Estate listed property as ‘under offer’

[Anitai]

Hi all,

I recently put in an offer of 322k on a house that was listed for 325k. When I placed the offer, I stated it was on the condition that the property was taken off the market immediately, and future viewings cancelled. The sellers agreed and the property was taken down i.e you could not find it listed for sale anywhere.

Fast forward 3 days, after doing further research, I concluded that I had offered far too much and told the EA I wanted to revise the offer to 317k - this was mainly because the property just wasn’t worth the original offer (it is a lot smaller than houses in the same price range). The EA was furious and quite aggressive on the phone (some would say with reason).

24 hours later (yesterday) he came back to me to advise that the sellers were agreeable and that they will place the house back up for sale until the survey is booked (assuming to prove I’m a serious buyer).

I really do want the house so contacted a surveyor this morning who in turn contacted the EA straight after to book in a date for the survey.

As per our agreement, I was expecting the EA to take the property off the market, however instead, they marked it as ‘under offer’, this is definitely not the same thing.. is it? My colleagues think they’ve done it to keep the door open to potential buyers..

Do I have a right to call them and ask them to remove it, or at least mark it as ‘Sold STC’? Im a first time buyer so haven’t been through anything like this before.

I know I shouldn’t have been so quick to put in an offer, but at the time, I was willing to turn a blind eye to it’s downsides.

Any advice would be really appreciated.

Thanks

Can you blame them? Who’s to say you won’t reduce your offer again in a couple of days?

They might still get a better offer and if they do they’ll probably take it.

It won't show up in active listings if it's Under Offer - it's more or less the same as SSTC, so I really wouldn't worry too much about it.

You can ask them to change it to SSTC as it won't really change much, but might put your mind at ease.

Under Offer is the correct term though under the circumstances. Don’t be surprised if the sellers and EA no longer take you seriously and accept other offers though.

I’m purchasing a property at the moment and it’s showing as Under Offer too. We are stipulating that our sale ( with different purchasing rules from the area we’re buying in) is subject to our completion so that leaves the seller quite insecure so I understand that.
The sellers are at liberty to accept an offer from a more secure buyer. We get it and are hoping it’ll be ok.

Ex EA here, you never list a property as SSTC until exchange of contracts. You haven’t behaved well and if you call them in regard to this you’re going to look like you don’t know what you’re doing.

Thanks everyone.

Now I really don’t know what to do. If they aren’t taking me seriously I would rather walk away than spend money on legal fees, survey etc just to be told they’ve accepted from someone else.

I’ve got myself into quite a pickle here!

Is there anything else I can do to prove I am serious?

@WinterCat after my original offer they literally took it off the market, as in deleted the listing.. this is what they said they would again after the survey was booked. But the haven’t.

@WhoEatsPopTarts oh really? thanks, I wasn’t aware. However if this is the case, how does a property get listed on a Monday, and change to ‘Sold STC’ within 2 days (which was the case with a property I had my eye on previously)!

This is normal from estate agent.
Its also normal that they are pissed off.
Not sure what you expect

I rather suspect that they think you may mess them around further and are not prepared to take it off the market just yet. I know I wouldn't.

They’re being restrained as I’m sure they really want to tell you to fuck off! You made an offer, they accepted it, and now you’ve changed your mind. Count yourself lucky they’re still entertaining you!

Yeah I think you’re being seriously unreasonable and honestly I wouldn’t be entertaining your offers any more.

I understand why they initially may have found it difficult to take me seriously, but now that I have given them my solicitors details, booked a survey, put the mortgage application in etc surely that should prove to them that I’m serious.

I would be much the same as the seller. It’s bad enough selling a house anyway never mind if your buyers downs their offer for no reason other than they’ve changed their mind! Also, it’s possible they meant the mortgage valuation survey as opposed to one you’ve booked yourself, to prove you’ve applied for a mortgage as any serious buyer would within days of having an offer accepted.

@Seeingadistance I would rather they told me to F off, rather than still accepting viewings, and being open to other offers after I have done everything to prove I am serious

@AGreatUsername ahh possibly, I hadn’t thought of that. I assumed they meant my own survey. Either way they have seen my AIP and the full application has been submitted

Under offer does mean the house has a buyer and shouldn’t be open to further viewings.

I know FTB think they are in a good position but I know of lots of people who prefer not to sell to them due to the unrealistic expectations. You might find this seller is anticipating the sale falling g through already (tip for the future - only reduce an offer after you’ve had a survey done or for a reason such as your house offer being decreased).

after I have done everything to prove I am serious

But that doesn’t count for much when you’ve already fucked them around. Once bitten, twice shy and all that.

To be fair, the first visible sign of you being serious Is the valuation survey. Our sellers were similar, we didn’t change our offer, but they were very edgy until the survey was booked as they’d previously had a sale fall through.

@WinterCat thanks for the advice, this is what a lot of people said but I thought the right thing to do was to be honest and let them know ASAP, rather than stringing them along - I guess I was wrong.

SSTC and under offer are the same thing. Once completion has taken place then a property is SOLD.

You have put yourself in this situation by dropping your offer so quickly and they probably wont feel like you are serious until the survey has been done - that is normally the time to change your offer if anything iffy comes up on the survey.

You will just have to wait to get the results of the survey and if all is ok go back to them and confirm your offer and that you want to go ahead as quickly as you can to put their minds at ease.

Personally I would assume you were not serious. You should have done your research before making an offer. I would be very wary if I was in their position. I would expect to renegotiate based on the survey but that is another experienced person looking over the house rather than your view.

You’ve already shown that you’re flaky and no guarantee you won’t try to lower the price again a couple of days before exchange.

In their position I would probably also be looking for a more stable buyer who shows more sign of commitment. Unfortunately you can’t undo what you’ve done.

Stop being so demanding, they have already backed down by reducing the acceptance price it’s still at early stages the agent has done the right thing.

There is no option on Rightmove to mark a property as ‘SOLD’ it’s either ‘Sold STC’ or ‘under offer’ which mean the same thing

Right, maybe I'm being dense but did they accept your reduced offer?

For another time, you could always offer 'subject to survey'.