WWYD

[jampot]

We showed a lovely couple around our house on Wednesday night they have offered, we rejected and have upped their offer to 4k below our now reduced asking price. Houses appear to be sticking a bit on my road recently but we have an open day organised by teh Estate Agents set for tomorrow afternoon. My sister has cancelled her weekend away in order to come over to help with any possible viewings and the advert is in the paper. I accepted the offer on teh basis that we would still be going ahead with the open day. Estate agents have just come back to me to say they arent going to do the open day because it wont be fair on the purchasers. and in fact they may look elsewhere. I explained that the after we had accepted an offer from previous potential purchasers they continued to show them around other properties but wouldnt allow us to have other viewings as we were SSTC.

So, she's gone off a bit pissed off. What would your views be as purchaser and vendor?

Did you agree to exclusivity when you accepted their offer ?

As purchaser I would be p*ssed off. As a vendor, I wouldn't have accepted the offer until after the open day at least.

You can't not show people houses if they ask you too as an estate agent really - that would be silly.

I would have cancelled the open house I think showing the buyers that I have faith in them - to be honest as much as everyone says its a sellers market it will never be so because unless you are in the centre of London and have huge anounts of money or not enough money and want somethig gret the buyer always has the advantage.

We have just had an offer accepted on a house and one of our stipulations was that it immediatly came off of the market and the planned viewings for the rest of the week were cancelled. The seller knew he was onto a good thing with us as we are cash buyers - or will be in a week or so - and so was happy to do so.

What would you have done if the open day generated another offer higher - would you have let the people who offered on your house down??

Remember your estate agents work for you not for the buyers - they should be trying to nmaximise what you get (and thus their commission !). Perhaps they need reminding of this ?

I guess it is a bit unfair on the buyers if you have actually accepted the offer - looks as though you hope someone will gazump them iykwim.

If buyers are being arsey the you should def do the open day - swings and roundabouts really - do you commit to £4K less and gamble on getting a better offer on Sat - or do you accept the offer ?

I think I'd accept the offer and ditch the open day - a bird in the hand and all that - but it depends how desp you are to get more for the house !

i accepted the offer on the basis that we went ahead with the open day as previously arranged. The estate agents have just called back and clearly dont relay messages correctly as I told them to point out only if we got an offer in excess of asking price then we would consider. They told them that we would consider higher offers. ! [grr] I suspect they want to just close the deal and push all their other properties - am NOT impressed with this particular negotiator!

I think the whole system here is total madness! Have an auction and make sure you get the best price you possibly can for your property!!

that is not to say we would necessarily accept another offer just consider it on its own merits but would have to be in excess of asking price which aint gonna happen!

I think if you have accepted on the basis that the open day will stil go ahead then you haven't really accepted - you've said " we will accept if we don't get a better offer on Saturday". Entirely reasonable, also entirely reasonable (and sensible) of them not to start moving ahead with solicitors/surveys etc until after the weekend when you can either call and confirm their offer is accepted and you will take house off market for a short period of time, or tell them you have a better offer

So you may as well not go throgh the hassle of the open day ! Have a picnic instead !

Everyone happy !!

My MIL recently had an offer made on her house. It was below her asking price so she wasn't too happy with it, and the people who made the offer hadn't yet sold their house. The estate agent talked my MIL into accepting the offer, on the understanding that if anyone else came along in a better position to buy, the first couple would lose the house.

I thought that was awful, but it's apparently standard practice. So with that in mind, it doesn't seem wrong to accept their offer in principle but continue with the open day and still be open to higher offers.

It's all a minefield anyway, no matter what you do.

this is why the system in england sucks
I would hate to be gazumped
equally I would want the highest price possible for the property that I was selling
difficult

well just to add to the mix, Ive spoken to the LEA who tell me that if they were me they wouldnt worry about moving to get ds into the school of choice as there are less catchment children and enough spaces for all plus siblings plus others for next year - which takes away theneed to move

Oh I wish i could be decisive

So it sounds as if it is the potential purchasers who are pressing the EA to get their offer accepted now, not unreasonably from their pov (I was peed off that another couple were shown around after we'd made an offer on a property which we lost then out on in the end even though it finally went through less than our offer had been) . Perhaps they will relook this weekend, perhaps not but they could have done so anyway even if you had unconditionally accepted the offer and cancelled further marketing. If the EA relayed your condition correctly (which it sounds as if they haven't) then you have every right to go ahead with your open day and they as your agent should have no choice. Whether they'd really pull their fingers out on the day, believing a sale is in the offing, is another matter though. Good luck.

Jampots, there's a bit in Freakonomics about how estate agents OWN houses sell for 4% above the ave price of those they sell. Tell the EA that the deal was you went ahead with the open day, that if they don't do it you will put it on with another agent and that the offer is only provisionally accepted

Right up until exchange you can accept a higher offer and whyever wouldn't you?

here you go, American so slightly diff in terms of commission payments but still, theories are sound

oh no the EA isnt doing the open day - I have to be here and luckily my sister has offered to come over too in case we have a few couples looking together - so no skin off their nose so to speak other than not secured commission for the month of April I guess !

Oh, ok. Well do it then and tell them to sod off if they don't like it. You can tell viewers it's under offer but you're going to best sealed bids next week. Good luck.

how did it go today ?

we went ahead with open day - 3 people came plus the couple who put the offer in. I was glad of that as I wanted to make sure they knew exactly what I had communicated to the EA - They realised that something wasnt quite right and were perfectly happy with the situation. I explained that if we were offered in excess of the asking price we would have to consider in any event and they said they would do the same thing. We have exchanged phone numbers so can stay in touch if either of us have any queries without having to go through estate agents.

thanks for asking