Vendor won’t make a counter offer

[Firsttimebuyer91]

We saw a house we love on the market for £775,000. The house was initially on the market in January for £800,000 then came off the market and was put back up last week at £775k. The agent told us that the property had sold for £800k but had fallen through due to a change in the buyer’s circumstances.

It seems odd to put it back on the market for less than it had previously sold given it’s a much better market now (May rather than Jan) unless they’re in a rush to sell.

We made an offer of £745,000 yesterday which we thought was reasonable as a starting point for negotiations (3.5% below asking price). We agreed between us that we are willing to go up £765k but of course would like to pay less if we can!

This afternoon the agent came back and said the offer was far too low and so we went up to £755k. The agent came back again saying it was too low. I asked if the vendor had made a counter offer and she said no, they are willing to negotiate but won’t negotiate on £20k below asking price.

AIBU to now not want to go back with a higher offer? I think £755k on a £775k house is worthy of at least a counter offer to begin the negotiation process.

Any advice on what to do next?

Oh my sweet summer child.

This deffo is your first house purchase.

Estate agents lie. Sorry to break it to you.

This is why I would directly question them about what they are willing to negotiate to. Ask them straight what their counter offer would be, being as someone somewhere along the line has indicated that negotiation is possible.

Whether it's a low ball offer or not is irrelevant. They won't accept your current offer. It's as simple as that. You're giving it too much brain space.
Either go back with your best and final, or offer £760k and go from there. At this stage it would be best and final for me.

To be honest if you kept coming back with small increases, I still wouldn't sell as I would then be expecting you to try dropping the price near to exchange.

Are you proceedable?
Have you got your finances in order?
Do you have a property to sell?
Do you know if the vendors need to sell quickly?

It sounds like you are perplexed that they are not negotiating to your set way. They can do what they like.
You have put forward your offers, they have rejected them. They have sold it once before and it hasn't been back on the market that long so maybe they are waiting to see if there's other interest.

If you 'love' the house and are proceedable, up your offer or maybe leave it for a week or 2. Have a chat with the EA, ask what position the vendors are in, say you're interested but looking at other properties, string it out a bit

I’ve never counter offered when selling my house. I’ve just no or yes to the offers made.

You can continue to play these games and witter on about percentages all you like, but £20k or £30k below asking price is a huge discount and tbh I wouldn't entertain such a price drop if I was them, unless I was desperate. I guess you now know that they aren't desperate, despite the house being on the market since January. So offer them a reasonable price, but if your best and final offer is £10k below asking price they may well say no. 'Open to negotiation' means many things, but for them it may be they're willing to accept £770 rather than £775.

Bloody hell. Don’t string it out if you want it.

op just offer them 765 and stress it the agent it’s best and final.

They don't need to counter offer, their offer is on the table, 775k. They might negotiate for a little less, but it would be pretty stupid of them to tell you the lowest price they will sell for, if there is a possibility they can get more.

They’ve probably told the agent they may take an offer under the price, the agent has translated that as willing to negotiate, and you’ve translated that as there’ll be back and forth counter offers. My experience of house buying is that the “negotiation” is normally just the buyers going up until either they draw a line and say “best and final” or they say yes.

Of course it isn't a low ball offer. You often get sellers on here who take negotiations far too personally and are convinced that the figure that they would like to sell for is the true market value. That doesn't seem to be borne out by the number of reductions all over Rightmove!

Just up your offer to 760 then 765 if needed and see where it gets you. They don’t need to counter offer if they don’t want to. When the EA said they are prepared to negotiate, they probably just meant that they are willing to consider a below asking price offer.

I don’t get the comments on this thread about vendors getting arsey with low offers either. Just say no if you don’t want to accept it. If someone starts low, then moves up to a number you’re comfortable with, what’s wrong with that?

People are so weird around property sales.

3.87% is much closer to 4%…

It’s been on the market since January.

You said it has sold during that time though.
But fell through due to a change in circumstances - not to do with money as far as you know.

So it hasn't necessarily been in the market for 5 months - at least some of that time it was likely taken off the market for the sale.

And they've already addressed the cost and time, if that was indeed a concern, by dropping their asking price by £25k despite the market in your area being stronger.

If they aren't in a massive rush to sell, why would they drop it even further right now, having only just relisted it?

As another pp says, if you just keep pushing for counter offers and making small price increases you risk alienating them] vendors. They may just decide to say no to you anyway, if not in a rush to sell, as they may be concerned that you may try to reduce the price again later down the line.

We can get arsey with low offers because with experience you know that at the last minute before exchange they are very likely to drop the offer back to what they wanted to pay originally.

It annoys me and I do not put up with that shit. And i have pulled out of a sale with hours to go.
You offer what your willing to pay, I agree or I dont. You can't make me accept your offer, I cant make you pay more than you think it's worth.

I mean it has to be said, buy the other house then.

Maybe they have changed their minds? Or the EA told a porky because they thought the vendors could be persuaded to negotiate and it’s backfired.
Either way, offer what you think it’s worth, best and final, have all your ducks in a row so you can proceed quickly and be prepared to walk away if they say no. I’ve done that on every house I’ve bought and it’s much less stressful than trying to be some negotiating hotshot.

3% looks small.

20/30,000 does not.

Yes, we are viewing the other house next week so will probably end up making an offer on that one if this doesn’t work out. For those saying they’re not in a rush to sell, they have changed jobs and have a 1.5 hour commute and a baby so want to move closer to work - so I would have thought they’d want to sell quickly. And we would never ask for the price to be dropped once a price has been agreed - my understanding was that opening with an offer slightly lower than you’re willing to pay to allow room for negotiation is a normal part of house buying. Of course they’re free not to accept it, we’re just surprised they didn’t come back and counter it given we were told they’re open to negotiation. We are reluctant to keep going back with offer after offer.

Doesn’t look like you are going to be moving for some time then.

That reads like “they are in a bind let’s take advantage”.

Its nearer 4% according to a pp.

Add the 25k they've already dropped the price from the original listing and now its 50k reduction.

OP they dont know that you wont reduce your offer on the day of exchange, how could they possibly know.
It's a fair certainty for seasoned house sellers that a buyer who fucks around with offers will fuck around at the critical time.

If you want it, offer your best offer, then if that's not enough, so be it, it wasnt meant to be.

Constantly analysing isn’t going to change anything.

your offers have been declined.

its a buyers market almost everywhere so look at the house over the road and go silent on this one for a couple of months.

perhaps have a holiday or something but go silent

if it goes it goes.

If you are willing to pay £765k then just offer it and say its your best and final offer.

Even if the agent says they are willing to negotiate what the agent really means is they are open to offers. Having just lost a buyer at £800k they put it on at £775k to get a realistic quick offer. So to them an offer of £745k is £55k less than they were actually already getting at one stage.

But no Seller has to counteroffer especially when they consider the buyer has gone in too cheekily low.