Offering on more than one property?

Jamesyboyjim

Jamesyboyjim

Jamesyboyjim

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Is that a real scumbag thing to do? Is it common? We were all set to make an offer on a property, but then the agent who showed us another which was a bit out of our price range contacted us and advised that we should offer our max (20k under asking) we wasn't going to but the house is a bit over priced anyway so thought why the hell not!

The vender is thinking about our offer, but in the meantime, today is the day we were going to offer on something else, a property that wont be on the market much longer judging by how quickly they have been going!

Half tempted to put the offer in on our original one incase the vender umms and ahhs on the more expensive one and we lose both! We did say please don't take too long as we are ready to offer elsewhere but it's still a gamble! I know all's fair in love and war etc. but it seems like a naughty thing to do or does everyone do it so it must be fine :p come into play? First time buyer here incase you aren't already aware :D
 
Technically I don't think there's anything stopping you.

However... working it through what do you do at the next step?

Say for example you put in your offer in on House2 and they too say "please wait", but the House1 gets back to you saying "ok, we'll accept your offer" - what do you do then?

They won't wait for you to progress things after that - you'll need to progress by instructing your layer to progress the mortgage application.

Then would you immediately withdraw your offer on House2 or do you want it more? Do you call their bluff and wait out your offer on House2 to see if it gets accepted?

I suppose the real answer is going to come from your lawyer when you ask them to put in an offer on House2 and they say whether they're willing to do that for you.

You also specifically need to find out what your obligations/commitments are given your existing offer. I'm not sure how binding that is in England. In Scotland I'm pretty sure there are fees for the withdrawing party to stop things like gazumping (where a seller accepts your offer but then gets a better offer so withdraws the sale to you)
 
If both offers ended up being accepted we'd still take the first one we've offered on as its bigger. but I see where you are headed with your points and they are very good! As for offering, we are offering directly, not through a lawyer. In England there's no obligation like Scotland and you can also be gazumped right up until the paperwork is exchanged I believe which is atrocious!
 
Yeah, the process in England is ridiculous. Maybe wait for someone with more concrete advice but I'd argue if they can do it to you there's nothing stopping you doing it to them.
 
if your in England offer on both then as you can just pull out a week later.

how does it work in scotland then as someone offered on a families property. kept them waiting for 4 months on getting their cash together and selling a rental property then said they couldn't get a mortgage in the end.

could they then sue them for backing out after so long?
 
I'm not going to pretend I know the ins and outs of it.

Every time I've bought or sold it's seemed overly complicated - but usually I've attributed this to lawyers been unable to get off their high horse and explain things like normal people.

Anyway, it's not that you can't pull out, it's just that the point when you can pull out happens in advance of the move-in date.

In Scotland a buyer would get their mortgage in place and between the buyer and seller you agree on what's being removed from the house and what's being kept in the house (like white goods or blinds/curtains are often negotiated to stay or be removed) and sign a document which says "missives have been concluded".

That's usually done about 2 or 3 weeks in advance of the move-in date.

After that, if either party decided to halt the sale/purchase then they'd have fees to pay (I think)

EDIT: Oh, I should say, I also think that the process in Scotland (in that you're partly required to have a lawyer submit your offer) requires that you have a mortgage in principle agreement in place. Not sure it's 100% required, but it's pretty standard practice when accepting offers from people that you ask the question of "how readily available is the money" and you make your decision based on the person that has the most readily available money to buy.

That being: a cash buyer, a chain free with a mortgage in principal, with chain and mortgage in principal, with a chain but not yet applied for a mortgage.

And to be honest, if someone offered to buy my property without at least mortgage in principal I wouldn't accept it.
 
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platypus said:
This is certainly the way to approach selling.
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Yeah, given the involvement of lawyers in the process in Scotland I'm not sure this can happen.

Just it seems more likely in England if you can just make offers without an intermediary party or any consequence should your mortgage application be unsuccessful and you withdraw.
 
