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Original poster

Think maybe we made a mistake- offering

82 replies

Lolly567 · 05/08/2018 21:41

Hello,

I’m really worried we’ve played this out wrong.. we are FTB and went to see a house on Saturday that went on the market on Friday. We loved the area and got such a good feeling from the house- we imagine ourselves there for 20 + years and starting a family- this is the first house we’ve had that feeling with (although it’s also by far the most expensive we’ve viewed as until recently we thought we had a much lower budget) It’s outdated but would mostly only need cosmetic updating as it’s well looked after, but would probably need new carpets, artex ceilings plastered over, new bathroom eventually and reconfiguration of kitchen, new internal doors, but it’s on for the exact same price that one fully modernised and beautifully decorated is. I’ve also noticed this particular estate agent seems to market things very optimistally, things stay on the market for a while, and they seem to sell for about 10% below asking.

So we decided to go in at 10% under asking (asking is around £240000) We weren’t going to offer yet as we were going to wait and let them have more viewings (and if my thoughts about overpriced are correct then no offers) and then offer, and I thought it might go down better. But estate agent rang for feedback as they do and I got talking and let slip about making an offer, so the estate agent asked what it was. She said it’s almost certainly too low as they’ve just come on the market and will want to see what other offers they get, but she’ll pass it on to them anyway. This was Saturday just before EAs closed, she wasn’t able to get through to pass on offer and left a message to the vendors saying ring me Monday morning. So now im worried they will have been thinking over the weekend that they’ve got an offer, and then they find out it’s lower than they expected.

I’m thinking of ringing up estates and saying we’d like to withhold our offer until they’ve had more viewings? They were a lovely couple and I don’t want them to be offended by too low an offer. Or I was thinking of writing an email saying how lovely the house wa but we’re worried about interest rate rises and don’t want to stretch our affordability too much.

For more information, I’m guessing the owners will have paid off their mortgage by now as they bought pre 1995 and I know the owners want to downsize and they need an offer on their house to be able to put an offer on a new house for them- I got the impression they want to get this done quite quickly as they perhaps have lost out on an onward purchase due to not being
Proceedable.

Thanks so much for any advice. Really would love to get this house but it’s true I don’t want us to stretch ourselves too much as we only have 10% deposit saved although we do have a little cash spare after that.

OP posts:
FluffyMcCloud · 05/08/2018 21:44

I’m not sure the problem and suspect you are overthinking it. You’ve been made an offer, generally people go in low with first offers and that is what you have done. If it’s too low, vendor will turn it down! I don’t think you need to follow up with anything!

NapQueen · 05/08/2018 21:46

Honestly dont panic. 10% under is typical. Yes its likely that they will keep it on the market a while longer or suggest you come up a bit higher to secure it. Its all part of the process.

Have you viewed the done up one?

Quartz2208 · 05/08/2018 21:46

Totally overthinking OP - 10% under the asking price is a fine opening offer

AJPTaylor · 05/08/2018 21:48

You are overthinking it. If it is not accepted withdraw it and keep looking.
What is for you wont pass you by.

TheGoldenWolfFleece · 05/08/2018 21:50

Totally over thinking. Why let anyone else get in there first? They might accept your offer.

SingingTunelessly · 05/08/2018 21:52

Agree you’re overthinking. You’ve made an offer you’re comfortable with. But tying yourself up in knots about them downsizing/already paid mortgage off, etc., is their business not yours. If they want to accept your offer they will.

3luckystars · 05/08/2018 21:54

Some Estate agents are so dishonest, they probably won’t even tell them there is an offer.

I hope you get the house though!!

WineGummyBear · 05/08/2018 21:56

Hi OP, it's such a stressful time and as FTBs it's always hard to know what the correct thing to do is.

It's a tricky situation as the property may well be optimistically priced, however as it's only just gone on the market they are likely to want to hold out for something closer to their asking price.

