Bogus bidding war? urgent help required.

Doozergirl

Congratulations! I hope everything runs smoothly for you.

Did say you wouldn't get a result on the other offers though.

Sisyphus

Sounds like a result.

For the vendor at any rate and maybe for you too. If you are happy and not overstretched by the amount you have to pay.

A question I have to ask is even if it can be proved that an estate agent has lied to potential buyers about other offers, what can the buyer do about it?
As far as I can see there are no checks in place and estate agents can behave just as they godamn please.

Doozergirl

Sisyphus wrote:

A question I have to ask is even if it can be proved that an estate agent has lied to potential buyers about other offers, what can the buyer do about it?
As far as I can see there are no checks in place and estate agents can behave just as they godamn please.

I don't agree. I can't see how it is any of a buyer's business what other people offer.

They know what the asking price is, they offer what they think it is worth, the vendor chooses whether to accept it or not. What the vendor chooses to accept has nothing to do with an EA and nobody forces a buyers hand when they make an offer.

As a vendor, I would never divulge any other offers and as I buyer I would not expect a vendor to tell me. It's none of my business and let's face it, no-one's out to get me

Sisyphus

Doozergirl wrote:

I don't agree. I can't see how it is any of a buyer's business what other people offer.

They know what the asking price is, they offer what they think it is worth, the vendor chooses whether to accept it or not. What the vendor chooses to accept has nothing to do with an EA and nobody forces a buyers hand when they make an offer.

As a vendor, I would never divulge any other offers and as I buyer I would not expect a vendor to tell me. It's none of my business and let's face it, no-one's out to get me

Agreed. But my question had nothing to do with the vendor but with Estate Agent practices?

A question I have to ask is even if it can be proved that an estate agent has lied to potential buyers about other offers, what can the buyer do about it?

olly300

There is nothing you can do about Estate Agents lying because they do it verbally and it's your word against theirs. Remember the BBC's Estate Agent program? The Estate Agents where all caught on film not telling the truth and denied it. This was until the owners of their companies where given a copy of the film to comment on.

jamminjamaica

Actinolite wrote:

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.

congratulations! you stuck to the price and you got it.

Sisyphus

olly300 wrote:

There is nothing you can do about Estate Agents lying because they do it verbally and it's your word against theirs. Remember the BBC's Estate Agent program? The Estate Agents where all caught on film not telling the truth and denied it. This was until the owners of their companies where given a copy of the film to comment on.

What I thought. They can say what the hell they want to buyers who basically have no real protection under law. For all the thread starter knows he/she could have been the only buyer.
Your only protection is to offer what you think it's worth to you and not a penny more.
In this case it was £3.5k more than the vendor was asking for.

Funny thing about this sealed bid malarky is what happens if the best offer is too low for the vendor.
Pointless exercise for the buyer IMO unless you think that the property is undervalued.

carrielouise80

Actinolite wrote:

Hi everyone,

First time poster, long time reader and listener on Radio 2.

We have put an offer in on a house with Verity Frearson. On Saturday they would not relay our offer to the vendor telling us that they would collate all offers and send them to the vendor on Monday.

Monday has come and we have been told that they are contacting all interested parties and asking them to put in their best bid which the vendor will then choose from on Tuesday.

They have told us that there are 5-6 interested parties.

I am worried that we are being milked here but I don't know what our rights are. Can we ask for proof of other interested parties? What else can we do to ensure that we are not being done over and paying over the odds for this house ?

hi there,

i work as a part time estate agent, firstly agents cannot disclose what the other offers are, we can only say there are other offers on the table. By the sounds of it the property went to sealed bids/tenders with a dead line of monday (the agent should have made this clear!). With regards to the best and finals this often happens if you get more than 2 offers on the table for a property, as this is classed as the most fair way to stop bidding wars! that way everyone knows by a set deadline.

Legally estate agents are bound to relay all offers to their client when they are submitted unless it is a sealed bid process.

the highest offer doesn't always win, the position of the buyer is the biggest selling factor, i.e. cash buyer/first time buyer and so forth.

and please always remember that no matter what you offer or the sale is agreed at a surveyor will survey the property, whom are always told what the property was been marketed at and what it was agreed at, if he doesn't feel the property is worth that price he will down value the property accordingly.

I can't remember the rest of your message - sorry - hope this helps though!

carrielouise80

Sisyphus wrote:

What I thought. They can say what the hell they want to buyers who basically have no real protection under law. For all the thread starter knows he/she could have been the only buyer.
Your only protection is to offer what you think it's worth to you and not a penny more.
In this case it was £3.5k more than the vendor was asking for.

Funny thing about this sealed bid malarky is what happens if the best offer is too low for the vendor.
Pointless exercise for the buyer IMO unless you think that the property is undervalued.

sorry but i disagree with this! i have worked part time as an estate agent for 5 years, i left my last employer as i didn't agree with their "principles of business", there are some honest ones please do not tar us all with the same brush. The NAEA regulate all estate and letting agents - they are v.stringent.

potnoodle_2

Recently put offer in for house that had a guide of £220k, we were told there were already 2 offers in at asking price, and lady was a weekend saturday girl who told us there was one in at 230K. We really really wanted house, as no chain, edwardian etc, and we are sstc, so we offered 235K. Vendor was away for week, so sweated it out, then got told the vendor had accepted the 230k offer as the buyers had nothing to sell, and our buyer hasnt had his mortgage offer yet although everything else done.

So, I said i'd go to 240k, there are 2 executors so extra 5k each instead of 2.5k, other party who had offer accepted didnt want to go any higher, so we got it, but cost us extra 10K

Lush house though!