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Original poster

The making an offer process - did I do this wrong?

25 replies

CornerOfTheSky · 23/09/2020 17:08

Viewed a property and liked it a lot. Second viewing 2 days later on a Saturday. Both viewings with the vendor.

Had a query about responsibility of a watercourse on the boundary. Vendor said they would send relevant documents to EA so we could take a look.

Phoned on Monday. EA dealing with that house not in until Wednesday. Left a message for the EA to say we have an offer figure in mind and could we take a look at the documents if they’ve been sent in.

Wednesday: EA calls back. House has sold.

My fault for not being quick enough I suppose, and not sure I’d have wanted to offer without confirmation on whose responsibility the watercourse is, but feeling a bit sad to have missed out despite having called the EA the next working day after second viewing to discuss an offer.

Did I do this wrong? Not used to making offers in a fast moving market.

OP posts:

snowspider · 23/09/2020 17:13

You did the kind of diligence that I would have done, but my strong impression is that in the current fast moving market an awful lot of people are sticking an offer in quickly and then taking their time to think about things at leisure having dispersed the competition...hence a high proportion of properties coming back on the market

unmarkedbythat · 23/09/2020 17:17

Yes, what snowspider said. "Sold" does not really mean sold atm.

Anewname20 · 23/09/2020 17:35

How long did you take between first and second viewing?

Original poster

CornerOfTheSky · 23/09/2020 17:44

It stresses me out to think of putting in an offer before doing due diligence, especially with a potentially complex boundary situation.

Just a bit annoyed that I’d left messages for the agent to call me to talk offers, guess another buyer must have been higher on her call list that day. For all I know they could have offered way over asking price and it was too good a deal to even consider other offers.

@Anewname20 first viewing on a weds, second viewing the following Saturday so 2 days in between. I probably should have requested the EA show us round rather than the vendor - another lesson learned.

OP posts:

lojoko · 23/09/2020 17:46

Where I am around 1 in 3 houses are coming back on the market. People are offering and not getting mortgages.

Original poster

CornerOfTheSky · 23/09/2020 17:47

@unmarkedbythat yes agree sold isn’t sold at this stage, just using the agents words to me.

OP posts:

CrumpetandSausage · 23/09/2020 17:48

I would assume it must have been a very good offer because surely the vendor would have given you the opportunity to make an offer if you had a second viewing and expressed interest to the EA. Keep an eye out though because it may fall through and come back on the market.

Original poster

CornerOfTheSky · 23/09/2020 17:50

@lojoko that’s interesting. I’ve had my eye on the market since March where we’re looking to buy, and only one house that I know of has come back on, and that was because the buyers found something else they liked better.

OP posts:

MissConductUS · 23/09/2020 17:51

Tell the EA to put in your offer as a backup. That way it's on the table if the first offer falls through.

What the EA should have told you was that the vendor has accepted another offer, not that it's been sold.

JoJoSM2 · 23/09/2020 17:51

The agent sounds rubbish.

Did you make it clear to the vendor you were very much interested but just wanted to make an informed decision?

Disfordarkchocolate · 23/09/2020 17:53

You can always withdraw an offer.

SeasonFinale · 23/09/2020 17:55

To be fair they probably felt that if you were asking such detailed questions at that stage then you would be a nightmare buyer. If there was another acceptable offer on the table they probably just went with that.

Original poster

CornerOfTheSky · 23/09/2020 17:56

@JoJoSM2 Maybe not. Didn’t want to sound too eager, and second viewing was my partner’s first viewing so needed to get his feedback too before saying anything too final. I did say I was very interested to see the documents and would be checking in with the agent ASAP about those, so the vendor knew we were going to have further discussions with the EA

OP posts:

JoJoSM2 · 23/09/2020 18:02

So the first viewing was you on your own?

Tbh, as a vendor I’d a bit suspicious of the pair of you being on the same page. If the seller had other keen buyers that they might have liked, they could have decided to just stick with them.

