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Original poster

Help! I have to get this house!

302 replies

Rhubarbgarden · 25/06/2012 18:06

I am tying myself in knots and looking for advice on a strategy to get an offer accepted. House came on the market last week, we knew pretty much straight away it was The One just from looking at the details. Viewed it on Saturday, during the open house. Fell in love. DH wants it as much as I do. Put in an offer this morning of asking price. I'm not messing around - this is the house I want my kids to grow up in and DH and I to grow old in. The agent has just rung back now - offer rejected. They are having two more open houses this week and if there is a lot of serious interest it will go to sealed bids after that, unless someone makes a really good offer in the meantime.

What is our best approach? Up our offer slightly? Offer our maximum now, and give them a short window to accept in the hope of nipping a bidding war in the bud now? Or will that just give other interested parties chance to outbid us? Do we play it cool and wait till after the weekend in the hope no-one else comes along with 'a really good offer'? If it goes to sealed bids, how much do we offer?

Aargh, I have to have this house! It blows all the others out of the water. There were a lot of people at the open house. I know there will be a lot of interest. It's a doer-upper in a terrible state with a Heligan garden, bags of history and character, and is in a peach of a location where not much comes up.

Shock Confused Shock

OP posts:
EdgarAllenPimms · 05/07/2012 17:57

"An offer from someone non proceedable is not an offer."

which is why we are still on the market :) they might find elsewhere, we might find another buyer (cash buyer would be nice..)...but it gives one hope.

viewing on saturday for us...

I am being good and not viewing anything until we're sold stc though. just no point from my perspective - just makes extra cleaning for someone else out there (if they're playing the game..)

soonbesailing · 05/07/2012 18:05

Interesting, but it's a bit chicken and egg isn't it. We are thinking about moving out of London but not 100 % sure, but we need to view a few properties to get a feel for what we get for our money.
I have arranged to view a few next week but told the agents are situation so that the vendor is aware, but if the vendors will only allow buyers who are under offer, where do you start?

SueHeck · 05/07/2012 18:17

I'd always allow viwings, it would be daft not to IMO but I understand why some don't. The number of viewers I've had that say, " Ooh we love it but we haven't sold yet" !

But to make an offer when you haven't sold? Nope.
The OP is asking us how she can secure this house. I would've thought the answer was simple - sell your own. Wink

SueHeck · 05/07/2012 18:21

Some years back we had an asking price offer from someone not yet sold. We kept the house on teh market but they did sell and got back to us..............

With a 10% lower offer as they had not achieved what they needed to when selling theirs. We sold to someone else. You don't know how much you have to play with until you have gone under offer.

notsomanicnow · 05/07/2012 19:01

that's very true - our buyer did try and chip us on the offer price once they had their (lower than expected) offer, but we stood firm - given they had put their house on the market expressly to buy ours, we figured they weren't likely to walk away, and they haven't.

Original poster
Rhubarbgarden · 05/07/2012 19:42

We had a viewing on Saturday and the feedback was that they liked the house very much, they need to consider a few things and will probably book a second viewing shortly. Not bad for a first viewing. The house is priced sensibly not optimistically.

The offers we have made so far, not just on this house but others previously, have been turned down because they weren't high enough. Not being proceedable hasn't even been mentioned. Two properties came back with counter offers. Everyone has their price - fair enough we probably won't get a bargain, being non-proceedable, but offer enough and some vendors are happy to wait. I don't care about getting a bargain, I care about getting the right house.

OP posts:
SueHeck · 05/07/2012 20:04

Which is great when there's no competition....
Have you thought about offering a non refundable deposit and an option to buy drawn up by a solicitor?

Original poster
Rhubarbgarden · 05/07/2012 21:20

Fair point. The other houses had been on the market some time. What's an option to buy?

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Original poster
Rhubarbgarden · 09/07/2012 14:21

Eek! Just received an offer on our house! It only went on the market a week and a half ago. They've offered just under 90% of the asking price. I knew it would sell pretty easily, but I'm still a bit taken aback.

I've never sold anything before - any advice on how to play this? They are first time buyers and want to move quickly, which is fab. But as this is their first offer, I'd still like to try and push it up a bit. We are going to need every penny if we get the moneypit house!

Shock
OP posts:
minipie · 09/07/2012 14:29

Hooray!

See if you can accept the offer without taking the house off the market. This is very cheeky and as a buyer I would never agree to it but it's possible your buyers are naive enough to agree. If they do, that means you can tell "dream house" sellers that you are under offer, while still hanging out for a better offer.

If they tell you it has to come off the market, I would say you aren't prepared to do that for that amount - since the house hasn't been on the market for long, you'd rather wait and see if you can get a better offer.

That may encourage them either to increase or to agree to the "staying on the market" condition.

If they hold firm even after that ... you will have to decide whether it's more important to you to get a better offer, or to go under offer and increase your chances with the dream house!

If you can spin out the above negotiations for a few days, that will give you a chance to get more viewers through the door in the meantime, while keeping the existing offer on the table. So, I wouldn't respond too quickly... and chase your agent to arrange viewings asap (or bring arranged ones forward). The agent should be telling people that there is a good offer on the table so they need to get in quick if they want a chance.

