Help with 'offers in excesss' when buying a house (1 Viewer)

Macca1987 said:

Afternoon all, reaching out for some advice on the above.
We have been looking at purchasing a house, initially it was up at a set price, vendors are buying a new build, but before we got to viewing the details had changed to offer in excess of the price.
Now the wife really want's this house and we put an offer in £5k over the asking price, we have now been told that there are 13 viewings and the vendor wants to go through them all to see if there are any other offers.
Does this type of thing turn into a bidding war, or what should we expect next.
Any advice would be most appreciated

Click to expand...

It could easily turn into a bidding war, as can any house purchase. If your wife really wants that house, set yourselves an unbreakable limit on your offer.

Macca1987 said:

Afternoon all, reaching out for some advice on the above.
We have been looking at purchasing a house, initially it was up at a set price, vendors are buying a new build, but before we got to viewing the details had changed to offer in excess of the price.
Now the wife really want's this house and we put an offer in £5k over the asking price, we have now been told that there are 13 viewings and the vendor wants to go through them all to see if there are any other offers.
Does this type of thing turn into a bidding war, or what should we expect next.
Any advice would be most appreciated

Click to expand...

If you've already offered 5K over and they're messing about I'd be tempted to walk away as much as you might want it. Unless you think they've undervalued it and it is genuinely worth more.

chiefdave said:

If you've already offered 5K over and they're messing about I'd be tempted to walk away as much as you might want it. Unless you think they've undervalued it and it is genuinely worth more.

Click to expand...

OIEO is just a sales ruse, in my opinion at least. If it does become a bidding war you’ve just got to know your limit.

Macca1987 said:

Afternoon all, reaching out for some advice on the above.
We have been looking at purchasing a house, initially it was up at a set price, vendors are buying a new build, but before we got to viewing the details had changed to offer in excess of the price.
Now the wife really want's this house and we put an offer in £5k over the asking price, we have now been told that there are 13 viewings and the vendor wants to go through them all to see if there are any other offers.
Does this type of thing turn into a bidding war, or what should we expect next.
Any advice would be most appreciated

Click to expand...

The price the house eventually sells for will always equate to its actual market value.
often houses aren’t quite as straightforward to value, sometimes because they maybe quirky or situated in an unusual location, or the current owner has spent more on improvements that you would normally expect in such a house.
If you really want it and think the house is the one for you and its within budget, forget the original asking price, work out what the house is worth to you and make an offer on the condition they remove it from the market.
We bought a house a couple of years back that was advertised as ‘offers in excess of’ we viewed it and loved it, offered £15000 above the asking price, we made it clear that we loved the house but that would be our final offer and we would move on if the house wasn’t immediately withdrawn from sale.
They accepted and we couldn’t be happier.
£5000 probably just isn’t quite enough to stop them gambling for a bit more. It’s stick or twist isn’t it, you just need to find their sticking point.
Good Luck.

SBAndy said:

OIEO is just a sales ruse, in my opinion at least. If it does become a bidding war you’ve just got to know your limit.

Click to expand...

It really is. It's just another way of saying no offers. I'd offer them a £1 over that price to begin with, unnecessary to pre empt a bidding war

Don’t get attached. More houses will come along, look at the market and what premium you’re willing to put on certain things you want like location/whatever. Then bid up to what you think the house is worth.

Personally I’d never have gone straight in at £5k over, I’d have bid at or below the asking price to test the water, worst they can say is no and you up the bid. Place I’m buying was OIEO and I bid £10k below, only to be negotiated up to £5k below.

I offered 6k below OIEO and still got it, they kinda got pissed off when I tried low balling them about a week before exchanging.

As others have said, if you’ve offered 5k over right off the bat and they haven’t accepted, coupled with the 13 viewings, they are obviously expecting it to sell for a lot more. Which begs the question why put it on at a lower price in the first place!

Equally those viewings won’t all equate to offers, and potentially not offers more than yours either.

Have your maximum bid set and stick to it - don’t get caught in the drama/emotion of it all, which isn’t always easy.

And as Shmmeee said, you’ll ‘fall in love’ with other houses if this doesn’t work. I know from personal experience - my partner fell in love with about 20 over the last 12 months (and we weren’t even actively looking!) and on reflection even she agrees they weren’t right, as well as a few that fell through/didn’t work that we both really liked, but we eventually found the right one.

chiefdave said:

If you've already offered 5K over and they're messing about I'd be tempted to walk away as much as you might want it. Unless you think they've undervalued it and it is genuinely worth more.

Click to expand...

If they have valued it correctly, your mortgage company will soon let you know if you’re offering more than it’s worth.

What is it about this house that your wife really likes? Had a similar situation years ago with my wife, and when we broke it down the aspects she liked were applicable to lots of other houses and therefore opened up our options. Also, set your maximum and be prepared to walk away if it goes over that or the seller starts to mess you around.
Good luck.

fernandopartridge said:

It really is. It's just another way of saying no offers. I'd offer them a £1 over that price to begin with, unnecessary to pre empt a bidding war

Click to expand...

£5,000,001 comes to mind!

It’s a marketing gimmick to try and establish the house has a minimum value - it doesn’t really mean anything