Negotiating without a bidding war

sl9192

Hi, I hope someone here can help us?

Last Monday we put an offer on a house, which was rejected. We have been biding our time and considering a higher offer. We've now learned that there has been another offer on the property.

Where do we go from here? is the EA likely to tell us what the other offer was? And how do we raise our offer without it turning into a bidding war? We are FTB with no chain so hopefully in a better position than the other offerers, that is if the other offer even exists.

anselld

How do you know there is another offer?

sl9192

I had a voicemail from the EA and when I tried to call back they were closed, so minimal info regarding the other offer.

G_M

Either you want to buy, an are willing to pay more, in which case make an increased offer and take your chances with a bidding war, or

walk away.

Cheeky_Monkey

The EA will not tell you how much the other offer is, if indeed one exists.

You have to simply offer what the house is worth to you and hope it's accepted.

The fact that you are a FTB may, or may not, be a factor as the other potential buyer could also be one which would negate your advantage. They could also be a cash buyer in which case you can't really compete with that if you need a mortgage.

Cakeguts

Your first offer was rejected so this house is obviously not worth anymore to you or you would have offered that in the first place. Because the offer was rejected it was not nearly high enough for the seller to consider it. If there is another offer that is higher than yours and nearer to the amount that the seller is prepared to accept anything that you offer will be more than you would ideally like to pay as it would have to be higher than the other offer.

By raising your offer you are already going to start a bidding war if there is another offer. If there isn't another offer you will need to offer much nearer the asking price than you have done so far. Do you want to do this? How does the price of this house compare to other similar houses in the same area?

Thrugelmir

The EA has simply informed that there is another interested party. Perhaps their offer hasn't been accepted either. Before worrying about a bidding war you need to establish what price you are prepared to go up to in order to purchase the property. Your silence has achieved nothing.

amateur_house

Cheeky_Monkey wrote: »

The EA will not tell you how much the other offer is, if indeed one exists.

I have viewed a few houses recently where the estate agent said the vendor already had offers for the property. On two occasions they did actually tell me how much had been offered, but both were more than I can afford anyway.

In this case it seems the estate agent hasn't indicated if the other offer is higher or lower than yours. I would steer clear of a bidding war though, I think you can end up offering more than you feel happy with. On the other hand if the valuation comes in lower there maybe a possibility of reducing the offer again.

agrinnall

Cakeguts wrote: »

Your first offer was rejected so this house is obviously not worth anymore to you or you would have offered that in the first place.

That seems rather a rash assumption, my own rash assumption is that more people than not will make an offer lower than their upper limit in the hope that it's accepted while leaving room to increase the offer if it's not. If you don't do that then there's a chance you will have overpaid on any properties you have bought.

Hoploz

It sounds harsh when you're one of the potential buyers, and I've been through it more than once myself, but really this situation is best resolved with 'best and finals'.

This gives everyone an equal opportunity to put in their final offer by a certain deadline, after which all offers will be reviewed, without any party losing out simply because of timing.

It feels awful when you contact the agent to put in an offer and you're told an offer has already been accepted and the seller wants no further offers. Equally as a seller you feel awful when you find out later someone else was interested but hadn't got their offer in - you feel like you might have got more (rightly or wrongly.)

It also avoids the to-ing and fro-ing between two potential buyers, playing each other off against the other several times

robatwork

One man's bidding war is another man's negotiation, is another man's nightmare scenario, is another man's game. You can call it whatever you want, but accept you're in it.

If you want to not be in it, when you make an offer, say it's your first, last, final and best offer, and you will NOT be negotiating at all.

(Please feel free to replace man with any other epithet for a binary person)