How long before you accept a bid?

hairyslug

We have our house up for sale, a little shy of 2 weeks, we received an offer today which realistically we would be stupid to turn down.
Now, I don't want to be a d1ck about it, I don't want to leave potential buyers hanging but I would like to hold off for a few days to see if any more offers come in. How long is too long to wait to accept an offer.

El_Dangeroso

hairyslug wrote: »

We have our house up for sale, a little shy of 2 weeks, we received an offer today which realistically we would be stupid to turn down.
Now, I don't want to be a d1ck about it, I don't want to leave potential buyers hanging but I would like to hold off for a few days to see if any more offers come in. How long is too long to wait to accept an offer.

You can ask the estate agent to give you two weeks to think about it. I think that's reasonable and allows you to squeeze in some more viewings.

I'm on the opposite side at the moment and the vendor won't even give us a date for when he'll make a decision, very frustrating and we're getting pissed off at this stage.

funny_head

hairyslug wrote: »

We have our house up for sale, a little shy of 2 weeks, we received an offer today which realistically we would be stupid to turn down.
Now, I don't want to be a d1ck about it, I don't want to leave potential buyers hanging but I would like to hold off for a few days to see if any more offers come in. How long is too long to wait to accept an offer.

i know every sale is different but two weeks is nothing , if someone was buying and approached an estate agent with a bid , even it was the top bid , it would not be accepted if a property was only two weeks on the market , an estate agent will leave a place on the market for at least three months in my experience , especially in a rising market

funny_head

El_Dangeroso wrote: »

You can ask the estate agent to give you two weeks to think about it. I think that's reasonable and allows you to squeeze in some more viewings.

I'm on the opposite side at the moment and the vendor won't even give us a date for when he'll make a decision, very frustrating and we're getting pissed off at this stage.

if you even attempt to try and rush a vendor , they dig their heels in and even they wont , the estate agent will , estate agents are allowed play with you , demand you make a counter bid within a day or two , let try a buyer suggest things need to be moved along more quickly and your a difficult person who cannot be negotiated with

Archaeoliz

Do you know what the buyer's situation is? Do you really want to sell? I dispute the fact that it's a rising market, I think it's a really patchy volatile unpredictable market at the moment which is at best static and at worst dropping but the figures haven't reached the statistics yet.

IMHO having most of my buying and selling experience in the UK (Scotland and England) I am amazed by the wait and see what else comes in aspect to the Irish market. If you think it's a good price and the buyer wants to buy and is in a good position to complete the sale, then what exactly is the problem?

L'prof

From 1st viewing to bid accepted was a little over 5 weeks for us. That was over 7.5 months ago and we're still not in. Couple of days/weeks is nothing in the grand scheme of things.

riclad

Quote ;
an estate agent will leave a place on the market for at least three months in my experience , especially in a rising market.

This makes no sense to me at all.
lets say my house is worth 70k.
i recieve an offer of 90k ,i,d accept it.
You can check value from looking at similar house,s on daft.ie ,
the house sale register .
https://www.propertypriceregister.ie/website/npsra/pprweb.nsf/page/ppr-home-en

so in your world ,say there,s 3 bidder,s over the advertised price they,ll wait maybe 2 months before
making a final bid ,
They wont look at any other house or be impatient .or move on to other houses .prices are not going up in every area .
say the house is worth 100,
You get offered 120,
that may be the only person who offers over 100.
IN 3 months you might get bids of 90,93
95, 97, 100 etc
if i got offered 70 k i might wait 2 weeks to see if there,s any more offers .
Prices are not going up every week .

it normally takes 2 months from bid accepted to moving in.

hairyslug

We feel that if we drag it out for a few weeks we will scare off the buyers and they will withdraw.
It looks like we will accept by Tuesday or Wednesday, we are waiting on a low bid that we put in on one sale and a high bid we put in to a receiver,just hoping that our buyers are a patient couple

riclad

Say houses in an area are going for 100,
someone may offer 120k ,
to get a quick transaction.
And to avoid a bidding battle with other bidders .
And to save time .

Arbiter of Good Taste

hairyslug wrote: »

We have our house up for sale, a little shy of 2 weeks, we received an offer today which realistically we would be stupid to turn down.
Now, I don't want to be a d1ck about it, I don't want to leave potential buyers hanging but I would like to hold off for a few days to see if any more offers come in. How long is too long to wait to accept an offer.

Depends, also, where you are and whether there are other houses for sale in the area. What you don't want is to leave a good faith buyer hanging on for too long and find that they have moved on to another property

Atlantic Dawn

If your happy with the offer take it, this time of year leading in the Christmas is the worst time of year for house sales.

MarkAnthony

Very much depends of the surrounding circumstances. There's not right answer really. If the offer is higher than expected perhaps the buyer is looking for a quick sale and that has not been communicated to you. Perhaps they're a messer and will try and guzunder (chip) the price. Perhaps the area is more popular than the EA expected.

As long as you went for a recommended EA and didn't go for Mr. cheapy, throw in a toaster be guided by your EA to a certain extent. Check the Property Register.

April 73

hairyslug wrote: »

We have our house up for sale, a little shy of 2 weeks, we received an offer today which realistically we would be stupid to turn down.
Now, I don't want to be a d1ck about it, I don't want to leave potential buyers hanging but I would like to hold off for a few days to see if any more offers come in. How long is too long to wait to accept an offer.

When a house comes on the market in a particular area most serious potential buyers are aware of it early on. They tend to view early & often will bid early. They will have been actively looking in the area & know what they want.

I would ask the EA for feedback. Have there been any more enquiries about your house, do they feel there will be other viewings, is there potential for a bit of a bidding war?

When you say you received an offer that you'd be stupid to turn down is it because you were concerned about receiving any offer, is the offer at an acceptable amount, is the buyer ready to go?

If it were me I would tell the EA to tell the bidder that you were pleased to receive their offer, but as the house is on the market only two weeks, you would like to allow this week for any final viewings to take place and would hope to make a decision very shortly. You don't want to lose the bidder if the offer is financially acceptable but you don't want to rush it either. Treat the bidder with respect & don't leave them dangling with no information.

Much as you have spent the last few days speculating about what to do, they have also been speculating about what you'll do. At some point you will have to make a decision - you will never know what might have happened - good or bad - if you wait indefinitely. It can be a tricky time of year to sell a house - I know this from experience last year.