How long to come back after negotiating offer?

[Supersquirrel345]

Hi All, just wondered if I could get some advice or insight.

So house went up for sale on 20th Jan, had lots of interest straight away, 2 viewers lined up immediately. Both had 2nd viewings and both offered after a week or so.

Just wondered though, both have offered considerably under the asking price so I have gone back immediately to try and negotiate somewhere inbetween. How long does it take for people to come back in general? One of them took a whole week to phone the estate agent back for a 2nd viewing, and then another 4 days to make an offer even though they said they loved the house. They’ve now gone AWOL again and the estate agent can’t get hold of them to negotiate. The other said they’d sleep on the negotiated price and never returned our estate agent calls so quite obvious they’ve gone somewhere else without telling us. Both buyers have admitted to either being furloughed or off work at the moment so it’s not as if they are busy with work??

How often does this happen? It’s starting to get really annoying now. To me a “thanks but no thanks” call or email would suffice if they didn’t agree on the price offered. We are in a chain and are constantly being chased for an update and it’s made me really distrusting of people. Or am I being too impatient?

By the way the estate agents have been great so far, always phone the same day even though they haven’t got any news, just saying they can’t get hold of them. The buyer who we are trying to negotiate with the estate agent admitted before making the offer to possibly rule him out as he couldn’t get hold of him and expressed surprise when he did phone back, so it’s not them.

Maybe they offered the maximum they could afford or thought the house to be worth? Potential buyers don’t always increase their offer. There’s lots of reasons they could be unwilling to offer more at this time, including potentially deciding it’s not a great time to buy while on furlough!

Of course most on furlough will be able to return to work in due course, but many might not.

If they have decided not to buy because elf furlough why are they viewing and offering in the first place though - I don’t understand? Surely a phonecall of I’m not prepared to pay that rather than ignoring the estate agent isn’t too much to ask?

What was your response to them? I once put in an opening offer, the seller's response made it clear that they were wildly unreasonable on price and weren't going to budge, so I just left it.

I’ve asked to meet halfway but are trying to be reasonable - it’s still considerably less than the asking price.

@Supersquirrel345

If they have decided not to buy because elf furlough why are they viewing and offering in the first place though - I don’t understand? Surely a phonecall of I’m not prepared to pay that rather than ignoring the estate agent isn’t too much to ask?

With regards to the viewing & offering while on furlough, what I meant was maybe when they thought about it better they realised it may not be the best time to buy.

I guess I don’t understand that because I think unless someone is serious and confident about buying they should be offering on a house in the first place. Don’t know if that’s unfair though

*shouldnt !

If someone is being slow at this early stage, you would not want them as your buyers! It would take forever to complete

Maybe they waiting on another offer they made on a different house, as market seems to have cool down, buyers are approaching it with a stronger position to negotiate.

That’s what I’m thinking Baxdream! Oh well, back to the drawing board...

It's only been two weeks, OP. Have you stopped the viewings after you got these offers, or haev they just dried up (the viewings)?

If you had a lot of interest but stopped the viewings - and I'm with you, people should just be strraight and say a clear 'no thanks; if they don't wan to negotiate - then you should get more offers if you give it a bit more time. Best not to stop viewings until someone actually agrees an offer.

sorry for various random punctuation marks!

Sounds to me like your asking price is too high, we're on the brink of a recession and house prices will be falling soon. They probably just thought they would take the house at x price and no more, otherwise they'll wait for the market correction.

It’s a bit like dating, unfortunately they don’t owe you a response and silence is an answer. Sounds like you’re priced too high if you’ve had offers considerably under and no viewings. Most buyers won’t make the stamp duty deadline now so need to factor this in too.

Used to work in an estate agents, if they are ignoring calls they aren’t interested. I’d move on OP

Im afraid it's obvious - they've disengaged as the gap between you is too wide to bother with more phone calls. I've done this. Not worth my time if seller has a v diff view of what a house is worth to mine and there are other houses to see. Sorry.