experiences with sealed bids/best and final offer - are we already out of the running?

mortgage_noob

We put an offer on on a very popular property, 270k  - 2% under asking the next day EA called to say there are offers up to 282k, but claimed not to have seen our offer.

Yesterday we got an email with a deadline for best and final offer, asking for MIP and proof of deposit. EA has also also said the last offer they are disclosing is now 292k so quite an increase. Happy to offer 285k, but above that I'm not sure if we're getting good value for money. Is it safe to say we're now out of the running anyway so there's no point scrambling to get  docs together? We are proceedable, no chain FTB, not sure if this process has been to weed people out? or just prompt us to increase offers. I don't know how much to trust the disclosed offer, are EA's under any obligation to be honest with that kind of thing

Interested to hear others' thoughts and experiences

Thrugelmir

If the property is going to best and final offers. Then it has generated a lot of interest. Unless you are willing to bid in excess of £292k. Then you are out of the running. No one is going to waste their time and exclude potential buyers. Choice is yours.

eddddy

The estate agent would probably be breaking the law if they said an offer existed when it didn't. And they would definitely be breaking the Property Ombudsman's code of conduct.

Also, it would be a stupid thing to do anyway. You're prepared to offer £285k. Somebody else might be prepared to offer £290k. But now, maybe neither of you bother to offer, because the EA says there's already an offer of £292k.

If that offer of £292k doesn't really exist, the EA has caused 2 prospective buyers to walk away.

mortgage_noob

Good points! I guess we're out of the running then. Fingers crossed something else comes a long soon, it seems the market for the types of places we're interested in is incredibly buoyant at the moment. 

NameUnavailable

mortgage_noob said:

Good points! I guess we're out of the running then. Fingers crossed something else comes a long soon, it seems the market for the types of places we're interested in is incredibly buoyant at the moment. 

Given your position it is probably worth offering. The higher offer may not be from someone who's ready to proceed and there's always the chance that someone offers then changes their mind. You could be the next in line!

GDB2222

NameUnavailable said:

mortgage_noob said:

Good points! I guess we're out of the running then. Fingers crossed something else comes a long soon, it seems the market for the types of places we're interested in is incredibly buoyant at the moment. 

Given your position it is probably worth offering. The higher offer may not be from someone who's ready to proceed and there's always the chance that someone offers then changes their mind. You could be the next in line!

I entirely agree. As a FTB, with a mortgage more or less lined up, you are in quite a good position to proceed. The stamp duty holiday does not affect you, but it’s probably important further up the chain, and time is now very short. So, your sellers may prefer a buyer who can proceed swiftly over one offering the top figure. 

I would just get on with it as quickly and efficiently as possible. Put in your offer and provide immaculate documentation to back it up. Give the impression that you are confident buyers, who won’t mess them about.  The likelihood is that you will be turned down, of course, but it’s worth a try.

Alternatively, wait until after the stamp duty holiday ends, and hopefully prices will fall back a bit.

allIcouldwishfor

GDB2222 said:

NameUnavailable said:

mortgage_noob said:

Good points! I guess we're out of the running then. Fingers crossed something else comes a long soon, it seems the market for the types of places we're interested in is incredibly buoyant at the moment. 

Given your position it is probably worth offering. The higher offer may not be from someone who's ready to proceed and there's always the chance that someone offers then changes their mind. You could be the next in line!

I entirely agree. As a FTB, with a mortgage more or less lined up, you are in quite a good position to proceed. The stamp duty holiday does not affect you, but it’s probably important further up the chain, and time is now very short. So, your sellers may prefer a buyer who can proceed swiftly over one offering the top figure. 

I would just get on with it as quickly and efficiently as possible. Put in your offer and provide immaculate documentation to back it up. Give the impression that you are confident buyers, who won’t mess them about.  The likelihood is that you will be turned down, of course, but it’s worth a try.

Alternatively, wait until after the stamp duty holiday ends, and hopefully prices will fall back a bit.

This ^^
Make your offer and explain your situation.
We had 2 offers on the same day on our property
 - one was for the asking price, there were several people in the chain below them which included someone using purple bricks, the buyers wanted us to agree that if the transaction was not completed by 31st March we would knock £15k off, and they had already had an offer accepted on another property that they were going to pull out of 
- the other offer was £10k under asking, buyers in rented with mortgage arranged.
We went with the latter and would do the same again.

mortgage_noob

We ended up offer 296k and were outbid, at least we know we tried. The market in the area we're looking at is a bit crazy atm

UnderOffer

mortgage_noob said:

We ended up offer 296k and were outbid, at least we know we tried. The market in the area we're looking at is a bit crazy atm

Yes you did the right thing, upped your offer to the max you wanted to pay and let the vendors make the decision, this wasn’t meant to be, enjoy looking at other places, something better will come along. 

badger09

allIcouldwishfor said:

GDB2222 said:

NameUnavailable said:

mortgage_noob said:

Good points! I guess we're out of the running then. Fingers crossed something else comes a long soon, it seems the market for the types of places we're interested in is incredibly buoyant at the moment. 

Given your position it is probably worth offering. The higher offer may not be from someone who's ready to proceed and there's always the chance that someone offers then changes their mind. You could be the next in line!

I entirely agree. As a FTB, with a mortgage more or less lined up, you are in quite a good position to proceed. The stamp duty holiday does not affect you, but it’s probably important further up the chain, and time is now very short. So, your sellers may prefer a buyer who can proceed swiftly over one offering the top figure. 

I would just get on with it as quickly and efficiently as possible. Put in your offer and provide immaculate documentation to back it up. Give the impression that you are confident buyers, who won’t mess them about.  The likelihood is that you will be turned down, of course, but it’s worth a try.

Alternatively, wait until after the stamp duty holiday ends, and hopefully prices will fall back a bit.

This ^^
Make your offer and explain your situation.
We had 2 offers on the same day on our property
 - one was for the asking price, there were several people in the chain below them which included someone using purple bricks, the buyers wanted us to agree that if the transaction was not completed by 31st March we would knock £15k off, and they had already had an offer accepted on another property that they were going to pull out of 
- the other offer was £10k under asking, buyers in rented with mortgage arranged.
We went with the latter and would do the same again.

Similar here, as I've posted elsewhere. We also accepted a lower offer and feel we made the right decision.
Money doesn't always trump everything else