Before buying Number 1, we had an offer accepted on a different property but it was never to be. No one really talks about this type of situation, especially on agent websites that offer advice for first time buyers, so I wanted to do a post on the one that got away as at the time it made me very anxious and uncertain.

We attended an open house for a lovely attractively priced house, a bit further afield than we wanted but was bigger than we thought we could afford. We showed interest and discussed whether we thought we should put an offer in, getting itchy feet at the thought of progressing in the process. We had seen quite a few places by then. The next day the agent called and we did make a low offer, dipping our toe in the water. I was sure that someone would put in over the asking price and that would be that. 

I was surprised when the agent called to call to say we were still in the race, but could we increase our bid as someone had offered the asking price. He explained that we were an attractive bidder due to our circumstances which meant we were chain free.

I had done some more research on the area, getting overexcited at the fact we had finally put an offer on something, but I was disheartened with my finidings. Parking was reported to be a big problem on the road, with rubbish trucks not being able to pass down the road to do their job. There was also a new developement being built at the corner of the road with a limited number of spaces; I felt this would increase the problem. With this in mind, I resisted the request and said we would stick with our offer, expecting the vendor therefore to accept asking price. They didn't, and suddenly we were thrust into the process of buying somewhere that we had recently decided we weren't convinced by!

We didn't believe a vendor would want to under-sell a property, when we knew of friends who were having to bid well over asking price to secure somewhere. I felt uneasy about the agent, feeling that we might have been the only bid and he was trying to up the commission he would get.

We decided to book a second viewing, to check the parking at a different time of day. I would highly recommend viewing at various times of day to gauge the neighbourhood. Our agent was curt, verging on rude when he pretty much refused our viewing request. My suspicion of him grew when he told me he had sold us in as very keen buyers, when I had never indicated this and said the vendor would rather put the house back on the market than let us see it again. This really didn't make sense to me, and I don't think I'll ever understand what happened. What I do know is that the property went back on the market at the value of our offer.