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Original poster

What's more important to sellers?

33 replies

Earlydaysandnights · 15/10/2023 23:44

A buyers position or how much money they can get?

OP posts:
TeenLifeMum · 15/10/2023 23:45

The smoothest sale for the amount of money needed to move to the property they want.

Normcore · 15/10/2023 23:45

Well one feeds into the other, you want a high price from someone able to pay it.

Original poster
Earlydaysandnights · 15/10/2023 23:49

Curious as I've seen threads before about sellers choosing someone in a chain over cash/first time buyers just because they've offered 2k more etc

OP posts:
GeorgeBeckett · 15/10/2023 23:51

Will depend a bit on the sellers. Do they need to move now or can it wait? Do they have a lot of mortgage? How long have they had the property and will they make a tidy profit whatever happens? Are they needing to buy two properties due to divorce? Are they moving to a cheaper or more expensive area? Is this probate and everyone just wants it over with and some cash?

I've been periodically checking the land registry to see what other properties we viewed went for. We offered in Feb and completed in June and ours shows. Hardly anything else showing yet. Particularly thinking about the one that went to best and finals and we were told we weren't even close with our offer. Maybe we would have been a better bet for them! But love our house.

lljkk · 15/10/2023 23:56

imho, it's always the larger amount.

Marshmellow1 · 16/10/2023 00:02

It depends on the seller and their moving plans. We had a lovely home, the market went a bit weird as it was during lockdowns etc. Our house was still on the market after 4 weeks with little interest. I was desperate to move as I was working from home with a toddler in the house, we needed more space, the house itself I loved and we had done a lot of work to it. We had a cash buyer, he offered £10k less than the asking price and I snapped it up and was really happy with that. The estate agent said we should hold out for more but as we had found a house we liked and were desperate for more space it was a win win. It was £10k off a house that was £255k. We paid a lot less for it and ended up making almost £100k profit. I think if I was selling now and I had somewhere I wanted to buy / felt I had to move quickly I’d happily take lower for a buyer who can push things along.

Original poster
Earlydaysandnights · 16/10/2023 00:08

Appreciate your replies and it's good to get other peoples opinions. I've heard people say first time buyers have an advantage but I don't really think that's the case most of the time. Money talks after all.

OP posts:
ThePlantKiller · 16/10/2023 07:00

We have offered on four properties in the past few months, two of them the seller went for the higher cash option and the other two times the vendor went for the people who were most proceedable.

The area is very sought after and decent homes usually go to sealed bids and then sell for about 20% over asking, so the market is taking a turn towards who can move the quickest according to our own EA.

Twiglets1 · 16/10/2023 07:22

Well, all sellers are different of course. Personally for me if I had 2 offers I would consider them both taking into account both the amount and the buyers position. For the sake of 2k I would go with the person in the best position, no question. For the sake of 20k the decision is obviously harder but it depends partly on percentages of the property being sold. If you’re selling somewhere at 800k for example, a seller still might accept 20k less than an alternative offer if that buyer was in a position to proceed as it’s a small percentage of the asking price.

bluebirdsongs · 16/10/2023 07:25

We've made 3 unsuccessful offers in the past year. 2 went for the highest bidders and held out weeks / months to get someone to offer higher. The other one we were the highest but they went for the FTB with no chain

Twiglets1 · 16/10/2023 07:27

Earlydaysandnights · 16/10/2023 00:08

Appreciate your replies and it's good to get other peoples opinions. I've heard people say first time buyers have an advantage but I don't really think that's the case most of the time. Money talks after all.

I would pick a FTB over someone in a chain and I think that’s true for most sensible Sellers. They do bring their own problems sometimes such as an overreaction to problems highlighted in a survey. But overall, it’s still better to avoid a long chain if you possibly can as the more people in a chain, the more chance someone will pull out (especially in a falling market like this one).

Gardeningtime · 16/10/2023 07:30

Ftb always make me hesitant, as they themselves can behave in a very uncertain manner as they don’t know what they are doing. In my experience it is always the highest bid that wins, unless there is something wrong with that buyers position.

Chain free is a nice benefit, but not something folks pay for unless desperate to move, especially if it’s a first time buyer who may hold the process up

we have bought and sold six times, each time we have been chain free, due to moving around for work. No one has ever wished to let us pay less because we are chain free, and many folks are chain free for many reasons, not just ftb

it’s a good position where generally on equal bids it would be a benefit, but as said, in my experience it’s not something folks generally pay for.

LolaSmiles · 16/10/2023 08:14

Over a small amount of money I'd take the buyer most able to proceed.
A larger difference, especially if it might affect my onward move, would be a more difficult decision.

I'd ideally avoid a long chain and, based on threads I've read, would probably be wary of cash buyers doing BTL as they seem to be prone to last minute drops in price.

dimsumfatsum · 16/10/2023 08:27

In my opinion, it's always the least complicated chain- small in number, good deposits/financials, etc.

aswarmofmidges · 16/10/2023 08:42

It's dependent on the seller
I don't think there are rules

Cotswoldbee · 16/10/2023 09:21

To us it was the person in the best position to proceed.

We sold two houses in the silly times a couple of years ago and when the nightmare first one was done we said that next time, we were definitely going to go with the person in the best position to proceed and NOT just the highest offer.
With the second house, we went to B&F and went with the third highest offer as they were already in rented and had all finances in place.
The two highest were both in chains so we dismissed them.
Made for a far smoother/quicker process and we felt it was worth the lower price.

