Seller accepted a lower offer from a buyer who hasn't sold their house rather than us FTB, what to do

[jaaadejade]

Tldr seller chose an offer which is lower than what we offered from a couple who haven't even put their house up for sale rather than our offer for £2000 more, we have no chain and offered first. What to do next?

We put in 2 offers on a house which is on the market for £155000 (but needs a lot of work hence my low first offer) which were rejected (first on the Monday at £136500 and the next on thursday for £142500), and I said I'd be back in touch shortly with another offer, the seller then recieved another offer for £4000 more a few days later from buyers who were non proceedable (had to sell their own house first) and without coming back to us to see if we'd up our offer the sellers accepted that offer and chose to take the house off the market for 6-8 weeks to see if the other couple can sell their house.

The next day we offered £6000 more than our latest offer (£148500) however this was rejected as even though we're first time buyers and have no chain she felt bad the other couple had specifically put their house on the market to buy this house so supposedly felt like she couldn't accept their offer. The seller is a widowed old lady (86) and bought this house with her husband 18 years ago however she already has a house bought with cash (so no chain) at the opposite end of the country which she wants to move to.

How do we avoid just continuously upping our offer until she can't say no or do you have any other tips to persuade her (we already emailed the estate agents a letter about us and why we'd like the house to give to her) ? We can't really wait 6-8 weeks. Someone suggested lowering our offer to match the offer she already accepted but adding that upon completion offering to pay a portion (£500) to the other couple to compensate for lost estate agents fees?

Everything I've read says not to look at houses without a mortgage in principle (which we have) or being in a position to proceed, so are we missing something? Why would a seller choose their offer for less when they aren't even able to sell any time soon? I feel like if the other couple didn't want to sell they wouldn't be looking at houses. Estate agents have been less than helpful.

As others have said move on nothing is going to change why take it so personally? I made an offer on a house very close to the asking price and am a cash buyer buyer the vendor chose someone else.

As I understand it you are asking her to allow you to gazump. She doesn’t want to do that.

I don't think low offers are a bad thing esp if it needs work but I wouldn't mention said work in front of the vendor!!! (Don't know if you did) Buying can be frustrating: all that second guessing what people are thinking.

Also, I agree you didn't leave it too long between offers but generally if i really love a house and want it I go in strong and high on the 1st offer so they know I'm serious.

I'd accept it's not for you and move on.

Honestly - you walk away and find another house. She accepted another offer and didn't want to do business with you for whatever reason.

Thanks for all your feedback. I don't agree that our first offer was too low and neither did the agent, based on the amount of work that needed doing (and it genuinely needs doing desperately) and the sold prices of houses nearby. I do think you're all right that doing anything now wouldnt make a difference if she's prepared to wait for the others to sell.

I am frustrated that we weren't given a chance to match the other buyers offer which we would have done but I'm sure there'll be another house we like just as much.

I am frustrated that we weren't given a chance to match the other buyers offer which we would have done

But you were. You told them you would get back to them with another offer. That was the Monday. 5 days later she accepted another offer. You had 5 days to make a second offer and didn't.

OP you come across as very naive. She didn't choose you for whatever reason, there's no point over thinking it.

Exactly what @Shortstuff08 said! You messed her around and tried to gazump. I wouldn't sell to a gazumper because what they tend to do is offer higher than the other bidder and then when the sale is about to complete drop their price. In my book that's dishonest.

I don't understand why you would want to pay more than market value for a property that desperately needs upgrading.

The vendor of the property we were interested in, accepted our 2nd offer. We were over the moon!
The next day a developer overbid US by 1k - vendor still wanted to go with us but developer upped his offer by 3k and the solicitor of vendor suggested she should take the highest offer and so she did.
Our future family home is out of reach now as we can’t match the developer.
It’s tough, but we will have to move on.

At least the old lady has her principles of sticking to her first agreement. Fair play by her!

Couple A make low offer, slowly come up to near asking price. FTB but FTB are notoriously picky and it's easy for them to scupper an exchange at the last minute by gazundering.
Couple B come in with a sensible offer. Are committed enough to get their house on the market and obviously want that house.
If I didn't desperately need the 2k I'd pick them too. Plus if they're selling with the same EA the EA will get far more commission from 2 sales than 1 sale at 2k more.

I didn't gazump anybody! We made our first offer on Monday, second Thursday and then the other couple submitted theirs Saturday and I rang Tuesday to up our offer while their offer was still being considered.

So you missed out on that house but there will be others on the market. You just need to mentally move on.

I think you left too long between offers. When we bought our house we made an offer Friday morning which they refused, they told us what they would accept and we agreed to pay it. All done and dusted in 2 hours.
I think the seller was probably a bit offended with your initial low offer and then preferred the other buyers to you. It happens.
If you think the house was only worth the lesser amount of your first offer, why are you so keen to have it at the higher price? Surely that’s more than you think it’s worth?

