AIBU? Seller’s won’t take house off the market

[Permanentlyfrazzled]

Put an asking price offer right at the top of our budget last week as our very best offer. We are in a very short completed chain of two. The offer was probably above what the house is worth, but on the premise the house was taken off the market as I believed was the done thing.

We were expecting our offer to be accepted outright - but instead the sellers said they will accept on principle…unless someone puts in a higher offer, and therefore won’t take the house off the market for at least another week.

The house has only recently come to market - they have a number of viewings over next week and said they will come to a decision at the end of that.

We’ve been left very confused. We have sold and bought a few times and have never had this before.

It’s now been a few days and we haven’t heard any more, but it doesn’t sound like they’ve had another offer.

The agent says they will likely come back to us to proceed but to be honest the whole thing is making us quite nervous of them as sellers. I’m sure from their POV they are just trying to get the best price for the house, but we were very upfront and put down our best offer, at the price they were asking.

It has made us feel like they were trying to force a bidding war, knowing we couldn’t offer any more. We are sure our offer is being used as leverage at every viewing now ‘there is already an asking price offer on the table’….

We worry these people take the first opportunity to gazump us if a better offer comes in before exchange.

Are we right to be nervous? Would you walk away?

AIBU?

Withdraw your offer and walk. They'll drop you like a hot potato if there's so much as sniff of more money.

View other houses with the same agent. Even if you know you won't buy them. That may make the agents push them a bit more. I would be weary though as they may guzump you when you get further down the line if they are like this now.

They have only just started viewings and want to
make sure they get the best offer. In effect, they haven’t really accepted your offer. They have kept it on the table while they honour other arranged viewings, and will let you know if yours ends up being the preferred bid.

And it may not all be in price: others may have longer chains, be less proceedable or whatever.

Perfectly normal.

If / when they do come back to you to accept your offer then you make it a condition that they take it off the market.

Meanwhile, you could look at other properties just in case.

Keep viewing other houses, you might find something cheaper or that you just prefer better anyway - don’t fixate on this house.

This happened us a few weeks ago, we offered over the asking price as a “ take it off the market”
offer and then said no they would honour the viewings that were booked in over next few days. We were not surprised at this, annoyed but not surprised as buyers want the best price and if you offer straight away then think there will be loads of offers. Anyway we held tight a few days, said our offer was on table for a week and we would start viewing others and they accepted . So all is not lost, ask what are the position of the people that are viewing - sale agreed, not on market, cash buyers etc- that’ll give you a sense of what the competition is ! Good luck!

@AgnesX @OhhhhhhhhBiscuits to be honest this is exactly our fear, we have DD number 3 on the way and need to move, it would be a disaster if they pulled out on us.

I agree. I don't think they are being unreasonable or flakey: better to be upfront than to pretend to accept your offer unconditionally, while secretly angling for a higher one.

It's up to you whether you accept their terms, or walk away, OP. Rather than just walking, I might counter by saying that I won't incur any costs - instruct solicitor etc - until it's off the market.

@Dreamingofthishouse thanks for sharing it. Did it all work out for you in the end? Did you have any issues with the sellers after that?

Always set time limit on future offers. Acceptance of offer hasn't really happened. I would be looking elsewhere as plan b.

It’s not a very gazump-y market at the moment, is it? I wouldn’t worry about that. Leave the offer on the table and keep looking, but I wouldn’t start to instruct solicitors or arrange surveys until they’ve shown some commitment to proceeding. Don’t incur any costs, basically.

Fingers crossed they won't.🤞

This is exactly why I prefer the scottish system. This sounds utterly exhausting OP

@beachcitygirl you're so right the English system is bonkers. We haven't had much luck to be honest this year with house hunting which is why we are overly cautious with who we get into a chain with.

YABU - yours was the first offer after only being on the market for a few days and they have lots of interest. Makes sense for them to continue viewings.

YANBU. Eek. As someone who HAS been gazumped and have had a few chains collapse I would probably be walking away. I can see why you are nervous. They've asked for a price, you've paid that price. Doesn't seem particularly cricket.

Might be reasonable to leave the offer on the table with an expiration date - sounds like they've already had a week? Seems a bit unfair on you - buying is so stressful as it is. Not fair to keep this hanging over you tbh.

Yes I wish we had done this. Maybe should do as @diydreams suggests and a time limit on it now? Can't have this hanging over me for another 2 weeks.

Put an expiry date on the offer. You take the house off the market by x date or we will walk away. Explain if they pull out at any future date you wouldn’t be interested any longer. Get an indication of how quickly they are going to be able to move. If your chain is short you don’t want to make it long and dragged out if they aren’t in a rush to find somewhere else

Cheers for the alternative perspective. I guess for us it just seems the only reason they would do that would be to drive the price up further. They've already had an asking price offer in an area where the market is really slow (we are in the North East). It makes us worry they will constantly be looking for a better offer and won't be happy with asking price. Even if no other offers on the table. Might be being unreasonable but it has shaken our confidence in them. Fed up of chain collapsing and have been through the ringer this year! English system is bonkers! Should cross the border to Scotland, we are not far!

I'd got back in a few days and offer them less!

They are trying to be clever in a difficult market.

If you think your offer was probably above what the house is worth, keep looking. You might find a property that’s better value for you. The economy isn’t very strong at the moment and interest rates have risen sharply, so I’d be wary of overstretching myself.

@TrishTrix it's just bizarre. Houses are sitting on the market for months here and there are more reductions every day than there are new properties. We feel we've been overly quite generous and it's definitely put my partner's nose out of joint slightly they've kept us waiting a week. They do seem to be playing a dangerous game but maybe it'll pay off for them. Seem to be mixed opinions on the thread.

Yes we are continuing to view. Have actually seen two things at a considerably lower price. They don't work as well as the other one but the longer this goes on the more we are re-considering.

Sad because we were so excited about the house when we saw it and this has really taken the shine off it.

It sounds like they’ve said thanks for your offer, if nothing better comes along we will be back to accept.

That is pretty usual isn’t it? It’s fresh to market and you don’t usually accept the first offers you get especially when there’s enough interest to be booking other viewings.