Seller won't consider our reasonable offer - need advice - V V Long sorry.

[Jbck]

I've already posted this on legal but keen to get other views so if you've read it already don't waste your time .
We've offered on a house we're really keen on, sellers did have a buyer but they moved the entry date 15 days hence & seller put house back on market. He is obviously a little daft, who'd put themselves through all that hassle for a fortnight. It's a private sale & he's literally only got a sign outside his house which isn't on a through road or anything so he'll be relying on word of mouth really or luck.
We made him an offer based on the most recent house sales prices in the street 2 houses identical to his & one a slightly different style but basically same 4 bed det'd modern villa, all since February this year. One of them was actually next door to him & we offered the same as that achieved in February. One house which got an extra 5K has a frontage/drive & rear garden which are almost double the length of his so I figure that's why they got the extra money.
Basically he seems to have plucked a figure from mid-air & believes he can get it, he has comitted to a new house & entry date is end of this month. He has accepted he will need to bridge but thinks buyers should fund this. He made this perfectly clear to us which I poopooed saying our offer would be at market value which it is.
We made our best offer, rather than messing him about negotiating because of his situation, we've sold & our buyers are renting, our mortgage agreed in principle so we're a really good bet but he won't consider us. He's of the opinion that his house is that much better than average, that he deserves more. It's 10 years old with all the original fitments, kitchen etc & nothing that special in the first place.
I'm tempted to let him stew & say bugger it but we really like the house. We made a verbal offer to him as he's no estate agent involved but I do have his solicitors details, does anyone think it's worthwhile putting our offer in writing to them, emphasising how strong our position is & stating it's on the table till say 1st of August & see if they can try to persuade him?
I'm worried it'll alienate him & he'll accept any offer bar ours then but I just want to make sure it's on the table, as they'll be pushing him as will his bank as his bridging is currently open-ended which is really frowned upon by his bank he says.
He already told us he'd had another bid & he'd weigh up the 2 offers & respective entry dates but this other bid has failed to materialise. I realise it's his house & he can expect what he likes for it but he's cutting his nose off to spite his face and I can't get the house I want.
Any ideas suggestions gratefully received. He says his original offer was a lot higher, in which case it was extremely generous & possibly a little over zealous, maybe they moved the date & stuck to it so they could back out (I am surmising to convince myself I'm right). Apologies for length & if you're still with me thanks for taking time out of your day

yes put it in writing to him .. put it through the post - recorded delivery

outline all the reasons you're a strong buyer .. and the date you could complete by then leave it up to him

if you lose it there will be a better house round the corner

out of interest since january this year in our area house prices have raised on average 5K a month

Let him stew and say bugger it. Tell him you're sorry he feels that way, your offer stands until 1 August and to get back in touch if he changes his mind,

Ring him and tell him that you are putting the offer in writing. Tell him that the offer will stand to x date and that if he is interested he should contact you. Make sure he is aware that you can go no higher and that this is the end of the line.

Just to give you a little hope dh and I recently bought, we searched for months and finally found the property we wanted it hadn't been viewed for weeks by anyone and we put an offer in on the day, the estate agents came back and said other people had viewed it that day and someone had put an offer in higher than ours and the vendor was going to think about it over the weekend. On Monday I rang the estate agents and told them I was withdrawing the offer. I was devistated but refused to be bullied into offering more money by greddy sellers and estate agents.
I gave up looking after that but then a week later dh told me he had made an appointment for somewhere and off we went, we now live here and love it, it really is 10x better than anywhere else we saw.

Do not give in to this stupid mans games, if you don't get the house it is not meant to be and their really will be another round the corner.

I wouldn't be too bullish about it. Regardless of market values ( which have gone up substantial since Feb round here too), he is in a position of strength because he knows the real value of a house is what someone is prepared to pay for it. I think I would decide for myself what that figure is, make your offer and leave it to him. It must be very frustrating! Good luck.

Thanks everyone, I'm in Scotland & prices here have remained fairly static this year with the exception of a few areas. We actually used the House Price Index calculator with the purchase price of the house 3 years ago from the land registry & it came up 3K less than we offered , and the house which achieved the lowest of the 3 prices we used was actually just in May, so I really don't think we're being stingy.
We've missed out on 2 others since we started looking, one - buyers pulled out on us & the other we had accepted an offer on ours & put a tentative offer in on one then our buyers changed their minds a few days later. We let vendors estate agent know that we were holding offer in abeyance till we'd had another & someone put in a slightly higher offer 2 days before we got the written offer we've since accepted. It's been a crap process from beginning to end & I'm thoroughly scunnered.
We part-exchanged our flat for the house we're in & moved in within 3 weeks of signing. I remember saying to DH that I couldn't understand why people thoguth it was stressful! Little did I know. Anyway I can't make him sell me his house so I'll let him know where we stand & if I know his solicitor is in the picture they'll advise him a bit more here than I believe they do down south so fingers crossed.

really wouldn't involve his solicitor .. the solicitor is employed by the vendor .. they don't have any sway over a deal .. and if someone had the temerity to go to my solicitor I would be so pissed off I wouldn't sell to them on principle

sorry

Twiglett slightly different here though, in that normally offers go through solicitors, I asked him for his solicitors details at the outset & he was keen for me to have them.
Will consult with ours first though for their thoughts.

oh ok .. good luck