Bid too high?

kel1

I have recently put in a bid on an apartment i hope to buy .The problem is in my enthusiasm i feel i may have bid too high as after investigation i found that similar apartments in the area have sold for less quite recently. The apartment has not gone sale agreed yet but the estate agent said that the vendor is happy with my offer and as it is a bank sale is checking with them to see if it can go sale agreed. In the mean time they are still having viewings.
My question is what is the best way of reducing my offer without annoying the estate agents and vendor and maybe loosing property as they feel i may be messing them around. No other people have bid on the property to date.

Eldarion

kel1 wrote: »

I have recently put in a bid on an apartment i hope to buy .The problem is in my enthusiasm i feel i may have bid too high as after investigation i found that similar apartments in the area have sold for less quite recently. The apartment has not gone sale agreed yet but the estate agent said that the vendor is happy with my offer and as it is a bank sale is checking with them to see if it can go sale agreed. In the mean time they are still having viewings.
My question is what is the best way of reducing my offer without annoying the estate agents and vendor and maybe loosing property as they feel i may be messing them around. No other people have bid on the property to date.

Just say exactly what you've posted here. You've done more market research and in light of the findings you have reduced your bid. Nothing has been signed yet so you're not tied to your initial bid but I'd let them know sooner rather than later because they're gonna be annoyed in any case. Better it be sooner so they can entertain other offers realistically again.

Also, good rule of thumb going forward - If you're not embarrassed by your first offer, the bid was too high.

TheDriver

Also they know how high you can go so there might be bidders suddenly involved....

BeatNikDub

Don't worry. Go back to the agent and explain you want to change it, that is completely your prerogative!
It may happen to go higher with another party but it is important you stick at a price that is comfortable to you and you know isn't going to put you under too much financial pressure!
This is too big of a purchase in your life to have any doubts over!
On the other hand if it hangs around on the market and you don't find anything in the mean time the vendor may very well consider going back to you to do a deal.

Barely Hedged

kel1 wrote: »

I have recently put in a bid on an apartment i hope to buy .The problem is in my enthusiasm i feel i may have bid too high as after investigation i found that similar apartments in the area have sold for less quite recently. The apartment has not gone sale agreed yet but the estate agent said that the vendor is happy with my offer and as it is a bank sale is checking with them to see if it can go sale agreed. In the mean time they are still having viewings.
My question is what is the best way of reducing my offer without annoying the estate agents and vendor and maybe loosing property as they feel i may be messing them around. No other people have bid on the property to date.

Buying a property involves negoitation. To benefit from a negoitation you must have logical reasons that are understood by both parties or at least interpreted in the same way as to why you should receive what you propose. Assuming there are no other bids and yours was siginifcantly above market value, then this strategy may work.

Conversely, the vendor can draw the conclusion that if you havnt even done your research on the true market value on the purchase of an asset as sizeable as a property in this day and age with all the freely available information on property prices, then how can they expect you to be able to complete all the post sale agreed requirements.

I personally believe, given previous experience, it was a pretty idiotic thing to do and just frustrates the whole selling process amongst other things. As there is no liability or responsibility on you to complete the sale for the price you have bid, people acting in the same way as yourself will continue to make the whole buying and selling of property in this country a farce.

Alf Veedersane

Eldarion wrote: »

Also, good rule of thumb going forward - If you're not embarrassed by your first offer, the bid was too high.

+1.

Mortgage broker used those exact same words with us.

Tell them you did the maths and it turns out you actually can't afford the bid you made, but would be happy to make a smaller bid?

This way there's still some ambiguity with regards to 'how high can he go' from the Estate Agent's point of view?


As it stands, the EA know they can get X out of you, so they'll do their very best to get that.

crackcrack30

You don't have to give any reason, you may have developed a greater interest in a different property, mortgage issues, engineers report issues ect

Eldarion

crackcrack30 wrote: »

You don't have to give any reason, you may have developed a greater interest in a different property, mortgage issues, engineers report issues ect

You don't have to give a reason but if you do, don't say as a result of an engineer's report unless you want to really lead them astray. They'll definitely follow up with more questions if they think something is awry with the property.

crackcrack30

I wasn't suggesting that the op lead them astray, just using this as a valid reason for reducing a bid........ The report may state that there is an issue that needs addressing rot, woodworm, electricity cert issues........you may decide that these devalue the price/value of a property ...

Henry Ford III

You've made a mess of it OP. Withdraw your offer and get your solicitor make a lower offer "for a client".

kel1

Problem solved in one way.Another bidder has gone in with a higher offer.I will probably let it go ,just don't think its worth it. Thanks for your advice.

Mr. Incognito

kel1 wrote: »

Problem solved in one way.Another bidder has gone in with a higher offer.I will probably let it go ,just don't think its worth it. Thanks for your advice.

Gazumping is alive and well. Withdraw your offer and expect the other offer to disappear in two weeks. Then bid significantly less.

Victor

Barely Hedged wrote: »

I personally believe, given previous experience, it was a pretty idiotic thing to do and just frustrates the whole selling process amongst other things. As there is no liability or responsibility on you to complete the sale for the price you have bid, people acting in the same way as yourself will continue to make the whole buying and selling of property in this country a farce.

While the OP may have engaged in imprudent behaviour, there is no need for personal abuse.

Moderator

MouseTail

Mr. Incognito wrote: »

Gazumping is alive and well. Withdraw your offer and expect the other offer to disappear in two weeks. Then bid significantly less.

This isnt gazumping. The OPs offer wasnt accepted.