We saw a house on Saturday (it was almost exactly what we are looking for) and put in an offer at 15k under the asking price of 235k. The house has been listed 3 times. The previous two sales fell through due to the chain collapsing, and the vendor is 'despondent and desperate to sell' as it is a deceased relative's property (according to the EA).
The other two offers are from buyers needing to sell up and one has no financial agreement sorted. We went in deliberately low as we can move immediately and have all finances, solicitors/surveyors etc lined up ready to go.
Understandably our offer was pushed back. The EA dropped to me that the other offers sit just around 230k and now suddenly other offers are creeping in 'that have been on the table the whole time' [hmmm] and the circumstances of one of the bidders is being covered up and they're 'in the same position as us'... our family friend is actually the director of the branch and when we enquired with him none of the stories matched up.
My partner was very irked by the situation, called the EA and hammered home our position and said he would be available from 3:30 onwards to talk. The EA called multiple times at 3pm, desperate to discuss moving forwards and has now asked us to take our passports, proof of address, proof of deposit and AIP into the office which we did yesterday - is this standard practice when an offer hasn't been accepted and is this a good sign or just run of the mill?! Also do these seem like phantom bids to ramp us up?!
The EA was also keen to call me last night to discuss our position etc and no sign as of yet today - do I get in touch (they want the sale agreed by Monday) or leave the EA to contact me? I don't want to let it get to the wire but also don't want to seem desperate!