A well-known London estate agent has warned that ‘silly offers’ are beginning to creep into the market as some buyers try to take advantage of the disruption caused by the Coronavirus crisis.
Lucy Pendleton (below), who is director of London nine-branch estate agency James Pendleton, told the most recent Rightmove webinar that buyers proffering ridiculously low bids were ‘shooting themselves in the foot’.
“There are a number of buyers out there, and we see them registering every day on Rightmove, who are looking for an opportunity, call it a fire sale or whatever you want to call it in this market.
“A few days ago we launched a new-build scheme that we’d originally held off the launch of because of the pandemic. It was successful with houses for sale at £2,350,000 or more.
“But we had one buyer who offered half a million pounds below the asking price.
“All the other buyers were offering 97% or more of the asking price and then, sure enough, once his offer was rejected, he came forward and tried to increase his offer by £400,000 by which time the damage had been done.”
What the webinar didn’t explore is why buyers are feeling that they can – or need to – make lower offers.
Sam Hunter of Homesearch (left) believes part of the reason is that some people are pricing-in the expected recession and future drop in house prices into their offers.
“I think the good agents have already talked to their vendors and adjusted asking prices accordingly, which then needs to be communicated to buyers.
“But it’s also human nature to see what you get away with during a period of upheaval, and you get cheeky offers even during a boom market – so in both scenarios it’s all about how the estate agent handles them.”
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