How do offers work?!

[catchyjem]

Hi, I'm trying to sell my house at the moment. My agent has called and said she's received an offer for it, however she can't tell me what the offer is yet as they have to check out the buyers financial position first. Is this the norm? Seems strange that she can't even tell me what the offer is first?

Also, I am planning to buy my next property from the sale of this one plus cash. Does that mean that an agent won't put my offer forward until I prove to them that I have the cash?!

Not the norm. I purchased a house earlier this year:
Made offer Monday
Accepted Tuesday
Went to estate agent office on Wednesday with passport and bank statement

@msgloria

I just don't think these things are always black and white... agent might be working with the buyer to help them come up with an offer that the buyer can afford and that the OP might accept. In-house broker could be assisting.

It's not unknown for a potential buyer to say "I really like this house but it's a bit more than I can afford, what might the seller accept?", and then the agent works with the buyer to assess how much they can likely stretch to.

The agent is working on behalf o the seller.

They do not go through someone’s bank statements and work out what they can afford, that’s just ludicrous. And if the agent was working to provide financial services in this manner it would be a conflict of interests.

Maybe she’s unsure of the buyers or the buyers have history for placing offers without finances in place.

@Porridgeoat

Maybe she’s unsure of the buyers or the buyers have history for placing offers without finances in place.

Sure, but she still needs to legally tell the op the offer promptly. She then needs to say this is the offer, but we now need to get proof of funds.

I wonder if Monday’s viewers are related or a friend of hers

Whilst I don’t agree with the EA not telling you the offer, having to prove it’s a serious offer before moving forward is really common at the moment. In fact we had to prove we were in a position to proceed before we were allowed to view properties with some agents.

We made a full asking price offer a few months ago, and were told the offer wouldn’t be accepted nor would viewings be cancelled until we’d proven we were a viable buyer. It was a simple case of sending over our AIP, memorandum of sale for the house we were selling and solicitor details to prove we had the funds to buy the house at the price we’d offered.

Maybe she meant the buyers need to check their finances first before confirming the offer?

Or maybe Mondays viewers have a rapport with the agency? And are a safer bet for you?

You should know the offer though

No way I’d be accepting this OP

BTW I’ve had to show we had the cash in the bank to buy our house. No mortgage so a sale and savings. How else would they know?

Thanks all. I will speak to her tomorrow and find out what's going on!

As for proving we have cash...will they accept statements with blanked out account numbers? I'm so worried someone will be able to steal my money if I show them that!

@catchyjem

Thanks all. I will speak to her tomorrow and find out what's going on!

As for proving we have cash...will they accept statements with blanked out account numbers? I'm so worried someone will be able to steal my money if I show them that!

If your proceeds are coming from the sale of your house usually all you have to do is provide a memorandum of sale from your current property (a document you get from the EA once you've accepted an offer and they've proved their finances). That's all we have had to provide.

It's coming from both sale of house and extra money in the bank.

Yes, I crossed out my account number and sort code.

Why would they check the funds of the person who's made the offer when they don't even know if it's acceptable to you? Sounds a bit strange

"The agent is working on behalf o the seller.

They do not go through someone’s bank statements and work out what they can afford, that’s just ludicrous. And if the agent was working to provide financial services in this manner it would be a conflict of interests."

I have known offers at the current time (I'm in process of buying and selling) to be "qualified" by an in house broker before they are passed on to the seller, which will include a high-level consideration of affordability - salaries and current mortgage payment etc. It happens particularly when there are some doubts / alarm bells ringing with the estate agent about the buyer's position. But if you refuse to believe this happens then fine - perhaps it's different where you live.

I put offers pre and during COVID, I found during COVID I had to have financial checks to view, and then separate financial checks and identity checks for the estate agent to even tell the vendor the offer. I also was given like 1 hr slot to have a financial check in a few days as it was outsourced.

The first check wasn’t onerous - a Mortgage broker asked our salary and for the aip Amount and for our deposit amount and didn’t check anything.

For the offer checks, some estate agents would accept an email from our broker who had already seen the stuff, others required bank statements, as well as the aip. The most infuriating part was the time lost - and it was pointless to offer on Saturday after the viewing but we kept doing so anyway.

I think it was because of the lack of mortgages, partly.