Selling your house and dealing with offers

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Bobbleowl90

We are selling our first home so it’s all new to us. Went on the market two weeks ago. Estate agents expected it to go very quickly and we’ve had around 20 viewers but no real interest with all the feedback being that it’s a gorgeous home but too small (hence our reason for moving). We’ve finally had an offer but it’s 5k below what we wanted really and we could have done with this 5k for our next house (not found anywhere yet but don’t have tons of equity. Only been here 18 months so any extra cash is a bonus). They won’t go any higher.

In a dilemma. Do we accept and just do it or do we reject and risk our house being on the market for longer and risk not getting any more offers? We have a further two viewings booked in this weekend. It’s all new to me so I desperately need advice!
 
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Lulu Goss

We were in a similar position to you last year. We had a flat, but it was a great location and quite big in a really nice block. Estate agents valued it and expected offers to come in quickly, but two weeks passed and we’d had a few viewings but no offers. We dropped the asking price by 10k (from 260-270 to 250-260) and then had a couple more viewings.

The only offer we got was for 245. We were so disappointed because we’d been planning our finances around getting between 260-270 at the beginning. We told the estate agent we wouldn’t accept less than 250 and the buyer increased their offer to that and we accepted.

It was a mix of the estate agent over valuing in the first place and also the fact that we’d gone into lockdown and the banks had pulled a lot of their lower deposit mortgages. However, we’d missed out on a lot of houses we liked because we didn’t have an offer on our flat, so we decided to just go with what we could.
 
HankMcPrank

HankMcPrank

Personally I would accept to lose £5k and get moving rather than hold out for the right person with a little more money.
 
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Gembo

Gembo

It’s difficult to say, I think it depends how desperate you are to move or to move quickly and whether the 5k makes or breaks your ability to be able to move.

We’ve sold 3 houses now and my experience of estate agents is that they can tend to overvalue a bit and will tell you how quickly your house will sell as they want you to sign up with them. I would never personally put my house on for the amount I needed as while people will sometimes come in and offer asking price people also like to haggle and feel they’re getting a bargain. It’s a lot easier to ask for more if their offer comes in really quickly as opposed to if your property has been on the market for a while. We’ve always taken what the agent has valued it at as maybe 5-10k more than we expect to get and then if you do get full asking it’s a bonus but we try and work off of the lower figure.

Sorry not much help and this is just my experience, other people will have different experiences but I know it can be a really stressful process with lots of decisions to make.
 
Clickbait

Clickbait

You need to know what your bottom line is re: finances - if you can afford to take that offer also consider the position the people offering are in. Not all offers are equal - you may want to move quickly and be stuck in a chain with one vs. being chain-free with another for example.

You’ll get the most interest when the property goes on the market and for the first 3 weeks or so because people wanting to move to your area/property size will be signed up for alerts. If the price is reduced and so falls into a different bracket you’ll get another flurry. In my experience, estate agents seem to lose a bit of interest in helping shift a property once it’s been on the market for a while. All they’ll suggest is that you lower the price. That makes people move agents.

I’d have a frank conversation with your agent about the market and whether the amount you want is realistic/if it’s worth waiting for it. Lockdown will be having an impact for some people - not wanting to view or being unable to - so you could be lucky when restrictions lift more.

Good luck, I hope you get the result you want.
 
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ClockworkDolly

ClockworkDolly

Bobbleowl90 said:
We are selling our first home so it’s all new to us. Went on the market two weeks ago. Estate agents expected it to go very quickly and we’ve had around 20 viewers but no real interest with all the feedback being that it’s a gorgeous home but too small (hence our reason for moving). We’ve finally had an offer but it’s 5k below what we wanted really and we could have done with this 5k for our next house (not found anywhere yet but don’t have tons of equity. Only been here 18 months so any extra cash is a bonus). They won’t go any higher.

In a dilemma. Do we accept and just do it or do we reject and risk our house being on the market for longer and risk not getting any more offers? We have a further two viewings booked in this weekend. It’s all new to me so I desperately need advice!
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It depends how quickly you want to move. What is their position? Are they first time buyers? Because getting someone to buy your house and they don’t have a property to sell is advantageous, as they will be at the bottom of the chain. I sold my house last year to first time buyers and between selling mine and buying mine, it was all done and dusted in 4 months. Some of these chains can drag on for ages and there is always the risk of someone pulling out.
 
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Bobbleowl90

Thanks everyone.

They are cash buyers - buying with a view to rent it out. So I assume it would be a quick process. I think I’m a little worried we would agree this price, which would just be okay for us, and then they try and get more knocked off afterwards which we 100% cannot afford to do.

I knew selling would be stressful but I don’t think I prepared myself fully for it 😅
 
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kadykal95

Personally i'd hold out for your preferred offer. If you reject the offer they will probably make a counter offer anyway if they really want the house. Especially if you've not found anywhere to buy yet and have more viewings booked.
 
