Sealed Bids - Real Stories?

PasturesNew

Vincenzo wrote: »

Interesting - what happened next? I know what my move would have been, had I been the unfortunate soul who bid £140k above! Perhaps reduce my offer by £120k......

They pulled out I think. The place was a wreck and the bill to fix it up was getting bigger and bigger all the time. I wasn't really paying 100% attention.

Vincenzo

To add to the stories - back in my (short-lived) EA days I was involved in sealed bids on a one bed in a south London.

It was on the market at a 'toppy' £195k, within 24 hours we had 5 offers. Two at the asking price and 3 below. We took it to sealed bids, we received one offer of £185k and one of £201k!!! Everyone else pulled out. I felt sorry for the chap whose father had stepped in with the extra £6k. Still, it was a nice property.

eco-friendly_2

IveSeenTheLight wrote: »

This is the process used in Scotland and I like it.
In this instance it seems the winning bidder either vastly over estimated the market or the Really, Really wanted the property.

Sealed bid figures should never be disclosed, so I doubt you will get a vast response to your query.
Normally you only get advised where your bid placed i.e. 4th out of 5

I have discussed a few times with my long standing solicitor and the only info he would give me was once when he advised I one by only 2 hundred pounds. I said I was very lucky (or judged the market very well ) and he told me that once he had a customer who won by only 1 pound.
Of course the seller is not obligated to take the highest offer, there are many other things to consider i.e. exchange date

I once purchased a flat for a tenner over the asking! the solicitor asked me at the time how I managed it, I said SKILL! (luck more like) also purchased a building plot and beat my neighbour for sixty quid, his plot was quite a bit smaller, he 'ranted and raved' about it for years. I'm pretty sure though, I've probably paid fortunes more than others to secure a property, no regrets ! ' offers over' brilliant Scottish nail biting contest.

poppyolivia

Both times I did sealed bids we got both houses and we weren't the highest bidder...the owners said we were lovely people etc..and wanted us to have the house! Makes you feel abit bad at the time but hey ho it pays to be nice and go and view when you say, simple easy stuff like that goes along way!
When we sold our last house we took the highest bid, see I ain't all sweetness and light!:rotfl:
I think it would be nice though to say to an owner will you except X amount and get an answer rather than making yourself sick wondering for wks if you have it!

PasturesNew

I heard on TV (Yeah, I know, stop watching the property !!!!!!!) that in Sweden they have an "open auction" style of bidding. So you'd just declare an interest then go into ebay-style open bidding.

That seems a good plan to me.

Not that I like anything that varies from "here's my price, do you want to buy it from me at this price"

mitchaa

Well a house close to me was on for OO £300k.

It sold for £410k

No idea what the spread was like but the 2nd highest offer may well have been only £320k.

Good for a seller, but if you're on as a buyer, its a crazy system.

PasturesNew

This was repeated, so I watched it more carefully this time. This was what it was all about and what happened:

Programme: Relocation, Relocation
Presenters: Phyllis and Krusty
People: PJ and Hereward (pregnant)
Brief: Wanting to go back to the country where they'd grown up. He'd work in the city and she'd bring up the baby in the country. This was to be their "forever family home".

I think the house was in Hough on the Hill, Lincolnshire.

It was a bit of a wreck. Needed everything; roof, wiring, heating, replastering, move kitchen to where garage is at the moment, etc, etc.

20 people went to see it. 3 had a survey done.

The show got a builder in to estimate.
Builder said it would take a minimum of 4-5 months to do the work and cost about £250k for the work.

The show showed them some lovely, already done, houses. They decided to tender anyway on the wreck.

Their total, total, stretching it budget was £850k. So that would leave them with £600k to buy it with.

Krusty called the EA to ask if there was a price the vendor would take it off the market at. He said no. So they put in an offer of "over £600k". Which was accepted.

Then the letter came erroneously from the EA, listing everybody who had bid and how much they'd bid. It had been put in the wrong envelope (wonder if somebody got sacked for that?!).

"This is a difficult and potentially explosive renegotiation situation" says Krusty... cue commercial break.

End result: After three months of negotiation they were still no further along. During this time the builders were uncovering more and more work that was needed.

So Krusty said "With heavy hearts they decided to walk away"

http://www.channel4.com/4homes/ontv/relocation/rl3_pj.html

IveSeenTheLight

mitchaa wrote: »

Good for a seller, but if you're on as a buyer, its a crazy system.

Only if you have done done your market research on the area and type of property.

Do the research, assess if it is affordable, make the bid for what you are prepared to pay, if another bids more then walk away and move on to the next property.

At least this way, you know what you are bidding (costs) and if you are the higest bidder you cannot be gazumped (of course the seller could choose to sell to a lower bidder though)

*Louise*

PasturesNew wrote: »

This Then the letter came erroneously from the EA, listing everybody who had bid and how much they'd bid. It had been put in the wrong envelope (wonder if somebody got sacked for that?!).

I also thought about that.

I also wondered if perhaps someone had done it on purpose?? (Maybe someone who was leaving and felt sorry for them). Probably not though.

The seller must have been rubbing their hands with glee when that offer came in....can't believe they wouldn't negotiate - must have been a right greedy so-and-so.

Wonder how much it eventually sold for.

WTF?_2

*Louise* wrote: »

I also thought about that.

I also wondered if perhaps someone had done it on purpose?? (Maybe someone who was leaving and felt sorry for them). Probably not though.

The seller must have been rubbing their hands with glee when that offer came in....can't believe they wouldn't negotiate - must have been a right greedy so-and-so.

Wonder how much it eventually sold for.

Yeah, if I'd been the vendor I'd have been incredibly angry that the bids got disclosed but let's face it, the winning party had no legal obligation to honour their bid until exchange. Given that the winners were something like 140k over the next bid the only logical thing to do is negotiate as you're never going to get something like the original high offer again.

What a mess-up by the EA though. Had I been the vendors I'd have been taking them to court.

It does show how much of house price is down to sentiment though. If they'd bought the house at 140k over the next nearest offer, does that make the house now 'worth' that much more to the market at large?