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Original poster

Think I made a mistake on offer

17 replies

Ihearyou22 · 03/10/2022 00:19

So DH and I want to buy a house. We intended to put an offer in via our solicitor tomorrow. The estate agent encouraged us to do a verbal offer today and if accepted follow up with solicitor tomorrow. We discussed it and after missing out on other houses thought let’s do it then we know and saves bothering the solicitor again.
They came back saying they appreciated our offer but have had lots of interest over the weekend and are going to consider and get back to us Mon or Tues. This is clearly to see if they get a higher offer which is fine but feel now we have out ourselves at a disadvantage. Can an estate agent say to other buyers what our offer was or tell them they would go higher to beat ours?

Options are to wait it out and hope for the best. Or call solicitor tomo and put in a final and best. This will only be a few hundred more as we are at our top end and cannot go any higher. Any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks

OP posts:

BeanStew22 · 03/10/2022 02:19

Hang in there: when I was buying my house the sellers took a full week to accept- clearly trying to see if they could use my offer to bump up a different one

TBH - I think estate agents will say/imply anything but I don’t understand why you think you are ‘at a disadvantage’: ie you have to make an offer or you can’t buy

Monday/Tuesday for an acceptance or other feedback would be great. In your shoes I would put pressure if you’ve not had an answer by Wed and consider taking your offer off the table if not accepted on Friday

Im sure others will be along later with their advice: it’s really hard to wait but unfortunately I think it’s just part of the process

Lessofallthisunpleasantness · 03/10/2022 02:21

If you can only go a few hundred higher then I wouldn't bother.

Threelittlelambs · 03/10/2022 03:27

Never heard of a solicitor putting an offer in on anyones behalf - you agree a price and agree a sale before you engage a solicitor surely?

Fingers crossed its accepted - the market is slowing down here so there will be other opportunities.

17to35 · 03/10/2022 03:33

Op may well be in Scotland where an offer via solicitor is common. For the reason she has stated ( estate agents using an offer as leverage) it is a good idea to wait for a closing date.

Twiglets1 · 03/10/2022 05:43

The EA can’t tell other people exactly what your offer is.
Bit they can use an offer as leverage by saying to other potential buyers things like “we’ve already had an offer close to the asking price “ or whatever

Macaroni1924 · 03/10/2022 08:37

Sorry just about to head to work I’ve had a quick read over. I’m in Scotland and this is normal to get the solicitor to do it. Not all houses here go to close either. We really love the house but can’t go much higher we just thought they could get an offer even £50 over us so by upping the last wee bit might help us and if it doesn’t then no harm? Just felt it was a disadvantage as now the EA can use it to negotiate with other people offering.

Theteapotsbrokenspout · 03/10/2022 08:48

Twiglets1 · 03/10/2022 05:43

That’s not been my experience. I’ve been told exactly what someone else’s offer is in an effort to make me bid more - told the estate agent I wasn’t interested in a bidding war and pulled out.

Macaroni1924 · 03/10/2022 08:58

@Theteapotsbrokenspout that’s what I think will happen now too. Thanks for sharing your experience. Hope you found a home you love.

Roselilly36 · 03/10/2022 09:29

EA do you give you an idea, we viewed a bungalow several months back, on at £320k it was pretty small but in a nice location, we thought it was overpriced, EA said we have had 3 offers over £350k already, it sold for £370! Absolute madness.

TravellingJack · 03/10/2022 09:53

Macaroni1924 · 03/10/2022 08:37

What's your position? For my last sale (also in Scotland) we didn't go with highest bid but the one who could move the fastest as that was what we needed, rather than accepting a higher offer where they didn't even have their house on the market yet. The impact of waiting would have been more expensive in terms of costs to us than the difference in the offers, especially after paying fees etc.

If you're able to move fast (e.g. renting, cash buyer), I'd go in with a formal offer via your solicitor and ask them to state your favourable position. If you are willing to be flexible around timescales (if they need to wait for some reason) that may give you the edge over a higher offer, so ask for that to be stated too.

