How long to wait?!

[GlassCaseOfEmotions]

We put our house on the market at the end of last month, accepted an offer within days and it's a FTB.

Weve had our eye on a property since before we sold ours. Viewed and offered on it, understandably they wouldn't consider our offer until ours was sold. Updated them when we were under offer and vendor rejected initial offer. Never came back with a counter offer.

We have upped our offer since (4 days ago, not quite at the maximum we are willing to pay for that specific house). Vendors EA called yesterday to say they can't get hold of vendor to discuss our offer, but have 7 other viewers booked in (some 2nd viewings).

What do we do? Do we offer best and final now or wait until next week? Do we let EA know our offer is valid for xx amount of time and then will be withdrawn?

We are looking at more properties over the next few days so our hearts aren't set on this 1. It's frustrating as this 1 is ideal for us in every way, but we don't want to keep doing a merry dance with the vendor when they won't even make a counter offer!!

FWIW EA already told us our first offer was what they had recommended the vendor to list at!

I’m guessing the owners are lying low because they want the 7 other viewings to go ahead and to be fair, that is understandable from their point of view.

I wouldn’t offer more money at this stage but I would ask the EA to inform you if anyone else makes a proceedable offer better than yours. That would give you the opportunity to think about whether you want to offer more or not. In the meantime, keep viewing other properties yourself.

Thank you. I've only ever purchased 1 house (current) so never sure on what's normal and what isn't!

The other 7 viewings have enquired and booked in after our last offer was made, if that makes any difference to advice?

EA told us at our viewing that there had been very limited interest and suddenly they've had 10 viewings and 2 other offers (both rejected) since we initially offered? Seems very odd!

Should we let the EA know we are viewing other properties, or does it not make a difference? 1 is literally around the corner from this house, currently empty and recently refurbed. While the 1 we have offered on is occupied (and they've only made limited progress on viewing for their next purchase according to EA) and needs some work doing overtime.

No difference to my advice apart from yes, you should mention to the EA that you are looking at other properties while you wait to hear back from the owners of this one. That should concentrate the mind that your offer won’t necessarily stay on the table for long.
You may find one you prefer and where the owner is a bit keener to get a deal done quickly.
I agree it’s a bit odd that there is suddenly so much interest in the house you have offered on if there wasn’t much before. I don’t personally think many EAs tell outright lies (some people disagree) but this does sound unlikely.

Thank you so much 😊 I hadn't mentioned continuing to view to the vendors EA, so I will send them a text and let them know!

I am hopeful we do find 1 we prefer and a more motivated vendor 🤞🏻 don't want to keep hanging around forever as we need the extra room, and we don't want to mess our buyer around!!

I'm not convinced on the number of viewings (have no doubt there have been viewings, it is the right time of year for the market to pick up!) but the sudden interest just seems very odd to me. The property has been on the market nearly 2 months with (by EA own standard) very limited interest. We come along with an offer and suddenly tonnes of interest...🤷🏻‍♀️

When we made our offer we where told there was a viewing booked in and seller wouldn't make a decision until afterwards in case that person would have put in a better offer (wishful thinking given no one bought in the proceeding 9 months)... they didn't offer and we a buying it now.

I completely understand sellers wanting everyone to view before accepting an offer (you never know if you could get more otherwise!) and I've just done the same for viewings on my own property.

However, these viewers have materialised many days AFTER we made our last offer. I spoke to the EA the day before who said there had been no other interest yet. When the EA says she can't get hold of the seller to get a decision on our offer (we know it's reached them, as offers are submitted online for EA and seller to view then discuss) but can get hold of them to arrange 7 viewings, something seems odd.

I'd be nervous about being led a 'merry dance' by a vendor who goes incommunicado and also doesn't come back with a counter offer - even asking price - to your offer.
If it's not your only choice I'd find somewhere else. Who knows whether there will be more than seven viewings for a starter...
And having reread your first post I'd be wary of getting into (at best) a bidding war and worst gazumping.

They are probably one of ‘those’ vendors. Ime if they are acting difficult to contact now, they will be a pita all the way through the sale, and highly likely to try and continue to market/get you to bid higher once exchange of contracts is nearly done. Personally the whole buying/selling property is stressful enough without dealing with such people. Continue to view!

That's what I'm feeling put off about! If they can go silent at this stage and not counter offer, how motivated are they to sell?

I instructed my EA to let my buyer know there had been other offers and I would make a decision by xx date. In fairness, the buyer is who I would have preferred to go with anyway (even without them slightly increasing their offer, which was the highest to begin with!).

