Chancer?

xxyyzz

My wife and I had verbally agreed a price on a house with an estate agent and we were going for our final look at it this weekend before agreeing to buy next week. Out of the blue the estate agent rings me this evening to say that somebody contacted the owner personally and offered another €3000 over our offer and the owner instructed the estate agent to go with this offer. Opinions?

Considering the house has been on the market for the last 6 months and we were the only offer I think this is too big a coincidence and its a last gasp effort to wring a few extra grand out of us.

3DataModem

You've probably been gazumped. Has the agent suggested you match offer? Have they asked for a counter offer? Have you made it apparent to the EA you csn affor more?

And the big question; What are you prepared to pay?

silja

Sounds suspicious to me. Unless you really, really, REALLY want that house, I'd decline to offer more. Point out the things in your favour (mortgage approval, ready to move quickly or whatever), but say that you cannot pay anymore, and to let you know by Monday evening if you can have the house or not.

tanyabond

Sounds like a chancer... I would feel being taken for a fool...

zxcvbnm12

id have to agree with silja.it just sounds like there tryin to squeeze an extra few pound out of you.you probably have ur heart set on it but dont let them put u into a situation like that

xxyyzz

Definitely not offering more. I'm tempted to reduce my offer in fact. We are not willing to pay any more than our original offer so we are not losing anything. The estate agent did say that he recommended not changing our offer. Possibly it is the owner acting the boll*x

Diddler1977

xxyyzz wrote: »

Definitely not offering more. I'm tempted to reduce my offer in fact. We are not willing to pay any more than our original offer so we are not losing anything. The estate agent did say that he recommended not changing our offer. Possibly it is the owner acting the boll*x

I would reduce your offer by 10,000 and tell the EA to come back to you if they are interested.

zxcvbnm12

good on you

Jagle

Diddler1977 wrote: »

I would reduce your offer by 10,000 and tell the EA to come back to you if they are interested.

agreed, sounds like they are taking the p!ss

ICE HOUSE

Sounds like there chancin there arm

crazyderk

Jesus is practice still goin on? When we bought 5 years ago we said to the girl who was showing us our property that we were interested and what were the next steps? She said the person who viewed it after us put down a 25 euro deposit to hold for a week so her boyfriend could see it and that we would have to wait... We were pretty much about to tell her where to go when my other half found out her boss at the time knew the owner of the sales company and have them a call about it! The sales girl was givin a right bollockin and we got a call straig away with an apology and told if we had the deposit to come over at our convenience and sign the paper work!

I wouldn't offer less but I would stand firm on your offer and say if they're being offered more they should take it and best of luck to them as your second choice was quickly becoming a first choice and this just makes it easier to go with the other property! Best of luck with the sale though!

Bigcheeze

The whole contacting the owner directly bit sounds dodgy.

If there was another offer through the ea I wouldn't be suspicious as offers force other people who are interested to sh1t or get off the pot.

I'm selling my house at the moment. It has been on the market about a month with lots of viewings but no offers. We got an offer this week and within a few hours got a higher offer. So sometimes an offer can smoke out someone who is interested but is waiting to see what happens.

doggy Bear

The owner said to go with the other bid? Without waiting for a counter-bid? Sounds like the owner doesn't want to stick around for a bidding war, which is strange. Possible scenarios:
1) the other bidder is known to the owner, which means that's the end of that sale, usually.
2) the owner wants to take the house off the market (final price was too low) and has bid himself.

But since you're not willing to bid more (and good for you for sticking to your max), then someone has outbid you and that's that.

ted1

reduce offer. Tell them if the sale falls through. You'll reduce the offer by two thousand.

ebbsy

Happened to me in the midlands before. Made an offer, Phone call from agent that somebody else had put in a higher etc.

Ended up with the estate agent phoning to apologise......