I wouldn't go back to the agent straight away, just give it a bit of time now. If they are in a hurry, they may give you encouraging noises like, please could you improve your offer?

ianbealesonwheels · 05/08/2018 21:59

If I was in their position I would think that was cheeky (sorry). Someone wants to buy my house within 24 hours of it going on the market but offers 25 k under my asking price. I would be assuming it will be a popular house considering how fast it got a viewing and offer and turn you down. I think you need to decide what you’ll do if this happens. It may be worth withdrawing your offer completely and letting them stew. Good luck with it

MadeForThis · 05/08/2018 22:01

You are buying a house not making friends.
You are also offering what the house is worth to you.
Don't worry about offending anyone

Peanutbuttercups21 · 05/08/2018 22:04

Bless you, you're an over-thinker

Buying a house is a business deal. You put in an offer. They accept or decline. You then go in with a higher offer. Or not.

It is not a complex psychological game where you "win" by coming out looking like a nice guy (or something)

It is a business deal

Labradoodliedoodoo · 05/08/2018 22:08

Don’t mess them around. Let the offer stand and leave it a while

Original poster
Lolly567 · 05/08/2018 22:12

Thanks everyone for your replies- it’s good to hear that 10% under is seen as reasonable by some of you! Yes I agree I am totally overthinking! Just pretty much worried about exactly what ianbeales said. And we’ve been searching for a while, desperate to move to improve quality of life, couldn’t find anything suitable in our lower budget, and suddenly we’ve found our dream house. I’d offer more but DP is grounding me. We can go up a bit I think. I think I will write an email just confirming the offer anyway (and maybe pointing out the interest rates) as the estate agent who dealt with us is away till Wednesday, so someone who I haven’t spoken to will be passing our offer on which makes me feel strange! I feel it should be more personal.. thanks for all replies

OP posts:
Doublechocolatetiffin · 05/08/2018 22:37

I’d agree that 10% below asking is a sensible place to start, especially in this market where prices are not going anywhere.

By all means email to confirm the offer and be aware that I think the estate agents have to forward the email to the owners. As such I wouldn’t include anything about interest rates. For me, a credible offer would be based the house is worth rather than what you can afford to pay. So don’t justify paying less by saying interest rates may rise which would make it too expensive for you. Your ability to afford the house doesn’t effect what the house is worth. Instead I would say that you’ve looked at other properties in the area and whilst you love this one, your offer reflects the cost of the additional work required to modernise the property to bring it to the same standard as others on the market that are priced the same. Something along those lines. Show that you have thought about it properly and have a good reason for not offering asking price i.e. that there is a finished version of their house on the market for the same price!

Original poster
Lolly567 · 05/08/2018 23:02

Thank you- that is good advice not to include interest rates- I was wondering about that myself.

I was thinking of saying something like that, but the problem is the vendors feel they have done a lot of work to the property- they bought it when it was in a bad state and they’ve tried to restore many of the original features and have done a great job with for example the ceiling cornices, and they’ve fitted new kitchen and bathroom in their time, but the problem is that their taste is rather old fashioned, eg. Patterned carpets etc. And I don’t think you’d consider the bathroom a modern style. The kitchen is nice and they had it fitted especially with lots of well thought out features but it is very small and I think a lot of people would be put off by that (the other modern property for same price had knocked through the kitchen and utility to create a lovely dining kitchen). So yes I think they feel like they’ve put a lot of work into it over the years restoring it, just it’s not to many people’s tastes. I therefore thought I wouldn’t mention that it needs a lot of work as I don’t want to basically imply that all their work was rubbish and we’d kust redo everything, and I think if I said this they’d be inclined to not accept our offer!

OP posts:
Quartz2208 · 06/08/2018 07:25

Leave it the estate agent will put it forward and wait for a response from them. Any further negotiations can go from there

What you need to do is work out how much you are prepared to pay have a final max offer and know that is the highest you are prepared to pay and stick with that

Doublechocolatetiffin · 06/08/2018 08:11

Ah yes, in that situation I agree don’t say anything about modernising. Maybe just leave it then. They’ll probably reject your offer, but you can decide what to do from there. Purely from a business perspective I think you shouldn’t up the offer now as you’ve got good reasons for going in at that price. But it depends on how much you love it and how sad you’d be if you missed out on it.

