Can I avoid the dreaded best and final offer scenario?

propertyhunter

GDB2222 said:

Will they accept an offer of "£2k more than the highest other offer"?

I can ask the EA tomorrow, I suppose. I do have a price I am not willing to exceed though, but at least it would open the door to some level of dialogue with the vendor - and make it less of a blind auction. 

lookstraightahead

Murphybear said:

csgohan4 said:

knightstyle said:

there is no final offer scenario!  some years ago friends went for a house, several others wanted it so the agent told them to send bestand final offer to them by a date. They were the highest  so things started progressing, 10 days later they were told an underbidder had increase their offer and the vendors were now going with them!
friends bought elsewhere and a couple of months later the agent contacted them to see if they were still interested as the buyers had dropped out!

The sellers got what they deserved accepting gazumpers

This happened to us some years ago.  We offered on a house that was the top of our budget.  A week later the EA told us they’d accepted a higher offer.  We carried on looking and the EA contacted us and said the buyer had dropped out and were we still interested?  We said no because we couldn’t trust the seller not to do it again.  The EA was gobsmacked, he genuinely couldn’t understand why  
We bought the bungalow of our dreams after that 

I would have done exactly the same thing.

luckbox

It may be that the first offer gets it. We had it the other way around recently. There was already an asking price offer on a house we liked and was by the first couple to view it, so we offered asking as well an hour later after our viewing, to get our foot in the door ready for best and finals. Then the next day we had ours rejected and it went for the first party to offer. We were at 40% deposit. 

It surprised us as we assumed in a hot market (second half of last year), everything would go to best and finals, but wasn't the case 

propertyhunter

Interesting - it seems like not all vendors play the game. I'll bear this in mind, thanks @luckbox

jenni_fer

propertyhunter said:

Interesting - it seems like not all vendors play the game. I'll bear this in mind, thanks @luckbox

I'd imagine a lot has to do with the EA,  we certainly took their advice rather than making a conscious decision to do Best and Final.

Slithery

GDB2222 said:

Will they accept an offer of "£2k more than the highest other offer"?

And what happens if more than one potential buyer tries this?

london21

Seller's market at present.

The agent do not disclose what their best offer is but ends up becoming a bidding war.

Sometimes the agents purposely list the property cheap to get a lot of interest.

Sometimes rightly priced but because so much competition and interests ends up getting to best and final offer which you just have to offer the best you can/think it's worth.

My sister did get a semi detached house, one of those worst house in a great street situation.
She offered what she thought it was worth, the EA said went to a cash buyer, few months down the line she was contacted that the property had come back on the market and they were the ones selected.
They had standard deposit and not in a chain.

Sometimes it is luck.

SDLT_Geek

Slithery said:

GDB2222 said:

Will they accept an offer of "£2k more than the highest other offer"?

And what happens if more than one potential buyer tries this?

These are referred to as "referential bids".  If someone sets up a legally binding best and finals offer structure, referential bids would not usually be allowed.  A legally binding structure would be very rare though, so in practice the seller can make what they wish of a "referential bid", it is all "subject to contract" until contracts are exchanged.

Rosa_Damascena

Murphybear said:

csgohan4 said:

knightstyle said:

there is no final offer scenario!  some years ago friends went for a house, several others wanted it so the agent told them to send bestand final offer to them by a date. They were the highest  so things started progressing, 10 days later they were told an underbidder had increase their offer and the vendors were now going with them!
friends bought elsewhere and a couple of months later the agent contacted them to see if they were still interested as the buyers had dropped out!

The sellers got what they deserved accepting gazumpers

This happened to us some years ago.  We offered on a house that was the top of our budget.  A week later the EA told us they’d accepted a higher offer.  We carried on looking and the EA contacted us and said the buyer had dropped out and were we still interested?  We said no because we couldn’t trust the seller not to do it again.  The EA was gobsmacked, he genuinely couldn’t understand why  
We bought the bungalow of our dreams after that 

Because EAs think the rest of the world sees life through a prism of greed, not principal.

propertyhunter

**Update

It seems you cannot avoid the dreaded best and final offer scenario even by going well above asking and having no chain and big deposit. The agent said I was on the 'higher end' of prices, but could not tell me the actual ranking among the 14 other offers. He did say all offers were at asking and above. I don't even know what to read into what he said. 

I will hold my price! What will be will be! Another sleepless night beckons...