I've never been told what other buyers were offering until afterwards, and only if I'd missed out. Tbf you can find out what it sold for yourself later on, but equally I have only ever offered via a solicitor. It sounds like this will go to a closing date if there's lots of interest, and that doesn't mean you have lost out, as a higher offer may come with strings that don't suit the sellers, so just get your solicitor to put in your best offer and wait - nothing to lose! Good luck!

CatchMeIfYouCanCan · 03/10/2022 10:04

We’ve never used our solicitor to put our offers in, sorted all that ourselves and then instructed solicitor when offer was accepted.

Redsquirrel5 · 03/10/2022 11:13

Where are you though CatchMe? You don’t need to in England( not sure about Wales) but you still do in Scotland I think.

Those in Scotland do they halt viewings after one offer as I missed out on a cottage recently because the Estate Agents were unavailable by phone and missed my email. Apology sent later when I complained. Big firm too!

I saw another when driving but it had an offer on it when I checked after I got home. I have seen a third - love the garden, position but not loving the cottage from the outside but think I will view it. The second one is only three miles away and so could view two on the same day but first cottage I wasn’t allowed a viewing even though the vendor hadn't yet agreed. I had the estate agent in Scotland do something similar only marked it SOLD when we hadn’t agreed and a local wanted to view it. It was a long, long time ago though.

I am planning to move back over the border if i can.

Good luck OP i agree vendors don’t always take the highest offer if it comes attached to a house not yet sold/ on the market. First time buyers and cash buyers are often more attractive if they need to move quickly.

I refused to up my offer after one extra bid ( England) and the sale fell through. I was approached again and I put my original bid on the table and sat it out for a fortnight. I got it. Mortgage finished next August. Sometimes you just have to grit your teeth and bare it. I hope it works out for you.🤞🏻😃

Macaroni1924 · 03/10/2022 15:32

Thanks for the advice everyone. So we go on the market this weekend. The buyers are moving to a new build which isn’t ready till June however willing to come and go depending on when buyer needs in. Spoke to my solicitor today and she said to hang fire in case they now decide to go to a closing date then we can up our offer that final little bit. She said we have given a good offer but these things are unpredictable so no guarantees. If it’s meant to be all will be fine if not I think we are considering not going to market just now and waiting till after Christmas to see how the land lies. Obviously need to discuss this with our estate agent but due to do photos at the end of the week so if we find out soon there is still time to cancel.

maxi2100 · 03/10/2022 20:16

Never heard of a solicitor putting in an offer, sounds weird. Also estate agents are the same as someone selling fish at a market. They are simply sales people. There are no rules and as a buyer they are not acting in your best interests at all. Yes they can tell anyone what your offer was.

friedbrainrightnow · 03/10/2022 20:20

Yes here in Scotland offers are often/mostly done by solicitor unless you just do it yourself via the owner when viewing.

Closing dates are an absolute fucking nightmare I’m sick of them. One particular estate agent here is just obsessed with them.

Macaroni1924 · 03/10/2022 21:03

I think the solicitor offer is to show how serious you are and is normal practice here. We have already lost out on another house in the same area which did go to closing date but doesn’t happen with all houses there. I have bought 2 properties before first one I was so young I can’t really remember how it went. This house I saw it the day it went up, viewed it and had offer accepted all within 3 days. Had it gone to closing we would never have afforded it. At this rate feel we may be staying here as we cannot afford to go masses over value and by the time we save enough to do so prices will have risen again 🤣

Macaroni1924 · 04/10/2022 21:12

So just to update our offer was accepted today! I can’t believe it and am in total shock. Very happy and excited but will be worried until it all goes through and we have the keys. We had a horrendous experience selling our flat about 7 years ago when the buyers mortgage fell through. We ended up paying a mortgage and a rent for 4-5 months and it was a horrible time. We thought we were being smart renting in between so we avoided any chains. Literally got the call on the way to collect our keys for the rental property. Surely bad luck like that only happens once 🤞🏻Thanks for all the advice I really appreciate it.

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