Best and Final Offer

gwilson30019

Hi Everyone,

We are from Scotland and are hoping to buy our first house in England shortly. We have found a house we like and offered asking price today. However we have been advised there have been multiple offers and therefore it will be going to a ‘Best and final offer’.

Having not done this in England before I wonder if anyone can advise approximately what percentage properties sell for over asking price in this situation. Property is in Headingley area in Leeds. We do not have a clue what to offer and asking price is more than one has sold for on street previously. 

Thanks all.

uralmaid

The only advice I can offer you is - decide what your best offer is and put that forward.  When going to best and final offers usually the agent looks at all the offers then recommends to the buyer which they feel is the best person to proceed - ie whether it is a cash offer, or how small the chain is and what point it is at.  Some like first time buyers and others shy away from them because usually if anything is shown up on the survey they don't have the experience to be able to read between the lines, or the cash to do any required work.  Leeds is a growing market at the moment and quite desirable so I would expect the prices to reflect this. p.s. I was an estate agent in a previous life before I escaped to the country and lived in Wakefield.

AdrianC

There is no set percentage. It's simply who offers most. I have no idea how much the other potential buyers are planning to offer, any more than you do.

Just remember that if you offer as much as you're willing to pay, anybody who offers more is clearly a profligate loon with more money than sense, and is welcome to it for that price...

But if you offer less than you'd be willing to pay, and get beaten, you'll kick yourself.

csgohan4

If you offer more than what the valuation values, you may need to be prepared to stump up the difference, don't over price it

GDB2222

AdrianC said:

There is no set percentage. It's simply who offers most. I have no idea how much the other potential buyers are planning to offer, any more than you do.

Just remember that if you offer as much as you're willing to pay, anybody who offers more is clearly a profligate loon with more money than sense, and is welcome to it for that price...

But if you offer less than you'd be willing to pay, and get beaten, you'll kick yourself.

This strategy makes sense if this house is the only one that the OP can possibly buy. If, in fact, there are lots of other houses available, I suggest just making a sensible offer.  There’s no point in getting carried away but then finding that the mortgage valuation is much lower.

Of course, if you have no morals at all, the thing to do is to make a stupidly high offer now, so as to blow the opposition out of the water. Then, just before exchanging contracts, gazunder back down to a sensible level. Some sellers react badly to that, but others are committed to their onward chain ...

gwilson30019

AdrianC said:

There is no set percentage. It's simply who offers most. I have no idea how much the other potential buyers are planning to offer, any more than you do.

Just remember that if you offer as much as you're willing to pay, anybody who offers more is clearly a profligate loon with more money than sense, and is welcome to it for that price...

But if you offer less than you'd be willing to pay, and get beaten, you'll kick yourself.

Thanks all. I realise there’s no fixed percentage but in Glasgow (where I grew up) people would generally get to know what roughly sort of offer you would need to submit in current market conditions. 

GDB2222 I didn’t realise people gazunder purposefully like that! Crazy stuff. I suppose if you offer high the mortgage company may value less and then there is an opportunity to go back to the seller and renegotiate? 

ElizabethRose

With the property being in Headingley you're likely to be up against BTL investors. Even if it looks like a family home now people will be considering it for a HMO or turning into flats.

 It's hard to say what to offer, a mile or so away a house went for 32k over so roughly 7% but that is a family area with good schools.  I assume you have done your research into the area. Whilst Headingley isn't a bad area it also isn't really a family area plus the schools are very limited. 

kazwookie

Offer what you can afford, and also bear in mind, any renovation costs, if in a few years you want to sell and move on will you at least get back the purchase price and renovation costs.

Personally, I'd look else where and see what else is around, I hate EA and vendors that play games, ie put on market at one price then look for offers over that price.

davidmcn

gwilson30019 said:

AdrianC said:

There is no set percentage. It's simply who offers most. I have no idea how much the other potential buyers are planning to offer, any more than you do.

Just remember that if you offer as much as you're willing to pay, anybody who offers more is clearly a profligate loon with more money than sense, and is welcome to it for that price...

But if you offer less than you'd be willing to pay, and get beaten, you'll kick yourself.

I suppose if you offer high the mortgage company may value less and then there is an opportunity to go back to the seller and renegotiate? 

Generally there's more scope to renegotiate in England than Scotland - unlike Scotland, bidders won't already have the benefit of a survey, for example. 

GDB2222

gwilson30019 said:

AdrianC said:

There is no set percentage. It's simply who offers most. I have no idea how much the other potential buyers are planning to offer, any more than you do.

Just remember that if you offer as much as you're willing to pay, anybody who offers more is clearly a profligate loon with more money than sense, and is welcome to it for that price...

But if you offer less than you'd be willing to pay, and get beaten, you'll kick yourself.

Thanks all. I realise there’s no fixed percentage but in Glasgow (where I grew up) people would generally get to know what roughly sort of offer you would need to submit in current market conditions. 

GDB2222 I didn’t realise people gazunder purposefully like that! Crazy stuff. I suppose if you offer high the mortgage company may value less and then there is an opportunity to go back to the seller and renegotiate? 

You are possibly more used to the Scottish market, where 'offers over' is very common. In England that’s rather unusual, and you seem to have been enticed into some sort of informal auction by a low asking price. Possibly a deliberately low asking price. designed to get a lot of interest. You can simply decline to be manipulated in this way.

 It is entirely possible that whoever wins this auction will be expecting to gazunder later, and of course the mortgage valuation will provide the perfect excuse. Indeed, many buyers have no choice but to reduce their offer if the valuation is low.

gwilson30019

ElizabethRose said:

With the property being in Headingley you're likely to be up against BTL investors. Even if it looks like a family home now people will be considering it for a HMO or turning into flats.

 It's hard to say what to offer, a mile or so away a house went for 32k over so roughly 7% but that is a family area with good schools.  I assume you have done your research into the area. Whilst Headingley isn't a bad area it also isn't really a family area plus the schools are very limited. 

Thanks for your reply. I should have mentioned the property is in Far Headingley and in a nice estate that is not a student area.