We also made it very clear at the very beginning that unless the survey was to turn up something significant (such as subsidence etc which of course it didn't), any last minute attempts to force us into accepting a lower price would be met with an immediate cancellation of the sale.

abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz12 · 16/10/2023 09:22

It really does depend on the seller and the buyer.

I've known people have an absolute nightmare with cash buyers - either gazundering at the last minute, pulling out (because they were investors and had no 'personal connection' to the property they were buying so had carried on looking in case a better opportunity came along), or suddenly announcing that they need a mortgage/to sell a different property to release funds

FTBs can be a pain in the bum because they don't understand the process and get spooked by fairly ordinary things coming up on a survey.

There also seems to be a 'we are doing you a favour buying your overpriced house with our hard earned money' feeling amongst some FTBs if you look at threads on here (as if they are the only ones who have ever had to save and don't want to overpay) so they sound like they would be a nightmare to deal with

People with something to sell come with the disadvantage of a chain and potential issues with mortgages etc

So it really does depend on why you are moving. If we were moving now it would be because we want to rather than need to, so I would rather take a little less and sell to someone who I thought would go through with buying my property without playing silly games with the price at the last minute, so FTBs would probably be bottom of my list

GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER · 16/10/2023 09:31

Are they in a position to proceed, would be one of my criteria.
Plus of course offering an acceptable price.
And whether I like the look of them or get ‘awkward’ vibes.

andymary · 16/10/2023 09:33

When we bought our house, we were told that the sellers chose us as they knew we were first time buyers, and that this would be our first 'own' home, so they wanted to let us have the opportunity to have it over another couple whom wasn't a FTB.
They could have just said it to make the transaction easier of course, being as we wernt in a chain, and the other couple may have been. But they did leave us a lovely long letter in the house saying congrats on your first home, that they hope we love it just as much as they enjoyed living there, and took lots of effort in writing down everything about the house, such as where and how to use the fuse box, what light switches turn on what, alarm system, boiler info, maintenance tips etc, even the best takeaways around the area! It was very appreciated ❤

ComeOutSun · 16/10/2023 09:58

When we sold we didn't take the offer that was highest. We took the one that worked best for our situation. It was only a couple of thousand either way (we got four offers at once to consider together). We accepted the one that didn't have anything holding back their finance and with a good settlement date. That was an investor. I'd have liked to have sold to the young family but their terms were for an earlier settlement date with us renting from them for a few weeks to get to the date we wanted to move out. In the end, the smoothest transaction won.

ClematisBlue49 · 16/10/2023 09:59

I decided to go for cash buyers with no chain, but it backfired somewhat as they pulled out, having tried to knock a large amount off the price, which I refused to accept.

It's always a gamble, whoever you go with, as you are taking your property off the market once an offer is accepted, so other buyers can no longer see it and potentially offer more, meaning that I personally wouldn't agree to a significantly lower offer just because the buyer is able to proceed. I wasted 3 months on my cash buyers, and could well have sold to someone else by now.

My EA's experience is that cash buyers can sometimes be less likely to pursue a purchase to the end than FTB's, who get more emotionally engaged. I certainly wouldn't be put off by FTB's and would prefer them to buyers in a chain.

@Cotswoldbee 's suggestion makes sense (making it clear that attempts to lower the price unreasonably will lead to the sale being cancelled), and I will do the same when I put my house back on the market next year.

PinkRoses1245 · 16/10/2023 10:01

A combo, depending on their situation. I do think I'd be inclined to accept a lower offer from a first time or cash buyer, as shorter chain the better.

iovebread · 16/10/2023 10:17

Sellers need to get the next property price they want to move to, down. Lots of chains collapsing because FTB getting cold feet. Prices need to go down through the chain.

iovebread · 16/10/2023 10:19

ClematisBlue49 · 16/10/2023 09:59

I decided to go for cash buyers with no chain, but it backfired somewhat as they pulled out, having tried to knock a large amount off the price, which I refused to accept.

It's always a gamble, whoever you go with, as you are taking your property off the market once an offer is accepted, so other buyers can no longer see it and potentially offer more, meaning that I personally wouldn't agree to a significantly lower offer just because the buyer is able to proceed. I wasted 3 months on my cash buyers, and could well have sold to someone else by now.

My EA's experience is that cash buyers can sometimes be less likely to pursue a purchase to the end than FTB's, who get more emotionally engaged. I certainly wouldn't be put off by FTB's and would prefer them to buyers in a chain.

@Cotswoldbee 's suggestion makes sense (making it clear that attempts to lower the price unreasonably will lead to the sale being cancelled), and I will do the same when I put my house back on the market next year.

It’s not a “gamble”.
you’ve agreed a sale, then you take the property off the market. Simples

what you’re describing is something else altogether 🙄

iovebread · 16/10/2023 10:23

Cotswoldbee · 16/10/2023 09:21

To us it was the person in the best position to proceed.

We sold two houses in the silly times a couple of years ago and when the nightmare first one was done we said that next time, we were definitely going to go with the person in the best position to proceed and NOT just the highest offer.
With the second house, we went to B&F and went with the third highest offer as they were already in rented and had all finances in place.
The two highest were both in chains so we dismissed them.
Made for a far smoother/quicker process and we felt it was worth the lower price.

We also made it very clear at the very beginning that unless the survey was to turn up something significant (such as subsidence etc which of course it didn't), any last minute attempts to force us into accepting a lower price would be met with an immediate cancellation of the sale.

The last bit you said. You need to let buyers know that at viewings because believe me in this market people are not putting up with high mortgages and poor quality homes. Buyers are happily not buying right now and get tied up in a big mortgage in a depreciating market lol