Shefield closed bids

John_Forster

In Sheffield - it seems a very high proportion of house sales goes to closed/sealed bids.

When ours was valued 4 different estate agents said it is worth x amount but to put it on at y amount which was a considerably lower asking price. They aim to get more buyers through the door and then encourage bidding wars which culminate in sealed bids. When we bought ours we had to go through it and paid £10,000 over. Recently we bid £20,000 over on a house and still didn't get it. It's like the estate agents create a feeding frenzy!

I've also heard stories where bidders have been told that alot of other parties are bidding on the house and they should bid £15,000 or so over in their sealed bid. In the end they found out no-one else was bidding on the house and they got it for the asking price.

Sealed bidding is understandable for houses that have abnormally high demand but in Sheffield the agents seem to encourage it in every instance - so is this legal and if it is why isn't it being stopped? Also, out of interest, does anyone know of other places in the country where sealed bidding is the norm?

It's paramount to robbery if they give you false information and also very frustrating to keep going into sealed bidding and losing out.

frugal_dougal_3

Personally I detest this practice as it is so open to abuse.

Picture this scenario:

Mr. Jones, Mrs. Smith and Mr. Brown all decide they want to buy kozy kottage and they enter their sealed bids. All were told the date that the bids would be opened but none of them were permitted to be present. In fact they had no idea who actually would be there.
The bids were duly opened on the due date by the estate agent Mr. Fiddler who then contacted his friend Mr. Chancer and told him the result. Mr. Chancer then put in a verbal bid that was higher than all the sealed bids and (surprise surprise) had his offer accepted.

This might appear a bit far fetched but it ACTUALLY HAPPENED !

Unless Estate Agents are seen to be conducting the proceedings fairly, we should try to avoid getting involved.

Maddie

I'm not certain, but I think sealed bids are the norm in Scotland, think i saw this on a property tv programme.

frugal_dougal_3

Maddie wrote:

I'm not certain, but I think sealed bids are the norm in Scotland, think i saw this on a property tv programme.

The law is different in Scotland and sealed bids are legally binding.

bhushanvaidya

The law is different in Scotland but the sealed bids ane not legally binding. The seller can also decide whose bid to accept - not necessarily the highest (quick entry date for example. The process isn't legally binding until the missives have been concluded (when people actually sign).
Bhushan

Spendless

John - i'm not far aware from you (Doncaster) and i haven't seen or heard anything about sealed bids.I've actually only ever seen it mentioned once in an advert and the person that had inherited house lived in NZ,it's the only time i've seen it here.

musey

I live in Sheffield, we recently sold a house (well Jan 04) this went to sealed bids purely & simpley because we had 2 buyers bidding against each other and we wanted the sale agreed on a set date rather than have it drag on. The final price was £15k above the asking price but only £1k above the last "public" price so I don't think we were unfair.

frugal_dougal_3

musey wrote:

I live in Sheffield, we recently sold a house (well Jan 04) this went to sealed bids purely & simpley because we had 2 buyers bidding against each other and we wanted the sale agreed on a set date rather than have it drag on. The final price was £15k above the asking price but only £1k above the last "public" price so I don't think we were unfair.

There is still no reason for the bids to be "sealed".

If Estate Agents want to get rid of their negative image they are going to have to more open to scrutiny, and be seen to be acting fairly.

When criticised along these lines they will always whinge that they are acting for the vendor and not the buyer. This may be so but we are all sometimes vendors and sometimes buyers. I would never commission an Agent to sell a house if they had previously treated me badly as a prospective purchaser.

mando_2

Sheffield does have its own system. The price that you see in the estate agent is never what the house goes for, it is always higher. If you get the house for only 3k more then you are very lucky indeed. Sealed bids do happen quite a bit, I've never had it but I know quite a few people who have.

We were lucky and we paid only 4500 over the asking price when we bought ours. Most of them were going for £12000 over the asking price at the time. It was crazy, but thats what the Estate Agents do in Sheffield. They tell you the house is worth 91k so we will put it on at 79k to get interest. The estate agents will also tell you what the bids are - I read something on one house details calling it the Sheffield Bidding system!?

There is one local estate agent that is well known for pushing the prices up.

deemy2004

As with everything the more offers you put in the more variety of situations you will experience.

Going by experience, I would say Most properties in Sheffield or NOT sold by going to sealed bids

frugal_dougal_3

The more cynical amongst us may be thinking that the Estate Agents in Sheffield have found yet one more way to be greedy.


Just as a matter of interest does anyone know what the average fees are ?