So, my wife and I have offered on a house, another party were interested and so placed an offer. Reluctantly and stretching ourselves to the limit, we increased our offer to just short of the asking price. The other party offered more than we did and the house was sold to them. Less than 10 hours later I get a call saying that the other party has pulled out and that the house is ours if we want it at the price we offered. Great, but this is now £13k more than our original offer…not a lot in the grand scheme, but still.

Never having done this before (first time buyer), do I just accept that this was what I was willing to pay, or do I return with a counter offer?

I feel like it’s been more of an eBay auction, where two parties have wanted it and the winner hasn’t come through, but I’m still feeling the result of the bidding war in the price I’m going to pay.

What do you think, what would you do?

Cheers,

M.

Definitely counter offer. Did the other party even exist?

Tell them your original offer will be your maximum.

Your last bid before X started bidding is your final offer!!!

Great, but this is now £13k more than our original offer

Are you being told the proper story/truth by the Agent on this?

Possibly the other bidder pulled out because the vendor put the price up to them first. The Vendor feels ‘theres alot of interest’ and they’d undervalued their house so time to get greedy.

What happens if you’ve spent money on the survey etc then the vendor advises you that you’ve been gazumped?

13k is alot in the grandscheme of things. Especially such circumstances.

I would hesitate to offer/stick with your original amount as well. Of course your buying a house not the seller but you are paying alot of costs to a seller who could be flaky with the process.

Agreed, the other buyer might have pulled out because the final agreed price was too high after they had time to reflect (but would have been happy to continue with their first offer). If you drop to your original offer they might go back to the other party again, or just be more vulnerable to gazumping. Depends how much you care.

All good advice. It does sound iffy, we fell foul of this before. so go back to your original offer, and start looking elswhere.

As above.
Tell the seller that your original offer (BEFORE this ‘mystery buyer’ started pushing prices up came along) is your final offer.

DrP

Say you feel that you overstretched first time round and your original offer stands, or you could meet them half way between the two.

Depends how much you want the house/how active the local market is.

a call saying that the other party has pulled out and that the house is ours if we want it at the price we offered[b]now back on the open market[/b]

You’re under no obligation to continue with your final, bigger offer. You can offer that, or your lower offer, or somewhere in the middle. Or, indeed, nothing. The agent is trying to bounce you into making a decision quickly, which you don’t need to do.

First thing I’d try to find out is why the other deal fell through.

a call saying that the other party has pulled out and that the house is ours if we want it at the price we offerednow back on the open market

You’re under no obligation to continue with your final, bigger offer. You can offer that, or your lower offer, or somewhere in the middle. Or, indeed, nothing. The agent is trying to bounce you into making a decision quickly, which you don’t need to do.

First thing I’d try to find out is why the other deal fell through.

So the higher offer fell through – if they want to sell then they revert to your offer.
The house is only worth what someone is prepared to pay for it.

In fact, tell them you are no longer interested as you have found a better house at 20K less than theirs, and are going ahead with that.

And see what happens

IHN – Member

First thing I’d try to find out is why the other deal fell through.

Apparently, the other party had been interested in another property (in preference to this one) which had been sold. This property has returned to the market, and given their preference for it, they’ve decided to back out.

Apparently, the other party had been interested in another property (in preference to this one) which had been sold. This property has returned to the market, and given their preference for it, they’ve decided to back out.

In which case, it’s back to square one for the vendors; they have a house to sell. My ‘offer what you like’ comments stand.

Apparently, the other party had been interested in another property (in preference to this one) which had been sold. This property has returned to the market, and given their preference for it, they’ve decided to back out.

My offer punter withdraws so I offer the second choice the house at +13k more.

Doesn’t make sense. Shirley if ^ happened the vendor would be eager to please.

That makes sense, but as others have suggested its now all about the market, about other potential buyers etc.

It will be hard to convince the sellers that their house is suddenly worth £13k less than they thought they were getting, so the process could get drawn out and edgy.

Apparently, the other party had been interested in another property (in preference to this one) which had been sold. This property has returned to the market, and given their preference for it, they’ve decided to back out.

If that story is true (and remember, you were told it by an estate agent 😐 ), they may well be back again to gazump you if that other house sale changes again

Unless I really wanted that particular house, no way would I give the +13grand. I’d like to think I’d revert to a thousand LESS than my original price

Agreed with all of the above. It sounds to me like the agent is playing you, but then I generally don’t trust estate agents or have a lot of time for most of them. Isn’t it odd how the circumstances changed just 10 hours after you failed to increase your last bid?

