Hi Everyone,
First time poster but Ive been lurking for months and this forum is a wealth of information.
We have recently been looking to up size into a house (expanding family) while renting out our townhouse and have finally found a house we actually like. Anyway the agent had the house advertised as ‘offers over $419’ and after viewing it that price would be acceptable if the house wasnt so run down, so we made an offer of $380. The agent gave us the usually speech about having numerous offers and we should increase it but we just flat out said no. For the following 3 days we rang the agent to find out if the offer had been accepted or rejected and continually got the reply that the owner still wanted $419 and they had other offers they were considering. Sick of not getting a firm answer of yes or no we ended up pulling our offer as we felt they were dragging us out waiting for a better offer.
Well 2 weeks later the property is still on the market and we looked through it again and noticed there was some old termite activity exterior to the house. My question is what would you do now, make another low ball offer knowing they really dont have any other offers? OR offer asking price knowing that the building inspection will find damage allowing us to negotiate a lower price?
If it helps the property is in Sunnybank Hills Brisbane… and it may just be me but I find the agents very difficult to deal with.
Cheers
JyeJust find another house….
Seen plenty of properties across sydney that have been sitting on the market for > 1 yearThats what I would like to do but it is hard not to become emotionally involved when buying a PPOR, and SWMBO would like us to try once more for this property.
I guess that the vendor just wants to test the market… walk away i.e. not serious
Jye,
There is a problem if you offer and rely on termite inspection. Unless it is structural you have no real leverage, if you read the contract it is only for major structural damage that you can reject the buy. So be careful, I agree with god_of_money, it may be best to go for another house, if you are still interested then offer the same again and note to the agent you have seen the termite damage and offer is pending a buyers satisfaction termite inspection and put it on the offer in writting.Thanks for the replies and I think GoM is onto something about them testing the market.
We can never know the exact reason why people sit on prices which we think are higher than the current market. But could be the vendor needs close to the asking price to pay out finance.
From a vendor perspective, there is a reason why they use offers over xxxxx as they want over this amount. The real estate person adds to the mix by using their sales skills – good or bad.
Would be interested in hering from some seasoned investors around rules (rule of thumb)/methods for submitting offers..
Hi all,
First time poster here, but long-term lurker. Like Jye, I'm in a similar situation.
Offered for a place about 1.5 weeks ago (coming to 2 weeks now) and vendor hasn't accepted nor declined the offer. I've been doing the chasing because we want an answer soon. Keep getting promises by the agent that he'll get back to me after discussion however he doesn't. He does say that our offer is on the low side but we have attractive conditions (ie short settlement) and vendor definitely has to sell due to change in circumstances. Apparently there is another higher offer however the other offer needs a longer settlement time.
Now we're stuck in limbo and not sure whether to withdraw and just forget it. Like Jye says, it's hard not to get emotionally evolved as well and we do like the place.Any advice? It's very frustrating!
Hi, Jye, Cldy
Simply, you have two choices.
Get emotional, accept that this property will be your new home, and cough up the extra money; or Move onto other property that you think you could make into your home, and put in offers there.
That was what we did back from May 07 to Aug 07 when we were PPOR hunting. Saw several places that we really liked, but because we were going to make this PPOR into an IP in a few years time, we moved on when the price was not right. Finally got a place that we make into our home now.
My personal view is that there are currently still a lot of vendors who have high expectations of the value of their property, read on the papers that the values on the lower-end are holding up, and thus keep on asking for generous buyers to pay the asking price.
Keep looking elsewhere.
All the best.
Daniel Lee
As we are going to recession, by all means, the property price should come down. Unfortunately, there are still lots of generous buyers willing to pay for the last year asking price from vendor. Worst still, the lower-end is holding up because FHB thinks that they can afford it with the low interest rate, but what really make their financial situation change? If it is not because of their income/saving improved, what make them think they are able to afford it now, but not back then. Just because of the extra FHOG of 7K and 3~5 years of low interest rate? Or I just can't get my math right?
By the way, I would consider myself FHB.
Hi everyone,
I guess what cheesed me off is that they kept me hanging, " oh it's a bit low but conditions are attractive and you're at the top of the list…" promising to get back and never getting back! It's hard not getting an answer. I doubt that I'm emotionally attached to the house even though we like it but we would have walked away with a rejection of the offer.I don't know what their game plan is. But having been waiting for this long, I'm going to walk away now. Obviously someone (either vendor or agent) is playing a game.
AJTS, you're right about the FHOG. I think loads of first home owners are just trying to capitalize on the extra grant money and low interest rates without actually thinking if they can afford repayments when the interest rates go sky high. A mate of mine was just saying that there'll be a fair number of mortgagee sales next year. We'll just have to wait and see, I guess!
Thanks for your replies all the same.
Helps to have other opinions!Hi Jye – I am no expert but, could you contact the agent and amend your offer to include an expiry date?
Sounds like the agent is using the time in a hope of another buyer coming onto the market or if the other offer is genuine – giving them time to sort their finance.
Just say you are interested in a similiar property that is on the market and need an answer fast,
Regards,
Maree
Helps to have other opinions!
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