grasping vendors

[donotcovertheradiator]

We are in rented accommodation with cash ready in the bank to buy a house-no mortgage or loans of any sort needed. Our stuff is in storage and so naturally we want to move quickly.

We are looking in an area where prices start off punchy but are quite often reduced.

We have made two offers, both two percent under the asking price. Both houses had only recently gone on. One was rejected because the buyer didn't want a penny under the asking price, although 3 weeks later the estate agent asked us if we could go up a little but by then we had gone off the idea of it.

The other was rejected because the vendor had an offer of one thousand pounds over the asking price from someone else who had just put their house on the market but apparently has an approved general mortgage offer in place.

It seems that being cash buyers with no strings attached isn't giving us the slightest advantage. Fed up!

Others on here may give you a hard time, but I do agree with you in a way.
I appreciate everyone wants the most money they can, but then you do have some vendors who are exceptionally greedy

On the last house I purchased, the vendors were splitting up - the 'D'H fussed and quibbled over a £500 difference on what I'd offered versus what he wanted then had the temerity to delay signing his part of the various forms and delaying the sale by about 4 weeks because he was stressed about work!! I ended up threatening to pull out of the sale (I had to stay with family as had to move out of old house on a certain date) as he was being such a dick. Eventually got it sorted and after completion, the 'D' wife sent me a huge bouquet of flowers to say sorry for delaying things.

We are chain free, flexible with dates and have a mortgage in principle with a decent deposit...no noticeable advantage over those in a chain.

How odd that people are saying they don't feel they are at an advantage for not being in a chain.

I can only conclude that the sellers aren't serious about selling. What other possible reason could there be?????

It's unfortunate but such is life. It's understandable that vendors are going to want the maximum amount for their property.

Specifically though, the first property you offered on you say you'd 'gone off the idea of it' three weeks later. So probably good all in all that the vendors didn't accept your offer. The second property the vendors accepted a higher offer from a buyer with an agreement in principle in place. I can't see the issue with that. They have a mortgage offer based on their financial/personal circumstances, so no problems there. So they are left with very little difference in terms of risk of the sale falling through by going with the other buyers vs accepting your offer. Presumably you'll have the standard searches done, and presumably you'll have some kind of survey done too?

If vendors are not in a hurry to move themselves then waiting won't be an issue. You may just have to raise your offers if you keep missing out.

It seems so crazy to me, as it seems far better to take a cash offer of about two per cent under and have that money within in a couple of months then hanging on for someone who is in a chain and taking the risk of that chain breaking down.

I know it's business not personal but when the first couple had a reality check and came back a few weeks after rejecting our very good offer, I was pleased to be able to tell them that it was no go!

The second vendor who had accepted the one thousand over asking price from non proceedable buyer graciously told us she would accept asking price but would be taking the shed with her. I really hope she comes back too, so we can tell her the ship has sailed.

All this is turning me into a vindictive baggage but I still feel as cash buyers we should be given a bit of an incentive. Obviously, I'm totally wrong on that!

but @AgathaF, the buyer with the mortgage in place had only put their house on the market that day! They might have to wait months to get a buyer before they could begin to proceed and even then it could all fall apart!

Surely, we with cash in the bank and ready to go should be more attractive?

It can be very frustrating, and you are quite right there are a lot of vendors trying to sell who need their expectations managing.

but by then we had gone off the idea of it

Would this have happened if your offer had been initially accepted?

Try to identify the vendor who needs to sell, rather than the one who has no strong motivation, and hope that they own a house you want to buy!

But maybe the vendor had nowhere to move to either. Perhaps they were happy to have the longer timescale before completion so they weren't rushed into buying somewhere.

People have so many different motivating factors. Early completion from a cash buyer is just one of them.

No, if they had accepted the offer, we would have proceeded.

We don't want to mess anyone about and we liked the house but when the offer was rejected, we sought to make ourselves feel better by listing things that weren't perfect and it wouldn't have occurred to us to do that if the offer had been accepted.

The offer was slightly less than 2 per cent- a very good offer we thought and so did the agent-so, the greed of them put us off too. They scraped about looking for a tiny bit more and then, when they failed, thought we would be there just waiting for them.

Achieving the price they are selling might be the only way they can buy what they want. Not necessary grasping.

I want to move and have found a property I like, but unless mine sells for what other similar ones have sold for, I can't move because the vendor needs their selling price, or close in order to move to the place they are buying. None of us are grasping, just wanting the home we like most. Otherwise we may as well all stay where we are.

@AgathaF, we always ask if people would be willing to move quickly when we ring to make a viewing appointment. If they're not, we don't go because it would just be a waste of everyone's time.

These vendors said they were looking to move quickly: one had a house they liked and the other had alternative accommodation. They could have been lying I suppose.

But DontCallMeShitley, isn't an offer 2 per cent close to an asking price, especially when all but the very top end are moving slowly.

