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?

I agree with this. Many people wouldn’t take the first offer if they’ve got lots of viewings booked in. If you’ve offered full asking then for all they know so might others, or over asking. Or a cash buying living in rented might offer the same. It’s not unreasonable for them to want to allow their other viewings to take place.

I can understand them wanting to wait for the first weekend of viewings, or holding out for a better offer if it has just come on the market, but leaving an asking price offer hanging for so long is starting to take the piss a bit.

If they haven't had another offer in two weeks of viewings, it obviously isn't as hot a property/market as they were hoping. I would be giving them 24 hours and then withdrawing the offer

When you buy and sell houses you quickly find out that other people you are dealing with don't behave in the way you would. It's a learning curve for sure. However, they have had the first flurry of viewings - time to make their minds up about your offer. Why aren't their EA responding to you? Ring them 3x a day for the next 2 days. Also send an email confirming your offer and your position. If you don't get a response after 2 working days then report them to NAEA if they are members.

I have learnt from kirstie and Phil on location location that when you make an offer to tie that offer to your conditions eg. I’m offering asking price hence I want you to cancel future viewings and take the house off the market. I was bitten once with my dream house where they accepted the offer then made no effort to start the selling process, I found out much later that they decided not to sell due to something family wise happening behind the scenes.was highly peed off as this was 3 months later and we only had a set period to port a good mortgage deal. As you say you are attractive buyers so set a time limit otherwise you may be hanging about for ages.

I would take your offer off the table at this point.
Their behaviour is really discourteous. Housing buying/ selling can be stressful enough without people dithering over asking price offers for 2 weeks.
They could have said initially that they would accept your offer if there were no further offers following the other booked viewings but the haven't done this and are just keeping you dangling with no communication. I think they have shown you that they are inconsiderate and are either greedy or just not interested in selling. Anyone who was reasonable and wanted to sell would have bitten you hand off with an asking price offer in a falling market.

Just pull out. Something else will come up with more committed sellers.

Thanks everyone. Just heard back, they wanted us to increase our asking price offer. They've had another (higher) offer but that person still has something to sell/is not proceedable. We've said no and they've accepted our offer.

Trouble is I'm not sure I trust them now! To go with it or not?

I would go with it.

What they have done is not particularly unusual or unreasonable (except for the time they took). They want to sell their house, you are the buyers they have chosen.

But I would want to know about their onward plans. Do they now need to find somewhere? Ask if they would be prepared to break the chain and go into rental if they don’t find somewhere within a month. For example.

The danger is that as soon as the other buyers are proceedable, there is quite a high risk of you getting gazumped. Personally I would keep looking

This is my worry. My gut instinct is telling me to pull out. We had a DREADFUL buyer last time who asked for a chunk of money off just before exchange then dropped us. There were red flags everywhere when we accepted his offer but it was the best one. I wish I'd listened to my gut then. I feel that I should listen to it now!

I feel I would constantly be looking over my shoulder. But I reeeeally want this house!

I wouldn't be able to trust them especially if I had just been messed about by someone else but it's your call.

I'd be looking around if anything else is suitable, near you. One of my friends had this. The vendor then accepted the offer only to pull out 8 weeks later, and then it went back to the market for an extra £5k. It took ages to sell and I don't know how much it eventually sold for but my friend ended up having to pay some solicitors fees as some work had been done. She said she should have seen the refusal to take the house off the market after she offered full asking price as a red flag.

As previous person said I would check what there plans are time scale etc. Cheeky to ask for more money when the other people with higher offer wasn't ready thats why they offered higher as hoping the people would wait ! They sound greedy not happy to accept a less offer for what could be a smoother sale !

I had something similar with a vendor dragging their heels and not instructing a solicitor. We pulled our offer and they are still living in the house 3 years later. Unfortunately the next offer we put in the sellers changed their mind too, except just before exchange! Some people just dabble with the idea of selling, which can make the whole thing so stressful.

We had similar but they accepted our offer then just daudled taking it off the market. We complained and the estate agents swore no viewings were happening. They then came back and asked for more and we said no. It then went on with a different agent who I phoned and explained our offer still stood but no messing about. It then went in with another agent using the 1st agents photos (I made sure they knew, they go very cross). I then found out they were still using our offer to hold their onward purchase who thought they had a compliant chain. So I updated that agent because it was really unfair their client had taken her property off the market thinking she had buyers in a complete chain.
Bit of research later by our agent and it was the 3rd time they'd marketed it in a few years. They get an offer, try to squeeze more money after the buyer has committed, it all falls through.
We found somewhere else that I love. They haven't moved and it was nearly 2 years ago.
I'm waiting to bump into them one day as we don't live far away.
I think that I'm aware of they've marketed it about 6 or 7 times in the last 5 years.
I just wonder how much time they waste tidying and showing people round, looking round houses themselves. I've been told by several agents they're blacklisted now because they are rude to the agents and mess them around as much as they do buyers.

If you want this house, keep the offer in and proceed, take out insurance with your solicitor to cover their fees if it all goes wrong (costs about £70 and means if it collapses you only pay around £200 regardless of what work they have done)
Be wary that it could go south at any point prior to exchange and that they might suddenly ask for more.
With this in mind, play the same game and keep looking around in the meantime.

So it's not even been 3 hours and apparently the non-proceedable buyer is now proceedable...and guess what, they want more money.

I have no idea if this other buyer is even real but that's it, we are out. We've asked the agent to take our offer off the table permanently. Think our gut instinct was right on this one! Probably dodged a bullet by not getting into a chain with them.

Thanks for all your help and advice! Many of you were spot on!

Definitely better to find out now rather than a month or two down the line. I hope your search goes a bit better from now on.

Thank you @mistlethrush. Onwards and upwards, lesson learned! X

You poor things. How annoying but, as the other poster said, much better to know now.
Your gut was spot on!
Good luck finding something with sellers who are neither greedy nor unreliable!

Blimey they sound very flaky, I would be keeping an eye on that property to see what happens to it 👀

Sorry to hear this maybe they will have problems with that buyer could be one who trys to drop the price last min on them. Good luck with finding a batter house.

You definitely dodged a bullet with that property

Did they come back again?

I would love to know the outcome @Permanentlyfrazzled!

I think you’ve done well getting out of that one.I foresee them being a pain.