Great idea! 
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Take everything estate agents say with a huge pinch of salt. It’s within their best interest to shift the property asap because they don’t get paid until it is sold. They therefore try to create a sense of “huge demand” and “urgency” to pressure you into making an offer asap.
My advice would be to take your time regardless of what they say. If you don’t end up with the house for whatever reason then it wasn’t mean to be. There are plenty more houses in the sea? 
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He’s called back and we’re going to see it tomorrow. We’ve gone from “So many viewings, not enough time, can’t do until Thursday” to, “tomorrow afternoon?”
More offers is obviously better but I’ve already told him I can’t go higher.
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Very much depends on the area. Houses where I live sell within a week (and have done for six or more months) of being listed unless they are a total wreck.
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Yeah, not surprised in the slightest
The next line will be something like “As you know we’ve got lots of interest. I know you’ve said you can’t go higher but head back home and have a think about the best offer you can make and let us know asap”.
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“You both have a spare kidney. Maybe you want to think if that could help you raise more money”
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My top offer is asking and 15 of the kids that came to view it
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Well that depends if any get stuck in the cavity wall during the viewing
There no doubt will be areas like this. My point was more that it’s not the end of the world if you miss out.
We had spent several months searching and viewing houses until we finally found one that we really liked. After viewing we wanted to make an offer but they wouldn’t accept anymore offers. The estate agents said that the seller had accepted an offer of full asking price and wanted to move forward with that. We were prepared to pay above the asking price but they wouldn’t even consider it. We were gutted.
We then spent a good 4 or 5 more months searching before we found another property we liked. This is the property we’re in now and it’s a million times better. I’m so glad we didn’t get the last one, and I’m one of those people who believe everything happens for a reason 
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In fact, thinking out loud…
I’m surprised that this pressure buying technique has become the norm. Who are all these people who make lifetime 100s of thousands of pounds decisions on a whim or with very little time to properly evaluate everything 
Tory MPs?
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Yeah there’s no obligation for the Agent to be truthful, about, frankly anything.
The only obligation they have is to pass your offer to the seller, I think.
We had this a few times when our first flat fell through; lots of interest, yada yada, another offer on the table but they “weren’t proceedable” (my response: we’ll thats irrelevant then, Mr EA).
We eventually pulled out when the survey found something we didn’t want to live with and all of a sudden these other interested parties vanished into thin air.
Just practice your professional flinch when the EA tells you anything about cost. “Oh we’re expecting offers over”, flinch, etc etc. The EA’s position, within reason, is irrelevant to yours so don’t get suckered into their chat too heavily.
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Standard estate agent bluster. It probably means theirs interest but you can bet your bottom dollar it’s not as much as they have told you. Remember they work for the sellers not the buyers.
If it already offers over it’s asking price and that’s over what you can afford there wouldn’t really be any point in them showing you around.
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Given global warming, this will become more true in the future.
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Yeah, the decent ones go really quickly. The one we bought was on the market for a year or so before we bought it – I suspect it’s because it was in a right state. It put us off originally but we decided to pinch our noses and go for it because we managed to negotiate £10k off the asking price (this was just before the first lockdown and everyone getting the moving bug). We probably spent more than that making it liveable in the first month or so
Yeah I believe this is true. It’s classed as unethical to lie and I don’t think many do - it’s more “puffing” to make something sound better that it really is. Just like anything really.
Something else to consider is that when it’s “offers over” that doesn’t mean you have to submit an offer above.
Our property asked for this so we reassured them how serious we were but that we weren’t prepared to pay over. Our offer was accepted the same day and the property was removed from the market despite all the supposed interest and similar sales pressure spiel.
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Definitely, ‘Offers over’ is the marketing spiel to try and get the asking price.
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This one doesn’t even say offers over, just “Guide Price” which in my wishful thinking (prior to talking to the agent) might have meant I could go under
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I’d ask the agent (and also find for yourself) the comparable evidence to show what the guide price is if they’re funny about your offer.
Look at similar houses sold in the last ~6 months to get a feel. If you can see similar properties going for less, you have enough justification to put a lower offer in.
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I know you’re all desperate for an update and I’m going to use this as my blog (and place to vent, more importantly) from now on…
So the house mentioned above, didn’t go in the end, realised it was wasting our time. It did go to an offer over but the vendors chose someone who was a cash buyer so that would have ruled us out anyway.
But in the process of this, they wanted to come and value. I felt like I had to agree because of the aforementioned house, wasn’t going to be my chosen agent as I’ve heard they low-ball, but it’s worked out incredibly well! He was on his way to value something else afterwards, which we’ve been to see before it’s even got to market and put in an asking price offer today! Eeeeek! And given me a good price and confident of selling my property! Even got him down on his commission (twice!)
Vendor of this one hasn’t found anywhere yet, which is why she was happy for us to view as she knew we hadn’t sold. So could all work out very nicely!
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