House for sale - with 3 different agents

garethdj

I am a first time buyer, and have just viewed a house, which is a repossession.It is currently on the market for £115000 with 3 different estate agents. I have made an offer for the asking price with one of the agents. They have told me that there has also been the same offer made with one of the other agents, and that offers will be open until friday afternoon, where they will contact myself and the other interested party to see if we'd like to increase our offer. Now, is this good practise by the agents, and is it wise to increase my offer much over the valuation price?

Thanks for your help
G Waters

cattie

It's a legal requirement with repossessed properties that the lender gets the best price possible for it, and this is all the estate agents are doing in this case. There is nothing dodgy about it so don't worry.

If you want the house then you may need to increase your offer above the price it's been put on the market for. Often on repo's the price is set a bit lower than comparable properties as they want a reasonably quick sale.

Remember with repo's that it's often the person who can complete within 28days that is successful, even if their offer was a bit lower than the other person who perhaps has a property to sell so not in a postition for a quick completion.

Also remember with repo's that even if your offer is accepted, by law it has to be advertised in a local paper somewhere what the offer was & inviting higher offers before exchange of contracts.

If you are going to offer more then by increasing your offer by an odd amount, such as £116,027 rather than a rounded amount such as £116k for example can often make all the difference in getting lucky.