Sealed bids and gazumped

Davesnave

AdrianC wrote: »

"Sealed bids" isn't necessarily "best and final". It's just "There's a few of you making an offer, but we won't tell you what the other offers are".

The seller can, of course, pick and choose and come back to whichever bidder they want, as many times as they want, no matter how they choose to dress it. It ain't over till the fat lady exchanges.

^ This is it, in a nutshell.

If the property is difficult to repeat and as perfect as you say, then in your shoes I'd have a figure in mind to play to, as reluctantly as possible, of course. Sometimes one has to grit teeth and take a chance.

We bought via a sealed bid in the days when it was generally accepted to be 'over' after the envelopes were opened. None of us got to see what was in them however!

Yes, we paid over the odds a little to secure a house in exactly the right place, but it served us for 10 years, so the 'extra' was somewhat academic by the time we sold.

robatwork

You didn't say if this was your dream live-here-at-any-costs house and you haven't found anything like it in 1 year of searching.

If so then you should have offered £300k in your bid.

If it's not your dream house....move on

Cash-Cows

You could have said my buy it now price is £298 but if we go to seal bids it's 296.5. To further confirm you're serious go into the agency and say you'd like to look around another house.

hazyjo

Also wouldn't have increased after they asked for another offer after sealed bids. The 'value' of being a FTB in this instance appears to trump the higher bid. It's not all about money.

The fact they got you to increase and didn't go with the higher bidder makes me wonder if the other buyer actually has a complete chain beneath them. Did you ask if they're proceedable?

AdrianC

hazyjo wrote: »

The 'value' of being a FTB in this instance appears to trump the higher bid. It's not all about money.

The value is in being chain-free. Being an FTB could well be a negative.

hazyjo

AdrianC wrote: »

The value is in being chain-free. Being an FTB could well be a negative.

Oh I 100% agree. No offence, OP but FTBs can be a nightmare! But many (mistakenly IMO) still see it as a positive. That's why I said 'in this instance' as they'd already said the seller was keen as they were FTBs with no chain. Chain free - great. But it seemed the seller saw the FTB bit as a plus too.

FTB123456789

Thanks for all the replies, heard back from the EA today to say the seller had accepted the other sellers offer, as ‘her mortgage was in place’. I asked if she meant mortgage in principle and she said no- her mortgage is in place.

Baffling!

I have to say I’m non too fussed as the messing about really had put me off the property, and like others had said above I’ve have faced a precarious few months wondering if the sellers head was going to be turned by a slightly higher offer before completion.

Onwards and upwards to the next property!

george4064

Yep, just forget about it and move on. Good luck in your search!

ACG

PasturesNew wrote: »

Yes you've been !!!!ed about..... but that's life.

It's unfortunate this has happened, but the seller's making the choices.

In this currently quiet market I'd assume there was another buyer. I've seen many nice places fly off the shelf within a week, I've seen 2 in 3000 sell for £5k more than the advertised price. I doubt any seller/agent would have the confidence to lie about another buyer as things are at the moment. If you only have one buyer and it goes bad, they'd have egg on their face if it just sat now for 6 months without another sniff.

A lot depends on where you are in the country.

This year we have done more Mortgages than we did in 2017 and we still have 3 months to go, admittedly 1-2 of those are usually quiet months but we still have 6 weeks or so of the busy period left. We are currently 10 behind what we did last year, but I expect that to be less than 5 by the end of the month.

All of that and we have done hardly any Mortgages in London and the South East this year, which means the rest of the country has taken up the slack if not more so.

The market is not quiet by any means, every broker I know is busy. We are not taking on any new customers until next week for example. So it is very possible that people are increasing offers.

All of that being said, I would tell the agent and the vendor to do one. They told you they would accept a price and when you met it, they upped it. That is not someone you can work with and trust for the next 2 months or so whilst going through the buying process.

Mickygg

FTB123456789 wrote: »

Thanks for all the replies, heard back from the EA today to say the seller had accepted the other sellers offer, as ‘her mortgage was in place’. I asked if she meant mortgage in principle and she said no- her mortgage is in place.

Baffling!

I have to say I’m non too fussed as the messing about really had put me off the property, and like others had said above I’ve have faced a precarious few months wondering if the sellers head was going to be turned by a slightly higher offer before completion.

Onwards and upwards to the next property!

Best attitude to have! There will be other properties.