I need some advice as to how the process works exactly.

We saw a house we liked and put an offer in but someone was viewing the property the same day, liked it and put an offer in too.

Ive had a phone call from the estate agent saying that the other offer is more favourable to ours and asking us what we want to do.

So how does it work here? Do i get once chance to come back with a counter offer that I need to hope will be better with theirs or do if my new offer isnt enough will they tell me and give me a chance to up it?

Thanks

They are looking to set up a bidding war. How much do you want it?

Tell them you’re not interested and walk away. If they’re blagging, they’ll ring you back within a week and ask you again.

If not, leave it a fortnight and then go in with a better offer. Even if the other offer has been accepted, the agent is obliged to put forward a better offer.

The agent will go back and forth until one of you quits. The more it sells for the more he gets.

in your opinion does the other party exist ?

i would decide how much you want it – if lots stick in what you can and leave it.

if you are not bothered much by it then leave your offer on the table , explain that you are at the top of your budget with your offer and play them at their own game ! – other party may still pull out/be more cash but chain to sell etc etc and are just pushing to see if you will go higher.

but if it is “the” house then pay what you feel its worth to you.

Sounds like the estate agent is playing you tbh.

I am with Shibboleth on this….

Tell them you are looking at two properties and if this offer is not get accepted by the end of the day, you are going to place an offer on the 2nd property.

A good estate agent (yes, they do exist) will firstly, only accept bids from buyers who have the ability to buy the house in an acceptable timescale (do they have a mortgage offer, do they have a house to sell first etc.) and secondly, negotiate with the bidders to get the very highest offer.

They are employed and paid for by the seller.

+1 for Doug et al

It’s also worth bearing in mind that the seller will not necessarily accept the highest offer on the property.

When I bought my first house the seller could have accepted higher offers, but took mine because they wanted a quick/smooth sale & I had no chain, plus a good deposit & mortgage agreed in principle.

“When I bought my first house the seller could have accepted higher offers, but took mine because they wanted a quick/smooth sale & I had no chain, plus a good deposit & mortgage agreed in principle.”

i put an offer in the other week which was very favorable to me only one with – no chain & mortgage agreement ready to move etc – was 4th highest bidder all of us within a few k apparently BUT the clincher was that a property development company bought the land for 85k more than my offer – no one is going to refuse that kinda difference in offer !

gutted like fish !

where was that terry?

Surely Estate agents aren’t allowed to just make up a rival bidder!? I thought they were bound by some kind of rules?

We do really like it, but dont want to pay more than we have to.

Do I take it that if I do want to come back and change our offer it has to be enough to beat their offer or will they tell us if its not enough??

Surely Estate agents aren’t allowed to just make up a rival bidder!? I thought they were bound by some kind of rules?

LOL, the ‘lets make some cash rule’

Better not be the house I’m trying to get!

Although it seems like a game and estate agents are a bunch of *?#*-wits I would just put another offer in for for much you are prepared to pay for the house. You don’t want to get into a bidding war with someone else.

We all know that estate agents are honourable people and would never make up a rival bidder.

Unless it is absolutely the only house for you and you can afford to chuck money at a bidding war, Shibboleth’s advice is the one for you.

A good estate agent (yes, they do exist) will firstly, only accept bids from buyers who have the ability to buy the house in an acceptable timescale (do they have a mortgage offer, do they have a house to sell first etc.) and secondly, negotiate with the bidders to get the very highest offer.

In a friends recent experience (London) estate agents will, in the current market, put forward offers from buyers that won’t necessarily either have the will or the means to complete on their offer.

What I’d suggest is leave your current offer on the table and make sure the vendor is aware of it, if that’s the maximum you’re willing to pay and you’d like the house, then carry on searching and hope the other offer falls by the wayside.

bruneep it was lynden villa , nigg – right up by loirston loch where the new abz stadiums going – but this house was at the other end of the loch where the road curves round to go to the a90

I wanted the house as it was a 2 bed cottage but with 2 x double garages out the back for all my shit (and truth be told i knew it was vaulable land after looking at the citys land usage plans)

crispo – I had this situation when I sold my property last year. No, the estate agent probably isn’t lying! Yes, both the seller and the estate agent will have the follwoing 2 criteria in their minds:

– what are the relative offers (obviously wanting to get the highest)

– who is in the best position to proceed (in a chain or not etc)

The seller will need to balance these two aspects, so you need to consider not just the value of your offer, but also the position you are in as a buyer?