Swipeuplikeandshare

Swipeuplikeandshare

If they are cash I would take the 5k less
I’m just through a house purchase and one of the people in the chain had a mortgage. There were some legal issues and by the time that was sorted the persons mortgage offer ran out!! Thankfully our buyers were cash and they didn’t need the sell of their house (how lovely eh) so they are waiting and purchased ours
 
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Kim Mild

Kim Mild

Tell the agents to give them a counter offer .

Although having a cash buyer who is buying to let sounds straight forward, they are buying with a business head, not their heart, and they won't be left without a home themselves, so they are more likely to pull out if there are unforeseen problems.

If you get a higher offer soon you can take that over theirs. That's not illegal in England.
 
1001 others

1001 others

There is a saying in real estate that the first offer is likely the best offer ... sometimes it's true; sometimes it isn't.

If you haven't found another place you like, then I'd be inclined to wait and hold out for the extra 5k; but if you have found something else then I'd encourage you to accept that offer.
 
HoGi

HoGi

Cash buyers are great. They often won't want searches (which at the moment are taking upwards of 8 weeks) or a survey. Both of which are things that can cause a sale to take longer or fall through.

However cash buyers often won't budge on the price. They aren't buying because they can see themselves living there or because they love it, it is just an investment and if you don't accept they will find another property.

I would see if they will go up by 5k. But be prepared for them not to. This happened with my mums house that a cash buyer offered 15k under the "offers in excess of" price (so in theory the minimum we would accept) and they wouldn't budge even by 1k. We accepted their offer in the end and have completed in 4 weeks. To us 15k less was worth it for a quick sale, no survey etc.

If you really can't afford to buy what you want then hold out for the extra 5k other offers will come along.
 
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kadykal95

1001 others said:
There is a saying in real estate that the first offer is likely the best offer ... sometimes it's true; sometimes it isn't.
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Really? Never heard that one before. I thought the first offer is testing the waters. Surely NOONE puts their best offer forward first :unsure::unsure:
 
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HoGi

HoGi

kadykal95 said:
Really? Never heard that one before. I thought the first offer is testing the waters. Surely NOONE puts their best offer forward first :unsure::unsure:
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I agree. My estate agent said never accept the first offer!

The only time the first offer has been the best offer for me has been when it comes from a cash buyer who isn't intending to live there so either a developer or an investor looking to buy to let.

If it is an individual they will always offer low knowing you won't accept their first offer
 
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Bobbleowl90

HoGi said:
Cash buyers are great. They often won't want searches (which at the moment are taking upwards of 8 weeks) or a survey. Both of which are things that can cause a sale to take longer or fall through.

However cash buyers often won't budge on the price. They aren't buying because they can see themselves living there or because they love it, it is just an investment and if you don't accept they will find another property.

I would see if they will go up by 5k. But be prepared for them not to. This happened with my mums house that a cash buyer offered 15k under the "offers in excess of" price (so in theory the minimum we would accept) and they wouldn't budge even by 1k. We accepted their offer in the end and have completed in 4 weeks. To us 15k less was worth it for a quick sale, no survey etc.

If you really can't afford to buy what you want then hold out for the extra 5k other offers will come along.
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That’s what we are worried about - the survey! We’ve not been here long and we know what to expect on the survey. Nothing terrible to be fair but we were naive not to try get money off when we purchased. If they didn’t want one then it would be an advantage.
 
HoGi

HoGi

Bobbleowl90 said:
That’s what we are worried about - the survey! We’ve not been here long and we know what to expect on the survey. Nothing terrible to be fair but we were naive not to try get money off when we purchased. If they didn’t want one then it would be an advantage.
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I have just sold my mums. Originally went on the market end of September, was listed as a renovation project as it needed a new bathroom, kitchen, redecoration throughout, new boiler and roof repairs. Was listed about 50k under what it would go for without them issues. Lots of viewings from people who fed back it needed too much work 🙄 and then a cash buyer offered 60k under. We obviously declined.

A couple offered, he is a builder and planned on doing the work himself. Fast forward 4 months and the week we were preparing for exchange his mortgage company declared they wouldn't lend on the property as the survey showed that the detached garage has a crack which is a sign of subsidence. Which was frustrating as he said he would be pulling the garage down anyway! So they pulled out.

We put it back on the market on the Monday for the same price, had 5 viewings on the Wednesday and accepted an offer 15k under asking price from cash buyer (a local property developer) on the Thursday morning. Completed just over 4 weeks after accepting the offer. He didn't get searches and no survey and the whole process was a lot quicker and less stressful because of that and the fact there is no mortgage company involved!

If you know there might be issues and you can afford to not have the 5k I would definitely consider them a good buyer.
 
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Bobbleowl90

Ah so we’ve had another offer of the same amount but this time not a cash buyer. Makes sense to take the cash, right?
 
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