Original poster
Rhubarbgarden · 09/07/2012 14:40

Ooh cunning, thanks Minipie! I would never have thought of that. Smile

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minipie · 09/07/2012 15:47

Good luck! I think the "accepting the offer but keeping it on the market" scenario is unlikely to work... but worth a try... and gives you an excuse to play for time anyway while you get more people through the door.

Just noticed they are first time buyers. Some points that occur to me about this:

  • Presumably they are chain free (get your agent to check). If so, this would probably help you from the pov of securing dream house. Dream house sellers are likely to prefer it if there is only one link below you in the chain rather than several. Could even be worth living with a slightly lower offer (+ renovation fund) for this benefit.
  • On the other hand they may also be more stretched financially. Get your agent to check that they have sufficient deposit plus mortgage approval in principle to cover their offer, before accepting any offer from them. If they will have a high loan to value ratio, ie small deposit, this may increase the chance of their bank's surveyor downvaluing your property (shouldn't happen but it does).
  • They may also be more nit picky about surveys and take ages worrying over every little cracked tile their surveyor reports and try to get money off for these things (this is a FTB stereotype, they may be the exception!)
frostyfingers · 09/07/2012 15:48

I would be very wary of pushing them too hard - you can probably get away with asking for more first time round, but in this market you should grab them with both hands and not let them go!

When we had our first offer we went back to the agent, asked them to say we were thinking about it (24 hours), and then said we were hoping for a little more. They came back straight away and offered another £10k at which point we accepted. There is always the feeling that there may have been more, but we were desperate to move (house on a floodplain!), and managed it. With the weather we've just had, I'm so relieved, although I know our old house hasn't flooded because we've checked.

Have you had other viewings yet, and do any of them seem positive - in which case you may be in a position to delay, but I really would be careful. Buyers (esp proceedable ones) are like gold dust, and if you want your moneypit above all others, then I should hang on to them. Bird in the hand, and all that!

Original poster
Rhubarbgarden · 09/07/2012 16:07

More useful tips - thanks Minipie. They are chain free, which is a huge bonus.

Frosty I am very much of the bird in hand persuasion - summer holidays coming up, quiet time of year for house sales etc etc. DH is now grumping about how we should have put the house on the market in the spring, but really, this isn't a cheeky offer it's a pretty good one in the current climate. There are no other viewings booked and the agent says the only other enquiry so far has been from a loon asking how much it would be worth if he knocked the house down and built a block of flats on it. Hmm

Anyway we've rejected the offer and the agent has gone back to them to ask for their best and final offer, so we'll see what happens next!

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frostyfingers · 09/07/2012 16:16

Fingers crossed then! If they don't up it at all, can you manage with what they have put on the table? I think 10% off the asking price is a going rate, round here anyway (in the sticks).

Stokey · 09/07/2012 17:46

We had an offer accepted before we'd sold. We weren't the only offer but the seller gave us a month to find a buyer, which we did. We did have a mortgage in place, the seller's previous buyer had fallen through at the financing stage, and I was 5 months pregnant with dd2 which helped as we wanted to move before she was born. So it can be done, just depends on parties involved. Our seller had sold his last house very near to where we were so knew the market was moving fast which helped. Good luck.

oreocrumbs · 09/07/2012 17:57

Oh how exciting! That is bloody quick Smile

Original poster
Rhubarbgarden · 10/07/2012 21:40

Well they upped their offer by a teeny tiny amount. It was a difficult decision, but in the end we rejected it. It was below our bottom line, and below what the house next door went for last year - and ours is a better house. It was still tempting, but we've been on the market less than a fortnight so it really felt premature to drop to that level. It's a risk - we might not get any more interest and we might as a result lose the moneypit, but I think we would always have regretted letting this house go at that price. We've told them our bottom line so you never know, they might stretch to it. And after we revisit the moneypit next Monday, we'll have a better idea of the costs involved in renovating it, so we could always go back to them if we decide we could do it for less money.

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oreocrumbs · 10/07/2012 21:52

You have to be practical, so I think you have done the right thing. As much as I do believe in giving your all for the right house, these pesky things like money can't be ignored!

I'm sure you will get the price you need - your house is clearly desirable to get an offer that fast, and you know how the game works. Fingers crossed that they do come back a bit higher.

Original poster
Rhubarbgarden · 10/07/2012 21:56

Thanks Oreo. I feel a bit deflated but I know it's the right decision. Sigh.

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Original poster
Rhubarbgarden · 11/07/2012 13:06

Ooooooh! They've just upped their offer to our bottom line! but it's subject to us having an offer accepted on somewhere to go! Eeeek! And I can't get hold of DH who has a v important thing on at work today! Eeeek! Eeeek!

Shock and dare I Grin

OP posts:
JustFabulous · 11/07/2012 13:24

WOW!!!

typicalvirgo · 11/07/2012 13:25

Exciting times Grin

Could be a good thing you can't get hold of DH... make 'em sweat a bit Grin

RCheshire · 11/07/2012 13:38

Great news. Good luck with the next part.

MousyMouse · 11/07/2012 14:04

you can always go into rented for a bit...