly would be out of your budget then you have to walk away. No house is worth bankrupting yourself over and another house will always come along eventually.

My advice would be to let this one go OP. If the vendors are already messing around with their price, what's to stop them deciding they want even more, once you've started paying out for survey's, solicitors, etc? Strangely enough, we're doing a similar long distance move. I called to make an appointment to view a property that I thought would be perfect for us, but the vendor made all sorts of excuses as to why we couldn't view - they were going away for a few days, which happened to coincide with our making the journey to view, they wouldn't allow the agent to show us around, in spite of the fact that that is what they are paying them for, and wouldn't allow their grown up kids, who were house sitting, to show us around either. I was really disappointed, but then as my DH pointed out, people who mess around in the early stages, are likely to turn into a royal pain in the arse, when it comes to the legal stuff, so we're probably better off not even going there. I think you should just be patient, the right place WILL come along, if it's meant to be.

Yrs, its vicious at the moment because basically demand outstrips supply. I'm on the verge of giving up. Sick of the greed.

Just go back to the EA and say what you said here about their convo, then say that’s the offer, and start looking elsewhere

It’s a buyers market at the moment. Mine is up for sale as I’ve seen something I want, and there is no interest. Tell them you’ve made an offer, and you aren’t increasing it. Ask THEIR agent to send you lots of details. And breathe: yes it’s a crap system but generally these things are fate, and something will turn up!

I would go back and say that is our final offer and the house needs work so you don't have any room in your budget. We had something similar happen to us and walked away. I was gutted at the time but ended up getting something much better. In the end they came back and said we would be willing to accept your previous offer but I said sorry we have found somewhere else. Which felt great!

Maybe consider renting in the new location for a few months to give you time to find the right place without the stress of needing to find somewhere. Also would put you in a better position because no chain.

EAs try to get you to up your offer, yes.

We are in Scotland and currently there is the offers over price - then you get the homebuyers report and it will be valued at 10-15% over the asking price. But the sellers are actually looking for another 10-15% over the valuation! estate agent quite cheerily explained the low asking price was just a marketing strategy.

So 160k for a flat that was priced at offers over 120k. DS is looking and he’s been so deflated viewing flats he thinks he can afford only to find out he can’t. Can’t stand the whole buying/selling system. It benefits no one.

They’re only just going on the market and you’ve shown you’re desperate. I don’t think they sound too bothered about selling so now is not the opportunity to get a deal, sadly.

I would say it’s your final offer and say you’ll withdraw it if they haven’t agreed to it by a certain date. I wouldn’t trust them or the agent.
Your situation doesn’t mean you can afford to overpay for a property in this market. New houses come up over time.

I’d reply to the estate agent saying it’s disappointing as your offer was very realistic but for now you’ll withdraw your offer and if the vendors want to reconsider it then you would be open to it. In the current market I honestly can’t imagine they’ll actually get another offer. Unless your area is particularly buoyant.

Thank you for your messages 😁 I’ve stopped crying now as we went to the pub to get some perspective! 😂 and read your responses carefully. As my daughter said too we’re not responsible for them needing to do work to their next house that’s irrelevant - and that’s true. We certainly didn’t use it as a reason to get more money from our poor buyers! The agent valued it and that’s what it is. Hey ho will send a carefully worded email expressing our disappointment ( and offering the original price but no more) and then back to the drawing board - and another 6 hour journey fitted in somewhere to look at another house - if one comes up . Very nearly tempted to say f* the whole thing and believe that fate is against this move except that we both want it 🥺

Just say no, you are over budget already and can't go beyond. You have already sold so can move chain free if they want a quick sale, Then leave them to it.

A relative of mine offered a fair price for a flat earlier this year and was turned down, upped his offer and turned down again. Has since bought a nicer flat and we've seen the one he didn't get is still on the market, now reduced to below what he first offered. People can be greedy but it backfires