When I sold my property, there were two propsective buyers making offers at the same time. Yes, it was a mini ‘bidding war’ in that both increased their offers, but both final offers were still below the asking price and ended up being exactly the same value. After that, I opted for the buyer who was in the best position to proceed as he didn’t have a property to sell.

If you can, take the emotion out of your decision making, think clearly and rationally, and act promptly.

Well I was meaning the estate agents act 1979.

So basically we need to decide if we HAVE to have to house then we need to just put in the max we can, otherwise wait it out and see if being a FTB with deposit and mortgage in place is enough.

crispo – Member

Surely Estate agents aren’t allowed to just make up a rival bidder!? I thought they were bound by some kind of rules?

Of course they can! They do all the time. But don’t forget the estate agent’s biggest motivation, it’s not always to get the highest price as some have mentioned. If they’re on 1% commission on a 200k house, they’ll make 2 grand. A difference of 5 grand on the offer only equates to 50 quid to them.

Their main motivation is to sell the property quickly, as the longer it’s on the market, the more viewings they need to do, the more newspaper advertising space it wastes…

If they can shift it quickly, they’d happily drop 50, 100, 200 quid on the commission rather than risk the unknown costs of keeping it sitting there.

As suggested above make sure that the vendor is aware of your real offer and of your circumstances. If you are not in a chain and a cash buyer your offer is far more attractive. I presume that you are in Scotland and that has a far better system when it comes to property transactions than the rest of the UK. Outside of Scotland you can make an offer and you or the seller can pull out when ever either of you feel like it. If I understand the system in Scotland, offers are part of a binding contract and a sizeable deposit is paid at that time.
There is nothing to stop you talking directly to the vendor to ensure that all of the information is getting through to him.

If they can shift it quickly, they’d happily drop 50, 100, 200 quid on the commission rather than risk the unknown costs of keeping it sitting there.

True, dat.

crispo – Member

Surely Estate agents aren’t allowed to just make up a rival bidder!? I thought they were bound by some kind of rules?

Of course they can! They do all the time. But don’t forget the estate agent’s biggest motivation, it’s not always to get the highest price as some have mentioned. If they’re on 1% commission on a 200k house, they’ll make 2 grand. A difference of 5 grand on the offer only equates to 50 quid to them.

Their main motivation is to sell the property quickly, as the longer it’s on the market, the more viewings they need to do, the more newspaper advertising space it wastes…

If they can shift it quickly, they’d happily drop 50, 100, 200 quid on the commission rather than risk the unknown costs of keeping it sitting there.

+1
the best advert for the Estate Agents is a SOLD board .

Absolutely Cheesybeanz. They have a policy of leaving Sold boards up for as long as possible.

indeed – im still waiting to see one go up on the house i offered on …..

suspect its just the big co property developer dragging his heels over the missives to ensure he doesnt pay out any sooner than he has too ….

but while secretly hoping it falls through ……

This happened to me and it went back and forth a few times between me and ‘the other party’. I was put under a lot of pressure to increase my offer but refused, stating that I was chain free, guaranteed mortgage and ready to move immediately.
At no point were my questions about the sellers’ position answered; I was just pressured to give my ‘best and final offer’ from a position of ignorance, which I wasnt keen to do.

After a lot of messing about I was informed I had lost the ‘bidding process’ but I still refused to up my offer.

After a bit more time they came back to me to say the ‘winning bidder’ didnt have a mortgage agreed so the sellers decided to choose me!

By this time I was really fed up with them so when they came back a couple of days later to say that the sellers were now going to start looking for their next house to move into I pulled out. Why go through the whole bidding war farce if you’re not even prepared to move?!

In the end I bought a house with a view of that house from the window. Still unsold…. 😀