Offering on a house - Bidding War rules

BuyBuyBuy

Hi,

Phoned an agent to put an offer on a property - but was told that another offer had already been accepted, and it was higher than our opening offer.

We were told that we were ok to submit an offer though, since we have viewed the property already, so we upped our offer accordingly.

The agent sounded a bit reluctant, but said that he would put the improved offer to the vendors.

Slightly concerned that we could end up in a bidding war here - are there any laws that says a property has to go to sealed bids in this kind of situation (somebody suggested there was), or could the agent try to play us off the other (competing) bidders? Should I feel bad for the attempted gazump?

Jeffrey_Shaw

If it's in England & Wales, no. The parties are free to negotiate.
Of course the EA [Estate Agent] acting for V [vendor] will try to jack-up the sale price; that's his/her job!

BuyBuyBuy

Thanks - and does the EA have the right to tell us what other offers are on the table? ATM, we are bidding blind - I can see that this may be in V's interest, but...

Jeffrey_Shaw

EA might do so but only if it's in V's interests Do not see EA as a kind and helpful middleman!

GAH

Just have your final price in mind, if someone goes higher and the vendor accepts, then there are plenty of other properties out there to purchase.

BuyBuyBuy

And go up in small increments, I suppose....

DannyboyMidlands

The EA is playing you like a fiddle. Every property that I have ever offered on has just had a higher offer received. Even stuff that's been on the market for 18 months miraculously recieves offers just as I submit one. Funny that. Just like every used car has loads of people interested and on their way to the showroom.

Stop offering more and chill out. Chances are that these "offers" wont amount to anything.

The EA is gonna keep playing this game until you say no more, it's their job. You can either decide to say that now or another 10 grand further down the line.

JQ.

BuyBuyBuy wrote: »

And go up in small increments, I suppose....

Not necessarily.

If the original offer accepted was £100k and you then offered £105k, the other party then offer £115k - if you start offering £108k, £109k, £110k, I recon you'd get to £111k before they told you to get lost.

EA's and vendors don't tend to let these things drag on - if there's lots of counter offers they'll just send it to best and final bids.

JQ.

DannyboyMidlands wrote: »

The EA is playing you like a fiddle. Every property that I have ever offered on has just had a higher offer received. Even stuff that's been on the market for 18 months miraculously recieves offers just as I submit one. Funny that. Just like every used car has loads of people interested and on their way to the showroom.

Stop offering more and chill out. Chances are that these "offers" wont amount to anything.

The EA is gonna keep playing this game until you say no more, it's their job. You can either decide to say that now or another 10 grand further down the line.

Yet I've sold 2 houses that have had mutiple bids on and have ended in a bidding war. So the above is a bit of a sweeping statement to make. I believe the property market in London is still booming.

However, I would agree that in the current climate it's more likely that the EA's pulling bids out of the air.

BuyBuyBuy

Hmmm, at the time I tended to believe what I was being told. Perhaps I was a bit naive. I'm starting to wish we had the Scottish system here....

Jeffrey_Shaw

BuyBuyBuy wrote: »

Hmmm, at the time I tended to believe what I was being told. Perhaps I was a bit naive. I'm starting to wish we had the Scottish system here....

What, and waste even more on unnecessary (i) valuation/survey fees and (ii) bridging finance? Ugh.