Is there anything we can do about this?! Please help!

[crispysausagerolls]

My husband and I found our dream home. It came on the market and was inundated with offers - several of which were speculative or had chains upon chains upon chains. We are cash buyers with no chain and put in a reasonable offer. The EA told us our offer was slightly too low, and to suggest another, higher, and we would surely win. We told him to come back with a number that would win as we didn’t want to start bidding against ourselves, and he said he would come back yesterday evening. He did not. Today I received a call, not even from the EA we were dealing with, to say the buyers accepted another offer.

Is this the end? I am heartbroken, but I am also outrageously angry. The estate agent owed us the chance to match the offer, surely? He specifically said he would find out what number we needed to offer and would tell us, and he did not! What if we were prepared to go higher?! Is it all over now the offer has been accepted? It’s also so shitty that the EA couldn’t even tell us himself, and got someone else to do it.

Please help, I am so sad!

Go and put a note through the door of the vendors. Explain you're prepared to pay £x and are cash buyers in a proceedable position. Tell them you told the EA all this and were very disappointed to learn your offer wasn't acceptable. Ask them to contact you, especially if the chain falls through.

Doesn’t matter that it’s millions. The EA acts fir the buyer and you were deliberately game playing. You lost. Themz the breaks.

We were not game playing.

fourcanaries

I would love to do this - the property is currently vacant though, so unsure if the seller will receive the note?

You were. You went in at the low end of acceptable trying to get a bargain. It didn’t work out for you.

And you knew enough to know it was inundated with offers. You should have taken that as a bit of a hint that it was going to go to the high end.

We were seriously not trying to get a bargain. We had a builder and an architect look at the property, which needs approx 100k worth of work, and did a lot of analytical research re price per square footage in the area. It’s not worth 1.4 or above. We were trying to start from a position where we could negotiate (bearing in mind we are cash buyers with no chain as well) - so if they said to us 1.4 we could meet in the middle at 1.35 and everyone is happy. Plus we did not have the amount to fritter merrily - it’s a lot of money.

You should’ve offered 1.4 then.

And it clearly is worth that. Because it’s sold for more than you offered. It might not have been worth it to you, but it was to someone.

Are you either v young or from some country where house sales are done differently to England/Wales/Northern Ireland?

If it's not worth 1.4 then offer 1.395, reiterate your position and then you've done everything you can

Your offer was too low

You made a mistake of not offering what you were prepared to pay (that is why you regret coming in too low now)

There is no such thing as "bidding against yourself"

I bought a flat once on the day it came on the market, for full asking price, being a cash buyer. I could maybe have bid lower, bided my time, but I had been looking for a flat for over a year, missed out on.some good ones, that I ended up being bold and quick. I had gained a year of experience of not getting the flats I wanted. You live and learn. As a buyer, you offer what it's worth to you imo

You may have better luck next time

The agent hasn't done anything wrong.
They don't work for you or owe you anything.
They probably called the sellers and explained to them they had two offers yours or the winners. They chose the winners. That ended that.
They then freed up their afternoon to focus on another property.

Also even if you were the only bidders, you do bid against yourself in order to meet the price the vendors want to accept. The first offer is usually never accepted, and then there’s bit of to and fro with figures till an agreement is established. You were also bidding against other interested parties, so you should have gone in with the highest you were prepared to pay as a final offer, never wait for the agents to come back to you. You need to be proactive with a house that has a lot of interest.

My house is worth 45K.

But I don’t indulge in personal attacks.

Money can’t buh class, as they say.

When we sold, we didn't go back with counter offers. That's what the asking price is for. Especially if you have lots of interest, why should they get into it with you? They'd said what they wanted - £1.5m, the top of the range. You should have offered that or your maximum if you really wanted the house.

*buy

Maybe use a buyers agent next time

You need to let it go really

Keep the agent onside - do not go direct unless plan A fails. These toady little guys are the gatekeepers to your future happiness and have massive egos. You need to massage those egos! You could write nice letter to agent, hand deliver, have a nice chat, discuss how you would timetable to suit vendors, fast exchange and will complete to suit, not fussed about survey etc (have one, but don't use it to renegotiate) would they speak to vendors as it is the loveliest house you have ever seen . Have your solicitors details ready etc.

FWIW, when exDH & I found our absolute dream house, we offered hugely over the asking price - at least 15% over as it was bloody awesome - best thing we'd ever, ever seen. We won the sealed bid by a only a couple of grand. We were cash buyers and exchanged in one week, no survey - pointless as we were buying it regardless and the top local builder had done a superb attic conversion and it was a well-maintained house. (We knew that from the builder as we had used him previously).
I did the searches at local council offices. We pulled out all the stops.

A couple in the village complained EVERY time we socialised that we had bought their dream house. Despite them offering UNDER the guide

You are first time buyers with £1.5m to spend? Have you won the Lottery or something? (sorry, not the point, I know).

How on earth do you know what other offers were made?

Respectfully disagree - if Bobby says on Tuesday “I will call you back this afternoon with a number”, he should call back. Even if to say “they don’t want to entertain this I’m afraid”. It’s just manners.

If it's that important to me I don't care what Bobby says, I call him repeatedly before the office shuts to ensure I get that number!!!

You actually think because it’s a 1.-whatever house and you have cash that makes you better than anyone else in the EA eyes.

It doesn’t.

The only person on the EA radar is the seller. They’re who pays them.

(Under the table illegal hook ups and sweeteners with builders, illicit deals excepted)

@Proudirishnotpaddy money can't buy class but I don't indulge in personal attacks ummmm...

OP sorry you're disappointed, unfortunately house buying is like this, there are lots of buyers and the EA only really cares about the commission not the individuals. As someone previously suggested it could be worth attempting to reach out to the seller but I wouldn't get your hopes up.

You will find another home you love.