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Original poster

Can seller make up another offer

17 replies

Claireylouise1 · 18/04/2019 07:24

We have put an offer in on a house that’s been up for sale for over three years! It’s owned by a buisness man who was using it as a holiday let!

The seller knew we were really really interested and were waiting to sell ours so we could put in an offer and the exact day we sold ours, we had a phone call saying someone else has put in an offer, and it ended up going to sealed bids and we are paying over asking! The other person was apparently in the exact same stage of selling that we were!!

Starting to think the seller may have got a friend to put in an offer!!

It just seems too much of a coincidence!! Or at I just being paranoid?!

xxxx

OP posts:

KateyKube · 18/04/2019 07:30

I find it very odd that it was for sale for three years and nobody wanted it, then suddenly as soon as you’re interested another buyer conveniently comes along with a higher offer! I think you’ve been scammed, sorry. Depends how much you want the house? I’d pull out and wait for them to come crawling, then tell them your situation has changed and you can now only offer X amount (asking price or less).

icklekid · 18/04/2019 07:33

Yeah the house we bought had little interest until we put an offer in. Ultimately estate agents can say what they want. You have to decide how much you want the house and How much you think it's worth as to if you call their bluff. We put in a slightly higher reasonable offer and decided if it was true and we missed out such is life but we didn't want to pay over what we thought it was worth..

househunter2019 · 18/04/2019 07:53

We also had this...another buyer apparently emailed in their offer a few days after our offer was accepted and the house was taken off the market. We increased, but at the back of my mind I do wonder if it wasn't a manipulation by the vendor...how easy is it to get a 'friend' to offer on a house...could be real. We have yet to exchange and I am still annoyed by it all, we will possibly be really nit picky with the survey.

How much do you want the house?

JellyMouldJnr · 18/04/2019 08:01

Be aware that if it has been on the market for three years, it's likely that there have been previous offers and the sale has fallen through. It sounds like the vendor might be a bit of an arse.

Phillipa12 · 18/04/2019 08:12

It could just be the estate agent. I offered on a house the same day a cash buyer did, luckily the vendor asked to meet us both, cash buyer was going to do the property up and resell, i was looking for a family home for me and my 3 ds's after a divorce. Vendor sold to me as he wanted his home to go to a family, i also happened to have fallen in love with the house because of its hall and staircase just like him (think that sealed the deal)!

Bluntness100 · 18/04/2019 08:14

I very much doubt the estate agent is doing something illegal. As such, it's likely there is another bidder.

Pay what you think it's worth, and if it means you lose out, then you lose out.

Livvylovesgin · 18/04/2019 08:16

We viewed a house that had been on the market for 4 years. We were in the 'interesting' position of being told that someone was about to offer on the house the day after we viewed. We made an offer, £490,000 on a £500,000 asking price then were asked to increase it. No one else had offered, we didn't want to up our offer especially when we were only offering against ourselves. The other party didn't offer. Seemed ridiculous.

We waited with our offer on the table but actually overtime our family situation changed and we realized it wasn't the house for us. The house was taken off then six months later put back up for sale for £485,000. It remained for sale for another 2 years and then was let! Ridiculous.

I think we realised we just didn't want it enough.

JacksonvilleJaguars · 18/04/2019 08:39

I would feel as wary as you about it.
It could be true as it does happen, but it could also be a way to up the price as people can be greedy.
I guess it depends how much you want the house. I know for sure I wouldn't want to be overpaying for anything in this current financial climate

Hereward1332 · 18/04/2019 10:22

No law against it. Every house I have bought I've been told someone else has put an competing offer in, and been asked if I can pay a little more.

If you think they are playing games, do the same thing and reduce yours after survey.

Mildura · 18/04/2019 11:00

@Hereward1332

There is a law against it!

Under the Estate Agents Act of 1979 it is illegal to give misleading information about offers, or to invent bids.

www.cimaglobal.com/Documents/ImportedDocuments/The_estate_agency_guide_jan06.pdf

Hereward1332 · 18/04/2019 11:05

I stand corrected. I must just have been unlucky.

EL8888 · 18/04/2019 11:08

Sounds dodgy to me. I think you need to work out how much you think it is worth and act accordingly

jemihap · 18/04/2019 18:52

In the past I offered on 3 properties that had all been sat for several weeks/months without any offers, yet in each case within 24 hours of submitting my offer the agent informed me that a higher had come in.

In each case the agents didn't make any attempt to get me to increase my offer or to negotiate any further with me, instead just informing me that a higher offer has come in and the vendor WILL be going with that.

I can only assume these ''preferred buyers'' were friends or associates of the agent who had been tipped off to my offer on a property they were interested in.

AllTheFunAndGames · 18/04/2019 22:37

We had this with a house last year. We bid, another bid went up 5k. We left it sit there. We asked EA to keep us informed of any progress. It hasn't sold. In fact, something has happened which devalued it since (price still the same). The vendors are delusional. EA says they are desperate to sell now but they still want more money. I'm not sure if it's the EA or the vendor who is messing about. We're glad we walked away.

bebeboeuf · 18/04/2019 23:19

Same happened to us 2 years ago. House that was empty for 2 years prior all of a sudden had another offer higher than ours

Reaah · 19/04/2019 00:59

House for sale for over a year

We offered under the asking price

Asking price offer was offered the day after our lower offer.

We said no higher offer from us

House remains still un sold and it's been almost a year since our offer.

Confusednewmum1 · 19/04/2019 05:16

We recently sold our house, but of a differ situation in that it immediately had loads of interest in excess of 100 viewings in 5 days and 30 plus interested parties, offers notes of interest ect. We went to sealed bids, I was really nervous that everyone would play poker face and put in low offers.
The estate agent was very clear of we didn’t get an offer we were happy with then; they would call the top 3 tell them all that they were in the same position and same offer and play them against each other.
It happens estate agents are scam artists. In the end I got an amazing offer.

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