What to make of this

[allysally]

I'm a FTB and offered 180k on a property

EA have come back to us and said vendor has had another offer through a different EA. They didn't say if it was more or less than our offer but I said I couldn't go any higher than my offer of 180 k

Now fast forward a few hours EA have phoned again and said the other offer through different EA was the same as ours (180k) but he vendor is leaning toward them as they are cash buyers. EA then said he might change his mind if we offered more. I asked how much more we were talking and he said £500-1k wouldn't make a difference but 2-3k might...

What's happening here? Totally new to this

Part of me thinks if I offer an additional 2-3k that just gives the vendor a chance to get a higher price from the other person who has offered but another part of me thinks maybe we do have a chance here, maybe the other person won't budge on their offer
What do you all think

This advice does not apply to Scotland, if this is a Scottish property, you need to specifically ask for advice as their laws etc. are different to England Wales and N.I.

You may be being played, you have no guarantee that there is another buyer. Get a friend to ring the other EA and ask if they have any offers on the property and how much. You may be becoming entangled in a bidding war, but that only works if two buyers really really want that property and they both have the finances in place to pay way over the asking price.

For any property, you make an offer, if it's accepted you get surveys done and depending on what they show, you either ask for a reduction on what you originally offered to cover the costs of the work the survey has shown up, or say the surveyor has said the property is only worth [price] and you will offer that and no more, if they don't accept, you pull out.

What you really need to do here is try and remove all of your emotions about the house.

Look at it objectively. What is the maximum you could pay for it without being overstretched in case mortgage rates go up etc.

What is the maximum you would want to pay for it?

If you had to sell it straightaway after buying it, what price would it go on the market for? I think you'd find this would be a lot nearer the original asking price rather than an inflated price caused by a bidding-war.

Is it really worth any more money than the original asking price, or a revised price depending on what a surveyor may find?

I'm in England

The house was listed with two different agents

The first agent listed as "offers I've 180k"

The second agent was "£184,995"

It was the first agent we put our offer through with

When the vendor showed us around he property he was adamant he wouldn't accept under £180k as he had put a lot of work into the house and he said the house a few doors down is up for sale at £170k but needs lots of work (which is true) and the house we looked at, the vendor has had the roof done, central heating, rewiring, new carpets, log burner put in, etc. So it's definitely worth the 180k the vendor said adamantly

We've been looking at properties between £160-170 so £180 is the top end of our budget but we could do it and we could go to the extra 2-3k as the vendor wants

But part of me feels it just isn't worth that money and I'm a newbie to houses and their value but I feel like if we were to put it straight back up for sale we'd struggle to get over 178k for it

But I also do really like the house and can see myself living there so I am tempted to offer an additional 3k but I'm also worried about interest rates rising and gah this is awful

They’d be silly to accept your offer over a cash buyer (if there is a cash buyer) so I wouldn’t increase it. As it is either going to sell to you for £180k or it won’t. Offering 3k more in these circumstances shouldn’t make much difference to them.

What's happening here?

In order of likelihood:

1. The EA is lying to get you to up the offer.
2. The vendor is lying to the EA for the same reason.
3. By coincidence two people have offered the same price at the same time.

Restate that you have no chain and will hound your solicitor to get the sale through quickly if that is what the vendor desires. Then leave it Even if the other offer is real, things go wrong and you may get the property.

I really wouldn't get into a bidding war unless this property was something special and well priced.

I would call their bluff and say that the offer is your best offer and to let you know when the vendors have decided which buyer they want to go with. You have to be prepared that you might not get it, but it’s most likely that yours is the only offer and they are just trying it on.

@DorothyGarrod I agree.

Which is what made me question why the estate agent said if I offer an extra 2-3k the vendor might be willing to change his mind.

2-3k in the grand scheme of things is a minuscule amount that in my mind shouldn't make a difference.

I'd already said to the EA the first time they came back to me telling me there had been another offer that I couldn't go over £180 and they still came back to me again and told me that the vendor is going to chose the other buyer who has offered the same because they are a cash buyer unless I up my offer. They said 500-1k wouldn't make a difference but 2-3k would seems odd to me

2-3k in the grand scheme of things is a minuscule amount that in my mind shouldn't make a difference.

It's not. It's 3k of real money that you will have if you don't spend it. You can put 3k less on the deposit and go spend it all on cocktails if you like.

If I were selling the house, I would take your a 3k higher offer, if I wasn't in a rush:

1. A FTB is far less likely to try to haggle down later than a cash investor.
2. Fictitious buyers made up to inflate the price often don't complete.

Thank you

We had a similar experience. We had to be brave but stuck to our original offer. Exactly 7 days later they accepted our offer. I think they were hoping we would up our offer.

@bottleofredplease ohhh. That's quite comforting.

I think we will just have to stick with our offer and hope for the best but I'm prepared for losing out.

We didn't have much choice as really we were already stretching ourselves at the offer we made.
I think the EA told them to wait a week and if we didn't come back with better offer to accept it. I can't be sure but that's my theory.

They're trying to bid you up, I'd personally say this is your offer, reiterate you're flexible, no chain etc and say it's on the table for 48 hours.

Similarly, the likelihood of a cash buyer offering so close to asking is slim!

I'd also bet my horses the estate agent is trying to pull as fast one.

The thing is, if you offer more, the other buyer then has t9 be given to opportunity to increase. This smells to me like an attempt to get a bit more cash, and you'll end up in a bidding war. As a pp said, fictitious cash buyers tend not to complete so you'd get the house anyway, I'd stick to your £180k but ask them to let you know first if the sale doesn't go through.

For the experts - Why is a cash buyer preferred? Mortgages can be arranged pretty quickly it's the legal stuff that takes the time.

Thank you for all the advice every one

I will call the estate agent today and tell them I won't be upping my offer

In that case you might want to let them know your offer is on the table for, say, a week as you will carry on looking at other properties and don't want to delay. And tell them you've looked into everything and can't increase your offer rather than you won't.