Best and Final Offer made - waiting on seller...really nervewracking

DonRoddy

After a recent awful experience where we found out the estate agent didnt properly communicate our proceedable position to a seller, we have found another property that we have fallen in love with. It was a blessing in disguise that we missed out on the last one.

Anyway, it had an open day viewing on saturday - guide price listed at £280,000, we made an offer on the saturday of £275,000. EA got back to us yesterday saying that they had 3 offers at the same price point £275,000 and therefore going to best and final offers. I didn't want to be outbid so have offered a little over the guide price at £281,000. We can afford more (circa £285k), but I didn't want to outbid by a large margin for no reason. Now I'm not sure if we should have put in more and might miss out because we didn't put in a higher bid. The guide price was reasonable for the property, other houses in the area of similar spec have gone for between £260k to £290k in recent years. 

We are just waiting to hear back from the seller now and are really nervous - have I made a mistake by offering too low? Never been in a "best and final offers" situation before. I've also explained to the EA about our proceedable position (house sold with no chain, MIP agreed).

Any tips or advice on how to calm these nerves and anxiety??

anewbuyer

We offered the asking price on our dream property, the agent suggested there were other offers on the table and we didn't want to lose our chance, so we offered 5k extra. We got the offer accepted and just completed. What is 5k over a 20 years mortgage if you like the house? 

If in doubt, call the agent by phone and say that you wouldn't want to miss the opportunity and after speaking with your partner you decided to increase your final offer, we are all humans and sellers will value a buyer who will love the property.

DonRoddy

anewbuyer said:

We offered the asking price on our dream property, the agent suggested there were other offers on the table and we didn't want to lose our chance, so we offered 5k extra. We got the offer accepted and just completed. What is 5k over a 20 years mortgage if you like the house? 

If in doubt, call the agent by phone and say that you wouldn't want to miss the opportunity and after speaking with your partner you decided to increase your final offer, we are all humans and sellers will value a buyer who will love the property.

Thanks for your response. I had already suggested that this morning, he has said, in the interest of fairness he will have to take the offers as they were submitted by the deadline yesterday - sorry should have made that clear in the first post. He's expecting to hear back the sellers decision by the end of today. Agent seems really good but is very calm and cool, doesn't seem to give away in tone of voice anything in terms of positive/negative about how likely we are to get our offer accepted. We already increased it £6k above our original (and other's original) offers bringing- I hope and pray that's enough.

 

eve824

I think if it really was the house for me I would offer up to my very maximum to try my hardest to secure. I appreciate there's not much you can do about it right now but in your position I would have offered £285k, as if I didn't and it went for under that I would be absolutely gutted. On the flip side, it means you will more likely overpay - so a very difficult balance to strike! I've got everything crossed for you.

anewbuyer

We were required to supply a mortgage in principle that would show the value we could offer, perhaps if you can get hold of one and send it to the agent they will take your new offer seriously, they shouldn't let their client lose 5k because they do not want to send a second email to the seller.
Not sure if you are using a broker, in any case, good luck.

DonRoddy

I've had nothing back from the EA despite being told we'd hear something before lunch. Is no news good news in this "best and final" scenario, or should i manage my expectations and prepare to be let down...?

iampetesmith

anewbuyer said:

We offered the asking price on our dream property, the agent suggested there were other offers on the table and we didn't want to lose our chance, so we offered 5k extra. We got the offer accepted and just completed. What is 5k over a 20 years mortgage if you like the house? 

If in doubt, call the agent by phone and say that you wouldn't want to miss the opportunity and after speaking with your partner you decided to increase your final offer, we are all humans and sellers will value a buyer who will love the property.

We did a similar thing when we bought ours, at the end of the viewing the vendor actually said that they'd had 4 offers already for the asking price. We did the maths and offered 5k over after we worked out it wouldn't be much extra per month.

Even though I based it on the vendor's say so, I think there were really 4 offers for the asking price as the estate agent confirmed that the vendor was considering ours and 4 others overnight. The next day, the offer was accepted and we started the long conveyancing process.

Anyway, it gets to the bank's valuation stage and they value it at 5k less. This means we then had to re-negotiate back down to the asking price, which was another overnight wait. This was accepted (probably because we were so far in and he realised another buyer would probably have the same issue) and the sale completed after 5 and a half months.

So in the end if you had offered too much, then you'd probably find the lender wouldn't give you a mortgage for that amount (unless you paid the rest with a bigger deposit) and you'd have to re-negotiate anyway.

DonRoddy

Just found out someone offered significantly over the asking price (EA said in excess of £290,000). So this was a no go for us...

iwb100

Sorry to hear that OP. I’ve been in that position a few times and never won. Always list sealed bids or best and finals to cash buyers or in one case as you’ve experienced someone just paying a large amount. My rule of thumb is always offer what you can afford in these positions if it’s the right house, and hope for the best. But I suspect if you love it so do others and chances are someone is a cash buyer or downsizing so doesn’t have valuation constraints and therefore can pay a bit extra. Never fret about missing out on a house though a better one will be right round the corner...always.

Hannimal

Sorry to hear - but you live and you learn. You wouldn't have been able to afford this anyway, so never mind. Next time they ask for best and final, put in a best and final offer. Good luck with the house-hunting, there's plenty out there

eidand

Mickey666 said:

anewbuyer said:

We offered the asking price on our dream property, the agent suggested there were other offers on the table and we didn't want to lose our chance, so we offered 5k extra. We got the offer accepted and just completed. What is 5k over a 20 years mortgage if you like the house? 

I had a similar experience, though for a second property as a cash buyer, not for a dream property.  I offered 10% below asking and it was rejected (unsurprisingly), so increased to 5% below.  EA (a young, cocky lad I instantly took a dislike to) said they had an offer for full asking price.  I said fair enough and walked away.  The following day the EA called to say the other offer had suddenly been withdrawn (yeah, right) and the vendor would now accept my 5% below asking price.  I refused out of principle and walked away.  Six months later the property was still up for sale.

maybe he lied, but maybe he didn't. I can tell you that I had two offers on my house, one was cancelled the day after I accepted, the other 20 minutes after I accepted. Yes, EAs sometimes lie, but there are also lots of not so serious buyers.