Is this the house for us?

[Lelu2021]

Property has been on the market from June of last year. Probate has apparently been granted.

Let's say, house was 800k, dropped twice and now at 725k
Vendor has put in "20k of work" to rip out old carpets and wallpaper, paint the walls neutral and just tidy things up.
Wants to increase it up to 845k for the tidy.

Roof, dated tank boiler system, neither replaced in at least the last 30 years. Needs a new door and modernisation throughout. It's a clean space so could just move in and buy some white goods and deal with it as is for a while.
Electricals have been rewired recently.

Offered just under 10pc

EA said "there are much higher offers in play at the moment. Would you like to increase"?
So we did - a bit - considering the other factors.

Been nearly a week and have had heard nothing since.
What's going on? Is this a sign we shouldn't buy the house?
It's been on the market so long and I personally thought it was perfect when I saw it during the renovations!

*EA seemed hungover at our second viewing.

What would you do?

It's been nearly 2 weeks since the initial offer

Is the "let's say" bit hypothetical? I'm not sure why the price would suddenly shoot up.

You say the price has jumped from £725 k to £845k? How would 20k of work justify a price jump of that much? I'm also wondering how what seems to be repainting and renewal of electrics comes to that much anyway.
So your question seems to how can you establish whether the agent has put your offer forward, and how can you get the seller to speed up their response?
I'd deal with that by emailing the agents saying that you are awaiting a response to your offer of x made and can they let you know what the sellers response is- I d send that to the "office" email rather than the individual agent. Then I'd phone and ask for a viewing on another property they have on their books. You need to demonstrate that this house is not your only option and that you are serious buyer who is not prepared to hang about.

None of this makes any sense.

Stand strong.

Hold your nerve

If there were higher offers, the house would be off the market by now

10 percent under what? The 845 or the 725?

Looks like the vendor is not serious in selling to you for reasons you may be aware of or not

Tell the EA to get their finger out and you want an answer within 48 hours or you will not be interested

We have alsways viewed twice before making a firm, cash off and never backed out

Remind the EA of the advatages if they sell to you and tell them to remove from the market if offer accepted and E has checked your ability to ay for the place

I changed the price for anonymity but the changes are the same value

Sorry they want to increase up to 745k
Originally 800k
Down to 725k now
Put in work
Wants to put back on market for 745k

Offer from others is still pending

I am also a FTB and my agreement in principle has been approved
Got the name of a solicitor which I can plop on the offer form to make myself even more appealing?

10pc below the 725

Once again the magical 10% below - if you want the house then offer an amount you are prepared to pay, if this is 10% below and it has been rejected then walk away. I would expect the vendors are looking for a number beginning with 7.

If the current offer you have made is an increase on the 10% below, I would suggest you contact the EA, tell them you need an answer by XX date, if there is no answer or the offer is rejected, there will be no further increases. If that happens you then need to walk away. The moment the EA gets a whiff you may come back, they will play you by not contacting you so that you will increase your offer again.

You need to decide if this is the house for you.

Not sure the agent put through our offer to be rejected.
They wrote that there are other offers in play. Do you want to increase?
Nothing about a rejection at all.
We can do one more increase in the negotiation that's 6pc less than asking and what I think the property is worth and is very near starting with 7.

There are a couple of other properties we are interested in but that ones my favourite

So was your offer £670k (90% of £745k)?
Purely on negotiation tactics I would go up to £700k (ie next round number) because the vendors will have a psychological "shriek" at the first digit being the next one down. But if you can't afford that or the house doesn't seem worth that to you then walk away. A house is only worth what a willing buyer is prepared to pay and them putting in £20k of work is totally irrelevant to you as a buyer. It's not your problem that they want more for their house than it is worth. Don't be wheedled by the EA they are working for the vendor and for their own commission.

If the EA is getting a 2% commission then I would be pointing out to them they are looking at earning a commission of £14,000 from your £700k offer and pushing for £745,000 will just make you walk away and it's not worth it for the sake of the few hundred extra commission they want to earn but can't if they don't have a buyer.

