House sale - what would you do?

Sorry - "none" not nine!

A bird in the hand and all that, I would go with the chap who has offered the full asking, but set a date for completion and get him to do surveys etc. PDQ
if he is unwilling to give you a date, then move on to the other viewings.
Hope you have better luck this time.

I always think ‘a bird in the hand’!

Snap Oopsadaisy

Best of luck here lucky girl - what a stressful time. Yes, probably the bird in the hand.

Would that mean you could go ahead with the purchase of the house you originally found?

I'm with the others. Take the offer. ?

Lucky, go with your gut instinct. You surely need a bit of luck this time around. All the best.

If I can sell this bungalow quickly enough I think the builder will hang fire on selling the house I want. In a sense he is better off going with me as all the formalities as regards the purchase are done and dusted, but he would have to go back to square one with another purchaser. Of course there would still be delays as my buyer goes through their legal rigmarole.

I am inclined towards bird-in-the-hand too - but it is a gamble, and none of mine have paid off so far!

Take the offer, its been in the news that house prices this year will be down by 5%, so if you hang on you wont even get the asking price you want.

Luckygirl I would say the house goes to the first party who can come up with a contract/completed chain behind them.
Harsh, but it’s what developers do and this has caused you so much stress you need to put your better nature to one side.
You are not talking about starting a bidding war or gazumping , but your EA needs to make it clear that it is “first past the post”.

I tend to agree with Maw.
What is your EA advising? That’s his job!

Make your estate agent earn their money!
Pass this problem onto them!

Having bought and sold many houses we have an expression “buyers are liars”
The majority of agents are not the best.

I had to prove to the agent when I purchased a property that I had the cash!

You should not have this burden, it’s what you pay the agent for.

Luckygirl if they have the cash in their account ready to I would take it. But make sure they are cash buyers as some say they are cash buyers and then find they aren't. Good luck . You deserve something going your way for once.

I have been in exactly this position! I’d get your lawyer or estate agents to set a closing date for Monday and on your behalf let all interested parties know. That’s plenty time for the person who has cash to make up his mind and not long for the others to wait. We got a better offer this way. It may be a risk I know but if you get a cash offer... and if your present potential buyer wants it enough he’ll wait a few days. Good luck. It’s a horrible position to be in - we messed about for almost 3 years and then suddenly the house market went mad. Incidentally now waiting in rented accommodation for completion of new house which was delayed

Yes make the state agent work for his money. In 2006 when my husband had just died I was trying to buy a flat in Bath: my EA asked me to get an ATM printout showing the full cash amount for the flat that I had in my bank account from the sale of our house. No proof, no agreement to buy the flat. All went well though...

I would not be comfortable with a string of people in chains, I would accept a lower offer if they were ready to complete quickly.
The stress, especially in the present circumstances, is horrendous when some of the chains break down.
Last year we sold our second home to a man who had several properties in the area knowing that it would become a rental property but he was geared to moving immediately. The previous prospective buyer kept us dithering for months and disclosed, on day of contract signing, that they were bankrupt and were pulling out.

Agreed to using your estate agent to do their job (I work in an agency ). By law we have to see proof of funds before an offer can be officially accepted so ask the agent to get the cash buyer to prove funds plus to “chain check “ the other offer and actually ascertain the truth of the status of the chain and how long it will take. Your agent can then call your developer and confirm the chain or cash and secure tour property. Not all agents are bad the one I work in is very professional but as someone else said buyers do lie to agent as well as vendor so get the agent to confirm ALL offers etc and then you will make a fully informed decision.

Some 30 years ago we had all but sold our house - the prospective buyers had even come to measure up for central heating. They were held up selling their house and, initially, we weren't in a hurry.

The problem was that both we and my parents were selling to move a long distance. We needed to sell both houses more or less at the same time.

In the end we had to let someone else have the house because they were able to buy immediately. We felt really bad letting the original people down, but we just couldn't wait any longer.

I'd be inclined to go with the offer you have but, if anyone makes a sensible offer on Saturday and can move faster, then I'd inform the original buyer that they're in competition.

I agree with those above who say the EA needs to be finding out more about the buyer. Where are his funds coming from, ie what does cash actually mean? We had a so called cash buyer who was getting money from a divorce settlement, but even that got messy with checks on money laundering.
I would certainly keep those other viewings, its only 3 days off. Good luck!

This doesn't happen in Scotland. If you submit an offer to the lawyer dealing with the property and its accepted by the seller the house is yours no matter what happens. Its so much more simple than the English system.

Thanks for the suggestions.

Unfortunately the person to whom I have been allocated in the agency is a bit of a waste of space and I have had cause to go over her head before.

But.....I need to stay with this agency as they are marketing the new-build that I want and are mates with the builder - so I need to keep in with them as they have been pleading my cause with the builder.

Yesterday I had a call arranging the third viewing for Saturday, and after I put the phone down I did not feel happy with any of it so rang back. This time I spoke to a man who seemed more on the ball - I asked him to investigate the true financial status of the person who has made the offer. He could not get hold of their agent but said he would do so first thing this morning. I am awaiting a call back.

Of course a lot also depends on the financial status of the other two who wish to view on Saturday. I do not know whether it is appropriate for the agent to look into this as they are only viewers and have not made offers.

Just at this minute I am not keen to have the Saturday viewers as I have a sore throat and a very minor temperature (only 37.5, but usually around 36.8, so high for me).

Accept the offer, say that you will take the house of the market after proof of resources and any other verification - ie at the moment it stays on market and viewers are welcome. (Do it all in a very friendly way but don't get into the position of having turned down other acceptable offers from a misplaced loyalty to this one.

Yes, take the offer, but make sure you have a non-returnable deposit in case his buyers pull out. Good luck.