Bidding war going ABOVE asking price

Banderman wrote: »

In all such delaings you've got to assume that this other bidder doesn't exist. Otherwise you are in severe danger of being played by the Estate Agent, this is the sort of thing they do

OK, now I'm genuinely getting suspicious.

Here's how it went... does it sound dodgy to anyone?

We offer 120k on Saturday, 10k below asking price on a property just on the market (nice house).

We're told others are viewing this weekend (bank holiday) and that the owner wants to wait to see what comes of those viewings.

Tuesday: we're told someone is seeing the house for a 2nd viewing that night, so owner wants to wait till then.

Wednesday (today): Another offer is in. "Considerably more than yours". I ask how much - they tell me the asking price has been offered and leave it with me to raise my offer.

I raise to 132k (a mistake - should have equalled the asking price).

A few hours later, they call me to tell me that the other bidder has raised the offer and that rather than having a tit for tat bidding war, the owner just wants us both to present our final offer (Quote "It may be more or it could just be what you've already offered" - this sounded suspicious) by 1pm and he'll decide. They wouldn''t tell me what the other bidder had offered, just that it was "in the same price bracket".

This could all be true, but leaving it to a closed bid effectively is trying to guarantee one of us (or just me??) will go as high as possible in case the other one bids higher - mental games to raise the offers. The suggestion that I might want to stay at my original price could maybe be because they're worried in case a too-high bid was shot down by the bank's valuation...

Anyway - anyone any comments? Does any of this ring alarm bells???

jamtart6 wrote: »

exactly what happened with ours except it was a repo so we couldnt appeal to a real person's better nature.. we were buying off a money-hungry bank. The EA's definitely played us but luckily it was within £5k (first offer £115k, last offer £120) so it didnt make much difference to us (not saying £5k isnt a lot, but we were willing to pay £140k+ for the size of the house, so a bargain every which way for us!) anyway, we decided £120 was our final and "if it is meant to be it is meant to be"....

perhaps get your missis/mum/friend/dog to ring the ea's and be interested in the house for themselves (pretending), and they might tell you if there is one or more offers on it...but they could be lying here anyway. We did this and the EA still offered a viewing to my Mum after we'd exchanged contracts. I majorly kicked off about that! They are a totally different species of people!

I think at the very least I'll get someone to call. Also I'll email the vendor at work - be as polite as possible, not trying to curry favour or influence you, just trying to make sure I'm not being played, etc...

jamtart6 wrote: »

hmm if you do e-mail them at work, think carefully about what you say, they will probably know what the EA is doing and want as much money as possible too

Yes, that thought had crossed my mind! :S

I guess I'm back to my original question: if I think I'm being played and end up offering way more than the house is worth, then will I be able to use the bank's valuation to protect me. I.e., if I'm really being made to offer too much, then the valuation will be way below my accepted offer and so they'll either HAVE to come back down to a reasonable offer OR I walk away having lost about 400 quid - not nice, but it's a hit I could take without it affecting my ability to buy another house at least.

jamtart6 wrote: »

can you get a mortgage that offers a "free" survey? the options we had were:

1. £400 survey + Mortgage arrangement £999 (5.1%)

or

2. Free Survey + mortgage arrangement £800 (5.8%)

we were advised to go for the latter so that we wouldn't lose money if the valuation came back wrong as the survey was free etc. and if you walk away you dont have to take the mortgage product.....

we went for the first as it was cheaper over 5 years, gambled and it paid off, but largely because we had a good idea the house would be fine and it was valued at 15k more than we bought it for.

may be an option to consider products with a free survey?


it is a hard descision to make, and i would base it on how much you want the house. If it sold for £135k to someone else would you be gutted or glad you hadn't forked out the extra 3k? how much do you like it? others in the area coming up?

we had to go for ours as I say, none in the area had been up for that price since about 2003, and houses dont even come on the market that often, perfect house, perfect road, exactly what i'd always wanted at a bargain price....2k more was well worth the extra imho

If I could thank you many times I would! Cheers for all this jamtart and at such an hour!

The mortgage we've found is Natwest 1st time buyer 5 yr fixed special - there's NO product fee, valuation at about 250 - and it's by far the cheapest (5.99%) at 90% LTV. We want a full structural survey, but rather than risk losing 750ish quid I figured on getting the basic valuation done through Natwest and then arranging my own structural survey if the valuation is OK and/or if the vendor lowers the price if that valuation is low. The independent structural survey is apparently cheaper - about 500 - so it should work out the same, but I won't have to risk losing so much if the valuation is way down.

Basically, we love the house. Area is OK- not great, but not bad. Best house in the area and there are no others that come close. Other areas we've been looking at for over a year - very little has come up. We just lost the one house we found which ticked all the boxes - VERY similar scenario, but that one genuinely WAS priced to sell. This one is priced about right - which is why we might be paying over the odds... BUT it IS a great house - all the space we need, biggest garden we've seen in any house for a year, lots of potential for converting outhouses...

All in all, I think my best option is to bid high to get the offer accepted and then[STRIKE] if [/STRIKE] WHEN the valuation comes through at below what we've agreed, go back to the vendor and try to make him see sense (ie this will only happen again, if not get lower, so only cash buyers will be able to buy the house) and lower the price back down to more like what we'd like to be paying. If he doesn't we've lost a few hundred quid. If he does, we've got a house we love at a price of roughly what it's worth (acc to the bank!).

Any flaws in the plan let me know! lol

PasturesNew wrote: »

There was a Kirsty/Phil episode where some woman went to sealed bids and won the house .... but there was a mixup in the paperwork a bit later and the EAs accidentally sent her a copy of the other sealed bid - and it was significantly lower than what she had offered... so she felt really ripped off.

I'll see if I can dig out more details in the next 10 minutes. If I do I'll update this.

Cheers! What made me laugh was the way the EA said they were doing this to avoid a back and forth... it was so obviously designed to make sure they got a higher bid that they otherwise would have done. I've no doubt I'll be overbidding... which is why I'll then be pinning my hopes on a low valuation (a strange thing to be hoping I know! lol).