I thought it was, especially when the asking price on the details is preceded by 'offers in the region of'.

The second vendor who had accepted the one thousand over asking price from non proceedable buyer graciously told us she would accept asking price but would be taking the shed with her. I really hope she comes back too, so we can tell her the ship has sailed.

That's just silly! Why on earth would you refuse to buy a house you like at the price you offered?

I am surprised that you were passed over. My house went to sealed bids and I accepted an offer £40,000 less than top offer as the buyers were already quite far progressed in selling their house whereas the higher offer people had not had an offer on their house. I wasn’t so much in a hurry (I wasn’t living in the house myself) but preferred buyers in a better position over the money. But I’m a very experienced buyer/seller and know the value of a cash buyer or one already ready to move!

It depends on the vendors and how quickly they want to sell. If they are yet to find something to buy or the house they are buying is part of a long chain, your cash buyer circumstances won't help them. Also some properties are being sold due to relationship breakdown and one party is not even keen to sell

You actually sounds really unpleasant.
And to flip it around, perhaps it could be argued that you are the greedy one, wanting to hold on to your £££ even if it means missing out on houses you claim to like? If £1k is such a small amount that the vendors should forgo it, why couldn’t you pay it to secure the house?

Thanks @Pipandmum. I thought a really good cash offer was worth twenty castles in the air! It wasn't even as if we made a crap offer-just two per cent under, an offer they might not get again from cash or risky chain purchasers.

Sometimes being a cash buyer works to your advantage sometimes it dosent, we are cash buyers, the first house loved it offered a cheeky bid then highered it twiced to almost asking price allowing for the work needing doing on it, seller hadnt found anything she wanted to buy, three weeks gone and no response from the seller, so either we can move to quickly for her or she dosent really want to sell the house, 2nd house empty house sold a few weeks ago and sale fell through due to mortgage problems, we went to look at it offered full price as its cheaper than the other one , paperwork down to the agents, off the market and that took less than an hour after looking at it , but this house is empty so no chain so hopefully a quicker turn around

I don't really understand this. Are you not the one who is greedy wishing to buy the property for a discount and feeling you're entitled because you're a cash buyer? Why is the person who actually owns the property the greedy one for not accepting your reduced offer v what they think it's worth?

It really doesn't make sense. In these scenarios you're the one who is being greedy.

Well, why don't they say 'fixed price' or 'offers over'? By saying 'offers in the region of' and then not accepting 'offers in the region of' they're wasting buyers' time by being dishonest.

Still it's interesting to see that many think a cash buy has no advantage over someone in a mile long chain or that two per cent less isn't a good offer. What is a good offer then?

It depends on the circumstances. What is worth bearing in mind though, is that attitude also goes a long way. I had a cash buyer interested in our old place - and they made it abundantly clear that they expected us to be utterly thrilled that they were chain free and able to move quickly. Their attitude was pretty entitled and unpleasant TBH.

In the end we accepted a slightly lower offer from a couple who were FTB and getting their first mortgage. But they were both really nice and easy to deal with (as confirmed by our EA!). I took the view that I'd rather lose a few grand on the selling price and deal with a stressful transaction with people who were co-operative and nice, rather than get top dollar and spend my time panicking about a cash buyer throwing their weight around. The FTB couple had skin in the game because of the hassle of going through the mortgage application and the cost of valuation surveys and whatnot.

So, in the nicest possible way, I understand your frustration but you need to make sure that you aren't coming across as entitled purely because you have cash in the bank. Plus house buying and selling is guaranteed to bring out every weirdo, crackpot and unreasonable nutter, so try and get into a zen frame of mind now! We had a set of vendors who accepted our offer and then wanted us to pay an extra £3k for them to move out...

In my experience the money mattered, not my position.
We got gazumped on a purchase for 5k. It was OIEO and we offered 5k over. Progressing nicely as we already had mortgage, solicitor etc in place but they decided to go with someone else in a chain, who didn't even have a mortgage approved and all for 5k. We could have matched it, but the trust was gone and we don't entertain bidding wars. They tried coming back to us 6 weeks later but we declined and they're still progressing in the chain. I'm not saying 5k is insignificant, but for their situation it seemed a stupid thing to do

They aren't being dishonest op. Simply your offer was too low.

What's a good offer depends on the vender. A good offer is what they are willing to accept. In these instances two percent under the asking price wasn't it.

It's their home
If they want to sell to someone who wishes to pay more then so be it.

A cash buyer advantage is generally if the financial difference is minimal or non existent you'd pick the cash buyer. Few people will spunk thousands to pick a cash buyer though if they are not in a hurry to move

Which is what you're wanting them to do, spunk thousands to sell to you instead.

It works two ways, why are they greedy for wanting more but you're not for wanting to pay less? 2% of a 300000k house is 6k which is a fairly hefty chunk of money.