I’d try and see some more properties in the mean time (is the done up one still on the market?) If you’ve just increased your budget then the first house you see will seem amazing in comparison to the previous ones. So it’s good to see more at the higher budget to get a feel for the market at that price bracket too.

Bluntness100 · 06/08/2018 08:17

Don't be sending emails justifying it, you really are over thinking this. You don't need to put something in writing.

They will either accept, decline your offer, or ask for an increase. That's normal. The agent will pass it on, you just have to wait now till they come back to you.

Kardashianlove · 06/08/2018 09:00

I would leave it for now and await their response. You don’t have to justify your offer.
In the meantime, I would have a good think about how much you love the house and what you are prepared to pay. You say you can see yourselves there for 20+ years so it sounds like a forever type home, in which case the property price becomes less relevant and the amount you’ll pay each month in mortgage payments won’t be much more (unless it will leave you with less cash to spend on the property in which case you need to take this into consideration).

I would also view as many properties as you can in your price range even if you don’t line them too much from the pictures, etc. That will help you to decide how much you love this house.

If your offer is declined and you come back with another offer, state your terms very clearly - ftb, no chain, able to move straight away, mortgage aip etc as this may be more attractive to them than a higher offer from someone in a chain, etc.

Sabulous · 06/08/2018 09:06

Is there a reason you haven't gone for the modernised house that's on for the same price?

Amunamun · 06/08/2018 09:21

Wait for them. When we made an offer, the vendor refused and asked if we could offer a bit more. And mentioned that it was one of the first viewings so they might get more... We replied that our offer (slightly below asking price) was more than fair and we pointed out some issues that the house had. And we said we won't increase the offer. The vendor accepted the next day. And we have the house now :)

minipie · 06/08/2018 09:23

Agree what you've done is fine. You like the house but think it's overpriced, your offer reflects that. Fair enough.

Just be careful - if they accept your offer, insist that the house is taken off the market. Otherwise there's a risk they might accept the offer as a back up but keep showing to others in the hope of getting more. Likewise if they don't accept, make sure you go view some other houses with the same agent, to make it clear you aren't going to just wait around for this one.

chicola · 06/08/2018 09:28

Ok stop for a minute.

You're an over thinker, just like me. You don't need to do anything else right now. Wait to hear from the estate agent.

Also your plan of waiting til others have viewed has some massive flaws. If it's your dream house, it might be theirs too. How would you feel if someone had viewed, offered 10% under and had it accepted?

Also, how did an offer slip out? This is a massive purchase. If you're offering you need to be sure.

Good luck

RandomMess · 06/08/2018 09:45

Buying and selling a house is a business transaction! You are completely over thinking it, you aren't trying to be friends with them. A house is only worth what someone is prepared to pay. It doesn't sound like some other buyer will come along and offer more as it's overpriced and the interest rates have just risen!

Original poster
Lolly567 · 06/08/2018 10:01

Thanks everyone so much for the replies- it’s great having advice from people who have been through all of this!

The done up one has actually been taken off the market and we weren’t looking in this area until literally last week so I hadn’t seen it before! But I don’t want us to get a done up one anyway as we’re quite young and really don’t want to overstretch ourselves- the full asking price would be not far off our max, so we only viewed this one on the basis we might get money off asking price. Also I like the idea of putting our own stamp on the house!

The estate agent rang back and said although the vendors appreciate we are in a good position they aren’t accepting the offer as they’d like to wait and see if they get any higher. So I’m going to take the advice of not putting it up just yet, and then I think we will be able to go up to about 8% under asking. When do you think would be a good idea to say this? Sorry that I’m again being a massive over thinker! Please indulge me!

I’m also trying to book some more viewings in for other properties in the area as it’s very true that this house seems amazing perhaps because it’s a lot more expensive than others we’ve seen and it’s in a new area which we love! (And was also very sunny on viewing day!!!)

The offer slipped out because we had discussed it but we’re going to wait a few days. However the estate agent just said we should offer if we want. My overthinking again!!

OP posts: