Estate agent games

[MindDisco]

Hi

I'm been looking at homes for awhile on RightMove but I'm only just at the point where I can seriously start making offers (deposit saved, mortgage advisor seen etc).

I'm relocating from London to Sheffield and still living in London so dropping by for viewings is difficult.

A house has come up that I really like - offers in region of £349k. I rang to arrange a viewing and they said they had a cash offer for £400k but were still booking viewings for all day Saturday and Sunday. I said I wouldn't be matching an offer of £400k and if a cash buyer was important to the seller then surely they should have accepted it.

She said they were going to let people view it over the weekend and then choose a buyer.

Do you think it's still worth viewing? Have they made the cash offer up? How do you know? It will cost me £120 in trains to nip up and down to view it. Or I can get my dad to pop by but I can't put an offer in on a house I haven't stepped in to.

Context: nothing on the street has sold for that amount (nothing over £300k) but properties come up rarely and this has been extended.

Are they playing games with a fictional cash offer? I'm so new to all of this.

The market is slowing in quite a few places - I cannot see why a vendor would be offered £51K over asking price and not snap their hand off. I’d say it’s a lie.

Are you sure you heard them right? I cannot imagine why someone who is a strong enough buyer to be cash that they’d offer £50k over asking

Sounds to me like this property has had a fair amount of interest and the estate agent is trying to obtain "best and final offers" so that the seller can choose which offer to accept. This is assuming that more than 1 person is seriously interested and likely to make offers. If they have received a cash offer for the full asking price, then a "best and final offer" will need to be higher to win the bid and in a better position than a cash buyer, if indeed this potential buyer is cash in the bank, rather than cash from another sale which needs to complete first.

Unless you are willing to raise your offer above the one they say they have received, there is probably no point making the journey up to Sheffield for the viewing.

Sorry just realised that the offer was £51,000 over the asking price!

I'd look anyway if you are going to be in the area, I wouldn't drive that far just for one house.
If you like it offer what you think it should be sold for. Ignore the so called massive offer.
Maybe the EA is playing games, he knows you are in London and might think you have plenty to spend.
If they have been offered 50k over they would have snapped it up.
I was offered 10k over on ours, no one else had viewed it. I said yes, but knew the survey for the mortgage would bring the price down, and we ended up getting our asking price after the survey. For us it was a tactic to stop anyone else looking, we would have stopped all viewings with an offer at asking price anyway.

I think I’m going to call them and say I’m still interested but while there is a cash offer on the table I won’t be viewing as I can’t match in value or in readiness to move. I might miss out but you’ve reassured me it’s likely a tactic rather than legit and I won’t win a bidding war nor do I think it’s worth that much.

Will see what they say!

Sounds fishy to me... 15% over asking from a cash buyer!!! In this market!!!! Must be insane to not snap their hand off straight away.
Or the agent lied... probably more likely

Called the agent. They are still insisting the cash buyer exists so I’m leaving it and told them to call me if/when they don’t take that offer. It’s sad because I love the house but I can’t compete with that.