Help! When to give our best offer

[amidsummernightsdream]

I'll try and keep this concise as possible.

Trying to get our dream house. Dream house is on at £650k and has been on 4 weeks. We have already put an offer in of £605k a few days ago that was rejected.

That was our max but we've worked to this week to be in a position to offer more, although we cant get near the asking price.

Our house went on the market yesterday.
The sellers know we’re serious and the agent has hinted the house might be reduced next week (maybe to around £625k). He’s told me to wait until we’ve got an offer on ours before offering again, saying “no one is going to take the house off you next week.”

But… they’ve got viewings this weekend and my gut is doing somersaults. I can’t tell if he’s being honest and just trying to protect us from jumping too soon, or if he’s stalling for some reason.

Bearing in mind we cant offer asking price. Our best offer would be £620 max. Would you hold off until after the weekend / possible price drop, or would you get another offer in now to stay in the game?

You can’t afford this house and haven’t sold yours. The EA is very kindly and politely asking you to stop wasting the seller’s time until you are in a position to buy their house. I’d just find a house you can afford.

I would not accept asking price from someone with no offer on theirs - you have no idea how long you will take to sell and how much reduction you might have to make which will affect what you can afford to pay anyway so leave it

it will either be there when you are ready or it won’t

No one who is viewing has sold their property as of yet according to the EA
We live in a fast moving area and have priced our house sensibly and have 10 viewings booked in already for next week
But yes you're right i know we probably need to wait until we have an offer to be in a credible position

@SriouslyWhutNow im not sure thats guaranteed that we cant afford it especially as it has been floated it might get reduced- do you always give up on things so easily?
Im much more tenatious than that.

Although i do take your point about not wasting sellers time and my head does know we do need to wait to get an offer on ours.

You made an offer on a house before yours was on the market. If your house gets an offer at the price you want from one of your viewings, you could offer again, but I agree with PPs that it’s really out of range, there are too many variables and you need to be in a much better position before you offer again.

Wait until you are under offer as the agent has suggested. You won't know how much you can afford until you are under offer yourself.

Nothing to add to what ppps have said but wanted to say good luck with your viewings. Please keep us updated.

This is just what i needed from this thread, a dose of reality.
Deep down i do know we need to wait.
I was letting my emotions get the better of me this morning.

Also if we dont get this house at least we will have our house on the market and hopefully under offer which will put us in a stronger position as buyers and we wont be in this position again

@Advocodo thank you!

I think you have come to the right conclusion OP but I wanted to say you have my sympathy. It’s a really unsettling time. Good luck in getting the house that suits you all best.

@InSpainTheRain thank you, i really appreciate that kindness and empathy 🙏🏻

You sound really sensible @amidsummernightsdream.
You have your house on the market, which is the first step. Hopefully you will get an offer soon and then be in a better position to proceed to the next step. Don't get carried away and make offers that you might regret later.

You’ve got a good number of viewings and I hope they will result in some offers.

If not this house, there will be another that’s right for you.

Get the offer on yours first and then any offer you make will be taken more seriously. Also until you get an offer on yours you will not know for certain what your offer if will even if you think it’s priced sensitively. The proof is in the eating and all that. Also if your buyer is a FTB it might carry more weight than if in a chain. There is also the motivation to sell. If the seller has all those viewings and no offer results and you you come back with 620 and a FTB then you might be lucky. Worth a go. The market really is struggling at the moment so if you are fortunate to get a swift and strong offer on yours but theirs hangs a bit then things might go your way. You could always sell and go into rental - it won’t help with the house you want now but it will enable you to swoop in as soon as another you like comes on the market. It seems all sensible predictions are for further price falls so it’s less risky than selling and going into rental in a climbing market.

Your not proceedable and cant afford it... you can offer what you want (who knows you might be lucky, we got 8% off and expected to be rejected) but you may also need a reality check that its a dream house because its above your means.

Offering lower than asking on a house that JUST did a £25k reduction will likely still annoy them, you can try of course but if you haven't sold then you are likely to be rejected instantly anyway (even if you offered asking) because you aren't in a position to proceed yet.