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Property/DIY

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Original poster

Negotiation advice please, trying to avoid bidding war

23 replies

ApuskiMcClusky · 31/05/2012 17:28

Hi, I'm hoping for some tactical advice to help us secure a house.

Quick back story - house came on the market last autumn, sale agreed to first viewer. The house has now come back on the market as the buyer has been made redundant and can't proceed. We went to see it this week, second viewing tomorrow, and we are planning on making an offer assuming all ok then.

We are now in a position to buy, as I've just got a permanent job, we are currently in rental, and as of yesterday, mortgage agreed in principle.

Agent has just called saying that there are two proceedable offers that have been made - and bizarrely told us what they were (btw I don't trust this agent as far as I can throw him) - so asking price is £440k, offers are £410k and £420k. Agent indicated they were looking for £435k.

The house is I think priced realistically, needs a lot of work, and very little on the market atm

OP posts:

Original poster

ApuskiMcClusky · 31/05/2012 17:30

Sorry, pressed post without meaning to - was about to say, we are in no desperate rush to buy, in a secure rental situation, but really like the house.

What would you suggest re our tactics for offering? If we had to go to asking we would, but we'd obviously rather not.

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bibbitybobbitybunny · 31/05/2012 17:35

Am utterly shocked at what the Agent has told you! Completely and utterly.

Of course you don't actually know that he's telling you the truth.

But basically he is giving you the opportunity to outbid the other two interested parties.

Its absolutely not on.

SoupDragon · 31/05/2012 17:39

Ignoring the other offers, what offer would you have made?

The fact that you are chain free will be in your favour as they no doubt want to sell it quickly given it's fallen through once already.

SoupDragon · 31/05/2012 17:40

As an aside, my current house went to "sealed bids". When XH phoned to check the timeframe, the agent said "We've had the other offer in already at £xxxxx" so XH offers £500 more and the house was ours. It was still an amount we were happy to pay so whether the info was correct or not kind of doesn't matter.

timetoask · 31/05/2012 17:44

I would take my chances and assume that the other offers are coming from people that are not yet in a position to complete soon.
You seem to like the house, but not be totally upset if you lose it?
I would offer 410 but emphasis that you have everything in place to proceed.

Original poster

ApuskiMcClusky · 31/05/2012 17:45

Bibbity, I agree, I can't believe he told us either. I cannot stand him, but he gets loads of the houses round here on to his books for some reason.

Soup, we talked about £420k before we knew about other offers.

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RCheshire · 31/05/2012 17:51

Pay what you're happy to pay. It's not worth more because someone else thinks it is. Also there's absolutely no reason to believe the EA - he is working for the sellers to maximise the price - he's not an independent middle-man.

TeWiDoesTheHulaInHawaii · 31/05/2012 18:07

If you were talkinbg about 420 anyway, I would offer 420 in the knowledge that you are an attractive buyer.

I wouldn't try and outbid, the agent is being devious, I've had the same in the last few days.

As you are relying on a mortgage - and therefore the mortgage company agreeing that the price you buy for is what the property is worth it is risky to consider offering more than the market rate.

oreocrumbs · 31/05/2012 19:37

I would offer at 415 and make your good position clear. It gives you the wriggle room to go to 420 if they say no. As TeWi said the mortgage valuations are often coming in lower than the accepted offer, so the ultimate price will be dictated by that.

I would tryto ignore what the agent said, it could be true it could be a ruse either way it will just mess with your head!

SoupDragon · 31/05/2012 19:45

£410 or £415 sound good as first offers, as has been said, make your chain free position clear. You can then go up to your £420 (or beyond if you really want to). Ignore the other offers.

Original poster

ApuskiMcClusky · 31/05/2012 20:21

I know you're right when you day ignore the other offers, but we are only in a good position being chain-free if the others are not. I guess 'proceedable' could mean cash buyer, chain free or with a house SSTC?

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oreocrumbs · 31/05/2012 20:41

Proceedable means nothing, and everything it is just estate agent twaddle. You will be a chain free buyer with a MIP so that gives you one of the strongest postions.

Cash buyers, well I'm always a bit about that and SSTC is still in a chain and still at risk of losing their buyer.

Offer lower and see what happens. If they come back to you with a no then you can go up a bit (to what you are comfortable with). But don't be too quick, tell them you will consider your next move and give it a few days before coming back.

