[Closed] Selling a house privately - how to handle offers?

Remove anyone who has to sell.

How many are left?

Remove anyone who has to sell

+1

What’s a “favourite” buyer? Best looking/support the same footy team/laughed at your jokes?

Who cares what they’re like* as long as they’ve got the cash?

*although it may indicate any future hassles with surveys etc!

Surely it depends on

1) how much money you need for your next purchase (so do you need to maximise your selling price?), and / or

2) how fast you need to sell.

Once you know those, you can figure out what to do next.

Or just throw half the offers in the bin. That gets rid of any unlucky buyers.

Really depends what your priority is - speed, money or ease. Make a list of the definite 'no's', call them up and tell them you've had lots of good offers so it's a no. Ask yourself how much 2K matters, talk to the others if you want some more money from them but it sounds like you're not going to gain a lot from doing that. Personally I'd go for buyers that seem like they will be easy to deal with and most likely to complete the sale, especially as the offers are all close.
I wouldn't advise trying to play them against each other too much, it'll only get messy and if it was me I think I'd get annoyed pretty quickly. So decide what price you want, and stick with that as your negotiation number. Where are the offers in relation to the asking price?

Remove anyone who has to sell.

Cannot believe I didn't think of that.
But AFAIK everyone's in a position to go fairly fast, just different stages of mortgages etc.

Favourites = someone who's last house purchase fell through at the last minute due to issues that came up with the property, they have a mortgage ready to go, and my wife likes them / feels sorry for them. Fair enough.

Where are the offers in relation to the asking price?

All at or above

Favourites = someone who’s last house purchase fell through at the last minute due to issues that came up with the property,

Some might hold this against them.... Might they be the type to pull out last minute due to a change of mind, or become spooked by a minor issue? They have history of doing it.

You then have the horse trading after a survey to deal with , whoever your chosen buyer is , none of these things run smooth , hope it’s not too stressful

Some might hold this against them…. Might they be the type to pull out last minute due to a change of mind, or become spooked by a minor issue? They have history of doing it.

Yes, worth checking, although I wouldn't assume anything negative - we are just pulling out fairly late due to next door neighbour assault/criminal damage issues that weren't disclosed until contracts were ready to sign 🙁

It's tricky one, and I am watching with interest.

I'm in the (un)fortunate position that I can get out of the rent trap and buy a house big enough for my needs with cash, without the need for a loan or mortgage due to a family death.

So I'm a good person to buy from, bank transfer, job jobbed.

So from my selfish perspective, I'll be looking to low ball sellers.

firstly anyone not in a chain is worth a chunk more to you as a seller. Just makes life easy

personally for a couple of grand I would be happy to go with the folk I liked best out of those who are not in a chain. I wouldn't let it cost me ten grand

mattyfez , a cash buyer is always a trump card in these events , but since the op has no agent advising the him, hard to know how it might pan out , generally cash buyers ( no chain ) have that advantage of first dibs , but still takes time , although covid regs have eased so easier to get survey , quotes for work if needed , to horse trade .

The point is how to handle having to call each of them in turn to sort this out, for a socially awkward weirdo who hates talking to people at the best of times

Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to skimp on an agent then! If it were Scotland you’d clearly go to closing, and I don’t see any reason why you wouldn’t go to sealed final bids if you were using an agent in England. You can even tell people the current spread but not where they lie in the spread if you want to maximise the value. Not sure if solicitor can legally receive these offers in England. Of course they can walk away moments after you accept the offer and tell everyone else to go away…

thought I’d save a few bob and not use an agent
...
I’m not really sure how to handle it...

Well, then.

Really depends what your priority is

This.

Take all emotion out of it.

My preference would be

Cash buyer - no chain

mortgage in principle - no chain

After that it’s Russian Roulette anyhow

Problem is though how many people are going to be happy to share their private financial situation with you where as they would with an agent

Oh and then good luck with all the negotiations when the survey comes back saying you have damp etc (which it will) and the prospective buyer asks for £10k off the the price

It’s not impossible to sell your house yourself, but if you are coming on a cycling forum for advise, then perhaps it’s not a wise move (scuse the pun)

It’s not impossible to sell your house yourself, but if you are coming on a cycling forum for advise, then perhaps it’s not a wise move (scuse the pun)

+1

But if you need some help, my fees are low 🙂

If the area is so popular are the offers over the asking price and is the asking price right in the first place? You could be loosing more than the agent fee if you got that bit wrong.

I wouldn't discount people in a chain or with a mortgage because they more likely to need the home to live in. So yes I would take emotion out of it, but not all ethics and I would consider the likelihood people with cash and no chain are more likely to be investors rather than someone looking for a home. Investors are financially astute and more likely (on average) to cut you down on everything else and have more freedom to just walk away. Someone desperately looking for somewhere to live is more likely to conclude the sale. You can of course ask people their circumstances. The 2k difference is not much in the world of house-buying and moving - though of course that depends if your house is worth 100 k or 400 k or more - the costs involved if the sale falls through or if the survey comes back with genuine issues can be far higher, depending of course where you are hoping to move on to and the costs involved if that falls through.

I agree with rapidrob95 "Personally I’d go for buyers that seem like they will be easy to deal with and most likely to complete the sale, especially as the offers are all close" and as a buyer, if the seller starting playing me off against other buyers, with lines like 'someone else has put in 2 k higher, will you raise your offer' I would walk away. The kind of seller that worries about every last penny in one of the biggest monetary exchanges of your life (in my limited but shitty experience) is not worth buying the house from, I would find another house.

It’s now been a few days and we have something like 8 offers all within 7k of each other – time to stop.

Rather than time to stop I would say time to appoint an agent to market it more widely and deal with all the hassle.I realise that the sale price might not matter that much to you but the fact that you have had so much interest from a small local advert suggests that there is a lot of demand, and that you have probably significantly underpriced.

