What increments do you go in? First salvo has added £5k and it’s our shot.

Just bid what it’s worth to you.
No more.

Sheffield getting back bidding? Recovery on the way in time to save Mr Clegg!
Add £3k increments, test their maths skills.
Or go Arsenal and add a pound to their bids!

Don’t get in a bidding war. Except in very rare circumstances there will always be another house and given the numbers you really don’t want to be paying over the odds.

Last time this happened to me, I put a time limit to accept my offer, otherwise its off.

Mention any positives to your offer, such as, cash buyer, not in a chain, finances in place, etc.

This has worked twice for me in the past.

Act tough, plenty of properties out there.

Best and final only otherwise it’s just an auction.

Price it in your head.

Then walk away- look at others.

I’ve no interest in paying 80k+ ontop of what we paid for ours in our area.

check with your mortgage provider, if you go higher than they value then it’s over.

Unless it’s the dream house 1 chance then go elsewhere, remember you don’t win anything at an auction.

Get the vendor to like you!

If they love their house and it’s a close-run thing, there’s often some value to them in feeling that the new owners will look after the house.

We found out (from a reliable source) that the lady we bought our house from accepted £3k less from us than from someone else because we were nice, we were a young family and our first thoughts were about what the kids would love in the house.

It was also a nice round number. People like zeros, not 99.99s!

check with your mortgage provider, if you go higher than they value then it’s over.

Paying more than valuation for a house isn’t a problem for a mortgage provider, as most people who have bought a house in Scotland will be able to confirm. The mortgage company will however only provide you with a percentage of the valuation not the price you paid and it is up to you to find the remainder.

Sheffield has this bubble of tradition where bidding is acceptable if there is more than one interested party. Possibly like the Scottish model?
So you can try to be nice to the vendor. May not swing it.

the teaboy – Member
It was also a nice round number. People like zeros, not 99.99s!

I’d always thought it was better to go with really un-round numbers – makes the vendor think you’ve really worked out what you can afford and won’t pay any more.

We almost moved to Sheffield in the summer. Absolutely stunning house in Bradway. Lost out by £2k, but it was £2k more than we thought it worth so we walked away.

We now live in Fife, so take from this what you will.

EDIT: I think what I’m saying is that £5k increments are too much. Also worth remembering that your situation can count for a lot. We ended up buying our forever home* up in Scotland off the back of losing the Sheffield one. We weren’t the highest bidder, but no chain meant we were the lucky ones.

*I feel dirty having used this term.

Have you tried offering sexual favours? A good looking lad like yourself……

I have the vendor’s number. Don’t know what to do with that

Keep bidding until you get it, then reduce the offer after survey or just prior to exchange/completion. Risky, but thats what happened to a good few houses in Sheffield that we dropped out of the bidding war on. Play the greedy s0ds at their own game. Estate agent begin with a B per chance?

Dave – no.

Offer what you can, then look elsewhere. Chances are it’ll come back on the market in 4 weeks time and then they’ll take your offer.

And if its leasehold with a Leaseholder beginning with C check you have several hundred years lease or it gets quite expensive / difficult to sell.

Can’t believe i’m putting this but

Hora +1

Get the price your willing to pay in your head and stick to it. Its up to you how you get there, little jumps to waste time as such, or one big jump to try and smash the others out in one go. A combination of the 2 may work.

Think it’ll go to best and finals if theres 2 or more parties involved. Have bought and sold using this method and when i sold, it didn’t go to the highest bidder. I went for one with no chain and the mortgage in place.

As others have said, put all your plus points forward with your offer and then cross your fingers.

I wouldn’t return a counter bid, just “Best and final or I’m out”.

The days of ‘you want it/get it’ went out the housing crash in the recession.

Let someone get the restaurant bill and panic.