Best and Final Offer - What would you do?

TenBob

Hi.

My partner and I found ourselves in a Best & Final Offer (sealed bids) situation last week on a house with a huge amount of interest (6 offers in less than 2 weeks on the market!). Against one other purchaser, we bid our absolute maximum to secure the property and won (wahey!).

My questions are:

1. Do we have a right to see the other bid now the process has finished?

2. How do we know the other bidder was genuine, and not artificially inflating the price (I know this sounds 'conspiracy theory'-esque, but before the deadline, the vendors were talking to us as if we had already won the bid - almost as if they knew something we didn't)?

3. If the housing market drops between now & mid March (exchange/completion), is it worth trying to re-negotiate the price? I know this is naughty, but we would still be offering more than the original full asking price.

Many thanks,
TB

chrisxr2

We got into a sealed bid situation on our first house and were not allowed to be told the other bid, unsure if this is the law or was down to estate agent or vendor, as reducing your offer, i guess they would just put it back on the market if it is so polupar.

merlinthehappypig

1. No you don't.

2. You don't know that either, unfortunately. In many respects it's no different to a seller saying that they have had a bigger offer when they haven't to get the price up. The sealed bids process is more tightly regulated in Scotland where it happens more frequently, but in England it's only an informal process. You simply have to take their word for it.

3. You can do anything that you like, including walking away from the deal, without any penalty up until the point that contracts are exchanged, which is likely to be March at the earliest anyway. So can the seller, so bear that in mind if you do try to renegotiate.

Running_Horse

TenBob wrote: »

3. If the housing market drops between now & mid March (exchange/completion), is it worth trying to re-negotiate the price? I know this is naughty, but we would still be offering more than the original full asking price.

Remind me never to do business with you. You willingly offered what it was worth to you, and now want top drop the price? I hope they realise you are a timewaster, and offer the house for less to the other bidders.

donkeyman18

Running_Horse wrote: »

Remind me never to do business with you. You willingly offered what it was worth to you, and now want top drop the price? I hope they realise you are a timewaster, and offer the house for less to the other bidders.

Bwahahaha!

It's business. The market falls, you drop your offer. If they don't like it then tough. They can sell to someone else instead (after all, there's been all that interest...)

You can bet your shirt that if house prices increase in the next 2 months by 50% the vendors will be re-negotiating.

You get emotional about these things, you lose.

TenBob

Running_Horse wrote: »

Remind me never to do business with you. You willingly offered what it was worth to you, and now want top drop the price? I hope they realise you are a timewaster, and offer the house for less to the other bidders.

I appreciate your opinion, but timewaster isn't true. We have the means and the funds.

This site is about money saving - dropping the price on a house is no different to any commodity IMO.

I agree with Donkeyman18 - it is business. It's also gazundering. The vendor maximised his sale price in an 'above asking' bidding war, so what's good for the goose....

If current financial woes worsen and time is of the essence with the sale (which it is), I see no reason why attempting to renegotiate isn't fair. We may lose the house of course, but that is our gamble, and one we haven't decided on yet - it's purely theoretical at this moment in time. Hence asking 'what would you do?'

Many thanks for the responses so far.

iolanthe07

I find it so depressing that people even contemplate doing this. What happened to decent ethics and the notion that 'my word is my bond'?

merlinthehappypig

It is very hard to know what to do at present and deciding on a realistic valuation for any house is almost impossible with the market like it is, so I appreciate the dilemma any prospective purchaser has at the moment. We are currently looking to buy as well.

We have owned a house for almost 25 years now and have bought 7 times in that period. I can honestly say that we have never found it so hard to a) find a house that we like and b) decide what to offer. At least in a time of rising prices you know that even if you make a mistake you can sell it on for a profit. That luxury isn't available at the moment.

Despite the uncertainties, personally I would never contemplate trying to get a price down at a late stage. The price should be agreed at the outset and both parties should stick to it. Sadly this isn't enforceable in our house buying system.

It is a business transaction, agreed, but I prefer to treat people as I would myself be treated. It doesn't always pay off, admittedly.

TenBob

iolanthe07 wrote: »

I find it so depressing that people even contemplate doing this. What happened to decent ethics and the notion that 'my word is my bond'?

I dropped that romantic notion when somebody ripped me off. :rolleyes:

Let's not forget, the vendor is already above his asking price.

nobblyned

TenBob wrote: »

Let's not forget, the vendor is already above his asking price.

Only because you offered above it!

The fact that you want to see the other party's bid and are planning to try and drop the price at the last minute, makes me think you got a bit carried away with the whole thing and overbid.

Looks like you've developed a nasty pair of cold feet.

Twinblade

TenBob wrote: »

If current financial woes worsen and time is of the essence with the sale (which it is), I see no reason why attempting to renegotiate isn't fair. We may lose the house of course, but that is our gamble, and one we haven't decided on yet - it's purely theoretical at this moment in time. Hence asking 'what would you do?'

Many thanks for the responses so far.

Not to mention that the valuation report might come back and say the house isnt worth anywhere near what you are offering and the mortgage provider (assuming this isnt a cash purchase) might withdraw the offer on these grounds.