What is seller playing at?

Hoploz

I am stunned to read the way you've said the offers system works with this online agent. They won't pass on something by phone, you have to submit it online?! What a ridiculous thing! Who is this agent?

All I can say is good luck to you. But this seller sounds like they could be a nightmare anyway, and the winning bidder could well find themselves gazumped right up to exchange.

euromike

OP, can you tell us what sort of property in London is this? Borough, flat/house/maisonnete/etc? Because the market at the moment is hardly white-hot any more, people have stretched themselves so far, I don't really see bidding wars on normal residential property any more.

lessonlearned

Hoploz wrote: »

All I can say is good luck to you. But this seller sounds like they could be a nightmare anyway, and the winning bidder could well find themselves gazumped right up to exchange.

my thoughts too. I would not trust the vendor an inch.

Windsorcastle

Hoploz wrote: »

I am stunned to read the way you've said the offers system works with this online agent. They won't pass on something by phone, you have to submit it online?! What a ridiculous thing! Who is this agent?

All I can say is good luck to you. But this seller sounds like they could be a nightmare anyway, and the winning bidder could well find themselves gazumped right up to exchange.

Thanks Hoploz. That is my concern too, that the seller is either clueless or flaky and I wouldn't rest until exchange of contracts. We have submitted our best over which is 24k over asking and we are resigned to moving on if that is not good enough or if the vendor continues to behave bizarrely.

I don't want to name the EA in case I get told off by the moderators but it's one that gets a lot of free publicity on tv if you get my drift...

Windsorcastle

euromike wrote: »

OP, can you tell us what sort of property in London is this? Borough, flat/house/maisonnete/etc? Because the market at the moment is hardly white-hot any more, people have stretched themselves so far, I don't really see bidding wars on normal residential property any more.

It's in North London (Bounds Green) a popular area, excellent transport links and the property is finished to a lovely standard. It's a maisonette.

This is the third place I've bid on and each one has ended in a protracted bidding war so far, so no signs of the market cooling in London I'm afraid!

Windsorcastle

Landofwood wrote: »

Normally all parties are included in the "best and final" process, including the current high bidder.

Thanks for clarifying, Landofwood; I wasn't sure if that would be the case. I'm sure the current high bidder will be thrilled then to have had their offer accepted a few days ago only to be told it's now gone to best & final. I'd be thoroughly miffed!

Landofwood

Windsorcastle wrote: »

Thanks for clarifying, Landofwood; I wasn't sure if that would be the case. I'm sure the current high bidder will be thrilled then to have had their offer accepted a few days ago only to be told it's now gone to best & final. I'd be thoroughly miffed!

Yes indeed, it's a horrible process.

I recently moved, and the first house I offered on I was told that my offer was suitable to the vendor and my finances were validated etc.

I was the highest bidder, but I was then told that as there were several other offers that were close to mine, that they were going back to everyone to ask if they wanted to increase their offers.

I was furious inside. I politely declined to increase my offer and naively expected that I would still secure the property. Obviously I didn't, and we were gutted.

The property was on for £450k, we offered asking price, and it was eventually sold for £456k according to Land Registry. We ended up buying a house for £590k, and it still niggles me that my ego wouldn't let me offer more for the other one.

euromike

Landofwood wrote: »

Yes indeed, it's a horrible process.

I recently moved, and the first house I offered on I was told that my offer was suitable to the vendor and my finances were validated etc.

I was the highest bidder, but I was then told that as there were several other offers that were close to mine, that they were going back to everyone to ask if they wanted to increase their offers.

I was furious inside. I politely declined to increase my offer and naively expected that I would still secure the property. Obviously I didn't, and we were gutted.

The property was on for £450k, we offered asking price, and it was eventually sold for £456k according to Land Registry. We ended up buying a house for £590k, and it still niggles me that my ego wouldn't let me offer more for the other one.

In 2011 I was looking at a property listed at £499k (it was back in the days when going above £500k triggered £5k of additional stamp duty). I was told that a "cheeky offer" had been made, say in the range of £450k, and rejected by the vendor. I offered £480, got rejected, then £485 and it got accepted. Then 2 days later EA tells me that the cheeky bidder had been sitting on the sidelines and is now getting involved again, offering £490k. It then went to best&final between the 2 of us.

My thinking was: neither of us will want to offer above £500k due to stamp duty, and since the original bidder wasn't willing to pay the asking price for months, I figured he'd offer £495 max. I offered £496, and it sold to the other guy for £499.

I was incredibly frustrated, and the same property was listed at £740 a few months ago. I also never understood why the other bidder didn't simply offer the full asking price initially, or something along the lines of what I offered - and instead chose to wait for another offer, only to have to pay, months later, 10-15k more than he could have paid.

I still hold the EA responsible, obviously he must have tipped the other bidder off, but that's another story.

Hoploz

If you've offered as much as you are able, that's all you can do. I have been in this best-and-finals situation three times. We won the third one. We learnt from experience that as it is a long term purchase we should bid not what the house is 'worth' today, but to go as far as we could and then add a little bit on. We didn't want to be saying we wished we had had another couple of thousand!

The first two houses we wanted were in 2007 and went for 50k over approx 400k asking prices. They are now worth 600-650, so the 50k is lost. We hope the same will happen with the one we've just bought! At least we know for sure others bid in their same region as us on this one - one of the other bidders turned out to be a friend of a friend!

Windsorcastle

Thanks to most recent posters above for sharing similar painful stories, and I certainly sympathise. The house buying and selling process in England is archaic and ridiculous at best of times, and the 'best & final' scenario is a total nightmare for buyers, but of course it's lovely for the seller who just sits back and watches the £ signs rolling in!

As for my own case, the seller failed to put a deadline on offers so no one has any idea when a decision is made and EA continues to be worse than useless. I rang this evening to be told that 'the vendor will not be issuing further updates till tomorrow'. Excuse me?! Since when did vendors get to treat potential buyers with utter haughtines like this?

We are staying calm, que sera sera and all that. As other posters have warned, it doesn't bode well that the vendors are already being tools before they have even accepted a final offer...