Unusual or not?

[tess85]

Saturday 11am - Attended an open inspection on the 1st day of viewing - property advertised at 535k for sale. Agent said the vendors weren't necessarily after a quick sale. Hubby & I take a look, v. nice, worth a 2nd look.

12pm - Go to the agent's office that day to pick up the contract.

2pm - called by the agent, they have an offer for 525, would we like to put in an offer? At this stage it feels a bit rushed (particularly as we are 1st home buyers and this is the 1st property that we really like...) We decided we would think about it.

3pm - Decide against offering 527k for it, as we need to have a 2nd inspection before making up our mind.

4pm - call the agent to make a 2nd inspection, contracts have been exchanged. Within 6 hours of the property first being on the market!!

Is it normal to have to make up your mind about a property in a v. short space of time? It felt terribly rushed that the agent was pressuring us to put in an offer above 525 to beat the other interested party. (And technically, if that succeeded, wouldn't the original buyers have been gazumped? If I was the original buyer, I'd be annoyed!)

 

[Aimjoy]

The only "unusual" thing in this story was that the REA was actually telling you the truth about another offer.

Good properties that are priced well will sell.....now you know. All the best with your hunt and next time when you find the "one" and all your DD stacks up - move!

And btw - gazumping is a fact of life - just be aware it can happen, it is part of the game and move on.

 

[Sunfish]

It seems to me that your REA had no choice about the amount of time he could offer. The other person (who also liked the property) set the agenda.

 

[lizzie]

at least the agent was working trying to get the vendor a better price, rather than just accept the first one without question ... rather rare these day

 

[tess85]

Regarding gazumping, I know it's a fact of life - do all agents do it? We later found an agent who assured us he wouldn't gazump us - ie. if we made a fair and reasonable offer, he wouldn't jump on the phone to another potential buyer. This agent sounds a lot more reassuring. (then again, this is the same agent who said the longer a property stays on the market, the higher the price goes...?!?! therefore we should make an offer early rather than late?!?)

 

[WinstonWolfe]

2pm - called by the agent, they have an offer for 525, would we like to put in an offer? At this stage it feels a bit rushed (particularly as we are 1st home buyers and this is the 1st property that we really like...) We decided we would think about it.

That was your mistake.

The REA had to believe you weren't ready to buy.
You don't know how urgently the vendor wanted to sell.
They can't hang around waiting for you to think about things. For all they know you might have taken 2 hours or 2 weeks.

Your position was as an undecided and wavering buyer who hadn't looked at many properties and it was your first.

As the vendor, I wouldn't have waited around for you to finish thinking about it.

Often other buyers make an offer unconditional with a tight sunset clause.
Your attitude wouldn't have stood a chance against that, especially when their offer was 98.1% of the list price. There's growing fear amongst vendors. I doubt any rational vendor would have risked losing the first offer for the sake of getting an extra 2k or 0.3% of list.

 

[Aimjoy]

Regarding gazumping, I know it's a fact of life - do all agents do it? We later found an agent who assured us he wouldn't gazump us -

REA's are legally obligated to put all offers made on a property to the vendor and also to obtain the best possible price for a vendor............you work out what's going to happen

 

[Simon]

It was technically not gazumping.

Gazumping occurs where a vendor and a purchaser have verbally agreed on a sale and are awaiting exchange of contracts. If a new purchaser is introduced with a higher offer then the first buyer was gazumped.

In your case there was another offer but the agent prob told the vendor he had another couple interested and would give them a shot at full price before a decision was made.

I know things seem unfair when you are new to the game. But this was obviously a good deal for it to be sold on day one in the current market.

Keep looking and you will find another good deal and hopefully enough time to make you feel comfy about submitting an offer.

But this is the real world - and in a hot market or with a great deal - "You snooze, you lose".

Take some comfort from the fact that you obviously identified an attractive deal with one look

 

[Jacque]

Simon is right about gazumping- until the contract is signed, there's no deal. Even a holding deposit means little. At least he wasn't bluffing about the second offer. It sounds as though the REA had a genuine 2nd buyer who obviously wanted the property keenly and was prepared to pay close to the asking price. Not normal buyer behaviour up until a few days ago, but given this price bracket is classified as "first home buyer" material (at least here in Sydney!) then that extra $7K that the govt is handing out is pushing a lot of first home buyer fence sitters into the market, so I would anticipate more activity in this lower end.

It's a bit sad when half a million dollars is considered "low end", isn't it?!
Sign of the times. I well recall my first Sydney property costing a massive $125000

 

[quoll]

1st home buyers and this is the 1st property that we really like

This used to happen heaps but now I would say it is rare. The market is a lot quieter now so no where near as many people at opens.

How many properties have you looked at?

There will be others you just need to get out there an look more.

Cheers
Graeme

 

[marg4000]

This is all part of the home buying experience.

Until you have inspected quite a few properties, and probably decided too late to buy some, you will not have the confidence to recognise a good deal when you come across one.

Keep looking...
Marg

 

[tess85]

How many properties have you looked at?

There will be others you just need to get out there an look more.

we've been looking for about 2 months - have seen well over 40 places, at least 5 every Saturday. Admittedly we probably spent too much time-wasting going to the wrong places (advertised at <550, but agent told us they wanted 650 at auction). Now we have a much better idea of the market at present.

 

[tess85]

It's a bit sad when half a million dollars is considered "low end", isn't it?!
Sign of the times. I well recall my first Sydney property costing a massive $125000

Couldn't agree more. we've seen teeny tiny 2BR, 1 bathroom cottages in the inner west for 500+... *sigh* My parents bought their 5BR place in the late 1980s for 139k. Oh the days.

Oh well, I guess we all have to start somewhere!

 

[Bradsdad]

Chin up Tess, there will be others.

I remember when we bought our 1st PPOR a similar thing happened. We actually wanted the house and after a quick pow wow with "the one who must be obeyed" decided to offer an extra $250 only with a 60 day settlement. We were successful but will never know if the other "offer" was actually on the table.

From a vendor's side of things the agent has done what is expected of them in your case. In regards to stating that the vendor's weren't in a rush to sell, this would just be to put potential purchasers off in thinking they could make a LOW offer and grab a bargain. The purchaser would have had a figure in mind that they were happy with and obviously they reached that mark. They have saved themselves auction fees and the risk of it not selling at auction.


Regards
Steve