Don't know what to offer???

[Muddywellyboots]

We've sold our house and found a house we love. But despite being in negotiations for 2 weeks we've hit a deadlock with the vendors. They won't counter offer and keep saying they want £5k over the asking price despite taking 48 hours to consider the other offers we've put forward.

It's been on over 6 months, had 20 viewings and 2 low offers. Ours has been the most and the estate agent told them to accept it but they are not budging. We can afford what they have said...just. But now the EA has said there are 3 viewings on Saturday.

What do we do? Go in with the price they want and hope they agree to take it off the market? Or wait to see if they have any offers on the weekend. We can't pay any more so can't afford to get in a bidding war. Help!

why do they want more than the asking price if the house has been on the market for 6 months + and they have no other offers...??

I believe it's because they want to buy a house in an expensive area and because it was valued at that (albeit 6 months ago). It was also sold for that price during the last boom which our area is now experiencing. Oh and it's what Zoopla says it's worth?!

I would re-state to the EA the rationale for your offer (hopefully based on comparable sale prices locally) and tell them your offer remains on the table until 3pm on Friday then leave it. You can't make them accept your offer - however deluded they seem. Maybe a deadline will galvanise them into action. Get back online and book some viewings for the weekend. You can always cancel if they come round.

Well it depends how much you want the house?
Can you live with loosing it? Can you wait for an other to come up?

We paid slightly more for the house we live in that what is was worth (important repairs needed) but we really liked it, and it checked all our boxes. So we offered the max we were ready to pay for and they accepted even if it was under less than their asking price. No regrets here.
A house is worth what you are ready to pay for it.

I wouldn't be too worried about a bidding war, tbh.

20 viewings in 6 months is not all that many. Many houses will have nearly that many viewings in the first few days on the market. A few lower offers in 6 months also suggests it's unlikely anyone will come in and offer over the asking price or that there'll be a bidding war.

Unfortunately, it looks like they aren't serious sellers.

An owner can influence their zoopla valuation, btw. They can keep putting in figures for maintenance and improvements until the valuation says what they want it too. It would be silly to put any faith in a zoopla valuation.

I agree that they aren't serious in that they will only sell if they get that price for it...hence why we're considering it. There are no other properties in our search are that fit our criteria and we want to move into the area before our son starts preschool in Sep so we do have a bit of a deadline (we were in a 6mo chain before hence why we're doing it now!).

Yes, you can't force them to accept an offer if they don't want to. You have to be prepared to walk away or offer more, I'm afraid.

Ok I think that's true. So next question...do we offer the full amount today with the caveat that they take it off the market and cancel the viewings on Sat or wait till Mon hoping they don't get any offers/more interest? We're in a rock and a hard place!

If you are prepared to offer them the £5k over the asking price that they want then do it now and make your final offer conditional on them taking the house off the market.

They are already in negotiations with you. I don't think it would be helpful for you to wait until after the weekend. Do be prepared for them to come back with something else barmy - you may still have to walk away.

If you really love the house, you could do that. They may not cancel the viewings though, as they may (a) not believe that you'll just walk away regardless or (b) be imagining all 3 buyers will be desperate to buy it too (even though they've had 6 months of this not happening). Remember that (like the majority if viewings in the last 6 months) the three viewings on Saturday may come to nothing.

My advice would be not to get too attached to the idea of this property (until you've at least exchanged).

I suspect they won't cancel the viewings...greedy whatsits !

Well, you keep offering them more, so they've no reason to believe that you won't cave eventually.

If you don't want to pay over the asking price, or don't think the house is worth it, tell the EA that your current offer is on the table till close of play today, with the condition that it's taken off the market immediately and viewings cancelled, but after that you are withdrawing it with no further negotiations. Tell them also that you will be making arrangements for viewing other properties and ask if they have anything you could view this weekend, or are doing valuations for properties that may be coming to market in the next couple of weeks or so. They then have to choose between accepting your current offer or taking a chance that one of the three Sat viewings will come up with an offer above asking price.

What you don't want is for your current offer to be still on the table for Saturday's viewings, as the EA will be using it as a lever, I.e. Saying to the viewers "if you're interested, you need to think about it quickly, there's already an offer at £X which the vendors are considering" - and that may panic viewers into making a high offer which you can't match.

I think if you offer above asking now, the vendors will not cancel the viewings anyway, simply use that as the benchmark. If they accepted your higher offer but didn't cancel viewings, and didn't get an offer from anyone else, are you really going to walk away??? They know you want it and are relying on your offer being in the background.

How do you know there really are viewings happening - apart from the EA's word for it?

I'd do what wowfudge said as well as ask the EA whether there are any other suitable properties that have come onto their books. That way, they'll feedback to the vendor that you really are looking elsewhere and they should stop playing silly buggers.

Ah just seen that JeffreySadsacIsUnwell has said something similar too.

Good luck!

Thanks everyone for the advice. We offered the asking price today stating that it was valid until midday tomorrow and we want it taken off the market/viewings cancelled. The agent said the vendor sounded the most positive he'd ever heard and stated 'that's a good offer, you better find us a house' but wanted to chat to his wife tonight?! So we're waiting!

How did it go Muddy?

Well the missed our 12 noon deadline but called at 1pm to say they have accepted! Not getting too carried away as we've got a long way to go and they seem to be on another planet but first hurdle over!!

Oh well - good luck with it all then!

Fingers crossed for you!

Great! Keep us posted. Good luck.

Well done, congratulations! Did you check it has been taken off the market, and that all viewings have been cancelled?

Yes they put it sold stc on Rightmove and the EA's website straight away and told me they were cancelling viewings. I think the EA can't wait to get rid of them!