Sounds like your offer is too low, they are saying they want to remarket at 745 but you have offered around 650? They won't get 745, but your offer is well below what they might consider acceptable.
They are possibly hanging on to see if anyone else offers more, they might even take the house off the market for a bit if they are not in a hurry to sell.

So you offer £650, 10% below the previous asking price and about 13% below the current price? I can see why they aren't jumping at that.

I'm sure your offer has been noted and they are giving it a few weeks to see if a better one comes along since they did some work.

The EA has to put all offers to the vendors unless there is a figure the vendor has stated they do not want to receive offers below.

It does sound like th EA is playing you to increase your offer, be very careful believing anything they tell you - there are always other offers and lots of interest when there may or may not be!

Have a look at the other properties, but also I would put in writing (email is fine)to the EA you offer NN amount and it is your final offer. Forget the % though, I expect nothing, at this stage, will be accepted below 700k. You could also contact the vendors (presume not the original owner if probate is involved) and ask them if the offers are being received.

When buying property, you need to be definitive in what the final amount is you want to pay for a property and any deadlines issued are followed through, so if the amount you are prepared to pay is £6NNk then make that clear to the EA and either set date for it to be accepted or declined, or advise the EA you will leave it on the table. Then look at other properties.

Why don’t you get a friend / Mum / colleague to ring the Estate Agent to ask about the house and pretend they’re a new interested party. They should ask ‘how long has it been on the market, has it had offers? What kind of price do they think it’ll go for? Would they accept offers of 700k? Or do they think it’ll go for way over? Play innocent. Has it had loads of interest? Is it worth throwing their hat in the ring with a cheeky offer? They should say they’re keen to view it and are proceed-able. See what the EA says. See if they’re honest about receiving your offer, are they open to more viewings? If so, then they have clearly rejected your offer. Obviously get someone savvy and on the ball to do this. The EA may BS a bit, either way it’s worth doing.

Aside from that, I would chase asap and ask ‘I assume my offer has been rejected?’ It’s a bit shit of them to not keep you updated. Even if there is a higher bidder they’re keen on, they should be keeping the ‘reserves’ (you) warm.

800k original price
725k current price
Want to remarket at 745k

1st offer 675k
2nd offer 685k
Can do 695k absolute cap

I do feel like I get her much more modern, and finished house so to speak with that but this house that needs a bit of work still speaks to me. I'll get over myself soon if this nonsense continues on

@Moveoverdarlin makes a good suggestion, always worth a try.

You are overthinking it - buying a house needs sensible thinking of course, it is a lot of money and easy to make a mistake, but you need to decide on the amount you wish to pay for this house, offer it, make sure the EA is clear there will be no further offers and you will walk away if not accepted. If they think you will keep coming back with another offer, it will never be accepted, especially if you cannot confirm the offers are being passed on.

Make any offer subject to the property being removed from the market and no further viewings to take place and is subject to survey.

This sounds really annoying & would put me right off. I hate it when estate agents say things like this. I don’t understand why you haven’t had a response to your higher offer? Have they just asked you to increase again? It sounds like they’re messing you around.

To the PP that said all offers are put to the vendor, yes they should be, but one of my DC has just bought a house. They had their offer rejected (very close to asking) with no offer to renegotiate. And told the vendors had accepted another offer of the same value. They thought this was odd having spoken to the vendors at viewing. They are FTB with mortgage agreed in principle. They dropped a note through the door of the house, and the vendor had no idea they had offered. We strongly suspect the agent wanted to sell to someone getting their mortgage through them, DC and partner had used a broker.

Just offer the 695k you can afford and leave the offer on the table.

They will either accept your offer or not. But you would have done all you could to secure the house you want.

And I think your anonymity is safe btw

What do you think it’s worth? Compared to other properties around? What does zoopla say?
At what level would you sleep well feeling like you’d paid a fair price. That could be slightly ‘over’ if you think it’s so unique that you didn’t want to miss out.

I think that’s what you need to focus on.