Received an offer which turned out not to be an offer.

[Eaglebird]

Our flat's been on the market for a few months. Lots of interest, a couple of really cheeky offers (which we declined), and a couple of timewasters so far.

Today the agent rang me and said she'd been chatting to Mrs So-And-So, and said that she liked the flat but it was a bit above her budget etc. The agent then told Mrs So-And-So that we might accept an offer of £X (£3k below our asking price). Mrs So-And-So then apparently said that she could stretch to £Y (£6k below our asking price). The agent then asked if we'd be willing to accept £Y.

After chatting with DP we agreed to accept the offer of £Y and rang the agent. Her colleague took the message and said she'd get the agent to call me back.

She didn't call back, so I rang a couple of hours later to confirm she'd got the message about us accepting the £Y offer. The agent confirmed she'd got the message, and that she was waiting for Mrs So-And-So to speak to her husband and call back to confirm whether she'd be making an offer or not.

I was a bit gutted at this as I thought (or stupidly assumed?) that an offer had been made.

Now DP & I will be on tenterhooks all weekend, wondering if Mrs So-And-So is going to make an offer or not. Aaaaaaaaaaaargh.

I've never sold a property before, so I don't know if this is standard practice or not.

Well, it's normal for a buyer to make an offer and for the agent to put it forward, not for the agent to say: "Yeah, they're take anything, how much have you got?"

I suspect that the agent may be desperate to get it off their books if it's been on the market for a few months. Still, depending on the price, #6k may not be very much to knock off.

It's priced just under £156k, which is a very fair price for the area, and it's in excellent condition. The flat next door sold last year for £150k and it needed loads of work doing to it. I know it's a different market now, though

The valuer and estate agent manager both said it was one of the best flats they'd seen in the area for a long time.
But it seems that buyers don't want to spend much, and not many properties are selling at the moment too.

The agent rang today and said Mrs So-And-So would let her know on Monday if she was going to make an offer. Then she said that Mrs-So-And-So had a £100k deposit, and had an appointment to see the mortgage adviser on Thursday, blah blah blah, which was really none of my business

I'd have been fuming if I found out that an estate agent was blabbing my financial details to people.

I think your estate agent is being a bit unprofessional but what she is trying to do is say that this person, if you can agree on a price, is a pretty good buyer (large deposit, keen to speak to mortgage adviser to fix up the rest of the money). I suppose it all depends on whether she is going to make an offer or not... Good luck.