Best and final offers - advice needed please

katiee1994

Hey everyone,

My partner and I are looking to buy our first house. We have found a beautiful house in a great area that we went to see on the first day it went on the market. The next morning we offered the asking price on the condition they take it off the market. As suspected it was hugely popular and 3 other offers were made from the first day of viewings. 

It has now been made to best and final offers next week. I’m guessing even more people will offer as more viewings will have taken place. 

The property is on the market for £315,000. How much over do you think we could offer to stand a chance of getting it?

Luckily we have the benefit of being first time buyers with no chain, a mortgage in principle agreed, a large deposit and flexible with when we can move in if the sellers house falls through we are happy to wait. 

Any guidance would be much appreciated. It’s a beautiful house and we don’t want to miss out. 

Thanks! 

Slithery

Offer as much as you think it's worth. That's the only advice anyone can give you.

jimbog

katiee1994 said:

 first time buyers with no chain, a mortgage in principle agreed, a large deposit and flexible with when we can move in if the sellers house falls through we are happy to wait. 

Whatever offer you put in also state the above

davidmcn

katiee1994 said:

The property is on the market for £315,000. How much over do you think we could offer to stand a chance of getting it?

Ideally, just slightly more than the next highest offer. It's guesswork, really.

Obviously there's no point offering something which you can't actually afford - bear in mind your lender's valuation will be taking a dispassionate view of things.

ooSTEVEoo

Best and final offers during a pandemic 😩😩😩😕 Don’t know if to laugh or cry. Offer the asking price and if you miss out console yourself that you didn’t buy at the top of the market. 

Treshan16

Best and final offers worked for me in February when I sold. Put house on the market for 330.. estate agent valuation said 340. I sold at 350.. within 5 days of going on the market. Exchanged yesterday and completing next week Friday. If I were to be buying, I would not have offered 350 for a house of 330 but my buyer felt it was worth paying 350. So here we go. Offer what you think the house is worth to you.. sealed bids puts a bit of pressure with regards to offers made on popular houses. 

Cash-Cows

Unless the house in a one off I would be cautious unless of course you think it was under valued at the original offer price. 

hazyjo

ooSTEVEoo said:

Best and final offers during a pandemic 😩😩😩😕 Don’t know if to laugh or cry. Offer the asking price and if you miss out console yourself that you didn’t buy at the top of the market. 

There have been a few similar posts. A friend of mine is selling and had 3 viewings, subsequently 3 offers, including one over asking price.


Guessing a lack of properties on the market still, and people have waited far too long what with Brexit and now Covid and are itching to get off the starting block.

blue_max_3

It's more difficult for buyers who have a mortgage offer based on the asking valuation. They may not be able to borrow more, so you potentially only have wealthier buyers. Demand is strong when there is a restricted number of properties for sale. I've recently seen an increase, so maybe that strategy may have less success going forward.

Unicorn_cottage

My experience of sealed bids. I offered on my house in the summer of 2015. Bristol was a very very buoyant market then and still is I believe. I had offered on a few houses but had missed out as all went above asking price by some way. The house I wanted was on the market for offers over £200k. Before I left the house after the viewing I put in an offer of £205k thinking that this was fair and would seal the deal. It didn't and it went to sealed bids. I thought long and hard about how much I could stretch myself financially and how I could get the property. I had read some advice somewhere about putting in an offer of an odd amount. I made the assumption that someone had also put in an offer of £205k so I worked up from there in £2.5k increments. I assumed it would easily go to £210k and would start to hit a peak at around £215/£217,500 therefore I went for an offer of £217,679.89 thinking that the odd offer would get me the house by the skin of my teeth. Thankfully I got the house. I asked the Estate Agent what the next highest bid was and he said it was extremely tight and I had got it by about £100 or so so I assume someone went in at £217,500.

Funnily enough when talking to my neighbours 2 doors about my buying experience they said they had done similar.

@katiee1994 I would try speaking to the Estate Agent, (for any intelligence!), and try sussing out if it is common to go to sealed bids in the area and if so how much are people paying over. Any bit of information can help Best of luck.

Competsoph

Bear in mind the interest may not be as you have been made to believe. EA lie. I am a usually trusting person but recently went to best and final and stood my ground with my offer. It was accepted and now things seem to be moving along. Don’t be bullied and keep in mind things happen for a reason, or so I believe. Good luck!