Yeah i think we probably got caught up in the offering as it was the first one we've liked enough to put an offer on. We definitely are looking at other houses, something better will come.

I agree with MartyMcFly, if there are reasonably priced houses that are cheaper and need less work, go for those ones! Why is this particular house worth more to you? Does it have something the other houses don't? Why would you want to overpay in the current housing market?

I don't think your first offer was that cheeky, it's 6% under the value of similar houses. Sorry you didn't get this house OP, but I would keep looking and keep a cool head, it's so easy to fall in love with a house, but you will regret overpaying for it! I know that it can feel as though this is the one and only house for you, but trust me your dream home is right around the corner!

Can I give you my 2 pence worth? You are in a good position to buy, but it is important to remember that when someone is selling their house (especially a home that is evidently a beloved family home), they want to feel that their house is going into safe hands.

That means when you are looking, you have to be very enthusiastic about the house, what you love etc etc. Never, ever discuss what you need to do work wise. It makes owners feel like crap and makes them think you’re going to tear their beloved house (and memories) apart.

We lost a house before because my husband acted like a real arsehole during a viewing, saying what work needed to be done etc. He learned his lesson and has never said anything disparaging at a viewing since.

I'd love to go for some of the other houses but we live abroad at the moment and when we went to view this house the others weren't on the market and we can't fly back any time soon to view them or we'd definitely be doing that. It's also a little bit further away from the area we'd have liked, like I said it wasn't perfect. I think we definitely got caught up, it's definitely not worth £155,000 to us and we were never going to go that high so we worked out our offers on our guess at the value and the works it needs.

I can see now how we perhaps looked hesitant and the other buyers looked very keen. Anyway, it's not meant to be so we'll keep looking. We've missed a lot of houses because we can't get back to see them very easily and so felt like we had to go for this one so I guess that's why we'd be prepared to go higher than we wanted.

Thank you buildingthings and everyone who has given feedback or put things in perspective.

@Luckystar1 I agree, but how would you then 'politely' offer below asking price? What reasons would you give? Sold prices on Land Registry of similar properties? It's so hard to offer what you think is a fair offer when you know that the vendor is going to take your first offer personally.

We were in a similar position, OP.

Offered full asking price on a property, the day after it came on the market, cash buyer.

Next day, someone else viewed, made the same offer but had a property to sell and needed a mortgage. The vendors accepted this offer as they "liked the people".

The vendors withdrew their property from the market a few weeks later and still live there now (this happened in 2015). We suspect they were testing the waters and were wasting everyone's time. Nothing surprises me, I have a weird or funny story about every house we've ever bought (7 and counting). Some people are just strange.

In the meantime, we bought the place we live in now, a much nicer property, £15K cheaper.

At the time we were annoyed, but you cannot force a vendor to sell to you.

@jaaadejade I hope it works out for you! Once the craziness of bidding against another couple wears off, you will breath a sigh of relief that you 'lost out' and once you're in your new dream home you will be happy this one fell through! Good luck with your house hunt!

If im honest luckystar1 I didn't like the house when we first saw it because I couldn't see past how much furniture and things she had out, it made it look a lot smaller than other houses we'd seen so perhaps i could have been more enthusiastic. My husband was too eager and was practically measuring up where our furniture would go. While we didn't say anything to the owner about how much work it'd need, she mentioned herself how she was aware it'd need a new kitchen, ceiling doing and some other things that didn't bother us too much. But something to note for next time thank you

I was going to ask the point Luckystar1 raised in her post - did you mention all the work that needing doing during your viewing. I know it's ultimately a business transaction but a lot of head versus heart stuff goes on too. If it's been a much-loved home for her and her husband it may be hard for her to stomach the idea of someone changing it as your DH was saying, plus you might've come across as not liking it. What swung us buying our house was talking to the vendor about how much we wanted a forever family home - he took our lower offer on the basis he thought we'd love it as much as he and his family did (and we do!).

@soveryouting wow, I'm hoping that we'll feel the same as you and find a better house. We're in no great rush to buy right now but will be in the next year. Lessons have definitely been learnt!

@BuildingThings thank you, it would have been nice (after some work--it didn't even have a bath!) but obviously not meant to be. Next time if I love it I'll make it known and act fast!

A hesitant and low bidding first time buyer who lives abroad isn't going to be as an attractive a buyer as a local family who will put their house on the market to buy yours. Especially when that family puts in a much higher first bid.

The lady has no rush to sell by the sounds of it so she can take the more reliable offer even if it takes a bit longer.

Also, it might not be truly lost - the buyer has got to sell their house and if they don't do that quickly, the vendor might come back to you. But if you really don't love it and get that "this is home" vibe, I'd keep looking anyway.