Offer on both then pull out one if you need to. When I was buying my house we had an offer on another house until we decided against it. This was after the mortgage and survey had been done. It wasn't a big deal at all, the only issue is that it cost us more in solicitor fees.
 
the guy who made the offer came along like a big shot. tarted up wife with the £2000 hand bag. he then asked stupid questions like, would you approach your neighbour to see if they would sell me their property too as I would want both, etc. How much space do you have for an extension, etc. We re talking substantial properties here 6 bedrooms and nearing 7 figures.

he then after 3-4 months of chasing him says he can't get a mortgage. his lawyer ignored all calls and went on holiday then the buyer went on holiday during the whole thing too. said they couldn't conclude missives until he sold a flat. then after selling that he had to get money from abroad and customs wouldn't release it, etc.

in the end i'm glad they never sold to him but he cost them a lot of money and stress. then had to re-list and accept a lower price than in the past plus their lawyers fees had went up due to the drawn out process.

so without the missives they have no chance of compensation. glad to know for in future. i advised them to put it back on the market after he kept messing them about and their lawyer was refusing calls / ignoring emails. he kept stating he was interested in the property so they went along with him as he put in a good offer.
 
In short, yes. Will be it helpful for you to put in two offers... difficult to say. If it will help to make up your mind then go for it.
 
Well, the owner of the bigger preferred house finally came back and accepted our offer!! Didn't offer on the other property in the end.

Crazy news! Very scary and exciting at the same time!
 
Jamesyboyjim said:
Well, the owner of the bigger preferred house finally came back and accepted our offer!! Didn't offer on the other property in the end.

Crazy news! Very scary and exciting at the same time!
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RoyMi6 said:
Congrats! Nothing like owning your own place - enjoy!
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There's an awful long way to go before owning the place!

Best of luck with it, fingers crossed!
 
platypus said:
There's an awful long way to go before owning the place!

Best of luck with it, fingers crossed!
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Indeed! Still need to get the mortgage finalised which is the next biggie, as we are going through Barclays with a springboard mortgage (our deposit + parents locking away money with them for 3 years) they wouldn't give us one in principle, only that the numbers work with their calculations and to offer on a property first. It could all go horribly wrong!
 
Congratulations. The ball is now firmly in your court - make sure you get your mortgage and solicitor in order and fire everything back to the vendor quickly. Always make sure the onus is on them to keep moving, never let it be you that delays the process.
 
Well its been a rollercoaster so far!

Initially told the amount we wanted was ok, then was told oops we forgot to stress test you and have failed so the offer was lowered, both grovelled for payrises, got the amount we could borrow up a bit so we are currently about 10k short, 5k we have but was going to go on the fees and stamp duty, need to find another 5k from somewhere (should be doable) but it will mean we wont be able to complete as quickly as we had hoped, now need a few months to be able to afford to complete, hopefully the vender will be ok with this but who knows! we can only ask! She might not have wanted or could complete that quickly anyway!

Safe to say I haven't slept properly in over a week! perhaps we have stretched ourselves beyond what is comfortable but the mortgage offer being suddenly lowered really threw us a curveball and everything was planned around the original offer. As long as the vender is ok with a bit of a wait, it should all come good! I'm just sorry I'll be the one to hold things up for her, the bank literally don't give a damn, we said your mistake could screw things up for the vender too, the reply was, well that's the risk they take. :(
 
Silly question, but have you tried other lenders?

There was a massive amount of difference between what the banks would lend us on our last mortgage. For example Halifax would lend twice the amount Lloyds would.
 
LFletcher said:
Silly question, but have you tried other lenders?

There was a massive amount of difference between what the banks would lend us on our last mortgage. For example Halifax would lend twice the amount Lloyds would.
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We've been shopping for sure :) Most lenders seem to come back with similar amounts. Barclays were only prepared to go higher because of my parents locking 30k away with them (springboard)
 
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