Personally I’d go for buyers that seem like they will be easy to deal with and most likely to complete the sale

This seems like sound advice to me as well. I'd happily "loose" a couple of grand just for the lack of hassle.

seems that saving a few bob is stress free and worth it

the fact that you have had so much interest from a small local advert suggests that there is a lot of demand, and that you have probably significantly underpriced.

This. Certainly get a valuation visit to make sure you haven't ballsed up the price.

I know people knock estate agents but there's now way I'd want to deal with 15 potential buyers myself - it'd be like FB Marketplace on crack! 🙂

I sold a house without an estate agent years ago (used the work intranet for sale board!).

It was very different time and we only had one interested party but they had made an offer on a house nearby so we new they were legit and it went very smoothly via the solicitors.

In your situation I would suggest you ask all people to submit a final offer by a deadline. Also get them to prove/evidence what they say. If they have sold a house you would want to speak to the agent who sold it or an email or something... Any party that cant back up their story needs to be treated with maximum caution.

You then way up the best of the offers against if you think they can follow through and they can even get the money together and get over the line.

I've bought 1 house recently and been trying to buy another for my mother.

All have said "best and final offer by 5pm friday".

See what they come up with. Expect to be knocked back on survey. Expect your favourites to offer more.

Ask for the offer "in writing" by email so you don't get into any arguments over the phone. If they are a cash buyer ask to see evidence.

Well that was somewhat easier than expected in the end.
Sold (stc ofc) to my next door neighbour, who matched the top offer and can complete quickly, no chain. In future he plans to join the houses together when he needs to upsize (a growing family!) and will probably rent it out in the meantime.

I have done plenty of research on the price and am confident it's pretty accurate. Actually higher than expected. It's coming up for triple what we bought it for 8 years ago anyway, so happy with that 🙂 Of course the downside is that everywhere else is expensive too, so doesn't make a big difference regards moving.

Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to skimp on an agent then!

The thought has crossed my mind!
But the OP was perhaps slightly exaggerated.

It’s not impossible to sell your house yourself, but if you are coming on a cycling forum for advise, then perhaps it’s not a wise move

This is a cycling forum? 😉

Sold (stc ofc)

I don't know why STC is used in England, it means nothing. I suppose listing all the other ways the sale could fall through would make the acronym very long, Sold subject to contract or a better offer or the buyer's whim or the weather or.....

Anyway, the point I was going to make is that I hope it all works out but given how booming the market is don't burn any bridges with any other potential buyers just yet. They might come back and top the offer. If you were using an agent the agent would tell the other buyers about the situation surely?

I know my folks sold a house many years ago, IIRC they sold to the folk they liked best (maybe less hassle, maybe just gut feeling, I don't know). Also much more recently, have been involved in a flat purchase, again it was sold - AIUI - to the second highest bidder as they were pleasant to deal with and gave a good vibe as it were.

So it's not at all uncommon to sell to not the highest bidder.

The horse-trading about going back, asking for higher bid to 'match' other bidders that you have discounted feels an uncomfortable road, but maybe not. You've got a set of open, not sealed bids as poly pointed out.

Houses have been going for 100k over the sellers wildest fantasy in some areas.

I would put it to best and final offers by Monday 5pm.

You are going to struggle buying somewhere else right now. Your neighbour is soon to be your ex-neighbour.

Sold (stc ofc) to my next door neighbour, who matched the top offer and can complete quickly, no chain.

That being the case I would strongly advise that you confirm with your own eyes that they either have the money or have a Mortgage In Principle in place.

Long story short, I sold my old place to my next-door neighbour. After months of "it'll just be another couple of days" and other stalling tactics I properly lost my rag and gave the estate agent both barrels, at which point it turned out that they'd actually been refused a second mortgage because it was an adjoining property.

Point out that you are not dropping the price whatever any surveys say and that may weed out a few. I did much the same and when a buyer tried to haggle I to them no sale and why. Boy was that fun.

Or just throw half the offers in the bin. That gets rid of any unlucky buyers.

Sounds like something Sean Lock would have advised 🤣

Point out that you are not dropping the price whatever any surveys say and that may weed out a few. I did much the same and when a buyer tried to haggle I to them no sale and why. Boy was that fun.

hmm , you do realise a survey is pretty bobmproof , whoever else may wish to offer , their survey will come to similar conclusions , folk we bought off didn’t like the result , but as the agent said , you will keep getting the same answer , any mortgage company demands a survey , so unless you’re just wasting peollles time , your survey denial sounds a bit ostrich like

 

You're all making me nervous now!

That being the case I would strongly advise that you confirm with your own eyes that they either have the money or have a Mortgage In Principle in place.

Long story short, I sold my old place to my next-door neighbour. After months of “it’ll just be another couple of days” and other stalling tactics I properly lost my rag and gave the estate agent both barrels, at which point it turned out that they’d actually been refused a second mortgage because it was an adjoining property.

He works in construction & property and is very confident he can finish the whole thing in 3 months.
We'll see. Happy to stick with this for now though.
Having other offers at the same price should help with any negotiations, plus I have a good idea of the state of the property as we had it properly surveyed ourselves 8 years ago. It's only changed for the better as we fixed the issues that were flagged at the time.

it turned out that they’d actually been refused a second mortgage because it was an adjoining property

Interesting. I've been wondering why. Most likely one large detached (or even still attached if you're a terrace) house would be worth less than 2 semis/terraces, so less of an asset should a reclamation situation arise.

Or just throw half the offers in the bin. That gets rid of any unlucky buyers.

Sounds like something Sean Lock would have advised 🤣

That's my recruitment strategy, who wants Mr Unlucky working in their lab?