Original poster

CornerOfTheSky · 23/09/2020 18:24

@JoJoSM2 yes first viewing just me as partner can only do viewings at weekends and properties are moving so quickly here at the moment that I have been taking the first available viewing slots the agent gives. Only been looking a couple of weeks and this was the first one we requested a second viewing on so the agent knew we were keen. And yeah I agree with you that probably the other buyers offered something we couldn’t. Either on price or not in a chain / cash buyers

OP posts:

elaeocarpus · 23/09/2020 21:24

You can make an offer to another agent in the office; that's happened to me previously where the specific agent was away so told them i wanted to make an offer and someone else took it forward with the vendor. I wouldn't wait several days for them to return.

If you viewed on Sat sounds like someone else made their offer later that day or mon-Tuesday whilst you waited.

Love51 · 23/09/2020 21:29

You haven't said where you are. An offer is more like the opening of a conversation in England, it holds legal weight in Scotland. Never bought or sold elsewhere but might be worth mentioning.

Heronwatcher · 23/09/2020 21:40

I think you are slightly doing it wrong. In a fast paced market I would offer what I thought the place was worth assuming it was in the condition as presented, get the place taken off the market, and then if I was worried about a particular issue get it checked out before I started spending on solicitors. If there is an issue you can lower the offer with evidence of the issue or walk away. As long as you haven’t incurred other costs you are no worse off.

Original poster

CornerOfTheSky · 23/09/2020 22:10

@Heronwatcher yeah I think that’s what we should have done in hindsight.

@love51 I am in England

OP posts:

Chewbecca · 23/09/2020 22:14

You can still make your offer now. Not great practice but you can and the agent is obliged to pass it on to the vendor (who may decline of course).

In future, if the market is fast moving, suggest you offer first, check out details after and withdraw if you don’t like the answer. Again, not good practice.

TownHallDesigner · 23/09/2020 22:51

I’m not in the UK so might be different but I was in the exact same position as you, OP.

Viewed a house and loved it but aware of a boundary issue. Also wanted a second viewing to bring a family member along to give their professional opinion on a particular aspect of the house.

Knew the house would sell quickly so put in a firm offer. They accepted. I knew it’d take 48hrs for my (refundable) holding deposit to get through to the EA via online transfer, and asked that they used that time to pull together the info for me on the boundary issue.

That was three weeks ago and things are progressing really well so hope to complete in the next six weeks.

I think that until you have an offer in, you’re viewed as a tyre-kicker. If you’re in a country where a booking deposit is refundable, you have nothing to lose by formalising an offer.

blowyernose · 23/09/2020 23:50

I've not read the whole thread so apologies if someone has already said this. I'm more familiar with the Scottish process, but normally you would put in an a Offer and you can add the boundary clarification as a condition of your Offer if you like or leave it to your conveyancer to look into it on your behalf after your Offer is accepted. An EA is not always expected to know these things but Conveyancers are. You can withdraw without Penalty if missives have not concluded. So next time just get your Offer in! Please note it may be slightly different in England. Good luck.

LooseMooseHoose · 23/09/2020 23:57

Similar happened to us with our house. Went to best and final within 72hrs with three/four offers. We offered what the house around the corner sold for last year (same design and comparable work required). The winning bid offered about £15k more.

A week later we had a call from the agent saying the other person had pulled out after a second viewing due to the work required. So our offer was accepted. The agent stressed that they had recommended our offer because it was fair and we had done our due diligence before offering (2 viewings, one with a view to costing up the work and had explained to the EA that our offer was pitched to allow us to do the work required).

As far as Rightmove was concerned, the house never came back on the market. So you never know!

badacorn · 24/09/2020 08:45

You never know, it might come back onto the market.

Sometimes a sale can be agreed this quickly. If someone in a good position to buy comes along on the first day and offers the asking price why not just take it?

Kisskiss · 24/09/2020 08:49

It’s strange that the EA didn’t at least give you warning /chance to offer before advising the seller to accept, they owe a duty of care to the sellers.
You could still offer though... I was bidding on a house once where someone went back after ‘best and finals’ .. the seller reopened bidding and the house went to the new bidder..

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