Bogus bidding war? urgent help required.

mr.broderick

mm this is interesting, if you really really want it and dont want to lose it how about bidding £250 above highest bid.My only bone of contention is if you are the highest bidder whats stopping someone coming in at a later point with a higher bid and gazumping you? this is an unsafe system.

pawpurrs

That wouldnt be acceptable Mr B, someone may bid half a million, then what?
No EA should accept that.
Its quite normal practise to go to bids, as its the fairest way if there is alot of interest, this way you are not going back and forth between parties, pushing the price up and up, you just put in your best and final offer, and hope that you get it if not, someone else was prepared to pay more.

sallywl

pboae wrote:

. It only seems to happen in certain parts of Yorkshire and it completely threw us when we first came.

Not true, we were looking at a house in Thatcham (Nr Reading) and there were apparently a number of people interested and we had to put our best offer in, we offered the asking price as we had fallen for the house big time. The EA told us we prob wouldnt get it even tho we were FTB with mortgage sorted, and able to move as soon as.

Long and short of it, we didnt get it, it went for waaay over asking price apparently.

So its not just a yorkshire thing, and being from yorkshire myself I hadnt heard of it and i have a large family who seem to be buying houses every few years :rolleyes:

Tickergirl

sallywl wrote:

Not true, we were looking at a house in Thatcham (Nr Reading) and there were apparently a number of people interested and we had to put our best offer in, we offered the asking price as we had fallen for the house big time. The EA told us we prob wouldnt get it even tho we were FTB with mortgage sorted, and able to move as soon as.

Long and short of it, we didnt get it, it went for waaay over asking price apparently.

So its not just a yorkshire thing, and being from yorkshire myself I hadnt heard of it and i have a large family who seem to be buying houses every few years :rolleyes:

Agree with Sallyw, we're in Warwickshire and it's happening here.

We just went through this with our house. so I can give you a vendor's perspective. House on market for less than a week and we had 4 interested people. All of them had advantages and disadvantages (eg: some FTB, one massive deposit, another in rented, you get the message!) and bids were very close.

OH and I felt that some of them were starting to play silly bug6ars in an effort to get the house and we were genuinely confused as to which offer to go with. Lets face it, everyone wants to achieve the most they can for their property but we also wanted a solid buyer who wouldn't muck us around. In the end the EA advised us to go to 'Full and final' bids and each party was told it would be a combination of their offer plus the positon they were in.

It was interesting to see the bids and although in the end we accepted an offer well in excess of asking price (although not the highest) one party still offered less than asking. They were in rented accom and in a v.strong financial position so i guess they felt that counted for something.

So sometimes it's not a case of dodgy EA or vendors, but a genuine situation in which there is a strong house with several strong potential purchasers.

Just bid what you can afford, and what you feel the house is worth, and make sure you document every positive thing you can think of as to why vendors should choose you as sometimes it's not just the ££. If you have SSTC get a letter from your EA to confirm this and enclose it. If you have a MIP or big deposit again enclose proof of this. Show you're organised and committed. One of the big swingers for us what that the buyer we chose stated unless there was a significant/major structural issue with the house identified at survey he would not try and renegotiate the price in anyway. That was a good selling point and he was true to his word!!

HTH & Good luck!

Actinolite

Hi everyone,

Thanks once again for all the advice.

We have put an offer in of £168'500, (our max budget is £180'000 but we're not paying that).

I was told by the estate agent there were 3 or 4 offers, (not an exact number?) and now we are waiting.

If we lose out, fair play, our offer is what we would pay for it and we can find out what the price was later on. If we get it, I'm going to ask for proof of these other offers before we fully commit to the purchase.

I will let you know how we get on.

tartantabby

We are seeing a lot of this kind of behaviour in South East London..with houses going to bids or vendors holding out for the asking price..

How sneaky do you feel like being?

If I loved a house, and I was uncertain if the agent was being genuine, I would pop my written offer (with a deadline on it) through the letter box of the property - assuming the vendors are living there. On the offer, I would also include details of my buying position eg. whether I had finance in place and details of my chain..

The estate agent won't like it, but you can cc a copy to them if you prefer to be open.

Doozergirl

If the estate agent is honest, then they wouldn't have anything to be unhappy about, tartantabby. Your idea is not a bad one. Personally, I would trust the agent as they just want a sale. 1% of a sale is better than holding out, deceiving and confusing people for an extra £30-40 quid. They risk losing the sale altogether if they did that.

OP, good luck with your offer. I hate to put a fly in your ointment, but if you are successful, I'm afraid you will not be seeing proof of other offers. Apart from the fact it is none of your business , if you did see those offers, it might make you reconsider your own offer, even if those offers are genuine (which they will be).

You should be happy that you are getting the house for what you think it is worth.

pigeonpie

This certainly is happening in SE London. We lost out on 2 flats. EA asked for verbal sealed bids by 4pm. We put in what we were prepared to pay (both times over the asking price). It's a way of pushing prices up where supply is low and buyers desperate. I still don't know what the actual selling prices were (wait for LR). One was a really great flat and there were 4 bidders. I got an 'indication' that it went for 30 000 more than the asking price which is just a mark of how mad London is. I've never heard of bids in writing though so would be careful on that one.

suppose you could 'win' the bid and renegotiate once the surveyor's been around, valued and found things wrong? Risky though.
Imho the whole system needs changing but feel a rant coming on so off to get tea. 'They' say it's good for stress
hope you get your house.

Actinolite

Hello everyone.

Just to let you know the outcome...

I called up an hour before the deadline with our offer of 168.5K. The estate agent told me there were 3 or 4 other offers before I told her our figure. (3 or 4?! Which is it then?)

We got a call back that afternoon telling us our offer had been accepted.

We are very happy as we have the house of our dreams and we paid exactly what we were happy to we have not had to over stretch ourselves.

However, I have also found out that there is no requirement, legal or otherwise, for Verity Frearson (the EA) to divulge any details about the other bids.

I am going to raise this with them, but later on when the wheels are in motion a bit more.

Thanks for all your advice.

clutton_2

congratulations !!!!1