As somebody else said now you can only pay less than what was offered, 10k or 15k less

Diddler1977

xxyyzz wrote: »

My wife and I had verbally agreed a price on a house with an estate agent and we were going for our final look at it this weekend before agreeing to buy next week. Out of the blue the estate agent rings me this evening to say that somebody contacted the owner personally and offered another €3000 over our offer and the owner instructed the estate agent to go with this offer. Opinions?

Considering the house has been on the market for the last 6 months and we were the only offer I think this is too big a coincidence and its a last gasp effort to wring a few extra grand out of us.

Honestly don't offer anything near what you had originally offered.

By the time you sign papers and move in this house will possibly have dropped in value by X? amount. In this market a house is a seriously depreciating asset.

Save yourself a lot of money by not even looking until this time next year - but this is dependent on still being able to get mortgage approval next year.

Damie

xxyyzz wrote: »

Definitely not offering more. I'm tempted to reduce my offer in fact. We are not willing to pay any more than our original offer so we are not losing anything. The estate agent did say that he recommended not changing our offer. Possibly it is the owner acting the boll*x

Without a doubt, offer less plus a time limit, the ball is in your court as far as I can see so 'play ball...and play dirty' :0)

Gunth

Contact the EA and withdraw your offer. Do not become emotionally attached to the house as in a falling market you will find a better house for less money in time. As you don't have any proof you can't assume the seller or the EA are trying trick you into spending more money as it could be a genuine bidder. Just walk away from the deal as there are plenty more houses available. In the meantime continue to save and watch prices drop.

dollyk

same happened to me when i was buying my house.
they got an offer of 5k more than mine at the last minute.
I was tempted, but didnt put in the higher offer, as it meant spending what i had saved for furniture. They took the other offer.
The person who was buying got refused loan approval , and they offered it back to me for 2k less than i had offered....:D, Im still here 8 years later,
but its worth 40k less now ....aw well, cant win them all:o

tricky D

+1 for resubmitting a lower offer.

JOSman

Sorry your being messed about, but the other posters are right. Something better will come up in time. Be patient. It's a waiting game at this stage. If the estate agent tries to get back with your original offer give them a minus offer.

Keep the faith.

michael999999

Tell the estate agent your sticking to your original offer,putting a 14 day limit on the offer.Then do nothing for the next three months. If its all a bluff then the house will still be there,but you can bid much less than your current offer. Sounds like there chancing there arm to me!

Senna

xxyyzz wrote: »

The estate agent did say that he recommended not changing our offer.

I'm guessing the EA wont get any commission if its sold to the other buyer, so in this case the EA is probably going to work in your interest (shocking how times have changed:D). I would take the offer off the table completely, dont reduce it, dont give another few days etc.
If the house is still available in a few weeks (and you really really want it) go in 3-5% lower than your last offer and make it clear they have 48 hours to decide, and the offer will be reduced further if they delay or mess you about.

Goldenegg

While contacting the owner directly does sound dodgy, I wouldn't fully rule it out. When we were buying our house, an offer was put in before us, so I slipped a note thru the owners letter box with my details and that I would give €2K higher and within a half hour, she called, accepted my offer and rang the EA to cancel other offer.

Bigcheeze wrote: »

The whole contacting the owner directly bit sounds dodgy.

If there was another offer through the ea I wouldn't be suspicious as offers force other people who are interested to sh1t or get off the pot.

I'm selling my house at the moment. It has been on the market about a month with lots of viewings but no offers. We got an offer this week and within a few hours got a higher offer. So sometimes an offer can smoke out someone who is interested but is waiting to see what happens.

mikemac

Naive me thought this gazumping messing had died out.

I'd say it's the owner acting the dick. The EA has a verbal agreement with you and you seem keen so they want to wrap this up. Commission on an extra 3K is feck all.

Either keep your current offer or reduce it 10k or so and be sure to add a time limit.
The estate agent will go back to the owner and it's likely you'll get a call in a few days that this new bid fell through, suprise suprise

Do let us know how you get on OP