Best and final offer...

shimano

The phrase I did not want to hear in our house hunting!

We offered on a property near asking (up for just below £1m, only £30k off asking). Apparently 2 other offers were higher, so they went to BAFO...

We went slightly higher (another 15k), but apparently not the highest, but we are most proceedable (no chain, no timing constraints etc)...apparently all offers are close but ours still not highest, but they are not sure to pick our lower risk offer or go for an extra few k elsewhere but enter a chain...

In others experience, do you find the buyers situation takes precedent over a few k?!

anselld

You have no way of knowing if you are even bidding against other buyers or being played against yourself. The only sensible strategy is to offer what you think it is worth and stick at that.

shimano

Absolutely, we went in with the maximum of what we felt it's worth.

It is annoying, they called with initial feedback saying if the offer began with XX (which was about 2k more than what we offered) it'd have been accepted straight away, which made me think they're kind of trying to squeeze every penny...

anselld

shimano wrote: »

Absolutely, we went in with the maximum of what we felt it's worth.

It is annoying, they called with initial feedback saying if the offer began with XX (which was about 2k more than what we offered) it'd have been accepted straight away, which made me think they're kind of trying to squeeze every penny...

So wait and see. Either they come crawling or you look for something else.

ognum

shimano wrote: »

Absolutely, we went in with the maximum of what we felt it's worth.

It is annoying, they called with initial feedback saying if the offer began with XX (which was about 2k more than what we offered) it'd have been accepted straight away, which made me think they're kind of trying to squeeze every penny...

It really depends on if this is the house for you or if there are others around.

For the sake of 2k if it was my perfect home I would have offered it on the basis that the house was taken off the market.

2k seems a lot now but in 5-10 years it will be forgotten, sometimes sticking to your principle isn't the right thing.

However, I do understand that it depends on your circumstances and 2k to some people is nothing while to others it's a fortune.

Good luck!

pinkteapot

We had exactly this. Perfect house for us, in an area where things do sell fast (a few weeks earlier, one had come on the market and sold before we could view) and rarely come up.

We had absolutely no way of knowing if there really was another buyer offering.

We'd started at £460k on a £475k house, then went to £463k, then got the spiel about another buyer and best and final offers.

We'd previously decided that £470k was our max for it, but we said £471,500 which was accepted. Did we waste £11.5k, £8.5k or £1.5k? We'll never know. :mad: But we wanted the house so our final offer was a level where we wouldn't have been devastated if we'd lost it.

This house is a long-term one for us and I agree with the above that a few £k makes very little difference over 20 years.

However, if you're planning on it being a short-term home for just a few years then it's more important not to pay more than you wanted to.

Ma77hew

Well to be honest £2k on a £985k offer is 0.2%, If I wanted the house, I wouldn't lose it for that.

It's petty for them not to have accepted, but no idea what their circumstances are.

jimbog

I would imagine that the seller would rather go with you but the extra couple of thousand that the others are offering is making them squirm. If it is the dream home then offer more (and perhaps ask for something in return e.g. that for your new offer you will expect the carpets/curtains/cooker/garden shed or whatever)

What is for sure is that the estate agent would make neglible commission on the extra £2K so they really are just asking on behalf of the seller.

pinkteapot

Just paid attention to the actual figures here.... If they're selling at almost £1m and turning down chain-free buyers for the sake of a few £k then I think they're bonkers! To get a chain-free buyer at that price level can't be common.

They may go with you even if you refuse to go higher, they may not. There's just no way to know. It's just a case of who blinks first and comes down to how desperately you want the house.