Making multiple offers to buy with the intention of buying just one

chris0_2

I'm currently trying to buy a house and have found a couple that I'm interested in with different agents. I'd really like to start making [oral] offers on both and see which one works out the best. Obviously I only want to buy one of them though!

But is making multiple offers a reasonable thing to do, or is it frowned upon? As far as I understand it the offer is not legally binding if it's just an oral offer.

Any help/advice is much appreciated.

Thanks,
Chris

MrRee_2

Decide what each property is worth to you .... and offer slightly less on each one.

The one which accepts your offer first takes the prize .... no need to be coy over it.

FireWyrm

While it isnt illegal to do that, you're likely to upset a good number of people. You're perfectly correct, the sale isnt binding until the contracts are exchanged, but look at it this way : You're the vendor, you get a good offer on your house (practically a miracle in todays market) which you believe is solid, you go ahead and start preparations on your own purchase, whereupon the buyer pulls out from underneath you saying "sorry, but I was speculating on a number of properties"....I'd wring your bloody neck. Potentially, the vendor could be out thousands of pounds by the time you make up your mind and unable to proceed because you pulled the rug out from underneath them.

More than that, if I was the estate agent and I found out what you were up to, I'd tell the vendor that this sale wasnt solid anyway and I'd probably view you as a complete timewaster and spend my time pursuing real buyers who have every intention of completing.

Sorry. You can view as many as you like, but only offer on one and be prepared to carry it through. This isnt like buying a car or a packet of apples, there is allot of time, money and effort riding on it and you dont mess people around like this.

agrinnall

Offers are not legally binding until you exchange (unless you're in Scotland). The only problem you might find is if both properties were marketed by the same EA, although even then I suspect they would have to pass on your offers, no doubt with a large health warning to the seller .

ognum

There was a thread about this not long ago dsorry dont have time to find it now Apparently the guy that put in multiple offers was reported to the police money laundering bureau by the estate agents because this is typical behavior of a money launderer Might be worth thinking about!

Sugared-frog

Why not choose the one you prefer ... put in an offer ... if it isn't accepted, consider whether you want to up that offer or to try the second property. So that you only have one current offer on the plate at any one time and you can honestly say to the EA if they are telling you the offer wasn't accepted that you have other properties that you are interested in.

pinkteapot

I would offer on one, and then the other if it doesn't work out. Negotiations shouldn't take longer than a couple of days. A few years ago when the market was racing you'd risk losing the second house to someone else in the meantime. Unlikely these days!

FireWyrm

ognum wrote: »

There was a thread about this not long ago dsorry dont have time to find it now Apparently the guy that put in multiple offers was reported to the police money laundering bureau by the estate agents because this is typical behavior of a money launderer Might be worth thinking about!

I think Ognum's point is very pertinent here. The government has a bee in it's bonnet about money laundering and house buying. Most buyers tend to follow the 'one offer at a time' rule, so if you are doing something that is obviously out of the ordinary when large amounts of money are at stake, you could find yourself with some fairly intrusive and unwelcome attention to contend with. I know of people who's deposits were intercepted in transit by banks (no explanation given) but it seems fairly obvious that this was a random sweep for money laundering. The first you know, your money goes missing for anywhere up to three weeks and there's absolutely nothing you can do about it. Also, solicitors have a duty to report suspicious behavior, so unless you have a good reason for switching sales once the process is started, you might gain some unwelcome attention there.

I wont go into an argument about whether the government has the right idea, personally, I think it's control and regulation for the sake of it because some twit told them that money is laundered through houses. Whilst this is true, I can think of far easier and less traceable ways to do it such as casinos. Be that as it may, the Government is totally unaccountable when it comes to this sort of thing and they can and do regularly come down like a tonne of bricks on completely innocent people they even suspect of being evil nasty money launderers.

No. All things considered, stick to the one offer routine. It's what is expected, you dont mess people around and you stay below the radar.

princeofpounds

There was a thread about this not long ago dsorry dont have time to find it now Apparently the guy that put in multiple offers was reported to the police money laundering bureau by the estate agents because this is typical behavior of a money launderer Might be worth thinking about!

The estate agent in that thread was an idiot, and whilst the poster was not guilty of any offense, the Estate Agent actually was guilty of an offense (tipping off the subject of an ML investigation is a criminal offence, and that's precisely what they would have done if it had turned out to be investigation-worthy). Just shows you what happens when people apply laws they don't understand (copyright: every jobsworth in the world and even quite a few police for that matter).

There is nothing wrong with making bids on multiple properties as long as you don't force people to take multiple houses off the market. Any vendor/agent who thinks they have some kind of divine right to sole negotiations is smoking crack.

But it is important ethically to be able to fully commit to any offer if accepted, otherwise you have to ditch one and go back on your word. So you can make multiple offers in rapid succession rather than all in parallel.

rdr

Only offer on one at a time, make it clear to the EA that if your offer is rejected you will offer elsewhere before you consider increasing the offer on their property, In effect a bit of a dutch auction.

Random_User_Name

FireWyrm wrote: »

While it isnt illegal to do that, you're likely to upset a good number of people. ...

Sorry. You can view as many as you like, but only offer on one and be prepared to carry it through. This isnt like buying a car or a packet of apples, there is allot of time, money and effort riding on it and you dont mess people around like this.

Problem is, when does one "offer" end?

I had a close friend who offered on one house - and was rejected. Case closed.

Went on a short while later to view and offer on another - accepted.

Agent from 1st place called and asked if they were going to make another offer - and according to my friend, was very rude when told they had offered else where.

I'm not sure if some agents think there is some sort of "game" in terms of offers - turn it down, await buyer coming back with higher offer, etc. Point of view of friend was "I'm prepared to pay X and that is it" - not sure I could stick to that if I loved the house but it worked for them I suppose!

Just pointing out that it seems the offer process is dependant upon the experiences of the agents rather than being "offer on one and only one house".