Offer strategy when there's another buyer

poppysarah

How long has it been on the market?
Don't offer more than you can sensible afford anyway.

Make your low offer and sit back and wait. If there's another offer then it still depends on a valuation/mortgage etc

Doozergirl

RobertoMoir wrote: »

Make an offer based on what you think the property is worth. The other buyer shouldn't enter your mind - even if they really exist and even if they "win" the bidding war in the end, you still shouldn't pay more than you think the house is worth, and house buying is one time where there really are "plenty more fish in the sea".

I agree entirely. You offer what you would have done to start with and you move towards the price you would eventually pay.

If there are counterbids, they will come. You can't change their top price by going higher. I'd still offer low and get myself into an auction situation until hopefully I'm the last person standing. I wouldn't go higher with the possibility that I've paid more than I needed to.

Most people offer and offer until they have one accepted or end up having to walk away because it's not acceptable to the vendor. They don't tend to leave offers sitting on the table for ages if they are prepared to pay more - and to that end I would not even begin to presume that these are very eager buyers prepared to pay a lot more. I wonder whether a bidding war is even likely! Asking when the offer was made would be a good idea. And don't accept 'last week' - make them be specific. And do ask the vendor to show you around the house again - they may just tell you what that offer was but they shouldn't have an issue telling you when it was received or their perception of the other people. It's easier to cut through the BS speaking to the vendor.

jackieb

RobertoMoir wrote: »

Make an offer based on what you think the property is worth. The other buyer shouldn't enter your mind - even if they really exist and even if they "win" the bidding war in the end, you still shouldn't pay more than you think the house is worth, and house buying is one time where there really are "plenty more fish in the sea".

We live in Scotland and my son is interested in a house which has a closing date (sealed bids) as there is more than one party with a note of interest in the house. He has to put in his highest bid to get any chance of getting it, but we've told him not to go overboard. If he doesn't get this (very lovely, perfect for him!) house, there will always be others. He's putting in his offer of £1000 over the valuation (he's a first time buyer so can't (and won't) go any higher). House has been on sale for 3 weeks.

getmore4less

Going to see the vender is normal you want to know who you are dealing with, but some vendors and some buyers don't like to negotiate price direct and will say so.

It didn't sell within a week last time it was under offer that failed try to find out why. if they are weel advanced in a purchase they may have timescales and minimum sale price to actualy do the deal.

Go round for another viewing and gauge how keen/quick they are to move, can they actualy move yet do they have a place to go to.

when buying when a place is on the shortlist I like to have a good look round on subsiquent viewing, trying to identify anything that would come up in the survey and sus out the vendors before even thinking about spending money. The casual conversation, why, where are you moving oh thats where the good schools are etc. shame your sale fell through do you need to move quick now.......

VfM4meplse

LittleMissAspie wrote: »

Yes it did cross my mind that the EA could be lying.

Tip: ALWAYS assume that the EA is lying - if you're proven wrong it will come as a pleasant surprise! The aim for the EA is to max their commission on a sale and if it takes just one conversation to do that it's a good investment from their perspective.

RobertoMoir

jackieb wrote: »

We live in Scotland and my son is interested in a house which has a closing date (sealed bids) as there is more than one party with a note of interest in the house. He has to put in his highest bid to get any chance of getting it, but we've told him not to go overboard. If he doesn't get this (very lovely, perfect for him!) house, there will always be others. He's putting in his offer of £1000 over the valuation (he's a first time buyer so can't (and won't) go any higher). House has been on sale for 3 weeks.

I have to agree, buying a property should be a long term game where you know what you can afford and know what the properties are roughly worth and stick to that. Too many people seem to think of it as a short term one and pay what they have to in order to "scratch an itch" as soon as possible.

Good luck to your son

Milliewilly

VfM4meplse wrote: »

Tip: ALWAYS assume that the EA is lying - if you're proven wrong it will come as a pleasant surprise! The aim for the EA is to max their commission on a sale and if it takes just one conversation to do that it's a good investment from their perspective.

When you are talking single percentage amounts commission on even £10K difference for example its hardly worth the EA killing the golden goose is it?

googler

jackieb wrote: »

We live in Scotland and my son is interested in a house which has a closing date (sealed bids) as there is more than one party with a note of interest in the house. He has to put in his highest bid to get any chance of getting it, but we've told him not to go overboard. If he doesn't get this (very lovely, perfect for him!) house, there will always be others. He's putting in his offer of £1000 over the valuation (he's a first time buyer so can't (and won't) go any higher). House has been on sale for 3 weeks.

He shouldn't be offering more than the Home Report valuation unless you/he have cash in hand to increase your deposit over that required by your lender. I take it this is the 'valuation' to which you refer?

The lender will base your son's mortgage lending on the valuation in the Home Report.

LittleMissAspie

googler wrote: »

So... someone else has offered low 140s, this has been declined, and the other party has kept their offer on the table? They haven't walked away and gone looking for another property, but they're just waiting to see if the seller changes their mind after some unspecified period of time?

I assume the other buyer is now thinking about what to offer next. The offer would have been made this week, they told us about it on Friday.

If there was no other buyer I'd have started at 140 but that would seem silly now. It is worth the asking price and it's within our budget but would ideally pay 147 or 148. Is that a good offer?

We've actually been looking for somewhere to buy since December and getting fed up with it now. There's not much within our budget and when we offer on houses above our budget we get outbid. There's hardly any new houses coming on, just a couple a week and our search area is pretty wide. Looking at sold prices everything is selling very near asking price. It's depressing.

jackieb

googler wrote: »

He shouldn't be offering more than the Home Report valuation unless you/he have cash in hand to increase your deposit over that required by your lender. I take it this is the 'valuation' to which you refer?

The lender will base your son's mortgage lending on the valuation in the Home Report.

We know this. That's why £1000 over valuation is his limit. That's all he can spare above his deposit, fees, furniture etc. That's why I mentioned that he's a FTB (ie. no equity in any previous house sale) However perfect the house is for him, he has to set a limit on how much he can spend. It's a bit more difficult too when it's gone to sealed bids.