The EA is trying to stirr up a bidding war, it is quite likely there are no offers on the table, just 3 keen views and so to get everyone het up and worried about losing the house he is saying this to each of you. Before you all know it you will have all placed offers in fear of missing out. Don't let him play you, just keep cool. If you want the house make an offer and go up to what you think is reasonable. If you don't, don't.

Have you been on zoopla to see what the house last sold for and how much other local houses have gone for recently? Very handy for helping you see the bigger picture when chosing how much to bid.

Original poster

ApuskiMcClusky · 31/05/2012 20:58

The house hasn't been sold for decades, and all houses in the street are quite different, so not straightforward. But the next door house is closest in size and that sold last year which gives us some idea. But this one needs work doing, so it's hard to compare.

Thank you for the advice, I find this stuff hard - I am rubbish at poker as well!

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TeWiDoesTheHulaInHawaii · 31/05/2012 21:10

Oreo speaks the truth - I am going through all this at the moment too Apuski and I can't believe how stressful it is and how hard it is to stay cool!

There is a house I really like and we have put in a final offer of less than the asking price (we've already had 2 rejected). I am trying to be laisse faire about it but inside I am ARGH. At the same time I know it would be wrong to offer the asking price just to be sure we got it - it isn't worth more than we have offered and we are in quite a tight situation where we would have mortgage issues if we get the sale price/mortgage valuation wrong.

(I am at the "look, agent, we really aren't going to offer more than X, could you take us to look at Y house while they are dithering just so we know our options?" stage now)

bibbitybobbitybunny · 31/05/2012 21:16

TeWi - you have made your final offer. Give the vendors, say, 3 days to accept or decline, and then withdraw it.

You (collective you) MUST go all cold and clinical when house buying.

The forever house and the perfect house is all just a romantic notion. You (collective you) are buying a collection of rooms to live in, that is all.

TeWiDoesTheHulaInHawaii · 31/05/2012 21:21

Hmm, that's a good idea. We've waited 2 days already. Should I give them 3 more days or just say we have to know by the end of tomorrow? We are looking at a bunch of other houses tomorrow anyway, because I am assuming they'll say no after the first 2 no's!

TeWiDoesTheHulaInHawaii · 31/05/2012 21:23

Plus, I like the look of a couple of the places we're looking at tomorrow so I don't think I'd be heartbroken if they did say no...

bibbitybobbitybunny · 31/05/2012 21:25

I think they are probably going to say "no" too after 2 days. Perhaps they have another viewing booked for tonight or tomorrow and are hedging their bets? I think you probably need to mentally write it off now, so if they do accept your offer it will come as a pleasant surprise .

TeWiDoesTheHulaInHawaii · 31/05/2012 21:34

They did have another viewing recently, and they definately paid too much so there might be negatuve equity issues, which obviously we can't do anything about. I'm not taking on someone else's financial issue!

oreocrumbs · 31/05/2012 21:40

I 'lost' my dream house a few years ago. I actually had the highest offer but another buyer came in 1K less than me and said that they would buy the house regardless of what the survey said. I wouldn't and did lots of this> at the agent about the other buyer.

Anyway - so I found another house that I loved even more just a week or so later very fickle and had an offer accepted! Of course at that point the EA rang to say the first house was back on the market as the other buyer dropped out.

They never got that house sold, reduced it to 15k less than my offer (which had been 5k below asking) and are still there now.

TeWiDoesTheHulaInHawaii · 31/05/2012 21:46

Will this help you Apuski price calculator it's been pretty accurate whenever I've tried it.

Original poster

ApuskiMcClusky · 02/06/2012 17:46

TeWi, what ended up happening with your offer?

I've just been on the phone to the agents, and our offer has been accepted! We ended up going up to £430k after £420k was rejected, but I'm pretty happy with the amount overall - it leaves us with enough to do what we want with it.

Best of all, estate agent went off on holiday, so we've been dealing with his (much nicer) colleague! Hope they got the commission instead!

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TeWiDoesTheHulaInHawaii · 02/06/2012 20:05

Congratulations! Glad the nice agent got the money too.

They've said no but the agent is still trying to convince them(!) I suspect we are the only people interested in it. We saw a few more houses yesterday and have a couple more booked in this week, one of them is much bigger and nicer than I thought we could afford so maybe the 'no' has been for the best...

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