Advice Please on Buying Process

[wayward]

Hi was hoping to get some advice on a buying experience we had yesterday.

We are looking for residential home to live in Sydney. Over the weekend we found the house of our dreams in Upper North Shore.

The house was listed as offers over $1.2m so after viewing property we decided we liked it.

We put in an unconditional email offer of $1.275m after being told they had another interested party at 1.25.

I was then told to sign contract and cut a deposit cheque and drop it off to agent as the other party also made an offer.

We got the contract reviewed and decided to proceed without conditions. Only thing removed from contract was release of deposit money immediately to vendor which lawyer advised against.

So went and saw the agent and dropped off signed contract and deposit. Was then told oh by the way the other party matched your offer but your contract had the least conditions therefore more attractive.

So we went home thinking we had a good chance. I get a call 1hr later saying unfortunately the vendor went with other offer and no real concrete reason why.

So over to you knowledgable people what did I do wrong here? Should I have tried to up offer on contract when told other party matched it? Frustrating thing is we would of paid another 25k no problems if we were told that was what was needed. Kind of thought we would get several iterations if 2 buyers interested.

Any Advice would be really appreciated as I want to turn this negative experience into a positive learning one for next time.

 

[Brady]

Am I missing something here? Deposit was to go straight to the vendor prior to settlement?

 

[wayward]

yes they made me pay deposit and sign contract rather than accept or decline my email offer

went through all the hassle and then got knocked back without any right of reply

 

[Aaron_C]

Bad luck. They probably just offered more.

 

[wayward]

Aaron is it normal just to get one offer in, like a best and final offer. I made assumption not too go too high and hope fully negotiate up. Any advice on how I should of approached it differently?

 

[Brady]

yes they made me pay deposit and sign contract rather than accept or decline my email offer

went through all the hassle and then got knocked back without any right of reply

I get that part, just not the paying deposit direct to vendor rather then being held in a trust acocunt.

Unfortunately your offer wasn't accepted, I wouldn't be upset at the vendor... But wouldn't be too impressed with the REA. You weren't unconditional at what you thought was higher then existing offer, for him to go back to the other interested party for a higher offer and not return to you sucks.

Move on this one is gone, wasn't meant to be. Best of luck with the next one.

 

[vbplease]

It's not like the vendor would have accepted another offer at the same price but with conditions.. They must have offered more. Not really fair that they were offered several bites of the cherry but you weren't..

To learn from this you either have to;
1) have a very good rapport with the agent i.e. The agent lets you gazump other offers.. pretty unethical, but I'd say thats what just happened to you.
2) Ask the agent if you can increase your offer if you get outbid.. but this just lets the agent/vendor know you have more money to burn
3) Submit your highest offer that you're willing to pay and accept it may be an unknown amount more than the next highest offer.

 

[Brady]

Aaron is it normal just to get one offer in, like a best and final offer. I made assumption not too go too high and hope fully negotiate up. Any advice on how I should of approached it differently?

Would be likely to do with relationship built with the REA.

The other party has put in an offer, you have gone higher... but REA went back to original party for higher offer without returning to you.

 

[vbplease]

You could also try putting in a very short sunset clause so the agent has less chance to play your offer against others.

 

[Aaron_C]

Aaron is it normal just to get one offer in, like a best and final offer. I made assumption not too go too high and hope fully negotiate up. Any advice on how I should of approached it differently?

Well it was a private sale so the agent can basically do whatever they want. The 'final and best offer thing' is called an expression of interest / tender so you just have to learn how to navigate it.

 

[wayward]

Brady yes the clause in contract said to pay the deposit to vendor prior to settlement rather than trust account.

 

[Terry_w]

You should have considered just telling the REA you could offer a bit more if need be - you would have still had it.

 

[impala67]

Better luck next time Wayward.

 

[JacM]

Might be a good idea to chat to your solicitor/conveyance about the wisdom of signing a contract before they've had a read through it and advised you it's safe to sign...

 

[Bantam Roosta]

Not really fair that they were offered several bites of the cherry but you weren't..

Not much is fair in this world, let alone the world of RE.

No firm rules exist. If you let the REA know you have room to move, they will use that to the vendor's advantage. If you tell them that your offer is firm, they are less likely to come back to you with a counter offer.

As has been said, don't worry about it. Move on and find your next property.

BR

 

[Adrian Cahill]

Sound like the REA was a bit unreasonable
Keep your head up and keep moving forward.