We are viewing another property that ticks all the same boxes, same area, looks to be better condition and same price. In fact, it's a much nicer street overall and ticks maybe more boxes than this 1 (won't know until we view in person!). I've let the EA know we have other viewings over the weekend, and suddenly she's got hold of the seller... Funny that!!

That's my worry, that they'll drag their heels throughout and then try to get more out of us! And then we lose our buyer cause of the seller being slow!! DP is more invested in this house than I am, being honest. I liked it, it ticks boxes and does what we need it to do. But I don't like it enough to pay asking price!!

We made an offer and stated reasons why (lots of things need fixing/ replacing, some condensation damp in the bathroom, overall state of the property). Seller allegedly got quotes for all of this within 2 days of our offer being made on a Saturday night (a seller who works away from home every week so can only accommodate viewings on weekends 🤔).

The selling part seems to have been the easiest for me 🙈🤣 my stress levels are through the roof on the buying part!!

The more I type on here, the more put off I am to be honest 🤣

@GlassCaseOfEmotions View the other property and 'move on' with no regrets, there are lots of houses on the market. Don't fall for 'it's our dream house' stuff, unless it's so individual or in such a desirable area that there'll never be another - unlikely.

You are right! It's definitely not our dream home or even dream location. It's practical and it works for us, but so do and will others!! DP is still hopeful, but I think I'm totally off it now to be honest.

Just chipping in to say, did you actually ask for a counter offer from the vendor? They may have turned you down with the assumption you'd come back with a second higher offer and be sitting on their side of this cursing you. I'm not sure on the exact timelines, but if they said no, then you went quiet for a few weeks before coming back with a higher offer, from their side it might look like you are the ones gameplaying and they are completely oblivious to your counter offer expectation. Maybe they are pissed off you left them hanging for weeks and now finding excuses to string you along a bit too.

Obviously I have no idea what the details is, but it might just be something where you're tangled up in a world of miscommunication here - probably made worse by estate agents stirring - and it would be a shame to let the whole thing blow up too soon. It's really easy to get over-heated in this process when you don't really need to.

Hope the other house viewing goes well, it sounds better tbh (on paper at least)

Yes we did. I asked the EA what the sellers counter offer was, and she responded 'well I know they want xx price ultimately but they've just said yours is too low' and I told her it wasn't worth that. That's when she informed me our first offer (£12,000 less than asking) was what she told them to list at and they chose the listed price themselves. We then went back less than 24 hours later with a higher than initial offer but lower than what the sellers want. There was then another higher offer made and rejected, then a further higher offer made and rejected according to the EA (by other potential buyers). And then we've been left in limbo since then, with no idea how our offer compares!

The offers are through an online portal, so you submit the offer and the seller and EA can both view it. So the seller knows timescales of when we have submitted and what price.

I also always assumed a seller would come back with a counter offer, unless the offer was insulting enough to completely turn them off you? At least that's what I've always known to happen!

Thank you 😊 it certainly looks and sounds better so far!! 🤞🏻

TBH it sounds to me as though they are holding out for that xx price that estate agent mentioned and in effect that IS their counter offer. Quite possibly considering what the estate agent thinks the value is they'll never get it, but people are not necessarily reasonable. I suspect if you absolutely don't think it's worth the asking, it's time to just move on to the other property.

Quite possibly! The stuff we pointed out that needs to be done, the seller has allegedly got quotes for which would put those things at about 6k total cost. So taking that off the price they've listed at isn't unreasonable and where we have based our offer (price they've listed at is 5k over what EA said they want and they are OIRO).

Yes definitely time to move on! Something doesn't sit right with me the more I think about it, just a gut feeling!

I don't see that they have done anything wrong. You know how much they want for their house and are not willing to pay it. They want to wait for someone who will.
So, yes best view other houses.

I also know how much their own EA thinks their house is worth (as do they) and know the other offers are closer to our initial figure than the sellers figure.

I didn't say they had done anything wrong. I do think it's shoddy to not even acknowledge an offer. Perhaps I've just been raised differently!

We will continue to view other properties and have done so since our initial offer on this 1. Unless we absolutely fall in love with a property, we won't sit around waiting for a slow seller to respond.

The viewings may be being done by the agent, if the agent has keys, and e.g. the vendors are on holiday, or whatever.

The agent does the viewings but doesn't have keys. I know this as, when we requested to view, the agent told us they had to check the seller would be in due to not having keys and needing them to allow access (backed up by the fact the seller hung around nearby until we had finished viewing). They then offered us a different day to the 1 we had asked for as the seller had plans that couldn't be changed.