Is EA/vendors calling our bluff?

[Asmumma]

Just looking for a bit of quick advice on a house we like.
We accepted an offer on ours nearly 12 weeks ago now, luckily the buyers are FTB and love the house so want to wait for us to find something. We have viewed loads and only this week have we found a property we like. Its in a desirable area, but the house needs a lot of work and has is probate. I'm talking boiler, rewire, windows, kitchen, bathroom everything.
House is up for £395k and we originally offered well below to give room to go up, we are now at £360k which £370k is our max but leaves us with a bit less than we would like to do the house up. I offered £360k yesterday and she said the vendors would speak on it and get back to me, this morning she called and said that the sellers have someone they know who is interested and also willing to pay around £360k so can we offer £370k she thinks they would accept this. Are they calling our bluff do you think? I'm not sure what to do here. I do love it it has so much potential and with all the works the neighbour has done they sold theirs for £550k last year. Can anyone offer some advice please?

They may be. The only way to find out is to wait and see. If in a week or two they come back and accept £360k from you, you'll know they were bluffing.

If you don't want to risk it, offer them £365k.

I've had both happen. The first time we missed out on a house I wish we'd got. The second time, the vendor was bluffing and they came back to us a fortnight later.

What you do now depends whether you want to take the risk.

Even your current offer is well below asking price and it sounds like you've been pissing about and playing games all week. You've already acknowledged the houses around it sell for an absolute bomb. If you want it and can afford it, offer the money. If you don't like it that much and are prepared for the sale of yours to fall through then walk away.

I’d wait a week, it’s unlikely this is true to be honest. I think the estate agent is playing you but waiting a few days will show it

@Asmumma you do realise what
“boiler, rewire, windows, kitchen, bathroom everything.” Is going to cost.
Your financial argument isn’t stacking up.

Yeah all the work you say needs doing will cost about £100k.

If you want it, offer an odd figure below your max such as 365700 because that looks more like you've actually calculated what you can afford rather than you can afford to pay more, but don't want to. You don't have to pay £10k more if the other offer is the same as yours.

Comes down to how much you want the house. Your buyers have already waited three months with nothing happening. Don't take them for granted in the process.

Do not underestimate the amount it will cost to do work on this house.
Building costs over the last 5 years possibly longer have increased massively.
Probate sellers are especially ignorant of the true costs of a property that needs work doing and they will not reflect in price the true costs of work needed doing.
I would again revisit the figures for building and add at least half if not double.
Yes I do believe the vendors/estate agent are calling your bluff.
I would keep looking at other property.

Also, the EA thinks the vendors would accept £370 from you doesn't sound very certain. You could ask her to find out what the vendors are looking for rather than what she thinks. There's no point you figuring out what you can afford if it's still not going to be enough.

It's a game, play strategically and choose your words carefully.

View something else on the same agent's books too. If vendors think you have a choice they'll probably be keener to do a deal.

Thanks for all your advice, I haven't made a decision or gone back to the estate agents today so we can have a proper think on it and they don't feel like we are desperate and can keep pushing us.

Is the house on with just one agent? Obviously an estate agent wants to sell the house because that is how they get their commission. It makes no difference to them whether you buy it or someone else. £10,000 isn’t that much more in commission, but might be the difference between them making a sale or not.

As another poster mentioned, it might be worth your while asking your EA what else they have on their books: makes them realise that you are willing to walk away.

Otherwise: if you love the house and can go to the price they want, then do it. Perhaps insist that there are no more viewings on it if they accept your offer.

If you are prepared to walk away, then ask the agent what else they have available, and go radio silence with them on this particular house. Don’t mention it at all … make them believe you’ve moved on. Obviously, this only works if the property is not your dream home, as you may lose it.

I don’t think the estate agents is playing games but what do I know ! I think if you have been looking for 12 weeks that’s a long time and I wouldn’t want to risk losing it.

Are estate agents allowed to lie about other offers like that?

I wouldn't say they lied about another offer as such as they just said the vendors have someone they know interested and willing to offer around the same price we offered for, they just never mentioned this in the two viewings I have had when I have asked what other interest the property has had in the last month it's been up!

It is on with just this one agent! We do love the house and the potential it has to make equity on it, compared to the other 20 properties we have viewed over the last few months!
I don't disbelieve it is worth £370k at all, the house next door is renovated although with an extension downstairs on the back, which we would not look to do and it sold last year for £550k. Its rare the houses in this area come up for sale as it's a small village but is close enough to the towns around it.
The estate agent told me the other viewers so far have said they just don't want to do the work, which you can see from the pictures what it needs so not sure why they viewed. We renovated our current (first) house five years ago so are aware what it is like and have a lot of people around us in trades to help, plus my partner can do a lot of the labour which saves us money (obvs not on major things like gas and electrics!)
I just felt like the estate agents or vendors may have been having us over to say they have someone else interested, why when we offered £360k did the vendors say they wanted to go away and think on it, to then come back and say they have someone else that they know, why not say that at the time I offered that price?

Offer £362,050. Final offer, that's it. Say no more in the pot so take it or leave it.
Walk away if they want too much more. I wouldn't go to £370,000 as you want some leeway to start doing the work.

It doesn't matter if it's a bluff or not, it's tactics and everyone does it. It sounds like it's a fair price and you want the house. You can offer again but be prepared to lose it. They have given you the price they want to achieve - up to you if you want to pay it!

Could be! It happens all the time. We had it on our house when we were selling (and a little buying)

Two viewings love the house but have seen one similar for 10k less. Can we match it?
Absolutely not, take the other house and good luck. They were chancing it and came back an hour later at the price we asked for.

Its a risk. I would seriously calculate that work that needs doing though. I would say you are thinking about it but would like to come back with a surveyor/builder to cost up the work.

That work sounds very very expensive...

More.

At this price point, unless you are in an area with low housing costs, the house doesn’t sound huge. Therefore if you are renovating, not extending, even in these times I think you can do a quality job for much less than £200K. I write as someone slowly remodelling a largish period house in a fairly expensive area.

However, EAs do play games and it is impossible to know when. The time a similar proposition was put to us, we did not increase our offer and we lost the house.

What is the relevance of the fact that the house is in probate? We get that it is in bad repair, which is highly relevant. But that is true of many properties regardless of probate status. IMO, borne out by a number of threads on this Board, probate properties often get buyers thinking that aggressive bargaining is the order of the day. Perhaps thus is because the sale proceeds are only going to inheritance, or taxes? Whatever, it is not pretty.

The value of a house is independent of its probate status.