UKC

Thanks to everyone who posted in my last thread asking for advice re making offers and surveys.

I have now made an offer on the house I am interested.
I did this last Wednesday via the estate agents. On Friday they wrote to assure me that they had relayed my offer to the sellers and were hoping for a reply that day.

Now Saturday evening and nothing and am feeling a bit peeved.
It was a reasonable offer of 10% below the asking price in cash on a house that has been on the market for some time.
Seems rather rude to me to not reply and seems like they are playing games.
Am I just being a bit antsy??
My feeling is that if no reply Monday morning I will write to the agents and ask them to relay the message that I am not interested in playing games and if he doesn't want to get his arse in gear then I shall take my cash elsewhere....worded nicely of course

Any advice??

In reply to kieran b:
Estate agents tend to be hopeless. They've probably not even told the vendor you've made an offer yet. Just badger them on the phone on monday.

In reply to kieran b:
Depends how much you want the house. If it's neither here no there then move on to the next property.

If it's something you're really keen on then get back on to the E A. Agree that some are really hopeless and this may be one. Give them a polite time frame and advise them that there's other properties you're interested in.

In reply to kieran b:

Maybe the sellers wanted the weekend to think about the offer.maybe they are away.... These things never happen as quickly as you want... I can remember when I was offering for my house it took weeks....

They are required though to let you know about the offer.

If you do come across as too keen, the estate agent may sense this, and try to play on this... The more the house sells for, the more commission they get.... I think EA do play games, they are in a position to do so, they have more knowledge ( see both side..) buying a house is a bit like cat and mouse sometimes...

Of course, you can put the pressure on the EA, but do you have somewhere else to offer, are there lots of properties out there that you like?

If your price is rejected, it sounds like you are in no rush to counter offer... Ie it has been on the market for a long time.

Good luck, it is quite stressful buying properties, but things usually work out in the end....and you'll be surprised how many people find 'better' properties, if the first one doesn't go through...

Hope this helps....

In reply to kieran b:
Well, as I said, she did write to me and assure me that this wasn't the case, though I suppose that could be bullsh@t.

In reply to kieran b:

If you made your offer on Wed it is perfectly reasonable to ask the Agents what's happening. As has been said there could be loads of reasons why the vendor hasn't responded but out of sheer courtesy they should be keeping you informed. They sound like crap agents.

Why all this writing to and fro? What's wrong with the phone?

Be careful to write that anything you put in writing is "Subject to Contract"

I'd be inclined to ring them tomorrow and ask what's going on.

In reply to kieran b:

Where in the country are you?

It's been half term here this week so lots of people have been away, Saturday-Saturday.

Estate agents are useless but don't look too keen, especially if you do want the house.

OTOH sellers can be surprisingly useless too and someone driving the process sometimes helps.

Can be difficult to get a decision on an offer, is it ocupied? Is it an estate sale, divorcing couples are always good for a laugh.

In reply to kieran b:

Be thankful you're not in London. I've put in two offers over the last two days - one of which met the asking price - and been gazumped twice. Today I was in a bidding war and the other party went crazy and offered significantly over the asking. Paying a ridiculous amount for a small property in a not so great location.

There just aren't enough properties on the market in this area.

I'm debating whether or not to rent another year. It really is bubble territory in London.

In reply to kieran b:

They may have has some viewings booked for the weekend and are stalling you to see if there are any more offers forthcoming....

Tell the agent you need a response as you are planning on offering on another house if its not accepeted, and make sure that the offer is subject to them removing it from the market immediately.

Good luck!

In reply to kieran b: I'm trying to buy one at the moment. Had an offer accepted, at asking price, then they told me I'd been outbid, so I matched that, they accepted. I then booked a surveyor, the day before he was supposed to visit they told me the other guy had outbid me again and they were going with him. I would have been three hundred quid out of pocket if they'd told me a day later. The way we buy houses over here doesn't seem very just. As it happens they rang last week to say the other guy couldn't get a mortgage and did I want it for the asking price. Fortunately I've found something else now so had the pleasure of telling them to stick it.

In reply to kieran b: 10% discount is a lot. In our area the average difference between asking and accepted offer price is 2%. Regarding the estate agent, don't wait for letters, keep badgering them on the phone and make sure you get the vendor to take the house off the market when your offer is accepted.

In reply to shaun l:
A heart- warming tale in the end then
Yes, it does seem a bad system in England. I believe the Scots have managed to improve things up there but we watered it a down to being useless

Anyway, I doubt whether there were other viewings this weekend as its a bit if a sleepy town in north wales so I think he is just playing hard to get.
And true; it was half term last week but that's no reason not to at least acknowledge the offer and say he'll get back to me next week.

In reply to EeeByGum:
Where is your area?
This is north Wales so may well be different.
Anyway, not expecting to actually settle at 10% off but it's not a bad place to start.