Hi All
We currently have an offer in on a property in NSW, it's been listed for 13 months, was taken off the market for 7 days 2 weeks ago because they had a buyer but the sale fell over because their finance fell through.
Now it's been relisted and there has been quite a few inspections on it, we inspected it on saturday and there were 2 other parties who also had inspection appointments later that day (or so the agent said, we dont know if its true or not), and one of them was doing a 2nd inspection on it.
So Mon morn we made an offer which was 7,000 below the asking price of 229k only subject to pest/building and subject to a acceptable bank valuation of the property. the vendor declined, agent informed us there were another 2 different parties looking at the property on Mon afternoon, and the people who had their 2nd look on saturday were 'interested in putting an offer in but had to figure out finance etc'. he said the vendor will take 226-227k, (the previous sale that fell over was for 226k-they offered 224k and vendor countered with 226k which sold but they pulled out).
So anyway we increased our offer to 225k with the same terms (building, pest and valuation) and a 5% deposit on exchange, vendors terms on settlement and are waiting to hear back.
My question is if our offer gets accepted, how can we ensure we don't get gazumped (because the REA is obviously pressuring other buyers to get their offers in and offer something on the property..)? When we spoke with the agent at the inspection he said that they require the buyer to waive their cooling off period as standard (seems very dodgy?). if this is so, and our offer is accepted do we need to work quickly to get a copy of the contract from agent, take it to our solicitor and add our clauses like this:
This contract of sale is subject to:
A building and pest inspection satisfactory to the purchaser within 14 days of signing this contract.
Acceptable valuation by the purchaser's finance provider within 14 days of signing this contract.
and then sign it, come up with 5% deposit and work to quickly exchange before any other offers come in / anyone tries to gazump us?
the agent has been trying to get us to offer the listing price of 229k. i would say its a buyers market not a sellers market at the moment in the area. the original price the property was listed at in august 2006 was 250k, then they dropped the price to "230,000+" which is when he accepted the 226k, and now its been relisted at 229,000. so our offer of 225k sits only 4,000 below asking price, im not sure if it will be accepted or not though…especially while there is this interest in the property (if it even exists though)…we put a sunset clause in the offer to remain open until 5pm tomorrow so they have overnight to think about it.
Any ideas/help to try and seal the deal are appreciated !
also, im not sure if agents/vendors will let you do a conditional contract,, if they refuse to should i try and get a 14 day cooling off period in the contract to allow sufficient time to get a pest building and bank valuation,?? any one have any ideas? this is in NSW. if its a cooling off period, can the vendor pull out or is it only the buyer who gets the cooling off period?
Dammit, if you offer is "subject to Pest & building inspection and bank valuation to the buyer's satisfaction within 14 days", then you should have the 14days "cooling off" to your favour, though agents often dislike the term "to the buyer's satisfaction "
NSW is a sow of a place to buy property (compared to our other states IMHO) unless you have your finance pre approved, and are 'ready to go' with inspections etc. Most people get their inspections done in the cooling of period after signing the contracts – which of course you can be gazumped anytime until contracts have exchanged. If you are not happy with the reports, and pull out, you will forfeit your deposit too unless you go about it the right way – many get the inspections done prior ti signing, but then risk doing that dough if someone offers higher meanwhile. It is your perogative on whether to waive the colling off period or not – don't get bullied. I'm no expert here though, so I would suggest discussing with your NSW solicitor, whom I would be iinclined to use more than a conveyencor in this type of situation. all the best.
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