Do EA always say 'someone has made an offer?'

[Rickandmorty]

I viewed 4 properties yesterday. 1 was lovely but needs a rewire and a new kitchen and updated decorating but was a well kept home. It has been on the market for 9 months with no offers.

Another was grim! A third one was a small ish home and I think had been a rental because everything was worse for wear so it would need a big overhaul. Needed all new windows and a front door. However, this seemed reflected in the price.

The last one we saw was absolutely lovely and has clearly been recently renovated. I know we can't really afford it as it was 15k above our top price and they had a lot of viewings yesterday. However, an hour after viewing I had an email from the EA to ask if I was going to make an offer because one of the other house viewers was about to. I didn't see the email until after office hours so I haven't replied but it's hard to know what to say. Do EAs always message you to say it looks like there is about to be an offer to try to hurry you along? Or do you think that's genuinely the case and then there is no point us offering with our paltry sum
Buying houses is a pretty confusing business!

I would personally put in an offer if I wanted the house regardless of competition. They may well be saying it for the sake of it but either way if you want the house you may as well try.
They will come back to you if the offer is not acceptable and you can have a think then. However, don't feel Pressurised to put in an offer because someone else might put one in.

EAs are out to get the best price from the buyers. It not only enhances their reputations, but earns them more money. They will use all sorts of 'tactics' to do this.
You can only offer what you can afford, they will try and push you to go higher with tales of other interested parties. If you refuse, you might find they get back to you at a later date saying the 'other people' have pulled out.
It is not worth offering more than you can afford or more than the property is realistically worth, it will only be down priced at the mortgage valuation.

It's really tricky as a first time buyer to even know what I am doing. It is such a nice house 😖 Thank you for the advice

An EA can't tell you someone has made an offer if they haven't. They can suggest someone else might make an offer, which you can choose to believe or not, but as you yourself have said - it was lovely and others on the market didn't measure up so I would take it as gospel that yes, there probably is another offer in the pipeline.

when i bought mine, it was under two estate agents one didnt say someone had made an offer, the other tried it by phone i could tell they were lying so just quietly himg up.whilst they were talkimg and went to the other. if your spidey sense is tingly they are probably lying

I would go 20k under and then you have 5k for the final offer if they reject the 20k.

You have nothing to lose trying low. Housing market is a bit wobbly at the moment after Brexit so you have a good chance I think.

Be firm, confident, don't let on how keen you are. Mention you are interested in 2 other properties (say that only 1 is a real
Contender) so you are not looking too keen. Important to not seem overly keen. Never call the estate agent already wait for them
To call you to appear cool. Sound relaxed on the phone. It is the EA that reports back to the seller saying "I think this person is really keen" or " I think you should accept this offer etc etc" so it's important you play it right with the EA.

Good luck - keep us posted!

I recently lost out on a property which had been for sale for 8 months through taking it with a pinch of salt when estate agent said someone else was interested. Turned out it actually was true!

For the houses you've seen did any have the bones to be as nice as house 4. If so it'd almost certainly be cheaper to do the refurb yourself than to pay for someone else's work.

If you tell the EA you are interested in 2 other properties and put in an offer and so does someone else as a Seller I would assume you were more likely to pull out as you had other options! Also if the property has had a number of viewings the agent may not actually call you!! Don't miss out playing it too cool! 🤔

It's not necessarily that I want to play it too cool, just that genuinely I suppose I can't afford what they want, so I don't know if there's any point in me even offering. So if someone else's offer is better then that's fine, and I won't be viewing anymore houses that I think are well over what I can afford! I am going to call them tomorrow to sound them out... I doubt they're open to silly offers as it has just come on the market. But since I don't know them, I won't be embarrassed when they say no!

The other one I saw however, that has the potential of being amazing if I put my own work into it, has been on the market for approx 9 months with no offers. So I probably should make another viewing there to reassess.

I really appreciate this advice. House buying is a whole new world!

We offered £35k less than the asking price on the house we are trying to buy (hopefully exchange this week)
The house had been on the market almost a year, 2 sales had fallen through and the lady was living in a care home. As first time buyers with no chain they accepted our first offer, Although I did make it clear it was my only offer.
For all you know the other people putting in an offer will put in lower than you or even have a huge chain.
Offer what you believe it to be worth and you can afford, the worst that happens is they say no

There's always a point to offering - the worst they can do is say no. Work out approximately the work needed, subtract that from your max budget and set that as the cap for what you can offer.