How soon would you expect an answer after making an offer on a house?

[EL8888]

We put an offer in on a house on Saturday £5k below the asking price. We feel that was a fair price after viewing a fair few houses in the local area. Plus it has no kerb side appeal, the kitchen and bathroom are both dreadful so both need replacing. No answer either way from the estate agents, just a fishing phone call a few days ago. During which they heavily praised the property we are selling?! Then they slightly hinted would we maybe consider a higher price but never directly asked for final and sealed. We said possibly maybe. Radio silence since then.

I was going to say next day, so that seems slow.

I'd call the agent tbh after this long.

I would also say next day, at the latest I would say no more than 48 hours. To keep you waiting longer is pretty rude.

I heard back same day

@TinySleepThief l vote rude but my fiancé seems to think l have higher expectations than most..... I’m torn between inept (it took over a week to arrange the viewing and we chased the estate agents a number of times) and ‘who blinks first’ type approach which means it’s a battle of wills. I know this isn’t the point but they bought it 5 years ago, painted a couple of walls and it’s gone up £100k. So it’s hardly as if they have added value themselves, it’s just the market price round here increasing. The market is saturated round here with houses of that type, so they’re being a bit over confident if they’re think bidding war. We have 2 other viewings tomorrow.

how much is it on for?

£350k so it’s only a few percentage off. But that will then spent sorting a falling apart 20 year old kitchen

I was kept waiting 2 weeks. They were playing games but it was also probate which involved 4 separate parties all having to agree. Longest 2 weeks of my life!

1 week absolute max, I’d be chasing after 72 hours

The EA might have told the sellers not to go for your first offer so they could be waiting for an increase. If it is your final offer let them know.

I don't think you have unrealistic expectations at all. I hope the other viewings go well today.

OP might it be that they aren't really taking your offer seriously because you haven't sold your own? ie you're not really in a position to proceed??

I might be reading it wrong, but if I were in the vendor's shoes I'd be carrying on showing the house to others. There's really not much point making or accepting an offer if its contingent on your own place being sold first.

Sorry. But good luck.

I would phone the estate agent to see if there was a reason for the delay. Maybe they’ve got other viewings this weekend. On Location, location, location, the most they wait is overnight,

No answer either way from the estate agents, just a fishing phone call a few days ago. During which they heavily praised the property we are selling?!

Was the EA ringing up to find out if you were under offer yet on your own house, or had lots of viewings booked in for it?

Depends on the vendors, is it being sold by people who own and live in the property? Are there any other parties involved who may need to be contacted, ie executors? Perhaps they have had to go to the property they are interested in and see if they will accept a reduced offer in order for them to accept yours. Could be many reasons but the estate agents should keep you informed if that is the case.

We got told there’s basically no point offering on properties until ours is sold as if someone comes along who is more proceedable they will most likely go with them.

@Standrewsschool surely we all know that buying a house in real life is nothing like on LLL!

With our first house, we viewed it before the open day and put in an asking price offer. The vendor still wanted to go ahead with the open day and it went to sealed bids as there was a lot of interest. We "won" but know we didn't have the highest bid - all in all it was about 2 weeks from making the initial offer.

OP: if you've not sold your own house yet the fact you've put in an offer is arbitrary as you're not in a position to proceed. If it were my house I'd continue to show it to others and only begin serious negotiations once you had an offer on your own place. Although I would expect the EA to communicate that to you at the point of you submitting the offer and be disappointed by their lack of customer service if they didn't.

@Daisydoesnt they didn’t ask any of those questions apparently. It was a strange phone call by all accounts -they rang my partner.

@revelsandrose the sellers both live there. No probate / executors etc

After giving it some thought over night then it’s either game playing and / or rude. Either way we are going to keep looking and not chase them, they know where we are. Going to see one tonight that’s a similar price but 4 bedrooms, rather than 3 tonight. Then a cheaper one but less convenient location.

If it’s this hard on offering I suspect it would get worse proceeding-just keep looking. Their will be better houses-you won’t get a new kitchen and bathroom for £5k!

There FFS!

We’re in a similar position. Offered on Saturday, it was passed on to the vendors Monday morning and still no decision. They have offered and lost out on the house they wanted to buy this week with our offer in hand and are now exploring other options. Surely this is what they should be doing after they accept an offer rather than stringing us along while they house hunt?

If you haven't sold yet it will be that. Most vendors won't take their house off the market for an offer from a non-proceedable buyer, but they don't want to say no outright in case you sell quickly and then are pissed off with them and won't offer again.

They are probably stetching it out as long as possible in case you sell, and the weird phone call was trying to gauge how quickly you will be proceedable.

@MrsElijahMikaelson1 l said that to my partner. This is meant to be the more straightforward bit so it doesn’t bode well!

Just ring and ask for an update. Why speculate?