Owner has his a buyer..

iojht667y

Looked at house that's been on market over 2 years. Auctioneer told me that the owner wouldn't accept anything less that X amount. So I put in a bid of the amount the auctioneer told me and said my bid was valid for 24 hours.

Phone call next day with a bizarre story that the owner has been trying to sell the house himself and has a buyer for a few thousand more. The sale is meant to go through in the next few weeks but if it falls through he might consider my offer but would be looking for a few thousand more. They will ring me in 2 weeks to update.

I think this story seems strange to say the least. I am not happy that they now have my bid for another 2 weeks lying there and if another real buyer shows up they can now start a bidding war.

Or perhaps for whatever reason the owner doesn't want to sell the house at all?

Any advice what to do?

I'm totally new to this!

L1011

Wait the few weeks. Don't increase your offer. Look elsewhere also

bleary

You put an offer in for 24 hours? At the amount the ea told you to put it in at. And now you're prepared to wait 2 weeks.
Both you and the ea seem like messers.
Withdraw your offer and next time bid like a grown up. Pick a price you are willing to pay and don't mess around with limited time offers

iojht667y

At the start of this month I put a bid on another house with no time limit and I didn't hear anything back from that auctioneer for a week the suddenly there were cash buyers, a bidding war and the deal had to be closed by 5pm that day. I was really upset to lose that house.

As I said I am only new to this and I honestly don't know the correct strategy for going about it all. I thought that by giving a time period at least they would have to get back to me.

With this story they have given me I am not happy that my bid is sitting there for another 2 weeks, especially as I gave a time limit initially. I am very tempted to call him back and remove my bid.

headtheball14

Yes I would withdraw your offer at this stage leaving it on just makes you look a bit clueless.
Next time if you bid , follow with an email after to confirm your offer, mention of you are not in a chain, FTB , have mortgage approval etc and ask if they can get back to you.
Follow up with a call a few days later if you don't hear from them.
By putting 24 hours on you have said accept this or else I pull out. By telling the ea you will then wait 2 weeks to see if the others pull out its just naive.
Keep looking, if they come back in a few weeks months see how you feel but if they did they will try to shake more money out of you

UsBus

Ya, I'd pull the offer out. Maybe when your putting an offer on, leave it for 2-3 days max instead of 48 hours if you want to get an answer.

In my experience, any auctioneer ive met would tell you anything to achieve a sale. Houses I've looked at, which have been up for ages suddenly have an offer when I go to look at them. None of which have sold months later after I pulled out..

I treat all auctioneers with the same amount of disdain now when I go to see a property. I usually find out certain background details about a property, and lead them in that direction of questioning. More often then not, they lie their heads off until they realise I know a bit about the property.

You don't have to have a personality or be a sales person to be an auctioneer anymore. You can rely on the desperation of buyers to make sales. I can't say any further what I think of them..

4ensic15

Buying a house is not like buying a bag of sweets. It sometimes takes weeks for the owner to make up his mind whether he will accept a bid or not. This rubbish of putting time limits on of a few days is making you look like an idiot and you are being treated like an idiot.

UsBus

4ensic15 wrote: »

Buying a house is not like buying a bag of sweets. It sometimes takes weeks for the owner to make up his mind whether he will accept a bid or not. This rubbish of putting time limits on of a few days is making you look like an idiot and you are being treated like an idiot.

Rubbish, when you're selling a house, you know pretty quickly if you'll go for an offer. You advise the auctioneer before you put it on the market and if it's below what you're asking or what you need to get you let the auctioneer know.
Keeping a buyer waiting for weeks is a joke. The only reason you'll get away with that right now is the lack of options for buyers.

You're right, buying a house is not like buying a pack of sweets. The price of sweets is clear for all to see. The shop doesn't decide to gouge you for all they can get without telling you the price when you want to purchase.

CalamariFritti

Unless you desperately want that house I'd tell the agent they're having laugh and I'd withdraw the offer. On the market for two years and now this? If it quacks like a duck and all that...

The_Honeybadger

Withdraw your offer and next time you put a bid on a house just bid and wait a reasonable time for them to come back to you, putting a 24hr time limit is ridiculous what if the vendor is away or not contactable for some reason?

Cash_Q

iojht667y wrote:

At the start of this month I put a bid on another house with no time limit and I didn't hear anything back from that auctioneer for a week the suddenly there were cash buyers, a bidding war and the deal had to be closed by 5pm that day. I was really upset to lose that house.

Try not to think of "losing" any house, they're not yours to lose. In that instance your bid could have been accepted and you could have gone sale agreed, paid for a survey, measured up for furniture etc etc and either you or the seller could have pulled out for any reason. Any house sale can fall through so until you've got the keys in your hands on any sale, don't consider it a done deal. Think of it as a house you may potentially gain, but certainly not lose, these houses aren't yours to lose in the first place, and any other number of buyers could have similar feelings towards a house.

iojht667y wrote:

As I said I am only new to this and I honestly don't know the correct strategy for going about it all. I thought that by giving a time period at least they would have to get back to me.

They don't have to get back to you at all unfortunately, no matter what tactic you employ. Place your bid, in email and over the phone, and ideally ask what is the current highest bid before you place your own. Chase it up a few days later by phone or email. If you feel you're not getting anywhere then withdraw your bid or leave it on the table. You can bid on other houses too, leaving a bid on the table doesn't affect your ability to keep looking around.

iojht667y wrote:

With this story they have given me I am not happy that my bid is sitting there for another 2 weeks, especially as I gave a time limit initially. I am very tempted to call him back and remove my bid.

If you are tempted to remove your bid, then do it. If you really want the house, maybe just leave it on the table..you could always ring and ask what the status is and confirm that your existing bid still stands should anything change, though considering it was originally time bound, that comes across pretty naiive, but then again who cares? I'm sure estate agents get it a lot.

4ensic15

UsBus wrote: »

Rubbish, when you're selling a house, you know pretty quickly if you'll go for an offer. You advise the auctioneer before you put it on the market and if it's below what you're asking or what you need to get you let the auctioneer know.
Keeping a buyer waiting for weeks is a joke. The only reason you'll get away with that right now is the lack of options for buyers.

You're right, buying a house is not like buying a pack of sweets. The price of sweets is clear for all to see. The shop doesn't decide to gouge you for all they can get without telling you the price when you want to purchase.

When you are selling a house you want the best price. You never know with any offer whether a better offer is around the corner. There is also the purchaser to consider. If the purchaser is a messer there won't be any rush to deal. Most auctioneers wouldn't a messer with a barge pole.

Supercell

Just say thanks but you cant go higher but do let me know if the other buyer drops out and leave it at that.

ted1

iojht667y wrote: »

At the start of this month I put a bid on another house with no time limit and I didn't hear anything back from that auctioneer for a week the suddenly there were cash buyers, a bidding war and the deal had to be closed by 5pm that day. I was really upset to lose that house.

As I said I am only new to this and I honestly don't know the correct strategy for going about it all. I thought that by giving a time period at least they would have to get back to me.

With this story they have given me I am not happy that my bid is sitting there for another 2 weeks, especially as I gave a time limit initially. I am very tempted to call him back and remove my bid.

Time limits don’t work. And just demonstrate that you’re naive