You have found the perfect house or flat and you are ready to make an offer. But how do you go about this and what constitutes a good offer? Who can you turn to if things go wrong? In an interview with VRT News’ consumer team Lien De Wilde of Woppah Real Estate answered these and other questions about acquiring real estate.
You can’t just make an offer on a house or flat willy-nilly. There are certain factors that must be taken into consideration. Would-be buyers should, for example, obtain as much information as possible about the condition of the property they wish to purchase.
Lien De Wilde told VRT News that "As a vendor you can put a value on the property you wish to sell, but it is the potential buyers that decide its true value”.
A offer can be made in many ways. This can be made verbally or in writing, by letter, text message or email. When making an offer you should give the address of the property, you name, the price you are prepared to pay and how long your offer will remain valid for. Although an offer can be made verbally, Lien De Wilde advises against this.
Making an offer in a sealed envelope is fairer and safer
"Normally when you make an offer you have no idea whether it is the highest offer or not nor whether your offer is a good offer. Submitting an offer in a sealed envelope is fairer and safer, both the vendor and the would-be purchaser. As a purchaser you make you best offer, taking into consideration what the property is worth and what you are able to afford”.
"The vendor decides which offer they wish to accept. They are not obliged to accept the highest offer, unless the property is being sold at a public auction”.
A good bid is a calculated risk
“It is always difficult to be sure whether your bid will be accepted. However, taking certain factors into account can increase the chance that the bid will be accepted. Take a reasoned risk by making your highest bid and thereby going all the way financially, but without putting yourself into an awkward position”
“One way of gaining favour with the vendor is offering to let them remain in the property for longer without them having to pay you rent or by making an offer without ‘Conditions precedent’”. This way the vendor is sure that the sale will go through.
Lien De Wilde advises to go to the bank between 1 and 2 weeks before you intend to make your offer so that you know how much you are able to borrow.
Guide price or asking price?
Although in retail the law states that the cheapest price displayed is the only price that is correct, things are slightly different with regard to real estate. The price displayed online may be the asking price or a guide price. If the guide price is displayed the property does not have to be sold for that amount.
File a complaint if things go wrong
In theory, not much can go wrong, but in practice this could be the case. For example, a listener to VRT Radio 2’s consumer programme ‘WinWin’ told how he made an offer on a flat via email. He received a text message from the estate agent saying that the offer has been accepted and the vendor would sign for the sale as soon as possible. A day later, the estate agent informed the purchaser that the offer has been rejected and the property was going to someone else. It turned out afterwards that an acquaintance of the vendor made a higher offer.
Lien De Wilde told VRT News that "The sale can only go through once you have received confirmation from the vendor. An estate agent is not mandated to accept an offer. A text message is only a start and doesn’t constitute evidence in itself. Once the vendor has accepted the offer the sale can go through. The law states that the vendor is then no longer able to revoke their acceptance of the offer and accept another offer”.
However, it is often the case that there is too little time for the complaint to be handled and so there is a big chance that you will miss out on your dream home.
“It is also illegal to make potential buyers bid against each other. As a vendor you may negotiate with 1 buyer, but you may not tell buyer A that buyer B has made a better offer and ask whether buyer A wants to go above that.”
Any complaints concerning real estate transactions should be made to Institute of Professional Estate Agents. This is a monitoring body that investigates complaints about real estate transactions. However, investigating a complaint takes time and it could well be the case that the property has already been soldf to someone also be the investigation has been completed.