My advice would be don’t play games with them, no matter how tempting. Tell them straight that you like and want the house and will be prepared to continue with your original offer. Also explain that you’d been stretching yourselves to the limit with your original +13k offer and that on reflection it was too high, that you may have had to pull out anyway.

If they get too pushy I’d be tempted to tell them that you feel like you were played and that you’re not sure you can trust them. Are you able to talk to the vendors directly? You might be able to get a better handle on the real situation that way. It could be the vendors playing games but my money is on the agents.

So, a quick contract law lesson:

The thre ingredients of a binding contract to buy anything are:

Offer
Acceptance
Consideration (ie money).

BUT

Transactions for houses are always expressed as “subject to contract”, i.e. your offer and acceptance aren’t binding on you or the seller until you’ve signed a contract.

Until then, it’s just a negotiation with no (meaningful) consequences.

Tactics

You’re possibly being played, but you don;t know that for sure. If you’ve brave enough, and happy to risk some costs (survey, some legal fees), you could merely go along with the current arrangement (ie £13k above your preferred price) and then, just before you’re about to sign, chip the price.

It’s a bit of a dirty trick and will make the sellers react emotionally, but it might get you where you need. And money talks.

I don’t think any of us can answer for you, it really depends on the house, the area and your financial situation.

If you are happy to pay the higher price to secure the house because you like it and there isn’t anything similar around then it is money well spent. 13k sounds a lot but compared to the price of the house, the time you will be there and the enjoyment you get from living somewhere nice, it isn’t actually very much. Especially as it is the banks money and not yours 😉

If you are unsure or rushing into it then perhaps it isn’t wise.

Estate agents have been known to pull the 2nd very keen buyer routine so keep your wits about you.

Plenty of fish in the sea. All of its salty but one wont leave a bad taste in the mouth like this one..

Also bear in mind that 13k, if borrowed from the bank over 25 years, might cost you more like 20k.

They’re ^^^ right though, only you can tell. We paid £6k over asking in December for a house, something I never thought I’d do, but for various reasons we did and haven’t looked back.

It’s not clear from the OP if their original offer would have ever been accepted, just that is was made and then almost immediately another party put in a better one. Irrespective of the 2nd buyer’s interest you might have had to up your first offer to get it accepted, you normally do unless you offered too much in the first place. So the £13K is a relatively spurious figure.

I would bypass the estate agent , go round and have a chat to the vendors and find out what’s happened from their perspective and decide how you proceed from there . I know that any sale will still have to be done through the agents and I know they don’t approve of people doing this but IME it helps to find out exactly what is going on .

Not sure i agree with that. The vendors are just as likely to be lying shitbags as the agents. When money’s involved some people think it gives them permission to be dishonest and snidy ****.

Looks to me like the estate agent has completely made up this second buyer – don’t assume the vendors have been left in the dark

The other party offered more than we did and the house was sold to them.

1 No it wasn’t. Their offer was accepted.

2 Estate Agents work for the Seller…

3 Only offer what you can afford, and when your mortgage company believes the property is ‘worth’

convert – Member
It’s not clear from the OP if their original offer would have ever been accepted, just that is was made and then almost immediately another party put in a better one. Irrespective of the 2nd buyer’s interest you might have had to up your first offer to get it accepted, you normally do unless you offered too much in the first place. So the £13K is a relatively spurious figure.

That’s a fair point and further discussion has revealed that the vendors will only accept an offer that would’ve exceeded our initial offer + £7K. I suppose that statement is with the benefit of having had two offers within a short space of time.

So, in reality, we’re haggling over £6k

So, in reality, we’re haggling over £6k

It’s not that big a deal over the life of a mortgage (so long as it doesn;t tip you into financial ruin, in which case you’re sailing close to the wind already). If you want the house, agree to their counter offer and get the agent to take it off the market ASAP. Then get cracking with surveys and lawyers and move in..!

and then, just before you’re about to sign, chip the price.

No, that’s a crap trick. Be honest and upfront and you won’t be the slimy git in all this.

You know the price they will accept; do you want to pay that?

You know the price they will accept; do you want to pay that?

Yes, but it’s beyond (but not by much) what I have.

Ah, now it gets interesting!

Do you want to stretch your budget, or keep looking?

Or go back to the seller and say ‘this is what I have, can we do a deal?’

It’s the latter. The budget is constrained by a number of rational and irrational factors. 3% stamp duty is a right PITA.

Done; £7k saved!

Thanks for the help fellas!

Congratulations, now the really nervy times begin! Good luck.